Drawing Cloth Doll's Faces the Easy Way
It is a wonderful feeling when you finally finish sewing your
doll. She is SO cute, her frock is just adorable and her hair is
exactly the way you wanted it. She is just perfect! The only
thing left to do is to draw her face.
This is the part of doll making that can cause the most anxiety
amongst doll makers, but by following a few simple "rules" you
can confidently achieve a gorgeous face every time.
Always begin by drawing your doll's face on paper. Practice
positioning your doll's features to ensure you have the right
proportion and position.
Have fun experimenting with different styles and observe those
around you. Babies, small children and characters in children's
books often have cute features, which can provide inspiration.
I encourage you to use your imagination to personalise your doll
and make her a "one of a kind" heirloom.
On a sheet of paper, draw a shape similar in size to your doll's
head.
Lightly draw a line horizontally and vertically through the
centre of the "face".
Look in the mirror and you will notice your eyes are
approximately midway between your chin and the top of your head.
Mark the centres of the eyes on the horizontal line an equal
distance from the midline. By placing the eyes slightly lower on
the face, your doll will have a younger appearance.
Divide the lower half of your face into thirds and mark a small
dot on the centre line at these points. These will be the
positions of the nose and the mouth.
Next, you will need to choose the style of face you would like.
The style you choose should fit the character of your doll. A
naive style doll will have a much simpler face than a more
formal doll.
Experiment with different shapes for each facial feature. You
may like to try round eyes and oval eyes, with or without
eyelashes and eyebrows, a little button or a straight nose and
different sizes and shapes of hearts or smiley u shapes for your
dolls mouth. Some dolls look gorgeous with two tiny "commas" for
nostrils instead of a nose. The more styles you try out the
easier it will be for you to choose a face that really
complements your doll.
When you are happy with the style, size, shapes and positioning
of all of your doll's facial features it is time to add some
colour to bring your doll to life.
Pigma micron 01 made by Sakura are the brand of pen I prefer.
They are waterproof and fade proof and they contain archival,
pigment ink. They are also available in a range of 6 colours.
Derwent artist pencils also provide a high quality finish to
your doll's face and you can purchase them individually in your
favourite colours. If you plan to continue doll making then
purchasing good quality pens and pencils to finish your doll is
an excellent investment.
Choose eye, mouth and cheek colours to complement your doll. Use
the black pen to draw the eyes and eyelashes, the brown pen to
draw the nose and eyebrows and either the brown or the red pen
for your doll's mouth. Be careful when using drawing pens, they
have a very fine tip so always hold them in an upright position
(not slanted) to prevent damaging the pen tip.
Before adding pencil colour to your doll experiment with the
various ways you can apply this. You can achieve many different
effects by using either a sharper or a blunter pencil. You
should also try the side of the pencil as well as the point. A
good way to add shading is to apply the colour to a scrap of
paper or calico and carefully rub this over the area you want to
colour. Gradually build up the colour in layers until you obtain
the desired look. Just remember it is easier to add a bit more
colour than it is to try to remove it. It's also a good idea to
keep a record of the colours you have used, just jot down the
names of the colours and any special techniques you may have
used to apply them alongside your diagram as a reference for
future use.
Once you are completely satisfied with your doll's new face, it
is time to transfer it onto fabric. However, before you take the
final step, it is a good idea to practice one more time just to
make yourself comfortable with working on fabric. The slightly
uneven texture of the fabric will make a difference when you are
drawing the face and the colours may need adjusting to suit.
Place a piece of fabric in an embroidery hoop and follow the
steps listed above, once again. Once you have added all of your
doll's features to the fabric and you are satisfied she has just
the attitude and expression you are trying to achieve then you
are ready to complete your doll!
You should feel completely comfortable now applying your doll's
face!
You can find a great template for drawing your dolls face at
http://www.kitsnpieces.com.au/face_tips.htm that you can print
and use as a template.
You might like to add your doll's photo to an online Photo
Gallery so others can see her online. A really professional,
friendly & helpful photo gallery for cloth doll's and patchwork
can be found at http://www.kitsnpieces.com.au