Best way to go about custmizing?

[Ghostlygoth98]

All day I've had the "Giant woman" song stuck in my head and while looking around Toys R us it hit me "I want to venture into custmizing dolls" v_v; So I need some advice. I want to make dolls of the Characters from Steven universe

Pearl, Garent, Amathiest, Steven, LApis, Opal (fusion), Paiadot, Ruby, Sappire,

I just have no idea how to go about it espically with opal the four armed woman

Any advice how to go about it?

[victoriavictrix]

The way you become good at customizing is the same way you become good at anything. Practice, practice, practice. Go to a thrift store, buy a big bag of trashed fashion dolls, and start stripping and painting faces, rerooting, body-swapping, and so on.

[Kd_Bunchanumbers]

Honestly making a four armed doll is hell cuz you need to get a pair of doll arms by cracking open one doll, then you need to crack open another doll *safely* so you can carve in arm holes then sculpt in arm sockets using an epoxy putty like milliput. Like I did it for my Opal inspired custom but it's really hard to open up a torso safely without damaging anything and getting the parts can be a bit costly. Like it's a reaaaaaaaaally intensive process that I wouldn't recommend for a beginner.

Body Mods by John Pickles, on Flickr
Of course then painting the doll grey was hard as well cuz it chips a lot but yeah.

The Person You Are Together by John Pickles, on Flickr

The Person You Are Together by John Pickles, on Flickr

[Kd_Bunchanumbers]

For my pearl doll I used a Jakks Pacific Winx club doll and sculpted the heck out of her head using Epoxy putty and painted her. I'm kinda stuck on Garnet and Amethyst cuz I got their bodies mostly picked but trying to find suitable heads and such is such a pain. Amethyst I'm planning on using a heavily modded dora the explorer body while Garnet is a Barbie torso with Ken doll hips and legs.

And I Want To Inspire You by John Pickles, on Flickr

And I Want To Inspire You by John Pickles, on Flickr

And I Want To Inspire You by John Pickles, on Flickr

For Lapis you could probably use the same base doll but I mostly want to focus on making the main cast so yeah.

For Sapphire I'm thinking of using a Lottie doll by Arklu but I really hate rerooting and can't find the right wig yet so that's been shelved for awhile, while ruby I'm thinking of using a doll from the Travel Friends Line by Madame Alexander but importing a doll in Australia has been super difficult.

Peridot you could get away with using a Casta Fierce doll from Monster High but her limbs need extensive sculpt to get them remotely robotic looking.

[K2!]

Nice work, Kd.

[Trethowan]

Wow. Kd, these are amazing!

[victoriavictrix]

And KD is an example of getting to where he is now by practice, practice, practice and more practice.

Now he does professional mods, but I remember some of his early early faceups (and I bet you're glad that JunkySpot lost all those old posts, John!)

[Shyla]

Since you have specific characters in mind, get your practice materials, cheap dolls, etc, as Victoriavictrix says, and practice the techniques you think you might use and get comfortable with the process. While you're practicing, start browsing dolls to see which ones are closest to your vision of how you want to present the character.

Steven's Universe has highly stylized animation, perhaps you'd like a more realistic look? Or do they need to be like Kd's beauties, perfect matches?

Do you want them to be to proper scale, as they are in the cartoon? Or are you ok with them being the same height? As you nail down these sorts of details and select the dolls you want, the techniques you need will reveal themselves and you can start to narrow your focus.

Alexandrite or Opal might be a good idea to start with Wydonna Spyder, she's got 6 arms already.

Here's mine. ^.^
DSC02327 by me, on Flickr
Her skin is very dark, but there's bound to be a way to fix it. (not big with the modding XD)

Hope that helps.

[Ghostlygoth98]

Since you have specific characters in mind, get your practice materials, cheap dolls, etc, as Victoriavictrix says, and practice the techniques you think you might use and get comfortable with the process. While you're practicing, start browsing dolls to see which ones are closest to your vision of how you want to present the character.

Steven's Universe has highly stylized animation, perhaps you'd like a more realistic look? Or do they need to be like Kd's beauties, perfect matches?

Do you want them to be to proper scale, as they are in the cartoon? Or are you ok with them being the same height? As you nail down these sorts of details and select the dolls you want, the techniques you need will reveal themselves and you can start to narrow your focus.

Alexandrite or Opal might be a good idea to start with Wydonna Spyder, she's got 6 arms already.

Here's mine. ^.^
DSC02327 by me, on Flickr
Her skin is very dark, but there's bound to be a way to fix it. (not big with the modding XD)

Hope that helps.

Thank you Wydonna Spyder was actually who I was thinking about for opal at first so its funny you mentiaoned her

[DollyKim]

Having looked at the pictures definitely go with Wydonna. All you'll have to do is paint her and add a nose.

For cheap test victims check yard sales or junk stores. Barbies + tools + Apoxie sculpt or Milliput + practice = amazing.