Dolly doodles...

Well, not exactly! I've decided to take part in a doll swap over at stitchin fingers, particularly as the theme is Elements... well, the four, at least. Those of you that know me will understand I just couldn't say no - I've been interested and working with the four elements and symbols for years i one form or another, but I've never made Elemental dolls.

True to form, I start from scratch, so having designed the doll look, I went on to creating a set of symbols to use on the fabrics...

This is the first stage, the pen and ink design....

Air

Earth

Fire

Water

                              

I also decided to make a finished panel for each symbol, never one to pass up an excuse to doodle!

 

The others are done in a similar fashion.....

 

The next stages are countless... drop it into Photoshop and play.... colour them in, add a few filters... and come up with a collection of useful symbols...

I hate that my BA lecturer thinks photoshop is not an honest artist tool- so oldschool- it is so versatile, what she doesn't appreciate is that you still need a reasonable depth of knowledge to get what you want, and still have to master the software to create what you want... so what's the difference to using a paintbrush?

So here's the complete set in full colour, but un-enhanced...

I've painted the fabrics for the bodies using fabric paints, here they are, cut and painted, ready to sew together, but I need to find the right leg,arms and face fabrics first...

I've got till the end of June to finish one, but I reckon I'll have the set done as a whole, just too much fun not to!