Etsy: First batch of MOO Cards

I got my first batch of MOO cards in the mail this week! I'm very happy with how they turned out, and I can't wait to make more of them. They come in a really cute plastic container, that I'll keep when I've used them up. I'll be adding the MOO Cards to my Etsy shop orders, and they're handy to have as little business cards. The ladies at the post office keep asking me about my handmade toys, so now I'll be ready to hand them a MOO card the next time I'm there.

I've been published!

My plush deer were published in the latest issue of Haute Doll magazine (the February 2007 issue)! My friend Brigitte has a 6 page spread about her beautiful custom made Pullip dolls: "Zombuki's" (I am the lucky owner of one of her creations, "Hanami", who was also featured in the article). A couple of deer which she had bought from my Etsy shop ( Follow The White Rabbit) are in some of those photos, as well as a kitty hood I made for her! I found out totally by accident when I was at the bookstore yesterday. I was in the magazine section and picked up the latest issue of Haute Doll to check it out (as I usually do), and was so shocked, surprised and excited to see things I made printed in the magazine! :O Congratulations Brigitte, your article and photos are awesome!

Hanami and Iceberry Deer pose with Brigitte's Zombuki article. Kazami's pink kitty hood and Hanami's albino deer, are both things I've made! ^_^



Awww, let's hug just like we did in Brigitte's pic!



Hanami poses with Iceberry Deer next to the magazine! Look at all the gorgeous Zombuki's (and a pink deer I made sneaking into the pic)!



"Her deer, Algernon, is from Follow the White Rabbit."



Ooooh... look where they got their clothes from! ^_^



"Their deer, Cecily, is from Follow the White Rabbit."

Sekrit plush dolly plans revealed!

Okay, so I've been wanting to create my own line of something for a while now. I have ideas for plush tea bags, plush/vinyl mushroom guys, but I also want to make my own dollehs. I am very inspired by Craig McCracken (creator of the Powerpuff Girls, and art director on Dexter's Labratory), Anna Chambers (amazing illustrator, and she has her own line of plushies), and Mizna Wada (amazing illustrator and plush/vinyl toy maker. She made Lollipop Girl and painted Blood Girl), but I also want to bring my own style too. (I hope I did!) Here are the first set of sketches that I drew:



L>R: Pink Victorian Mistress, Alice in Wonderland, Gothy Sad Girl, Dorothy Gale, Zombie Girl, Shy Heart.



L>R: Gloomy Girl, Victorian Mistress, Alice in Wonderland, Dorothy Gale, Snowflake Girl.

Next up, instead of diving right into making a plushie (which can be very frustrating for the first time around), I decided to make a felt "sketch" of what I wanted, so I could eventually make a pattern off of the sketch. This way I could see what size things needed to be to look good, and it gave me an idea of what worked, and what didn't. Things can work great as an idea or on paper, but when translated to 3D, it can be a different story altogether... or even from the felt "sketch" to the final product could have things that won't work (like the coloured streaks in her hair look kinda neat on the felt "sketch", but they're too small to sew onto the hair, so I went with the stitched look instead). The felt "sketch" is of my Absinthe Zombie Girl. I need to buy more grey felt to actually make her. :\



So the next thing was, I made a pattern from Absinthe Zombie Girl, and decided to make my first plush doll based off of Emilie Autumn. It was soooooooo much fun making her. I made her all the way back in September (or was it August?), but work had such a *huge* crunch, that I didn't have time to do make anymore of them. Now that I have the time, I can actually start making these for real. ^_^ I'm going to post her at the EA forum, and see what people think. :P Posted!

[Below is Miss Autumn herself... a big inspiration of mine. :)]









The next time I would like to use nice material for her dress, instead of felt. I made her striped socks out of strips of felt because I didn't have any striped material at the time. :P





I really like the way that Anna Chambers' uses stitches instead of an outline or change of fabric, etc to show lines. So, I used her idea and added stitches in her hair to show swooping and swirling hair.

Then my second attempt was to make brown-haired Mushroom Girl. I'm happy with how her face and hair turned out, but I don't like how her dress folds and creases weird. Next time I'm going to give her a skirt. I also made her striped socks out of strips of felt, but now that my striped fabric has arrived, I don't have to do that anymore. ^_^









Then I decided that I really should work out what I wanted for the dress/skirt, and I came up with this (below). The doll body is the same fabric as the skirt. After the skirt is made, I hand sew it onto the body, giving the illusion that it's all one piece.



I don't actually have a name set in stone for what I'm going to call these dolls, or what their names will be (still working on all of that), but I have lots of ideas of more types of dollies I want to make. I guess you'll just have to stay tuned. ^_~

That's the end of the tour. Thanks for looking! ^_^

Sketchclub: Santa

This week's theme for Sketchclub was "Santa". I drew him up the night before the challenge was due. (I should really give myself more time to do these!) I was thinking about what Santa would look like if I made him into a stuffed animal, inspired by the simplistic Santa design in the 1964 stop-motion movie: "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". Sketchclub will start up again in the new year, so I will try my best to keep drawing in my spare time.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Sketchclub: Peter Pan

These are my first set of drawings for a weekly Sketchclub I've decided to join. The theme this week was "Peter Pan", so I drew Peter & Hook, one of the mermaids and my version of Tinkerbell. I haven't drawn in years, so I thought this would be good motivation, and a good opportunity to get some practice. It's my first time colouring in a sketch using Photoshop. It was fun being able to splash colour across the character. It was also really nice to draw again. Although I feel extremely out of practice, and I've lost a lot of knowledge of anatomy, volume and shape... I know it'll come back, but it'll take time. I just have to keep drawing. I hope to have enough creative inspiration to keep drawing for Sketchclub every week. ^_^