deviantART: Popular Monster High Tutorials

Tut: Monster High Body Prep

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:39:03 PST

This is a tutorial I drew up to help someone who had some questions for me regarding making custom Monster High dolls. Sorry for the fairly poor-quality photos. I don't have a proper digital camera right now and they were snapped on my cell phone, but big details aren't needed for this.

If you're a kid, please obtain permission from your parents before you start customizing a doll. I won't be held responsible if anyone gets in trouble with their folks.

Also, I'm completely freaking serious about the acetone. Don't play with that stuff. Wear gloves.

IMPORTANT ADDITION: *KPenDragon's passed on the information to me that predictably so the acetone is not only damaging to the BODIES of the dolls but it will eat through it the plastic. So unless you want a holey doll for your custom, if you need to remove body markings, like on a Frankie doll, sand it down and don't use a chemical to remove it.

Upcoming tutorials, featuring PROPER photos (yay camera shopping) will cover rehairing a doll, full body painting, body dying, and resculpting. Thanks for looking! I hope I've helped.

The needle-nosed pliers I use are specifically round tipped jewelry pliers made by Beadalon. They're a bit pricier than other brands but the quality shows.
- Beadalon - I use these, specifically, part Part# 201E-003. I bought mine at A.C. Moore where they were selling for $12.

MONSTER HIGH TUTORIALS BY ME:
* Monster High Body Preparation (you are here)
* Monster High dolls: wigs

NOVI STARS TUTORIALS BY ME:
* Novi Stars Body Preparation

Monster High Tutorial

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:27:19 PDT

This is a big picture Click the Picture to make it Bigger!!
Alot of people have asked me How to I make the Monster High Pages? Heres a Tutorial How? This is my first Tutorial Hope it helps you guys and you can understand it!
A few Things you should Know:
The Blank Base (Edited)--->[link]
The Font used is called Monga [link] <---- Download Here!
Make sure you have a reasonable knowlege of Paint and what tools do what and how it works, It will make the tutorial way easier.
Make sure you link back so I can see it
Any questions just post below.
Base Credit (c)
Ruby Demonica OC (c) 's Cousin

Tips for Making An Original Monster High Character

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 12:46:08 PST

_{IF YOURE TOO LAZY TO READ ALL THIS, READ THE WHITE SENTENCES ON THE GUIDE AT LEAST.
I FELT THIS FANDOM NEEDED THIS. Better late than never, eh?
Forgive me for any typos in the guide. My english isn't great sometimes and Photoshop has no spell checking feature.
If you can't see it well enough then just click the download button! : D
Okay, well I was going to apologize because I write so much but I realized.. Explaining the process of making an oc requires a lot of words! There's lots of things to look out for, keep in mind and remember!
I REALLY REALLY REALLY REEEEALLY hope no one looks at this guide, says TL;DR and walks away D: I can only hope that you read it, please??
I originally typed this up as a wiki article. The original article was like the blind leading the blind through a minefield originally. The Wiki went through so weird editing mistake and it's all wonky now with my edits AND the original how-to being combined for some odd reason. I would suggest NOT reading it honestly xD}

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HELPFUL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT LINKS

Mythical Creatures Guide -- This is a brilliant site which offers list upon list of monsters and mythical creatures from around the world!

Seventh Sanctum -- This is also a life-saving web site. It overs many helpful generators which give you prompts, or ideas about things from character hair and eye color combos to personality traits! It's really helpful and actually quite fun as well.

How to avoid making your oc a Mary Su or Gary Stu! -- This information was posted on site for LotR but the info still rings true for ANY oc. PLEASE READ.

Giving a Mary Su Flaws This might help for previously created ocs of yours that fit the Mary Su bill, or if you just can't get away from that mindset.

123 Ideas for Character Flaws A REALLY great list of simple yet effective flaws to potentially give to a character.

Tips for Outfit and Color Scheme Some very helpful hints on that.

22 Rules of Storytelling (for backstories!)

Anthro to furry chart. If/When making an animal based oc (werecat, werewlolf, ect) this might help with making sure your character is not a furry.

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HELPFUL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT MEMES AND CHARTS
If you're up for drawing! Once you have your oc fleshed out and you think you're pretty much done, give these memes a try! You might find filling one or two (or all) of them out will give you a great new idea for your oc, or just help you finalize ideas in your head! Of course, you don't even have to fill out an entire meme.

Character Balance Meme This chart can help you make sure your character has not just great qualities but a few (mundane) flaws as well! Cures Marysue/Garystu disorder.
Character Traits MemeKind of tedious but I think it's worth taking the time to fill this one out-- after all, you only have to put a check mark by what traits your character has.
Personal Life Meme Up close and personal questions about your oc.
ABC Expression Meme Practice different expression and tweek/perfect facial features of your oc.
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MONSTER PARENTS
Choosing one can either be a instant bout of inspiration ORRR the hardest thing in the world, depending.

As I've said, try to AVOID things like Slenderman and the changelings from My Little Pony FiM.
Also, Homestuck trolls. Just because you want a troll character does not mean they have to be of Homestuck origin. The same goes for Shrek. Just because you want an ogre oc doesn't mean they have to pull from Shrek.

MLP characters are MLP characters. Putting them in the MH universe honestly does not add up. Mainly because the MH characters are humanoids, or creatures who resemble humans in body, shape, face, all that.
The main reason Slenderman is a NO NO is because of more... moral reasons. I am not very well knowledgeable with Creepypasta and the stuff that it's about but I DO know that Slenderman's main victim of choice is CHILDREN.
That's a whole other, full detailed issue as to why, but... just do not use him as a monster parent. PLUS he's VERY over-used. Many in the MH have an oc who is his child so if you created one as well, it would not get noticed very much probably.

Speaking of overused monster parents! It's easy to get your oc lost in the pit of boring.
For example... let's say you want to make the child of a genie or djinn couple. While there is nothing WRONG with this, think about it! Look at how many genie/dijnn there are out there in the fandom. More than 4 or 5 and your genie oc will just get thrown into the pot of unexciting sameness. To avoid this, put the genie/djinn race on the backburner and try to search for a different monster parent to use instead.

Now, I know. Sometimes you latch onto a certain monster parent and you are honestly just too inspired to let it go. So let's say you HAVE to make a genie kid. OKAY another way to avoid getting thrown into the pit of sameness, is by doing a little trick I did with a few of my ocs.

Try looking up that same creature or monster but in a different country or belief. Google something like "genies in africa", "genies in europe.", or simply "genies around the world" and see what you get.
Most of the time you will get good articles and info on creatures that are VERY SIMILAR to the original creature you chose, but perhaps a tad different. This way you can get a bit more creative and pull designs and ideas from a different country or belief system and still have an oc of the creature you wanted in the first place!

I'll admit this does not ALWAYS work ALL THE TIME, depending on how obscure the monster is. This method takes a lot of research as well.

One other thing I should mention... I've seen a few people do this.
Using a monster from a movie, show, mythology, reliegion, whatever, as a monster parent is the whole point. HOWEVER I've seen some in the fandom use the ACTUAL monster as their oc. I haven't seen someone use a movie character for this but I have seen creatures of urban legends and myths used as a person's oc.
If you want to use the actual monster as your oc, then make them a teacher!
The whole point of Monster High is that they are the KIDS of monsters right? Not the actual monster.

Annnd of course, (this usually applies to oc's based off movie and show characters) do not make a carbon copy of the monster parent you want to use, and call that your oc. True your character will probably have traits similar to the parent but that isn't an invite to basically plagiarize the original monster by making the "younger" version of them.

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VILLAINS, BADDIES AND SO ON

As I stated above, just because a character in a movie, show or whatever is a villain does NOT mean they are automatically monster parent material.

Sooooo many times I've seen children of The Joker and Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, even Cruella Devil. NO PEOPLE. NO. THEY are humans. Eventhough they might of been portrayed so crazy that they seemed like monsters in their stories, they are not.

And I should also mention that just because a character in a movie IS actually a monster, doesn't mean they will make a good monster parent! Chucky the doll for example. Monsters and mythical creatures ARE unrealistic, yes but that's just taking it to the extreme. Monster villains like Chucky, Jigsaw, the Grinch and pyramid heads are just a bit too far-fetched. If your oc was the kid of one of them, the oc might LOOK cool but past that, it's hard to add depth to the character and if you DID try to add depth, it would just seem silly. In all honestly.
Ok, ok to clarify... it CAN be done with SOME of them like the Grinch but there is a certain why that oc would have to be portrayed and executed and I probably couldn't do it xD

Some others to add to the no-no list would be Alice and/or the Mad Hatter since they are HUMANS, anime characters, like the ones in Black Butler or Pokemon, Willy Wonka (unless it was like.. a kid made out of twizzlers or something idk), super heros like the Fantastic 4 or the Avengers, annnnnd things like Santa, The Toothfairy, and Monsters Inc characters.
Try to avoid the urge to give these characters children.

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GODS AND GODESSES
This is a tricky one.
I, myself have a MH oc who is the son of the Hawaiian volcano goddess. And... it's pretty tricky to deal with. Thankfully he's half human and therefore a demigod and does not possess his mother's "powers". He basically just... just looks funny.
ANNNNNNYWAY....

THE ISSUE with making the children of gods and goddesses is that it kind of forces the mary sue/gary stu mindset on you. The gods have all these magical powers that are a wide array of things. Making the child of a god usually inclines the oc creator to give the child similar or the same powers as the parent. This causes the oc to become unrealistically handy and convenient. And a "flawless" Mary Sue.

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BIOS

SPEAKING of flaws! Just a note about your oc's freaky flaw! A FLAW is something like a trait, habit or genetic quality your character has, which prevents them from functioning day-to-day, causes them to be self conscious about and/or
causes discomfort or annoyance for not just your oc but those around them.

FOR INSTANCE a "flaw" which is not actually a flaw would be like saying your oc is "shy and doesn't talk much". While that WOULD cause issues for them perhaps, it isn't that big of a deal. It's just more of a general personality trait. If you were to say your oc "is socially awkward and is known to insult others without realizing" then THAT could work as a true flaw because it negatively effects your oc and those around them. Make sense?

Another bad thing people seem to do with their oc's bios is when they decide on a pet! Try not to choose something too crazy or out there. You CAN get pretty wild with it and choose exotic animals (Draculaura has a pet bat for crying out loud) but don't go TOO far out.

Annnd of course with the bios, try not to draw your oc where they will cover the words! IF that does happen (because of large wings or horns or whatever) it's then BEST to do the bio in a program that supports layers. THis way you can put your oc on behind/underneath the layer with the words on it. If you need help with understanding layers just do a simple Google or devArt search!
Also try to keep the bio uncluttered and easy to read! Use legible fonts that don't require you to have to tell someone what you typed!

ALSO IMPORTANT! Candy made a very good point.
If you oc has an accent or speech impediment like a stutter or lisp, it would do you MUCH better to just SAY that the oc has an accent/speech impediment rather than trying to TYPE with that accent. It will make it easier on you because you won't have to think about HOW to type certain way.
A few times I've seen bio's trying to be written out as the character but they try to do it in how they think their oc sounds and it makes it very hard to read and understand!

When adding friends and family remember to stay true to your oc! This means that if your oc is a shy or mousy type of character and their bio has blank spots where friends should go, don't fill in the spots with canon character pictures. It's expected an anti social oc to not have many friends you know?
Remember to always credit the maker of any stamps or icons you use to indicate who is your oc's "bff", "bf", "gf" and so on.

As I stated in the above guide DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT add someone else's character to YOUR oc's bio as a friend or whatever, WITHOUT asking the other person for permission! You cannot add a random oc from the fandom to your oc's bio without contacting the oc's creator and ASKING them. Most, and I do mean MOST will say yes! If you just add their oc without asking and they find out, the ones who would of said YES will say HECK NO. Probably report you as well because it is plagiarism. You are STEALING their character from THEM eventhough it is ON your art.
It's not yours and never will be.

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PLAGIARISM
Speaking of this...
There's so much of this going around the fandom it's crazy. Some just don't understand what it is and when they find out they don't care! This is how artists get reported and banned.

Click HERE for the perfect example diagram of what obvious character theft looks like. Clicking the link you will find a better explanation on plagiarism, as told by =Candy2021

BEWARE!
I've recently had a little spat with someone on the fandom wiki because she was committing plagiarism by tracing but insisted it wasn't stealing. Since bases are okay, tracing official MH artwork to make pictures of your oc is okay too right? That's what she, and a lot in this fandom seem to think but don't be fooled.
Just because your character is original in design and color scheme does not mean you're not committing plagiarism if you use official artwork to trace and create the picture of that character.
So, no saving a picture of Cleo, opening it in Sai or Photoshop, adding a new layer and tracing it!

AND OF COURSE, if you ever find someone plagiarizing you or someone you know, DO NOT get into some argument or post some angry journal entry. Simply leave a comment stating their crime and report them. You don't even have to leave a comment if you don't want to. Just report and move on.

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BASES.

In my opinion, bases are a no-no. I mean.. it's not life-threatening to use them but you shouldn't. Why? First of all, they are plagiarism! This is because they are TRACED, as I've mentioned already. The pose has been stolen from a previously existing piece of artwork. It does not matter if the original artist is credited or not. For example, this image is the ORIGINAL, COPYRIGHTED, OFFICIAL artwork of Purrsephone and Meowlody by the artist Darko Dordevic. If someone traced and made a base from THAT image, they are committing the crime of plagiarism. They did not get permission to use the image and it is not theirs. Therefore, even IF they credit Drako Dordevic, they are still stealing.

But past ALL that, bases are a lot like a power switch with two settings. One is 'mildly helpful' and the other is 'extremely dangerous'. There is also a fine line between these two settings. What does this mean? Well, dear artist, this means that bases are supposed to be used as an aid.

Getting the correct proportion and/or anatomy of the Monster High style is the wisest way to use a base. This is NOT always an easy task to do; sad but true. Of course, if one is determined enough it can be done! Bases cannot, and WILL NOT improve your art skill. Contrary to what some believe. Usually a base has AWFUL anatomy and won't help your skill level in the slightest.

A base is 'dangerous' to an artist only when one uses it incorrectly. Many MH bases and character 'lineart' is saved as what it called a PNG file. When someone tries to color these in a graphics program such as MS Paint, using the fill bucket or brush tools, it creates a messy, pixeled and ugly look which takes away from the original idea you had for you oc. It is scary, but in all honesty, it is far, far, far, far better to try and draw your oc by yourself than using a base!!!

I understand some may be thinking ''BUT I CAN'T DRAW!''. That is okay. Many in the MH fandom also have no confidence in their drawing ability but use bases and use them incorrectly. It is far better to to draw the oc yourself because it is completely YOUR creation and you don't have to link back to a base maker or worry about anything like that! Don't panic just yet! There are some helpful links below so hold on tight!

ANOTHER OPTION
If you would like to get a visual on your oc and you don't think you can draw DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT use a base. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT use a monster high (or any other) doll maker/dress up game.
You CAN ask around for a free commission from some artist. There are a few around the fandom who can take your description/original concept of your oc and make a visual for you. They might even give you tips! Some artists however may not take free commissions. A commission is when you pay an artist (either in real money or dA points) for them to draw you something of your choice. usually prices are cheap, like $10 -20 for one complete commission so it's nothing too crazy or out of the way to do.

Just do what you can to avoid plagiarism AKA bases and doll makers/dress up games.

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DOLL MAKERS/DRESS UP GAMES = BAD AS WELL

Doll makers and dress up games, such as the ones on DressUpGamesSite.com or DressUpWho.com are a MAJOR NO-NO. Why? Because it is also plagiarism. Now hold on. I am NOT saying you can't use them or play with them! I play with them myself! What I am saying is that you CANNOT use a doll maker, take a screen shot, and use that screen shot as a PICTURE of your oc! ANY doll maker actualy. NOT JUST the Mosnter High ones! Most who use the MH ones are usually using it to make the sibling or relative of a canon character, like Clawdeen's sister or Draculaura's brother. This is BAD. Anyone who "dresses up" Clawdeen in a Clawdeen game and calls that creation their "oc" can be called lazy and a theif! You are stealing someone's hard work, first of all. Second, visually it makes you seem unoriginal and uncreative.
Think about it! Do Clawdeen and Howleen look EXACTLY alike? Do Nefera and Cleo look like the same ghoul with a different outfit on? NO! Of course not! Real twin siblings rarely even look similar at the same time! Take your time and THINK if you MUST create an oc that is a relative of a canon. I would advise NOT TO.

It's understandable that not everyone has confidence in their art, or even possess the ability for it but try to avoid resorting to bases and dress up games at all costs! Also, anyone who uploads screenshots and images of things created in dress up games to their Deviatnart account MUST PUT IT IN THEIR SCRAPS! That is a Deviantart RULE in the FAQ right here.
FAQ #502: Can I submit things which I made using different "games" like a doll maker or with other character generators?

I know. Monster High style is crazy, crazy insane hard to duplicate. God bless the patient souls who can do it! I've attempted but I honestly fail at MH art style so hard. OTL

BUT like I said! It's better to draw in your own style than with a base!
It's understandable that not everyone has confidence in their art, or even possess the ability for it but try to avoid bases and dress up dollmakers at all costs!

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SO All of this being said! The best way to get a visual on your oc is to just AT LEAST attempt to draw them. Microsoft Paint is not a bad program BUT it is lacking a very helpful and time-saving feature called layers. The graphics programs that DO have this feature and are easily the most popular are Adobe Photoshop and Paint Tool Sai. Both of these programs cost like $60 BUT you can download them for a 30-day free trial. You can click the names to go to their websites if you want to try that.

I know of a few FREE programs which are just as easy as paint but have more features (including layers!). Most can be compared to Photoshop or Sai.

Sumo Paint -- My favorite out of all of them. You don't even have to download anything! You just start using it straight from the browser!

-- The rest of these programs are free as well, BUT must be downloaded to your computer. --

Paint.net In the words of a friend "it's like MS Paint and Photoshop had a baby."

Gimp I've never used it but I hear it's good.

Open Canvas I've never used this one either and I'm not sure how good it is.

Fire Alpaca I've used it for doodles and so far it's a pretty good program. It offers a lot of cool features as well.

Speedy Painter Haven't actually used it but it seems to be like a hybrid of photoshop and MS paint.

Audiodesk Sketchbook: Copic Edition>/a> Pretty cool actually. A program which mimics the effect made when usuing Copic markers.

dAMuro is actually not too bad a graphics app either. It isn't the BEST but it's better than nothing.

AND LASTLY...IF you would like to attempt monster high style, CLICK HERE. There is a whole group dedicated to making tutorials for you! WARNING most of the tutorials ARE done in Sai but you guys are smart. Most programs work basically the same anyway. Give or take a few tools and effects.

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AND FIIIINALLY SOME LAST MINUTE TIPS

*To further bring your oc to life chose a voice actor or singer which you would cast to play them in a movie! Of course, be smart when doing this as it's easy to chose a voice which doesn't fit a character at all... in a bad way.

*SPEND LESS TIME ON THE OUTFITS AND MORE TIME ON THE BACKSTORY. It's fine for us to know how cute your oc's gloom beach outfit is, or how handsome your oc looks for the DotD but don't pour all your thought into THAT and not into your oc's backstory! Where they came from, family, basically what have they been through that has made them who they are? Nope. This is not going to take you 15 minutes. You must sit, think, and develop OVER TIME. Weeks, months, even years. This is what having an oc is about.

*DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR HELP! Don't be scared or embarrassed to message a fellow artist and ask for critic and/or tips! Someone else might know just what you need to!

*Remember... just because a monster or mythical creature is obscure or not well known doesn't mean you can't make a great oc from it! In a way it give you more creative freedom without having to deal with cliched movie stereotypes.

*The above being said, don't do the opposite. Don't choose a "monster parent" just because you are in that fandom as well OR because it's popular. Like using Homestuck trolls or Harry Potter characters JUST because you suspect that oc might get a lot of attention by doing that.

*Speaking of Stereotypes! Just because your oc is of a certain species or whathaveyou and they originate from a certain country or area, DOES NOT give you an excuse to be stereotypical or racist! THIS means that just because your oc is the son of the Lock Ness monster, doesn't mean he has to be an extreme Scotsman. Just because your oc is a leprachan doesn't mean they have to have red hair, wear only green. Your oc is a djinn/genie? She doesn't HAVE to grant wishes. Not all Asian females wear kimonos and say "Kawaii" all the time! Do RESEARCH and try to branch out on what's expected!

*NO. Gypsies, pirates and fortune tellers ARE NOT MONSTERS. They never will be monsters. And making your oc a child of one can be taken as racist. The word 'gypsy' is a racist slur itself! I'm just very tired of seeing the daughter of the "haunted fortune teller" or the son of a gypsy or pirate.
AVOID creating oc's just to "go with the crowd". Creating vampires, genies, cat people, werewolves, and skeleton kids just because everyone seems to love them right now is a waste of your time and talent! Get creative ya silly goose! You can do it!

*Don't be a butt and steal the Create A Monster pack doll designs, draw them exactly as they come in the package and call that your oc. While, yes. The CAM pack is for you to put together and create your very own creation, it isn't an invitation to steal their design and claim it as your own. You aren't the only one with that same CAM package you know. It's perfectly fine to get inspired by and/or base your oc off the CAM pack creations but don't get lazy and just copy what is already existing. GET CREATIVE!

*BEWARE FURRIES. Yes. There is such thing as were-animals, such as were-cats, werewolves and were-rabbits, BUT this is not an excuse to turn your favorite mammal into a Monster High character. Were-porcupines and were-horses just do NOT cut it. DO RESEARCH.

AND THAT'S IT!! :3 Please, if you have any questions, want links to anatomy, perspective, or more character development tutorials, or anything like that, I will be happy to try and help! If you have more links to tutorials or free graphics programs, or you think I've left out something important please let me know!

Remember to take your time and DO RESEARCH.

Brushes used (c) ~MarianasMasterpiece

Tut: Monster High Hair, Wigs

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:14:48 PDT

oh lord my nails look so awful in this. I am a terrible boy who needs to learn to file his nails down before photographing things.

The information within can be applied to any playline doll, but seeing as I was getting many questions on my Monster High body prep tutorial re: wigs, I applied it specifically to them.

I do not generally use wigs in my playline fashion doll customs, unless I am going for a specific effect or difficult hairstyle that would be better obtained or maintained via a wig, but the choice is yours.

Before anyone asks about the wigs used in the tutorial:

* The Liv wig was borrowed off of an Alice in Wonderland Target Exclusive doll my sister owns, as I don't own any Liv dolls. They're creepy. It is NOT for sale, and that is where you get it.

* The Moxie Teen wig, complete with the crocheted cap, came off my Moxie Teen Bijou doll.

Thank you for looking, once again, and don't be scared to ask questions.

MONSTER HIGH TUTORIALS BY ME:
* Monster High Body Preparation
* Monster High dolls: Wigs (you are here)

NOVI STARS TUTORIALS BY ME:
* Novi Stars Body Preparation

Monster High OC Tutorial

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 13:44:37 PDT

This was mutiply requested and here it is!
Alot of people asked me how to make there OC's look realistic on Paint, So hope this helps.
A few Things you should Know:
Make sure you have a reasonable knowlege of Paint and what tools do what and how it works, It will make the tutorial way easier.
Make sure you link back so I can see it
Any questions just post below.
The base is by

Hand Tutorial [link]

Bases:
There are lots of bases on Devinatart
Check out people like:

I also have bases in my gallery.

Anyway hope this helps.

Tutorial and Trelice Repzilliah (c)

Monster High tutorial part 1

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:11:39 PDT

My attempt at a tutorial since I get a lot of questions >_<

Part 2 is [link]

Monster High tutorial part 2

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:13:15 PDT

My attempt at a tutorial since I get a lot of questions >_<

Part 1 is [link]

Wandering Life 33 - Watermelon Monster

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:54:35 PDT

My theme for project 52 is "wandering life" so every picture will depict some aspect of my life, generally a significant event.

This was a week of family. My sister and her boyfriend came up for most of the week. On the Sunday before this week, my cousin had her bridal shower. On Tuesday, my brother showed up, just home from his latest deployment. On Wednesday we had a big family BBQ Potluck, for which, this was my contribution. On Thursday my dad and brother drove me to the other side of the island so I could donate blood for the first time ever (so hope I'll be able to do it again!!). And on Saturday, my cousin got married to a wonderful woman. My brother, sister and her boyfriend and parents all took off in the next few days (parents left me home alone for a month and a bit).

(Taken on time, posted late.)

The watermelon monster.
I tried to make a "watermelon shark" like I kept seeing on Imgur.com, but it didn't turn out quite how I was expecting so it became a watermelon monster.

Instructions:
-Wash the outside of the watermelon.
-Position the watermelon how you want it to sit, cut the bottom off so it sits in this position with no assistance.
-Decide how you want to carve the watermelon (it works just like a jack-o-lantern), making sure there is a space large enough for whatever serving utinsil you're using.
-Carve roughly (don't go into details just yet).
-Scoop out all of the innards and put them in a bowl to the side. The bowl should be bigger than you'd think you'd need, you'd be surprised how much fruit comes out.
-Add the finishing touches to the carving. A toothpick from inside the watermelon will allow you to add other bits of fruit or pieces of the watermelon skin for decoration on the outside.
-Make sure the watermelon innards in your bowl are all small enough to eat with a spoon. Don't worry if they're not square, it won't matter.
-Add whatever other fruit you want to add to your fruit salad. Mix thuroughly. (If you add a bit of sprite or ginger ale before you mix, you'll be able to preserve the colour of the fruit, apple and banana are particularly bad at discolouring.)
-Position your Watermelon Monster in a large dish with space around it for more fruit.
-Using a spoon, fill the Watermelon Monster with fruit as high as you can fill it. Fill the bowl around it once the monster is full. (Don't add the juice if at all possible, the fruit will drain more juice when it's done.)
-Your Watermelon Monster is done!
-Pour the juice from your mixing bowl into glasses halfway, add sprite, serve as sparkling fruit juice to friends and family (or yourself, hey, you did the work!), or add some hard liquor once it's chilled for a nice treat (if you're legal drinking age).

If you liked this recipe, check out my other recipes.

How to remove Monster High factory paint,

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:42:52 PST

I've been asked a few times and seen plenty of people asking otherwise, how do you remove an MH doll's factory paint. So here's a basic guide to getting your MH doll ready for customising (｡･ω･｡)

Tutorials on how to design your repaint and how to go about the process of making it over to come soon!

Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions/

Monster High Hair tutorial

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 15:06:27 PST

This is a little tutorial on how to do hair in MH style.
The head is from

monster high characters

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:58:58 PDT

monster high characters.
characters first row from right to left: ghoulia yelps, nefera de nile, cleo de nile, deuce gorgon, abbey bominable and spectra vondergeist.
second row from right to left: clawd wolf, draculaura, clawdeen wolf, jackson jekyll, frankie stein, holt hyde, lagoona blue and toralei stripe.
characters (c)Lisi Harrison & Mattel.
art (c) me

Monster High Straightening Boil Tutorial

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:11:15 PDT

_{This was a requested tutorial.
I had already straightened all my dolls hair so I just used one for an example any how.

This is how I boil straighten my Monster High dolls hair.
Please be careful when boiling your doll hair, the water will be extremely HOT and will burn if you spill on your skin. [ I would know It happened to me xD]

This was the first tutorial I have ever done in a picture tutorial so I hope it`s alright. [ sorry it`s messy ]

FULL VIEW PLEASE.

I hope this helps!! View my gallery for more MH!

Monster High (c) - Mattel}

Monster High Reroot Tutorial

Fri, 10 May 2013 08:24:58 PDT

I hope this tutorial makes sense! It's how I reroot my Monster High dolls and I've tried to cover everything you'll need to do but if something isn't clear just ask

Dragon Tutorial

Tue, 03 May 2011 13:23:57 PDT

Well... this took me like the whole day... I came from school, got the idea for a tutorial and worked till 9pm! I hope you like it and can learn something ^^

If you draw something based on this tutorial, feel free to post the link here, I want to see what you have done!!!

I also decided to make a little, well, lets call it... "lottery" On the 7th of May I will chose one of the people who added this to their faves and he gets a free virtual request- "coupon". So he tells me his idea for a dragon (like hat one in the tutorial) and I will draw it for free. Maybe I will also pick two people, lets see!

Comments and favs are, as always, highly appreciated! Please tell me what you think!

---

Maybe there are more tutorials to follow!

MH style Eyes in SAI tutorial

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:10:16 PST

Not that long ago I uploaded a tutorial on how to draw eyes in

and one of the viewers asked me about simmilar tutorial, but showing how to draw

style eyes.

So here it is

Enjoy

Monster High belongs to: Lissi Harrison and Mattel.
Tutorial made by my own.

Other SAI Tutorials:

MH style in SAI tutorial - body sketch

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 10:56:44 PST

Another tutorial on

Digital drawings in

It's 1st of the upcoming tutorials on Monster High Characters.
Second one will contain Coloring and Shading.
Third one: Differences and personalization of the characters.

So here it is

Enjoy

Monster High, Ghoulia Yelps, logo and Owl picture belongs to: Lissi Harrison and Mattel.

Tutorial made by my own: *Qba016

Other SAI Tutorials:

SAI eyes

SAI MH style Eyes

Outlines and color

Customizing a MH Doll : Step One

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:08:54 PST

Customizing a Monster High doll step one: getting the head off.

Step two: getting the hair out

Monster High Paint Tool SAI Tutorial

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 23:45:15 PDT

*Edit* I just read through this. There are so many Typo's and Mistakes. Please Ignore and try to understand *

If you new to this software try having a muck around on Paint Tool SAI before atempting it.

This was requested by many people. This is normaly how I draw and colour my OC's (I use sketchs)

Hope you guys understand this it might be a little confusing.

Link back when your done

Base: By [link]
Tori and the Tutorial:

Monster High Male Leg Shortening Tutorial

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 04:06:07 PDT

/uploads something after 572897698376 years

~~and it's not even art huehuehue~~

i did a leg shortening mod on my custom Heath doll and here's a tutorial for it. hooray!

tumblr link is here if you want to reblog it!

Customizing a MH Doll : Step Three -Rehairing

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:05:55 PST

Ok, I hope this makes sense! This is how I rehair my dolls, it's sometimes called rerooting. It's not that hard really, but it can take a while since it takes a lot of plugs to cover a head.

As to where to get the doll hair from, there's a few different options. The best places to get high quality hair like you'd get on a factory made doll are online, Dollyhair, RestoreDoll and My Little Customs are all popular places I've heard good things about. If you have a look around second hand places like ebay and collectors forums you can sometimes get pretty good deals on hair other people don't need. Some craft stores sometimes sell it in store, but in my experience the range usually isn't great since it's not a very popular product.
Another option is to take the hair off another doll, thrift stores are a good place to find dolls for cheap you can reuse the hair from.
Wigs and hair extensions are a good source of hair if you can't find doll hair, if you're just learning how to rehair I suggest buying a cheap party wig to practice with. Just keep in mind that cheap wigs aren't exactly the quality most people are looking for for a doll, it can be hard to style and gets damaged easily.
(The hair I'm using here is actually from a wig, since I'm planning to rehair her later.)

If you don't think you're up to rehairing your doll there are other options. If you look for people who do customs they often provide rehairing services for a small fee + cost of hair. Or if you don't want permanent hair there are a lot of places that sell wigs to fit different sizes of heads.

Step two: Removing hair

Customizing a MH Doll : Step Two

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:14:45 PST

Customizing a Monster High doll, step two: removing the hair.

Next is rehairing, ~~which will happen when I have time bc it takes AGES :c~~ which is right here!

Step one: removing the head

MH style in SAI tutorial - outlines, color

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:59:38 PDT

Another tutorial on

Digital drawings in

It's 2nd of the upcoming tutorials on Monster High Characters.
First one contains sketching.
Third one will: Differences and personalization of the characters.

So here it is

Enjoy

Monster High, Rochelle Goyle, logo belongs to: Lissi Harrison and Mattel.

Tutorial made by my own: *Qba016

Other SAI Tutorials:

SAI eyes

SAI MH style Eyes

SAI MH style body sketch

Printed Doll Eye or Embellishment Tutorial

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:32:47 PST

Disclaimer: This is just a step-by-step explanation of how I've been doing this, I take no responsibility for anything that may go wrong during this process. If your printer gets jammed or your iron melts the paper it's not my fault, ok? ¯\(°_o)/¯ Be careful!

I really hope this all makes sense. For the record my printer is an HP Laserjet, I'm not sure exactly which other kinds of printers can successfully print to sticker paper like this. I drew the eyes using Adobe Illustrator.

I'm using this process right now to make printed eyes for Monster High dolls, but it's also useful for a whole lot of other things where you'd want this kind of accuracy and reproducibility, such as doll tattoos, customizing accessories or restoring and making custom symbols for My Little Ponies.

I recommend you make a whole lot of the transfers at once even if you only need one since it's pretty easy to ruin them in the process and it's better to have spares than to have to start again.

Repaint tutorial - Part 1

Sun, 06 May 2012 19:46:33 PDT

Please visit my materials list [link] before asking any questions! It's been updated after making this tutorial so there are some new techniques and tools!

Part 2: [link]

I spilled water on my laptop this morning, while working on it, so I had to delay it's progress until I fixed it

These are general guidelines for anyone feeling a little lost. Finding out what other materials you need may take trials and practice. Further information may just take some google-ing. If you have any specific questions you really can't find the answer to then feel free to ask~

I'll try to make a full list of materials later on so be a little patient with me ^^

(I apologize, in advance, for any typos or grammar errors )

MH style Lips tutorial

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 08:14:37 PDT

This tutorial was being awaited for really long time now, so I just make it now (It took me less than hour to complete it )

Lips were drawn in

If You need some help how to use SAI, check out my other MH SAI tutorials below:

Other SAI Tutorials:

So here it is

Enjoy

Monster High belongs to Mattel.
Tutorial made by my own.

Repaint tutorial - Part 2

Tue, 08 May 2012 14:28:46 PDT

Please visit my materials list [link] before asking any questions! It's been updated after making this tutorial so there are some new techniques and tools!

Part 1:[link]

Took me a little extra time, but here it is! I really hope this is helpful ^^ And I have to say, while ubiquitous, the mantra "practice makes perfect" is very true. Don't give up!

WIP: Clawdeen's boots ver.2

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 07:16:04 PDT

WIP of Clawdeen Wolf's boots version 2.0 hehe! The previous one I used was borrowed from *suigeneres but she had to get them back so I had to buy one for my own this time.

photo 1) 6 pairs of 1/2" slippers (for left and right) to make a 7"inch platform heels.
photo 2) 1/4" width white rubber sheet to cover it up
photo 3) spray-painted in black, cooled-off for 24hours
photo 4) added the straps and buckles

As advised by , her guidance was such a big help! She also did the same to her Lagoona Blue footwear: [link] thanks so much ate!! It looked wobbly on the exterior, but it was very comfortable to wear and I didn't trip throughout the whole event at all!

Will post more photos from our Monster High Grand media launch soon~!

Experiment: Polymer Clay Wigs for Monster High

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 06:11:42 PDT

Tired of that ugly mop that comes with the Create a Monster set? Polymer clay to the rescue!

More info here: [link]

The Creating Of "v" Paint removal

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:47:49 PST

_{I have no clue how
big this file will be, so it might
be a good idea to download it!

Its simple and not super
fancy, but i hope it helps! : D

But this is the start of my monster high
custom called "v" she will be a voodoo
style doll. c:

I am very excited, this is just a step by step
on how to remove paint that will
work on both the create a monster and the standard doll's!

Any question's left unanswered please comment me. :3

Image (c) Me
Doll (c) Mattell}

MH Eye Opening Walkthrough [UPDATED]

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:09:02 PDT

UPDATE:
There will likely not be a part 2 to this. I've changed my methods a bit to allow people to still have access to the inside of the head. I didn't really think it would be too hard for people to figure out the rest of this themselves but here's a little rundown of what follows:

1: Paint the face, obviously, add eyelashes if you choose to do so. There are plenty of face up tutorials around the internet if you need help with this part.
2: Use the sticky tack to hold the eyes in place. I generally make a little worm and wrap it around the outside of the eye. It helps to use the end of a paint brush or something to press the sticky tack into the vinyl better.
3: Use the glue to...glue the top of the head back on? Run the e-6000 just around the inside of your hole and set the cap back into place. Let it dry for a good 24 hours before you go squishing on the head. If you want you can coat the top of the head with E-6000 for extra hold, and that also makes a silicone base for wigs to grip.

ALSO!
THE EYE SIZE IS 8MM to 10MM! I normally use 10mm but if you carve your eyes a little smaller you will need to use an 8. Any questions about eye size WILL NOT GET ANSWERED. Also, I generally buy glass/acrylic eyes from ebay or make them myself.

As promised, here's a little walkthrough/tutorialish thing of how I put the inset eyes into my Monster High customs. This doesn't just apply to Monster High dolls. You can do it with pretty much any doll with a soft vinyl head. My victim here is a skull shores Abbey.

I'll try to have the other half up in another day or two.

Also, *BeanSproutMomo has compiled a tumblr full of amazing doll tutorials. There are some other eye opening tutorials there as well. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out and give her major props for doing this: [link]

Rochelle Goyle Repaint Process

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:15:34 PDT

You asked, and I painstakingly took pictures to show it! I hope it's clear enough. I made this since I'm still constantly learning new techniques myself and the best way to understand what you're doing more is to teach others.

Part 1: [link]

Part 2: [link]

Feel free to ask questions, give me advice, tips and whatnot! I'm always happy to hear if there's any way I can improve my craft.

If this was helpful to you, please consider donating some monies to me through paypal. There will be other dolls used as subjects in the future!

monster high all pets

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:22:37 PDT

monster high all pets
pets (c) mattel
art (c) me

Grace Reaper Shoes

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:38:55 PDT

I think these turned out okay for a first attempt at truly modding shoes.

One: I took Draculaura's shoes from the Draculaura/Clawd gift pack (these were the spares. My BFF got two. One set to mod, one set to keep) and hacked them up with my x-acto knife/craft knife. Hack is the wrong word. I carefully shaved off the buttons and heels.

Two: I got nail polish remover and cotton balls to begin cleaning. I believe 100% pure acetone is best when trying to remove paint. Just be careful not to get this on the body of your doll. It will cause damage.

Three: I've wiped the paint off of one of the shoes using acetone. Repeat for the other shoe. Acetone is strong stuff, so wear gloves or it will dry out your skin.

Four: As I have mentioned, acetone is very strong. So to properly wash the harmful chemicals away you need baking soda. Over time, the acetone can shrink/damage plastics. I am sure to do this you would have to be soaking the object in acetone or use quite a bit of it and not clean it. But I am paranoid, so let's clean them anyway.

Five: Submerge your shoes in water and add a spoonful of baking soda.

Six: It's going to bubble a lot. Don't worry, that's just baking soda doing what it loves to do.

Seven: It seems like I have skipped a few steps here! Not really. I just dried the shoes and went back to work. I used clay to form the boot like section of the shoe. Using my x-acto knife I cut away bits of clay I didn't need. Once that was done, I popped these into the oven. Shoes and all. This is not recommended unless you have worked with clay and plastics before. A small amount of clay such as this will scorch if the temp is too high or it is left in the oven too long. I went below the recommended heat of 275, but I cannot remember how much lower. Plastic can and WILL melt if the temp is too high. But no matter what, it will soften in heat so do not be rough with it when it comes out of the oven or you will damage the shape. Let it cool first.

Eight: I forgot to take a picture of priming the shoes. I did a few base coats of white to make sure the pink was thoroughly out of sight before painting the rest of the shoe the right colors.

I think these turned out okay.

You may not be making Grace Reaper's shoes, but this may help you in other areas.

Deuce Hair Removal Tutorial

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:26:14 PST

Here's the tutorial!

This took a while, I hope it helps!

-MHSQ

Monster High doll hair and head removal help.

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 16:56:13 PST

I really hope this information/guide helps someone else, when I wanted to do my first Monster High doll repaint I did much scouring before feeling confident in getting started. These are some basics I think anyone interested can get use out of!

Monster High doll head and hair removal tips.
©AshGUTZ 2012.

This Monster High doll is having her hair re-rooted. Tie off the hair, youll want to cut the hair to closest the scalp possible. The closer you cut and the more careful you are, the less time you spend on later steps .

1. The first pass get close as possible, but dont take too long youll come back a couple passes. Refer to the right photo which is after three passes. I lacked a fine headed scissor so it was still too long for my liking but we can make do.

Wa-la! No more ick, during this process youll notice your fingers sticky and thats the glue they've used to keep her hair in place.

2. Monster High dolls come with an interesting neck joint, one easily breakable. Some people remove the head using a hair dryer held towards the neck to soften the heads plastic. This head must be wiggled off and you must be gentle with that neck joint. At the same time you must use a sturdy force. Run hot water (so hot youd rather not touch it), plug the drain and submerge her head and neck about 8 seconds. Do a jiggling of the head and youll see the bottom plastic disc pop out easy. Its the neck joints jutting nobs that can cause issue.

Submberge the head 5 seconds and give it a good tug to the one side at an angle away or towards you. Study the image of the neck joint Ive included, squeeze her head and consider where those pieces just out the sides.

If you notice a whitening of the colored plastic near the base of her neck attached closest to her torso or the area under those two jutted pieces... try another submersion because youre putting too much pressure and the head isnt softened enough. Theres also glue securing the hair inside her head and this glue can be holding onto the tip of the neck joint.

3. The hair is kept secure with a glue bind inside, once youve loosened your plugs youll want to remove these bits of ick.

4. This technique is covered in many tutorials about removing hair for re-rooting. Using a pin or pin tool to push the plugs from the outside in then coming back with a long tweezers into the head removing plugs. I have another way I like to remove the original hair plugs combined with this technique, remember its always good to try out different techniques if you can afford it at the time!

5. The technique with the pin tool is great, but I wondered with how the glue was keeping the plugs together if I could remove it in strips. I eyed my scoop shaped metal tool normally I use it for sculpting miniatures. The tip of this tool is sharp and you must be confident in your ability to feel inside for the glue versus digging into the soft head. Hook into the glue and create a divot then dig a bit harder but keep a gentle force, hook and pull. I am able to remove approximately ten plugs in one tug, you do still have some bits youll have to fish out after though, you must have patience with this process.

Thats a lot of ick!

6. Before we wash and call it done, lets hold her up to the light and well visually see where holes are still being plugged by glue or hair bits.

I spy with my eyes masses of hair bits and glue! Must tweezers those bits out.

7. Give her a good wash. Use warmed water and a mild soap with q-tips for the inside of her head. Allow her plenty of time to dry, nows a good time to consider your mock-up sketches.

-------
Good luck to all other Monster High doll enthusiasts out there and I hope you don't break a neck!

Linart Tutorial

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 02:43:42 PDT

Just a tutorial explaining how I do lineart.

Monster High © Matell
Art © =DeviousBunny

Designing a repaint pt.2,

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:20:05 PST

I thought this would be pretty simple, but it ended up needing two parts ;;

This is by no means the only way to go about designs, but I've been asked for my way so.. uh, here it is. I promise the actual repaint tutorial is coming soon! I hope this is helpful, and as usual please just ask if you have any questions (｡･ω･｡)

part. 1:
how to remove factory paint:

_{Sources for the images used are either on the images or listed below:

[link]

[link]

[link]

[link]

[link]}

MH Cape Pattern and Sewing

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:27:23 PDT

Monster High tutorial to make a cape.

Demo Steps - Annika Skull Beach

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 06:22:29 PDT

Just thought I'd share. This shows you how I tend to doodle and get from one end to the other. A "How To" as it were.

Basically rough sketching
I 'ink' through pencils only. (good tutorial to clean up your lines: [link] ) Put some flat colors on.
Then it's color / detailed coloring)

Final Version if you want to is found here: [link]

Thanks.

Colored Pencil Tutorial v2

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 10:40:51 PDT

To see my first colored pencil tutorial, please go here = [link]
I really did have a lot more to this tutorial, like I was going to show you how I colored his ears, horns, and eyes, but my computer can only take so much, and this tutorial is a monster as it is.

FINALLY! I kept saying that I'd do a second one, and I finally did! It's been almost a year since my first one, and look how far I've come!

Please forgive my lame little photos. I did this really late at night, and I didn't want to bother turning on the computer. Plus, this was the quickest way of doing it.

I will admit, no matter how bad my colored pencils drawings were in my earliest years in high school, they'll never compare to how bad they were in middle school. Ohhh how those drawings did suck!

Everything was done by me.

MH Simple Dress Pattern

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:05:06 PDT

A tutorial on how to make patterns for dolls.

For sewing: [link]

Designing a repaint pt.1,

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:19:07 PST

I thought this would be pretty simple, but it ended up needing two parts ;;

This is by no means the only way to go about designs, but I've been asked for my way so.. uh, here it is. I promise the actual repaint tutorial is coming soon! I hope this is helpful, and as usual please just ask if you have any questions (｡･ω･｡)

part 2:
how to remove factory paint:

_{Sources for the images used are either on the images or listed below:

[link]

[link]

[link]

[link]

[link]}

Dragon tutorial

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:46:04 PDT

Is it? Yes it is, a tutorial

Actually this is now my third tutorial XD First one, I don't even call it tutorial, second one I lost with my computer crashing

So another try. ~huispe suggested that I could make tutorial with photos it was midnight and I then made it

So this is very quickly made, I have a bigger tutorial project in progress but this works for now

If there's any typos I can't fix them anymore.

Note that this shows only my own style, I highly recommend you to create and find your own style, these are just some tips for drawing dragons.

Art (c) Me

Skullette Tutorial

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:35:51 PDT

My Second Monster High Paint Tutorial I just need to put the Hair Tutorial together and then I will upload it. So I hope this helps a few people asked me to make this.
A few Things you should Know:
Make sure you have a reasonable knowlege of Paint and what tools do what and how it works, It will make the tutorial way easier.
Make sure you link back so I can see it
Any questions just post below.
Please Credit Me and Anyones Bases you use
Skull Base and Fangs

Tutorial: Novi Stars Body Prep

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 01:41:09 PDT

It's been a while since I did a doll tutorial but here we go.

How's life been for you guys?

Here's a bait prep tutorial for a Novi Stars doll. I recommend this to more intermediate customizers, or at least a dedicated beginner!

The needle-nosed pliers I use are specifically round tipped jewelry pliers made by Beadalon. They're a bit pricier than other brands but the quality shows.
- Beadalon - I use these, specifically, part Part# 201E-003. I bought mine at A.C. Moore where they were selling for $12.

NOVI STARS TUTORIALS BY ME:
* Novi Stars Body Preparation (you are here)

MONSTER HIGH TUTORIALS BY ME:
* Monster High Body Preparation
* Monster High dolls: Wigs

MH Simple Dress Sewing

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:06:19 PDT

For pattern: [link]

Dress was made for ~Steve-eth's doll~

Tutorial - Doll Faces

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:28:57 PST

Someone asked for this, even though she's literally my second ever custom done using this technique and I'm pretty weak with it as yet. :,D;;;; BUT HEY, I took pictures as I worked this time, so here we go!

TUTORIAL for this 1/6 scale doll customization technique I just heard about!

Bianca--STEPbySTEP

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:53:16 PST

So this is a first for moi---but a handful of people have wanted to see a step by step account at how I color the way I do. The thing is---I'm probably the LEAST technical person when it comes to Photoshop. I don't know the ins and outs like many other talented deviants and artists. I really just approach it as a painting. As a matter of fact, I got into Photoshop years ago because I couldn't afford paint supplies

I should clarify, because truth be told, though---Photoshop is more a convenience, as I genuinely enjoy and often times prefer traditional paints/acrylics

Anyway---my approach is slightly different every time I digi paint. I like playing with different brushes, different mixes and so on. But one constant is the build up of color. Color on top of color while being careful of how the under paint will affect the color above it. Does that make sense? If it doesn't, well then allow me to clarify

Step 1 The Pencil Sketch. Originally this entry was supposed to fully detailed, inked, then painted traditionally with acrylics. Freelance work decided to pick in the last couple weeks---so I ended up not having ANY time to do all that. So I decided to do something rough---just to layout the main idea. The theme for me was motion, without over exaggerating the image with speed lines and blurs. Notice that Bianca has both eyes in this image---that won't last

I beefed up the levels, contrast and brightness. This'll keep my lines clear and sharp as I paint over them. If I was painting traditionally, I'd use a ball point pen and a Sharpie to for the same effect.

Step 2 Background. I knew from the word "go" that I'd be going for a warm feel across the whole piece. This is an extremely important part for me, as it sets up all the colors I plan to work with. Setting up these reds and some tertiary colors will bring more "pop" to the greens and blues I lay on top of these. The opacity for these colors is very low as it helps me establish the direction I'm trying to go in terms of color. As I said, here it's reds, so I work with that.

I also start building up subtle textures to softly bring out the ground that the characters are standing on. Using a different layer underneath the pencils helps ensure that the penciled lines are still in tact.

Step 3 Darks and Flats. Now this is where my method becomes unconventional. My flats aren't *really that flat. My goal here is to just throw "foundation colors" down. Meaning, these will mix with the red of the background because they are softly painted, and will also help me understand what colors to use above them. Basically, I let the colors fly and land without much scrutiny. I don't get anal about staying in the lines because I know where I'm going and I know the contours will be refined later.

For example, the monster on the right with the giant cleaver---his armor is dingy and worn, but this sets up the highlights that I will add later. I do the same to his cleaver, building up the grimy under textures. I imagined Bianca's sword handles to be tied, yet lacquered for grip, so I made them a bright red hue, as they are reflecting all that red light around her.

Also, this is the moment I decided to give Bianca her eyepatch look instead. I envisioned her one eye as having more sharpness and focus if it was all alone instead of having two. You'll see what I mean by the end of this. Right now, I just throw on a dark gray over her left eye, just to remind me that it'll be covered by the end.

Speaking of Bianca, notice that I laid out the color scheme of her hair from dark to light in a very flat way. This will be my guide for when I smooth it out later.

Once all the flats are done--I flatten my two layers into one yummy, artistic sandwich! YUMMY!!

Step 4 Very Soft Highlights. With a brush that's *maybe about 20-30% opacity (give or take), I wash over the dark areas and most of the peace. You'll notice that visually--it's a very small difference from the Step 3--yet it's still very important.

At this point, I also noticed that my detailing was making me lose sight of the lines that made of the left arm on the demon with the cleaver. So I added a soft overcoat to his armor, representing the reflected colors, while also being mindful to preserve the under painted textures.

Then I add the under paint of the demon's left arm. I wanted him to look greenish, but to also have a deep blue shadowy feel, while his highlights would be yellow. Keep in mind that all these colors are in there, whether they are all visible or not.

Step 5 Detailing Blue Demon. Now comes the meat and potatoes of the work---detailing. Usually when I'm traditionally painting, I'll work with one color at a time. So it I'm working on something that's dark blue in on corner of teh piece, I'll then proceed to color as many areas that share that same blue.

With digi paint you can be more lax because paint drying up isn't an issue, DUH just kidding---
Anyway...For this piece, I work in a counter-clockwise method. So my details will increase starting from the far left with the blue demon then work slightly down and around to the right, and back around the top towards the left again.

With the blue demon, I work up his cool colors, so all violets and blues---as well as tertiaries like gray browns and dark/burnt reds and oranges. I keep my colors fairly dark, but also give slight impressions of color ranging and highlighting. Again, these are like "post its" that will remind me of how I want to highlight this guy later. I add just a bit of sweeping blood spray, to show the motion of Bianca's blade having made a clean, visceral sweep. And of course, I detail his head and eyes as well. All the while remembering his textures as well as letting that red mix into my colors.

Step 6 Detailing Bianca and the Cleaver. These next two steps are similar, but I'll separate them to show specifics. In this step, I start to add detail to Bianca's pants. I'm cautious to observe how the pen stripes on her pants should bob and weave with the fabric as it creases and folds.

At this time, I also start adding definition to the cleaver of the demon on the right---making it look old and grungy, as if the demon NEVER cleans it,even after he has killed with it! This rendering will also give it the "weight" it needs to make it look more 3-dimensional. This includes the handle as well, as I start detailing that as well.

Step 7 Detailing Bianca Further. This step is more about the lady in charge. Now I take the time to bring out the rest of her body. I give her an arm band on her left arm that's made of a durable leather texture, as I figure this woman needs SOME form of protection on her arms.

Notice how I sweep out the reds in her hair as well. All according to the flats I laid out in Step 3. Next I start to detail the eyepatch(nope, I didn't forget about it!) and some of the finger guards of her swords as well.

Also notice that the actual blades are getting lost in the detailing. This is why I didn't stress them in the first place, because I knew this would result. The demon's cleaver is given another coat of detailing, just to refine the colors I threw on in the previous step.

Step 8 Detailing the Green Demon. Now it's time to shift to the right some more. I add another coat of the cyan/dark green mixture I created in my paint swatches and add it on top of the demon.

See the POP he has now? This is due to the under painting, as my opacity is never high when I digi paint. Red is a natural complement of green, and orange of cyan/blue. Since there are both red and orange hues that are very bright, the greens and blues above them have more flair! Now we just need to bring in some highlights for a stronger finish on his body.

The same idea is applied to the demon's armor. I start refining and DE-fining the texture of it. I went for a smoldered, speckled look---as if it's rough to the touch since it's never been properly cleaned or refurbished. This includes the cleaver, as I've added a few rust smudges to add that "old" look to the weapon.

At this point, I also smoothed out Bianca's skin, and smudged out the swords. Since the swords will be significantly brighter than Bianca's hair and the entire background, it's best to put them at the end, when all the darks are laid out.

Step 9 Detailing the Green Demon Further. This step, I focused more on the armor. I really wanted a very specific look that visualize small cuts, rust, scratches, and crud. Just an idea that this demon wears this suit every time he enters battle------------and he'll probably die in it

At this point, I also begin rounding out the detail how the armor is lit. I make sure there's a strong shadow at its back and high contrast at the edges. I also start defining my colors so that they follow a more distinct contour.

I remember looking at this demon and thinking--"that space to the top right is bothering the hell out of me!" So first, I add another coat of highlighted color on the demon's skin (a soft yellow and a tiny piece of green), then I add some color to plot out the demon's ponytail and knot. Just something simple so I won't forget to put it later.

The cleaver is also given another coat to help bring out the colors as well add some highlights. All the while, I make sure to stay along a soft sweep so that I don't lose that subtle notion of motion(---hehe, I rhymed)

Step 10 Detailing the Red Demon and Furthering the Green Demon. Now a start to visualize the red Demon in the distance---but first, I want to finalize this green bugger once and for all. I define all his darks and bring out his textures. My shading works along his musculature, so that it shows off his definition. I also added some skin spots, just for added detail. The demons should pad is also defined and detailed, added to its weight as well.

Now for the red demon. Since he's in teh distance, I want to keep him there visually as well. I use very soft dark colors to build him up 3-dimensionally. I keep them soft because if he has too much contrast, he will start to visually compete with the everyone in the foreground. Meaning, He gains visual attention because of his placing and because of the lights surrounding him---and I want to keep it that way!

At this point, I also start adding a soft fog that is illuminate by the ambient light of the battlefield. This fog helps smooth out the lower background, and also helps distinguish the red demon and his placement in the distance.

Step 11 Back to Bianca. Now a move back around my left and back to detailing Bianca. Here's where I refine her face, eye, eyepatch, and skin. All these colors have that "glow" that I was looking for, and it's all because of the under paints that are very softly bleeding through.

I start zooming in and really getting those details in her fingers, the swords' handles and all her shadows and darks, as well as the soft pinks and reds of her nose and cheeks. Remember, these are soft midtones that are gently highlighted, but that's it---NO MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS YET! I know that's the fun part but be patient. Trust me, it's worth it to build from the bottom up.

Step 12 Swords and Midtone White/Yellow Wash. Now that we have a good strong base of darks and background color---let's hit up those swords, starting with the one that is in the foreground defending(in her left arm).

Traditional painting wise--I would use two small pieces of drafting tape parallel to each other along the sword's finger guard. This would preserve a perfectly straight shape. Then I'd just paint in my details, remove the tape, and would get the EXACT same results.

In digi paint, you can pretty much cheat I just used the line tool and made its thickness at about 1. Then I made two lines---a gray one, and then a white one on top of it. Keep them very, very close to each other. Then I just blurred over them with a very soft/small brush. This visually mixes them, and also allows the white not to be lost along the blade. Why does that matter? Because when we finally highlight, we can do more with a mixed white than a solid gray and solid white. Does that make sense? Well, you'll see what I mean in the last highlighting stages to come.

The vertical sword in the background(in her right hand) is applied the same way as the foreground one, but with a much thicker line. This time, I painted in the whites because I have a distinct idea for the highlights and motion effects.

Next, I add another coat of white wash at VERY LOW opacity, just to saturate some of the darks that I feel are a bit TOO dark.

Step 13 Color Highlights Now I add some of the highlighted colors. I envisioned that the ground was smoldering and hot---so much so that some parts of it were glowing red. With that in mind, I had to do some red under lighting. The color is a very saturated hue, and will provide contours to the characters in the piece.

At the same time, I observe how the ambient light from the surrounding environment will affect the tops of the characters(their heads, faces and other parts). You can better see this in regards to the green demon's head, the blue demon's chest. Bianca's armband, her pants and a bit in the finger guards of her swords.

Step 14 Highlights And here we are, the icing on the proverbial cake! The highlights are where all the magic happens and what REALLY gives that............"spit shine" finish you're looking for. The piece and all the lights are brought out in a subtle, yet strong contrast. In this process, I DO NOT rely on the dodge tool and recommend you don't either. It can become to hot for some of the lighter colors, so use it sparingly. Me, I like to add actual color highlights. So if I want a green tint, I'll add a mix of white, yellow, and perhaps a very little reddish tint. (tint meaning "any color that is mixed with the color white") Then perhaps if I want a slightly more vibrant highlight, just a bit of the dodge tool. JUST A BIT, YOU HEAR ME?!

Anyway, the veins of the demons are also created in this step, giving them their menacing power and presence. I add some glowing highlights on the red demon's eyes and teeth, and create a sharo sheen on the edge of the green demon's cleaver to help establish a border between it and everything that is relatively separated from it (Bianca and the red demon for example).

And for one last kick, I add a very vibrant shine to Bianca's vertical sword. It enables me to show a soft motion between the severed demon head. Another important feature is that the rays that shoot towards the right help contain my composition, as they point to both the red demon and the green demon.

Speaking of the Green Demon---his pony tail is now in place

Step 15 Saturation So, we're pretty much all done-----but it still needs more POP, don't you think. I like my paintings to have a rich and vibrant look. I carefully add another wash over the entire piece. This time alternating between red and white. As I do so, I add some more color to certain areas---like more yellows to the green demon's face if I need to, etc.

The wash is important because now I have a more vibrant image. Notice how richer the piece is now!

Step 16 Finishing Touch So at this point, I alsways like to consider the possibility that I might end up printing an image for a convention or something. Even if I don't have a show coming up, I like getting this step out of the way when I'm all done because I'll forget to do it later. Since printed images are CMYK, they are usually darker then teh image on your screen. So I try to compensate just a bit by slightly increasing the overall levels. It may not look it, but it's actually a hair lighter than in the previous step.

Now it's ready for print! HOT DOG!

That's it in a nutshell. I'm glad I documented this---it was fun and interesting to see how I got my final result. I hope those of you out there who wanted to see a step by step analysis got there money's worth.

Holla

Texture Tutorial

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:01:07 PST

As requested.

Base by

So how to add texture to your OC's in MS Paint.
Hope it helps.

You will need a decent knowledge on 'How to use paint'

Niamh Muirin and the Tutorial (c)

DollSizedMagnetHeadphonesTut

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 10:06:51 PDT

Well heres the tutorial!! I had no idea how many pictures Id taken until I started to put them all together

Id also considered not posting this too, and just offering my services to make headphones on commission. But I decided naw, in the long run a tutorial is better for everyone cause everyone can learn how to do it themselves them. Knowledge is power!

Let me warn you now, you will get sticky, discolored, and covered in fuzz while doing this

Ok so some special notes
-Youll need this template sheet for the wings patterns.
-You should probably really used a transparency sheet, a nice thick one, for the wings. What I do is I recycle my packaging from the various toys I buy, so I used the plastic from a Liv Wig package to do this. It has a natural curve to it, and it saved me buying another thingy. But if youre not comfortable using that (or arent a packrat like me lol) then a regular old clear sheet of plastic would work too
-Foam sheets come larger than that, I just cut off a strip. You also want the thinner craft foam, not the thicker.
-Be careful when superglueing stuff, you will get it on you. Im just used to it. You could probably use other glue (I did get some tacky glue myself but since the superglue worked I didnt use it) but I prefer superglue.
-You dont have to attach the mic if you dont want to. I just did.
-You can use any color tape you want, I just went with a nice neutral black.
-Sling backed headphones do not want to stay attached to the head. I used a clear band to hold them in place when I photographed my Holt, but they really do refuse to stay in place. Over the head is so much better.

So I hope you can have fun doing this! When I wanted to make headphones I went hunting for a tutorial but I only found ones for people. So I made this with that as a basis. I also dont see why you couldnt make these for other sized dolls too, just scale up your sizes as you need to. This is supposed to be fun after all!

So have fun making your headphones, I know I do. And itd be nice if you could link back if you do, so others can know how to make these too ^^ Oh and any questions, feel free to ask an dill do my best to answer them.

So credit time!

Magnet © Vocaloid © Yamaha
Monster High © Mattel
Monsterloids created by me

Hand Tutorial

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:24:44 PDT

As requested. How I did the hands in my other tutorial. [link]

Hope you guys can understand it.

Link back what you make.

Base by
Tori and the Tutorial (c)

Wallpaper Tutorial

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:45:26 PST

As requested by
A Wallpaper Tutorial
A few Things you should Know:
Make sure you have a reasonable knowlege of Paint and what tools do what and how it works, It will make the tutorial way easier.
Make sure you link back so I can see it
Any questions just post below.
The base is by
Wallpaper base by

Enjoy.

Step by step of a repaint,

Tue, 07 May 2013 17:36:46 PDT

Phew. Sorry it took me so long to get this done! ;; I hope it's of help. And I hope it isn't too muddled, I had to keep reminding myself to take photos as I went and maybe got a bit unclear on a few steps..

Please do ask me if you have any questions, but please don't ask about my materials! I've got them from all over the place, some online and some in person. I live in the UK where stockists for things like MSC are very limited, you will have much more luck searching for some in your own area c: When using MSC USE A MASK and use in a well ventilated area. MSC is damaging to your health if breathed in.

Finished doll can be seen here:

Other tutorials:
Removing factory paint: Designing a repaint (1): Designing a repaint (2):

SAI tutorial- Pintura Basica I

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:06:47 PST

Sorry only portuguese this time!

Um tutorial que já estão a seculos me pedindo! XD Ia fazer em video, mas minha voz n tá muito boa, então resolvi fazer escrito mesmo. 3 longas partes! Espero que eu n tenha ficado muito cansativa XD Também n sei explicar coisas muito bem, então... tomara que de pra aproveitar alguma coisa dai! XD

Lines (contorno do desenho) > [link]
Part I- Cores basicas > [link]
Part II- Sombreamento > [link]
Part II- Finalização > [link]

Desenho finalizado > [link]

.:Curl to Straight Tutorial:.

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:37:04 PST

_{EDIT{8-25-12}: Their are better ways to straighten a dolls hair. My tutorial isn't the best way to go, so I suggest you find a better tutorial.

EDIT{3-2-12}: I should've had said this before, but anyway, The hair straighter will leave kink marks, but only temporarily; so the kink marks will go away after a few minutes or so.}

.:...:.

In my recent poll the top most answer was yes for a MH tutorial; but this here tutorial can be applied to any doll really.

Please be careful with your hair straightener, they are evil && want to burn you.

ANYWAY~

Hope this simple little tutorial helps~

If any questions, please ask away!

==> Tutorial && Photos by ALittleRiddle

Monster High Tutorial

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:06:30 PDT

This is the 'long awaited' monster high tutorial I was planning.

Tools I used:
1. Nitril gloves
2. paper-plate
3. Windsor and Newton Brush Cleaner
4. Paper-towel
5. Q-tips
6. Monster High CAM Skeleton head

This stuff works 100 x better than acetone, and will NOT eat the plastic!
A little odorous so work in an open area, and as always NEVER customize using chemicals without ADULT SUPERVISION!

MH: Momba's customization

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 07:19:41 PST

I thought itd be interesting to show the process from recoloring her hair to getting her dressed. Its not really a tutorial; Im terrible at those. Plus this is only my second sharpie recoloring, first MH, and its still horrible I found Neffie hilarious though

Monster High © Mattel
Nefera custom designed and created by me
Momba (Gorgon) custom and character created by me

MH Skullette Hair Tutorial

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:09:03 PDT

Heres the Hair Tutorial I hope this helps and you can understand it.
Part 1 Tutorial: [link]
A few Things you should Know:
Make sure you have a reasonable knowlege of Paint and what tools do what and how it works, It will make the tutorial way easier.
Reasonable knowledge of how Layering Works Etc.
Make sure you link back so I can see it
Any questions just post below.
Please Credit Me and Anyones Bases you use
Skull Base and Fangs

.:Starch to Soft Tutorial:.

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:25:39 PST

_{Another tutorial!

I always see people with their doll pictures, the ones with the really starchy hair, it truely annoys me; so I decided to make a quick tutorial with the Toralei doll I bought today!

Hope this helps~

If any questions ask!

.:...:.

==> Tutorial && Photos by ALittleRiddle}

SAI tutorial- Pintura Basica II

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:08:03 PST