Homemade textile dolls are not suitable as toys for little children. Quite adult young ladies are usually fond of them. And no wonder - fragile elegant dolls are easy to get dirty or tear with an active game. Such toys are not susceptible to washing because of special manufacturing technology, which includes tinting, aromatization and coating of doll faces with acrylic paints.
In addition, handmade textile dolls are always decorated with many small details - buttons, flowers and other elegant little things. Such a toy will be a wonderful gift to any girl or young woman and will serve as an interior decoration.
Many beginner needlewomen come up with the idea of creating a textile doll with their own hands. You should know that the huge variety of these toys comes down to several specific options, each of which requires its own level of skill. Let's take a quick look at the most popular ones.
Homemade dolls and their varieties
The doll-tilde was invented by a Norwegian designer. Surely everyone met this unusual creature with disproportionately long arms and legs, dots as a peephole and a tiny head with rosy cheeks.
In the style of tilda dolls, in addition, a variety of animals, as well as accessories, handbags and cosmetic bags, are crafted. Such a doll is the best option for a beginner in the manufacture of toys. After all, her pattern is quite simple, and there are a great many master classes.
Pumpkin Heads
Another version of dolls is a pumpkin head. Sewing it is more difficult. The main difference from the tilde is in the form of a head, which is assembled from five wedges and in its shape resembles a tiny pumpkin. The nose - sharp and neat - is the junction of all the wedges and slightly protrudes forward.
The round face of the doll leaves room for the flight of the craftswoman’s imagination. All his features are drawn in thin lines, then painted with acrylic paints, sometimes funny details are added in the form of strands of hair or whole wigs, hats, freckles and so on. On the basis of such a pattern, it is possible to create a huge number of options for textile author's dolls.
Other types
A snowball doll can be distinguished by large stable legs, the foot of which is strengthened. Eyes can be either painted or in the form of dots. Such a toy stands firmly on the surface due to the dense packing of the legs.
Other handmade textile dolls can be made in a deliberately primitive style - with a touch of negligence and a certain age. The effect is created, as if this doll lay for many years in a dusty attic. The corresponding model name is the attic doll.
Patterns of such toys have a simplified shape, it is not necessary to process slices, a battered look is achieved due to tinting with appropriate paints. The initial impression of sloppy work disappears on closer examination, when it becomes clear that the design of the doll's appearance is thought out more than carefully.
Start with the head
The head of a textile doll is the most difficult part of the product. For the manufacture of her craftswomen stocked with flesh-colored fabric or knitwear, wire, soft filler, as well as auxiliary materials - needles, adhesive plaster, buttons, glue, bundles of eyelashes and, of course, paints. How to draw a doll’s eyes is not an easy question. This is a rather difficult job, requiring some skills, as well as a fair amount of accuracy and patience.
Patterns of the doll’s head, as well as the entire product, can be easily found today in many magazines and on the Internet. In our article we will talk about face painting of such a doll. And more precisely, about how to make her eyes.
Draw a mirror of the soul
How to draw expressive eyes for a textile doll? Often the contours of future features of a toy’s face are marked with a pencil or disappearing marker. Then with the help of special threads (you can take a transparent monofilament) and a large needle, the features are tightened.
Correctly and successfully painted eyes are able to capture the characteristic mood of the toy. A lively look will give the doll a unique charm and make it unique. If you take the matter carelessly, you can ruin the impression of even the most accurate crafts.
Note for beginners
Before you paint the eyes of a textile doll with acrylic paints, you should familiarize yourself with the rules for depicting drawn characters from fairy tales (not only people, but also funny animals). Most novice craftswomen, starting to draw this detail, experience some difficulties. They are afraid to take up such a delicate work, they do not possess the skills of such a drawing and are often afraid to spoil the results of the previous work.
Therefore, you should learn some secrets of successful work. Before painting, both the face and body of the doll are best primed with a mixture of water and PVA glue in equal proportions with the addition of flesh-colored acrylic paint.
Other tips for beginners
On a separate sheet of paper, it’s worth practicing in the image of a doll face. Such a draft will allow you to fill your hand and serve as a kind of cheat sheet during the main work. If you spoil even a few sheets, it does not matter. But hone the skill, and the finished doll will not suffer.
For the sample, you can take a special magazine for needlewomen or for young mothers with babies, there you can find a master class of any type of doll with many interesting photos of good quality.
Try to additionally primer your face with PVC glue, which can be practically not diluted, then dry well. After such a primer, the face looks porcelain and the paint falls on it just fine. With a brush smeared with glue, it’s good to walk along the seams on the neck that secure the head. After that, the doll’s neck gains additional strength.
When working, excess paint should be removed from the brush by swiping it on paper, and the brush itself should be washed. Dip its tip into the paint you need very shallow, literally a millimeter or two.
How to draw a doll's eyes: small technological secrets
So that the hand does not tremble and moves confidently, the elbow should be better supported on the table. If, after washing the brush, a small bluish mark still remains on the paper, we use this to apply additional light shadows under the eyelid, nose, etc.
It is better to choose synthetic paints, they have increased elasticity compared to natural ones. The instrument should be washed thoroughly, since acrylic dries very quickly and lumps form at the tips.
Before each set of paint, the brush should be dried by running it on paper. If you dip it in acrylic, not dry, but wet, the colors will turn out to be blurry and faded. But if the brush does not slip at all, you should still add water.
If flaws and extra lines are found, then the paint, while it is fresh, is easy to wash off with ordinary water using a cotton swab. When she managed to dry, you will have to use a nail polish remover.
Do you need eyes?
Eyes are called a mirror of the soul for a reason. This is immediately evident even in relation to dolls! Perhaps the tilde doll with its unique appearance can be left almost without a face, marking the eyes with dots. In other cases, it is necessary to paint the eyes of the doll with paints. Without this, the craft will not gain a soul and its own unique individuality.
The image of a textile doll is always slightly naive, cheerful and somewhat surprised. Her features - a snub nose, a mouth with a wide smile - are usually stitched along the contour in advance. The artist’s business then - just apply makeup.
Master class: dolls and their eyes
For face painting, dolls most often take acrylic paints. The palette in which we will paint the paint, as well as different stiffness and thickness of the brush, should be prepared in advance, as well as the above-mentioned sheet of white paper for test strokes.
The face of the doll is primed with paint in a tone slightly darker than the skin, with small light strokes. Uniformity is achieved by shading strokes with a cotton swab. Then, white stains are applied to the stitched circles denoting the eyes. A sharp pencil outlines the middle of each eye.
From each center they retreat up a couple of millimeters, and again points are set. Around them are circles of large diameter. Then new points are selected 1-2 mm higher, with the center in them other circles are drawn - smaller.
And then?
Try to keep your eyes the same. The larger of the circles are first painted light brown. Without waiting for the paint to dry, we draw a dark brown line along the diameter of each large circle and smoothly blend it towards the center. Near a small circle, the color remains light brown.
This is the iris of the eye. It can be at the choice of the master and blue or green. When the brown paint is completely dry, the pupil (a small inner circle) should be filled with black.
On each of the pupils with a thin brush, put a pair of white spots - smaller and larger. And our doll’s eyes immediately become lively shine! To match the eyes, you can slightly tint the lips of the toy with dry paint of a bright shade, and tint the skin with a mixture of instant coffee with ground cinnamon.
Let's start with the contours.
How to draw a doll’s eyes if their outlines are not predefined? In this case, our workshop will begin by drawing the features of the face of the toy with a pencil. This should be done not haphazardly, but in certain proportions.
Imagining a face in the form of a circle, mentally divide it into 4 sectors of the same size. The horizontal axis passes through the points where the centers of each pupil will be located, as well as the inner corners of the puppet eyes.
Depending on the chosen plasticity of the doll face, the outer corners of his eyes can be lowered below or raised above the line. In some cases, they may turn out to be asymmetrical. For example, if our doll is a melancholy, the corners should be lowered down, as well as slightly raising eyebrows.
Master Class: continued
Having outlined the pupils, we draw the light contours of the puppet features. Squirrels with neat movements paint over with white paint. In the center of each eye with bright blue or blue paint we draw a couple of points. Inside, after drying, we place a neat black circle, placing it so that it touches the upper eyelid.
Glare, as in the first case, is applied as a pair of white dots. Then, on a blue or blue iris, you need to blend a little dry white paint. And try to maintain symmetry so that the doll’s eyes are the same. Dry pastel is also used for applying shadows. A blue hue is taken along the edges of the proteins, and black along the contour of the eyelids.
At the final stage, cilia are drawn, and then the contours of the doll’s nose and lips. The blush on the cheeks is superimposed with a soft pastel or dry paint. You can add freckles.
Eyes like real
Some artists know how to draw a doll's eyes with a lively effect, while they look not drawn, but at least glass. How to achieve this?
It should be remembered that each eye is a sphere placed on the head of the doll. The location of the shadows corresponds to the geometry of this sphere. The brightest of the dots will be a highlight surrounded by light, partial shade and shadow.
To start work, as in the previous case, we draw the central axis in the middle of the height of the face. An inexperienced artist may find that the eyes should be placed a little higher, closer to the hair. In fact, this impression is misleading. This effect occurs due to congestion of the lower part of the face with small details (mouth, nose, chin).
Getting down to the challenge
Inside the contours of each of the circles above and below we denote the eyelids. The upper should slightly cover the pupil. If it is painted in the middle of the eye and does not hurt the eyelid, the look will be ugly and frightened.
The superciliary arches should be toned. That is, the distance from the eye to the eyebrow is slightly darkened to give the gaze volume and depth.
Eyes are painted with light paint, but not quite white. This is done in order to subsequently highlight a bright white flare against their background.
We continue to draw
Fill the iris with blue or brown. Pure colors are not recommended, it is better to mix them. Do not forget, as in previous cases, to change the depth of tone, decreasing towards the pupil.
Then under the eyelids we denote the shadows. We put a pair of white dots around the centers of the pupils. The lower one is a highlight, the upper one is a reflection of it. Then we additionally bring the eyelids, with the upper ones being drawn brighter and sharper, and the lower ones being lighter and lighter, with a slight darkening of the outer corners.
Finally, we tint the eyelids along with the nose and lips, visually giving volume. A wonderful effect will be obtained if the doll is glued with real eyelashes.
How to draw eyes on a pumpkin head doll
What should I take for work? The set of tools is almost the same, consisting of acrylic paints, dry pastels, a simple pencil and, of course, thin brushes for painting. The blank for the head of the future toy should be pre-primed with PVC glue and acrylic paint.
According to the scheme described earlier, the contours of facial features are drawn with a pencil. The area of each eye is painted over with white acrylic. The operation is repeated two or three times, due to which an increased layer density is achieved. Each of the layers must be thoroughly dried before applying the next one, you can remove moisture with a hairdryer.
Shutdown
Then the iris is drawn and the pupils are indicated. Blue acrylic paint should be slightly diluted with water. Both the iris and the pupil are completely painted over by it. After drying, the pupils are indicated in black, we place the white points of glare on the very border of it and the iris. Then part of it (the iris) should be clarified. It is best to do this by slightly diluting white acrylic in water and typing a small amount of it on the tip of a thin brush.
After drying, we circle each of the eyes along the contour with a dark brown color, then they carefully draw a line of eyelids. Then you should depict a shadow that falls from the eyelids on the eyes. To do this, pick up a tiny drop of paint in two colors - black and blue. Mix them and slightly dilute with water. On the tip of a thin brush we place a little bit of the resulting mixture and carefully apply it under each eyelid.
A black eyeliner is placed on the space under the very centuries. Then, for greater expressiveness, eyes should be shaded with dry pastels. It will most correctly be applied with small strokes, and then gently shade with a cotton swab.
So we have completed the most time-consuming part of the work. There is not much left - we draw eyelashes and eyebrows for our toy, paint over our mouth. Do not forget about the blush, you can "throw" and freckles - the face of the doll will immediately acquire a cute perky expression.