Handmade Balljointed Werewolf doll

[otteroflore]

Hiya, I joined this site after I started my takara ponies but I kind of was in the middle of this project before that, and I basically dropped it... but I really wanted to finish it before halloween! She's not super halloween-y but she IS supposed to be a werewolf girl (no relation to Monster High. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the outfit done in time, but this was the goal:

and heres some additional pics showing the poseability

She is a single-joint ball jointed doll so her elbows and knees should be able to bend to 90 degrees when I'm done. I'm basically at the stage where I'm doing preliminary stringing and I'm going to go back and sand, carve, etc down certain pieces to make them bend better. Then I'm going to sand her smooth and paint her.
I figured I could make a thread to motivate myself tofinish werewolf girl
Last year I made my first handmade BJD for halloween, pumpkin girl. She had double-jointed arms and legs so a bit more flexibility, although ofc being handmade its not always the smoothest in terms of movement. Given how halloween-oriented pumpkin princess is, I /sort of/ feel like the werewolf girl outfit should have a more "halloween" outfit but also, I originally envisioned her as a pastel girl so idk.

 

[ponyville]

Ah, I watched the pumpkin girl video last year! Didn't realize that was you! I think since the werewolf girl has yellow in her outfit like pumpkin girl, they have cohesion in that way. Werewolf girl is looking great!! I'm really glad you're posting more of your work, it's really great and I can't wait to see more updates on werewolf girl. Her design is so precious and I love the bows!

 

[otteroflore]

Ah, I watched the pumpkin girl video last year! Didn't realize that was you! I think since the werewolf girl has yellow in her outfit like pumpkin girl, they have cohesion in that way. Werewolf girl is looking great!! I'm really glad you're posting more of your work, it's really great and I can't wait to see more updates on werewolf girl. Her design is so precious and I love the bows!

:0 crazy coincidence then! The pumpkin girl video is my most viewed by far though so I guess that makes sense!

 

[otteroflore]

Figured I'd use this as an opportunity to share some stuff I haven't shared before also, probably should have added these in the original post but I was looking at my doll shelf and I kind of find it motivating to look at what I've made before! And I like them and I like to share them so hope thats okaaaaaaay.
My first art doll was an anthro-y, cartoon character, ofc. This was made out of wire + sculpey in May 2022, so just last year! Her ruffles are made out of torn up surgical masks because I had roughly 10,000 of them. I love her but shes in need of repair because I made her so poorly her outfits falling apart woopsie.

This is the second art doll I made, she's wire but her head is ball-jointed, unfortunately she's VERY top-heavy. Her name is Chanterelle, because she's based on the mushroom.

i couldnt find many good photos of baby triceratops , probably because iSTILL HAVENT finished momma triceratops. She's sitting on my shelf all white and blank still :< I love her tho, momma tops has a moveable jaw and is very poseable due to the wire.

After the tops I made Pumpkin Girl, who is above, and was my first ball-jointed doll! She took a long time and was actually a project I started waaaaay before, like before I made Chanterelle I had planned another plant-themed doll and turned the sculpted bits I had started into pumpkin girl. And then I made this wire-bodied giraffe girl, which was my first foray into making HAIR out of YARN. I'm probably most proud of her paint job!

I started getting into 3D modeling after these so I didn't make handmade dolls for a little while, but I ended up deciding to try making Lauren Faust's Milky Way from Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls into a ball-jointed doll, this time with single-ball joints.

The amount I've learned in the past year while making these dolls is wild! I am definitely still VERY rough around the edges but I try and push through and just work on them with rough edges in tact. Theres only one doll I really gave up on:

Yea, turned out making glue-on nylon wigs is hard, sewing is hard, and cosclay is NOT suitable for bendy dolls (see: the broken arm). I still think the concept was cute but yea...
Anyways! Sanding and painting is the next for the werewolf girl doll, and thats always fun. (at least, the painting part)

 

[Draco]

I am in LOVE with that giraffe and juggling cat! Wow, you are really talented!

 

[Twinkle-eye]

Dinosaur!!

 

[NovelNerd]

These are amazing. What beautiful work!

 

[Scarlet Velvet]

Wow, your work is really impressive! I love the colours on the triceratops, and the pumpkin lady is super cool. I can't wait to see the finished werewolf. Her little claws are adorable!

 

[otteroflore]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!
Wolfgirl update!

I have almost everything painted! I still need to do the eyelashes and then I'll be sealing everything. I'm pretty nervous about the eyelashes so I've been postponing it. I tried to make most of the brushstrokes go in a similar way to imitate fur, and I don't think I'm gonna bother sanding the paint to make it smoother. It just doesnt feel worth it.

I'm redoing the eyes but here was the first attempt. A few layers of paint inside the head built up so the eyes dont fit quiiiite as neatly but thats easy enough to fix with sanding. I decided to scrape off the back of these eyes and re-paint them. I also re-sealed them.
This doll was concieved as being very pastel lolita but I was thinking about Halloween and decided to try some alternate color patterns. I thiiiiink I like this one decently enough:

Like the first one, theses colors are picked based off of fabric I already have. The black lace I have isn't as large as the white lace, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that. I was also considering adding some white lace and little decorative spiders but I'm not sure if thats too "kitschy". I mean shes a cutesy werewolf girl so can't get much kitschy-er already!

 

[Scarlet Velvet]

I love the paint job! I agree that the paint doesn't need to be sanded, I think it looks more 'right' with the slight texture. The new dress looks great, even better than the first (just more to my taste), more gothic lolita and definitely Halloweeny. Personally, I would err on the side of avoiding the white lace as I think it might make the dress seem costumey or even maid-like. The spiders could go either way, I think it would really depend on how many you applied and where you put them.

All in all, she looks lovely, and I am super jazzed to see more of her!

 

[otteroflore]

NGL my werewolf doll is 97% done but since the deadline of "halloween" passed I'm struggling to finish her.

As usual I'm collecting various extra potential projects. Yesterday I started redesigning Strawberry Shortcake because of Darling Dollz video about her. I learned how to make hair for my 3D model, I'm also working on 3D modeling some plush snakes so I'm learning about blenders new hair features.

 

[ChocolateStarfire]

The Triceratops, Giraffe and Werewolf are my faves