Ball Jointed Dude WIP Update

bjd talk

So let me reiterate how this is my first true BJD project. I take him with me mostly everywhere. In my back pack. I'm surprised he has not broken yet. But I'm eager to always work on him anywhere or pull him out for inspiration. I'm still learning everything along the way. The most complicated and sometimes enjoyable bumps are joints and always joints. I must have done and redone his elbow and knee joints at least three or four times. And as I take these pictures there's still plenty of work to be done on them. Mostly because it is me struggling to design my own but also using the jointing mechanisms already out there. I settled with a pull out knee for now but might change it into what I call an "armor cap" knee. I'm happy, at the very least, that my sculpture looks like my illustrations, doodles and drawings in a physical 3D form. Awesome feeling.

It's been almost three months me working on this project. I started the end of November. It's rewarding every step of the way and when I get frustrated and take two days off from looking at him I pick him up again and am pleased with my progress.

life ramblings

Part of the reason I love my job is finding these awesome miniatures (bottom right picture) and getting first dibs on them. And every day I am engaged with many other creatives. Sometimes it's mentally exhausting. People exhaust me. I feel like a Reiki Healer, absorbing everyone's energies and always trying to send it out to the universe. Yet, myself, desperate for relief. Kindness seems more and more like a muscle. Like doing push-ups and building biceps. The more kindness push-ups you do the stronger your kindness bicep will be. Meat-head Philosophy? Go figure. 

Elbow Joints!

Finished elbow joints. Took a few days.  I call it the "magic bean" or the "bicep bean". ON TO HANDS! 

Working on arms.

Face, face, face.

Added hair, eyebrows, refined ears and worked on facial symmetry. I foresee it will be easier to do the rest of his parts with an inspiring face and body.

Much, much BJD progress!

A day and a half worth of refining details at my fellow artist/friend Megan (♥) and Astor Place Starbucks. Crafting outside my house took away major distractions and this was literally the product of 10-12 hours of labor. Took note of one of my favorite sculptors (art-iculated.tumblr.com) and focused on torso then head then on to limbs. Now that I have a good idea on the joint mechanics I can now comfortably focus on details. Details these past two days were muscle work and face refinement. Originally had a face model but now letting the project gain an identity on it's own. Anatomy from memory. Also thanks to inspiration from Den of Angels forum and Hanano, took away underwear like pelvis joint that REALLY bothered me and replaced with pelvis joint that preserves the beauty of the male hip V bone among other things.

Unloaded another $30+ at the Compleat Sculptor today but after taking my time browsing everything I usually get there I end up using A LOT. I think on my next post I'd like to share my tools that I use mostly. Thanks for stopping by, keep in touch! Ciao.

BJD Update

After much research finally added working double jointed knees and elbows. Also cut pelvis as separate piece for extra poses. While the always straight back poses I have seen a lot in female BJDs looks attractive I am personally attracted to slouchy boys/slouchy male figures. Emo-chic, lol. I have spent the greater part of the month doing research (largely in this forum LOL) and learning which at first seemed futile but now I'm glad I've read and learned all the things I did I'll need to know in the future for this art genre. His hands are still a sketch among other things please excuse them. My next things to do are make locking grooves. Does anyone else make lock grooves to hold poses? I think I saw the technique on DollShe. I also want to change the ball look on his hips into a smoother one part form like the shoulders. I find myself getting ahead of myself and buying materials I don't immediately need but will eventually lol. What I'm most excited about is reading about Flumo Casting Slip. Porcelain quality finish without a kiln? Ugh, excitement. So much more to do, all the more excitement. Thanks for looking.  Cheers!

EDIT/ADD:

The College called YouTube.

Hey all, still quiet on the frontier here. I recently did an overhaul of my room to make it crafting friendly. And when I'm home, though I have not really been crafting, I am always watching a tutorial on YouTube or reading the forums learning new things. Right now watching these two:

Catch you all later, I'll update more when I can.