One of the hardest parts of creating an action adventure with dolls is that they’re, by nature, immobile. And, often, somewhat difficult to pose. So, how do you get them to look like they’re moving?
I mostly start with seeing if I can just get them to stand in an action-like pose, which works better with some dolls than others.
Here’s Fern (Dollsbe Strawberry) in the shot I used to make her look like she was hiking up the Eagle Creek trail, along with the final photoshopped image:
and here she is dancing with her sisters, in original and photoshopped versions:
Her sisters are modelling my second technique – doll stands. I resort to doll stands with all my dolls once they have one foot off the floor and, for some dolls, even with both feet on the floor (I’m looking at you, Dollzone Gill).
Like Fern, Mathilde (Aimeraidoll Jinjur) rarely needs a stand, although I did have to drag one out for her when she was carrying Cosette (Mudoll Buu) through the streets of Paris.
For unusual action-sitting shots, I generally have them perch on something. Here’s my Granado Udell and Dollmore Maunier ridiculously perching on a very small horse:
Comparisons of dolls and horses, for the blog post at https://mydolladventure.wordpress.com/2018/06/07/horses-for-dolls-finding-the-right-size-horse-for-your-1-6-and-1-4-scale-dolls/
which looks much less ridiculous once I photoshop them onto their snails:
Slowly, they make their way through the wheatfields.
But, for the big action shots, none of this works, and I have to use my posing-of-last-resort effort – lying down. I resorted to this yesterday after spending 20 minutes trying to get Olive (Iplehouse Amy) to perch on a bike. Here’s what I finally resorted to, and the photoshopped version:
I used the same method to get my Granado Udell and Dollmore Manuier to climb a tree:
They climb the tree.
And to get Emily (Dollzone Gill) up the scaffolding:
So, there are all my secrets.
What do you do to get your dolls moving?
So, there are all my secrets.
What do you do to get your dolls moving?
April 23, 2018 at 8:36 am
Your photos are fabulous! It’s amazing what you can do in Photoshop. I haven’t become more adventurous with it than removing those pesky doll stands. Using stands is the only way I can get my dolls to do anything. I’ve ordered some new brands but to be honest, I’ve never been completely happy with any of them.
April 23, 2018 at 9:53 am
None of my fashion dolls can stand up – it’s because their feet are so tiny in relation to the rest of their body. For my ball-joint dolls, it’s the big footed dolls who stand well. Agreed on the stands. With the ball-joint dolls, they’re so heavy that they tip the stand over – I need to build something with a heavy base in order to counter-balance them.