Wednesday 18 April 2012

                            Going in nature with my girls.











My new custom doll . She is a mermaid and her name is Nerrisa.











Thanks for watching!

Monday 9 April 2012

Tutorial 2:                  Let's talk about prices!


Ok, you want to buy a doll and you want to buy her now!

But you are new to the hobby so you must know some things first.
Well, you have come to the right place!

 

First of all, what kind of doll do you want?

They may seem similar to you at first but each company that makes dolls has it's positives and it's negatives.
There are 3 companies that you can easily purchase dolls from:
Obitsu
Azone
Volks
If you haven't read my latest post please go here to see the differences between Azone and Obitsu dolls:
 Volks dolls are similar to obitsu ones but with more negatives (imho!). Such as fragile legs and hands, not as good posability etc. One benefit is that you can find more easily tan bodies for your doll.

 
Secondly, do you want a custom doll or an original doll?
Original dolls are made by  companies (like volks, azone, obitsu,marmit...)  and they come as a full set (clothes, accessories etc). They are made after famous characters from anime too(like konata-chan she is a mama chapp) 
The problem in this option is the money... These dolls can cost from 125$ to 1000$ and maybe even more.
The reason for this is that limited numbers of character dolls are made, and when they are discontinued the price goes way up.
Protip: When you see a doll that you really like, grab her imediately because when she will be discontinued the price will rise and maybe you won't find her anywhere too! (In many cases Azone dolls become sold out minutes after they are released. What you can do is pre-order them on the Hobbylink/Hobbysearch site)
If you have the money to buy these dolls then you are lucky! Good luck with your purchases.
Some examples of original dolls:












                                        volks dolls

Mama chapps

                                                      Parabox dolls


azone dolls



If you are a more normal person that won't have or doesn't want to give so much money for dolls them you can make your own doll. OK, but how?

The advantages of this option are that you can create exactly the character you want.

What should you buy to make your own doll?

A body (volks, pure neemo, obitsu),
a custom head painted by an ooak artist or you
and clothes.

So about the custom head:

If you are not experienced in painting with acrylics on vinyl and you dont have the patience I would not advise it that you paint your own head; you could try but if you fail the materials you need to paint a doll head cost about the same as a custom head by an ooak artist. It takes a lot of practice to even reach an average level and the dolls you see in the photos above, which are perfect, are very, very dificult to make. It takes about 4-8h to paint a head so it's not as easy as it may seem to some. Paying a lot of money for the head and body and then ruining them is not very pleasant at all.
\
If you are at least experienced in drawing manga to an average degree and you want to try something else then you should give it a try because perhaps one day after a lot of practice you could get very good at it.

So if you can't draw at all and you are on a low budget, there are other options for you.
You should probably buy and ooak head.
OOAK heads: One Of A Kind head, that means that your doll will be uniqe and no one will have an identical doll.

Where can you find ooak heads and how much do they cost?

Well you can find ooak heads on the internet but you should search a litlle. I make ooak heads too (see below).
Ooak heads come in a variety of prices because they don't come from the same seller. You may find same quality heads for unreasonably high prices as well as bargains.
The prices, from what I know, range from 30$-130$.

You could ask me "But how that is cheap? It is only a head."

Yes, that is the fisrt thought that comes to most people's mind (those that are not yet familiar with the hobby) but this is an expensive hobby so if you like it, you will have to pay for it.
Think for a moment: The seller has to use high quality materials to paint the head (and they are really pricey), they have to pay for the unpainted head(7$) and they also have to use their time (5-8h) to make a beautiful face-up. So please try to understand.

About me.

I do custom ooak face-ups on heads and my price is 30$+ shipping.

The interesting part is that I can make  one for you with any obitsu/volks head you want (anime head) or style(eye color,shape,etc). This means you can tell me how you want your character(show me a picture of your favorite anime character, or tell me you want her to be "moe with red eyes", or just look at my finised custom dolls and you may want something similar to them)
This is a good option because sellers don't usally ask the buyer what face-up they want; they sell only finished heads.
I do both.
You can either buy one of my finished doll heads that are available for purchase here:

Mai-chan: 30$+shipping 

 Maira-chan: 30$+shipping






  Moka-chan: full set, doll with clothes(the two outfits you see are included)
doll body is like kelly's but you can fit the head on a 11cm obitsu (only)
19.99$+shipping


or can see my other dolls (sold or mine) and ask me to paint you something similar.
I don't make identical characters because I don't want to be like a machine. If you want a character from these dolls you should know that the doll will be very similar but she will have a personal touch by me that will make her a litle different. We are talking about ooak dolls after all.

so here they are:









or of course you can tell me or show me the character you have imagined and I will do whatever I can to make the face as close to what you like as I can.




So lets talk about how much it will cost you for your own custom doll:

body: 20$
head: 7$ (or 18$ for a rooted hair head) if you are going to customize yourself
(but keep in mind you have to buy materials that will cost you more than 30$ if it is your first time)
or a finished ooak head: 30-130$
wig:10$ if the head does not come with rooted hair
clothes: 10-50$(depends on where you buy and what you are looking for)

all in all about 70$ to make your own doll. 
Much less than an original doll don't you think?

Were do I buy stuff?


1) body and head I always advise:

 Hobby link http://www.hlj.com/(awesome prices)figures>dolls>azone>bodies and parts

Hobby search http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/


parabox

ebay

2) clothes and shoes:
ebay:
 search for: blythe clothes or licca or 23cm obitsu clothes or azone clothes fit ( PN bodies, 21-23 obitsu, volks mini.)
for a 27cm doll search for: 27cm obitsu clothes or 1/6 clothes, momoko clothes.
the prices are very good.

hobby link or hobby search: 
 for azone clothes. L wll fit 27cm dolls, M will fit 25cm, S fits 23cm and XS 21cm .

dont forget to buy the right clothes for your doll according to her height.

and  your doll is ready!!!


I Hope you like the tutorial and good luck on finding a doll!!!


 


 

 


Friday 6 April 2012


New Size Pure Neemo
XS
Pure Neemo
S
Pure Neemo
M
Pure Neemo
L
Before Little Body
(21~23cm)
Pure Neemo
(Advance/Flection)
New Size 27cm

             Azone/pure neemo body sizes:

 


From the left to right; PN XS, PN S, PN M, PN L


Tuesday 3 April 2012

Tutorial 1: Pure neemo vs Obitsu body

 

Which body should I buy for my doll?



Many thanks to the models:

Mai-chan

Konata-chan 


 

pure neemo                                          obitsu





FIRST: Legs



As you can see, both of them can sit  very welll.





2.

  

The pure neemo body can't close its legs more than that, in contrast to the obitsu which can close its legs much more.

 


3.




 The same as the previous photo; pure neemo can't close her knees more than that.





4. 


The obitsu feet can bend more than the pure neemo.




5.



Obitsu can sit on her legs clearly better than the pure neemo.





6.



 

The pure neemo legs can go a litle higher than the obitsu.





7.



Obitsu can spread their legs while pure neemos can't.



8.






9.



Obitsu can again close it's legs more than PN





10.




In these photos we see that the PN body closes its feet more naturally than obitsu, leaving a much smaller gap inbetween.




SECOND: Hands


1.



The pure neemo body cannot spread its hands.




2.



Pure Neemos can't bend their elbows more than that.


3.



More on elbow movement.


4.



More on elbow movement.



5.




More on elbow movement.


6.




More on elbow movement.




7.


Obitsu hands have a ball joint while PN dont.




8.



While obitsus have clearly more posability than Pure Neemos, we can see in this photo that PN  have their own beauty; their body is more femine than the obitsu (which is more childlike).

Also the clothes fit more naturally on PN.

So, do you want posability or a more natural look in your doll?

It is your own choice and I hope this tutorial will help you find your dream body!


 

       
                                                  

Tip 1: Optional hands:


More hands for your dollie:

For Pure Neemo:







For obitsu:


As you can see Pure neemo bodies have a wider variaty of hands than obitsus.


                                  

Tip 2:           Pure neemo posability options:


If you really like the Pure Neemo body but you want something more possable  consider the following:

You can buy the Pure Neemo Flection body( It is Mai-chan body.)


 


and three more PN bodies.

 

The Pure Neemo Advance B-Type:





Pure Neemo Advance C Type body:



and the

Pure Neemo Advance D Body :





to use them with your doll  when you want that specific pose.

Of course that means more money but if that's what fits you better, then why not?