Birth of chibi liani dolls : design sketch

First thing first, the sketch or the idea ;)

All creation begins with a sketch. If you can't draw it, you can't build it . There is a lot of methods to learn to draw, the one used here is to take a really good tutorial from a very talented artist and training for instance (it is called learning from the masters ;) : 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTQnrRiC5lA 

You can also train with this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOcvarqm4G0

In this case, we get that :

Sorry, very lousy result but not every one can be a good craftsman ;)

So in our case, we will start with a chibi version to test if we can draw it, sculpt it and animate it ;) We will post it on dolls maker forum to see what they think about it.

It ended up with liani and her pet friend spouf  : 

For spouf preston animation book, pixar, dreamwork... is gold to create cute character.

So we will wait the forum feedback to see if it is a good idea to sculpt or not ;)

How to draw liani

THE LIANI FEELING

Drawing is about watching, if you see quite clearly, you will be able to make beauty. More and more you watch things and more you will feel the beauty of the line you draw, the shape, the eyes, the composition and the proportion. That is fascinating... A good help is book by Betty Edwards.

Like Dick Kelsey advised to Richard Williams :

"Yes, but i mean really learn to draw."

THE BEGINNING IS 2D

Liana is a doll but also a mix of how to draw bishoujo and how to draw girls.
Like a wise blenderhead once said :

all roads to hell, lead to a coin operated automate...

no that is : drawing a 2d sketch is faster than modeling one, that is not the exact statement but that is the idea.

With some work, you can make a little art :

And you can draw an idea of what, your model going to look like :

It is just a sketch so don't be too hard. That is beginner art...

MAYBE A POSSIBLE MODEL SHEET

 

What is liani dolls ?

 
The goal of liani dolls  (LIbre ANImated dolls) is to try to build libre or open hardware animated dolls with libre software programs and try to monetise it with copyleft (sound crazy no ;)

In this blog, you will find all the tools needed to create a doll :
- news about doll makers and new dolls
- the drawing skills
- the libre design files
- the modeling skills in Blender or on modeling paste
- links to books and tutorials (to make affiliate incomes ;)
- animation tests, files and stop motion tests
- some libre mechanical designs and test
- some doll history
and much more ...

Why making libre animated dolls ?

Doll making is full of skills to learn :
- drawing
- modeling
- mechanical design
- animation and stop motion
- user interaction with the doll
- programming...
- use of ponoko, thingiverse and shapeways to open up the design files

At the end, if you are able to make a doll, in fact, now you can create anything !

This blog is really a work in progress by a big beginner, so if you see any mistakes or other ways to go, you are welcome to use the comment section.

Thank you for your comprehension and your help ;0)

Let's go to the infinity and beyond...