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A Christmas card for the in-laws

Tis the season to be jolly

So here are the Russian dolls I created for my daughter for her first Christmas. I won't be showing her how to open them for a few years though - That small one could be dangerous in a little one's mouth/throat. POSCA with plastikote varnish.

Codename: Babushka

The London Graphic Centre does three sizes of Russian dolls in plain wood. I'd spotted these on a previous visit and planned to create some for my daughter. After seeing the previews for the Codename: Babushka show mentioned previously, I purchased the mid-size set.

Here, then, are WIP shots of my 5 dolls...

Out and about

Last Thursday I popped into KidrobotLDN to see the Codename: Babushka exhibition. Had a nice chat with @flattiestoys, who pointed me in the direction of their next project 'Just in time'. It's a 'Back to the future' based showcase, and I have a hankering to have a go at Doc Brown. Watch this space.

Rictus

A completed rictus. Of course I say that, but I usually spot something else that needs touching up in the 'finished' photos.

Rictus - further WIP

Rictus is coming along nicely. Here you see further work on his hair, flower, shoes and further coats evening out his flesh and face paint.

Rictus WIP

Here's some early work in progress for Rictus. I used a pink Munny, all colours by POSCA. The hat is from a Cornetto!

Concept for Rictus

Another of those sticker sheets mocking up Rictus, the eebil clown

More concept sketches

Here are a few pencil sketches for future Cape Eebil denizens.

Magma - Some WIP

Here are a few work in progress shots for Magma. You can see how the lava pattern was built up, and I've included a shot of the markers I used.

POSCAs and other markers used on this project

Magma

Here's my latest Munny custom - Magma, the eebil fire elemental.

POSCA on orange vinyl. WIP shots to follow.

Monschta

I did a bit of work on Debbil with POSCAs, but after purchasing two tones of blue and a blue vinyl Munny, I had to let loose on a new toy.

I worked from the feet up, with the arms separate, first with dark blue, then light blue. The claws are grey, overpainted with White. The crest is from a Glow on the dark (GID) Munny. I used a couple of dabs of superglue to attach it.

As you can see, he didn't come put exactly like the sketch, but I like the way he looks. Working entirely with POSCA markers meant there were no issues with drying, and the whole job was complete in 1.5 hours. I'm still debating whether to add a cape at the moment.

Design for Monschta

A preliminary, uncoloured sketch for Monschta, an eebil sea monster.

Capes!

As mentioned before, many of the Cape Eebil characters will wear capes. The Vinyl/plasticard I bought is quite flexible, so I made a cape for Debbil.

I started by making test capes out of paper. For the first attempts, I kept the collar and cloak as separate pieces, but I made them one piece for the final cut.

The cape is anchored to the Munny by the neck ring. Thus my template was essentially two triangles with a ring between them. Once I had cut the cape out, I folded it across the ring - this left a half-circle that I could then slide into the neck gap from the back. The cape and the hood needed bending up and down to make them sit properly.

Finally, I added some creases to the cloak so that it sits over his trident.

The last thing was to colour one side of the red vinyl black. I decided on red outer, black inner - opposite to Vampy. Pictures below.

Debbil WIP

Work continues apace on Debbil. The White POSCA covered red vinyl in two coats, which I found impressive. Here are some more WIP shots

POSCA enlightenment

Later the same day that I had been in Lawrence's, we were in Brighton, and I visited Clarke's Stationers. This was to be my final port of call in my search for 'thin vinyl'.

Part of the reason it's called Cape Eebil is that many of the characters will wear capes. So I asked in Lawrence's, then C&H fabrics (a multi-storey haberdashers) and finally Clarke's, where I found something 'close enough'.

After purchasing the plasticard/vinyl, I took a look around their pen department, and saw the awesome display of colour that is their 'official reseller' POSCA cabinet.

For those of you not familiar (and you sure will be if you follow this blog), these fine markers deliver an ink so thick in consistency that it covers like paint. As I discovered soon after, it goes straight on the vinyl and dries to the touch. In short, they're perfectly suited to my task here, and have become my weapon of choice in a very short time.

Anyway, I bought some, as you might imagine. They come in varying sizes. As I favour brushes, I bought highlight colours in those (White, yellow, gold and, er, black. Hm). They also come in ultra-fine, extra-fine, fine, medium, broad and extra-broad. Unfortunately, not all colours come in all sizes - I've ended up with mainly fine markers.

Work begins on Debbil

Using my newly discovered Pilot marker, I started on Debbil.

The pilot worked really well, creating this with none of the smudge of sharpies. As mentioned before, the Extra-fine is not great for covering large areas, such as his head.

Original design for Debbil

I find these stickers, provided with every Munny, really useful for deciding on the look of each custom toy. This is Debbil.