Cartoon Characters and Critics

I was out with a group of friends and one asked me whether I could make a  doll for her nephew. She told me how the character was his favorite character and he had a birthday coming up soon. So of course with any character creation, I try to get a working picture of what they're looking for me to create. There were 2 options and then his various incarnations, but she was going for him in his teen years with the green moto jacket.

Looking at the picture, I knew I'd have to make his eyes since the normal eyes I use for my dolls are pre-fabricated and come in brown and blue. I instantly wanted the pants a darker blue, but the rest of the colors I already had or could easily get. Another worry in the process was his hair. I actually created almost everything else before I tackled that hair. 

For the facial features I used felt and modeled the shape off of the eyes I already use and his slash of a mouth from an eyebrow from that pre-fab set that gives me an instant smirk.

I crocheted the waistband of his pants around an elastic so they were removable but would also stay up while being played with. The jacket wasn't too hard, just a matter of paying attention to the details and decal, which I did in felt, but let me tell you gluing on that small numbers was no picnic. I purchased the black shirt he wears under the jacket, though I could have made one or even created an attached version to the jacket, but a yarn shirt under a yarn jacket creates a very bulked up looking doll. Plus having the pre-made shirt underneath, allows my recipient to remove the jacket if he so chooses.

Another detail is a watch he wears that allows for his transformations. Mine does not transform :) But I wanted him to have that watch detail and as much as I could have bulked up my watch creation, it wouldn't have fit with the doll proportions and so I used felt and velcro and layering effects to at least give it a similar look.

Then it came time to do the hair. I usually do girl dolls and so I started the process pretty much the same way. I individually stranded over 200 pieces of yarn into the head. Part of that is angling the insertion of the yarn so that it falls a particular way. At this point I was pretty proud of how the facial features I created turned out and the clothing to that point and despite my dolls hippy look I could see the character in there. But my snarky nephew (who I still love to death) kept commenting how he looked like Jesus or a hippy. And yeah, I could see that and wished that the teen character was a bit more emo or skater, I knew that I could get this hair looking slightly disheveled preppy. So he went from these....

To these....

I had to move layer by layer in the back of his head and then angles in the front and hope that I didn't mess up horribly or I'd be redoing a lot of work, but I was happy with the result and even my critic agreed it was better, though he still commented that he looked like a famous pop singed. To which my grown up reply was: 'You look like said pop singer!'

To say I was pleased with the overall look (pics below) I really am and hope that my 4 year old recipient likes it just as much!


UPDATE: I'm told he still loves his doll very much and has lost the little watch around the house several times, as he's tried to wear it himself. I love it!

*This piece was a custom commission inspired by various themes. It is an original creation, and I do not claim ownership of any existing characters or intellectual property.*