Aneirin- Saint to Monster. Work in Progress

(Post contains Anatomically Correct Doll Nudity)


I finally got my Grail Dollshe Saint heads... and then had no idea what to do with them. No character concept I tried would fit, so I thought maybe I should Mod Them. I did a sketch of the head with big wide ears, and suddenly a concept and a character just sort of dropped on me, demanding to be shelled as a doll. So here he is, and boy, is this gonna take work.


(Yes, that's my actual handwriting. Yes, I am a grown woman. -_-;; This is why I type.)

Aneirin is this monster critter who lurks through the forest by night and strangles his prey with his long strong fingers. He's kind of a bogeyman, frankly. He has pale skin, possibly matted dreds for hair, and wide faun-like ears, but no horns or tail. He's got big gargoyle feet.
I have seen one doll hybrid somewhere that was vaguely similar in shape to this, which is probably where my subconscious pulled the idea of the general silhouette, but this doll will look nothing like that one, trust me.

I'll be using a set of Saint heads, probably some Soom Monthly hands, and Soom Monzo feet. I'd always loved Monzo feet but never had an excuse to own any. I found a body- Little Monica Harmony A type, which has beautiful musculature and jointing that I like. I plan to make several changeable sets of magnetic ears for this guy so he can show his moods.

Steps:
Acquire parts- waiting for the hands

Body
-Sand all seams- Working on these as I go.
-Carve new knees to fit Soom Monzo Legs- partway done
-Alter wrists as needed to fit Soom hands- Not needed, got the right wrists.
-Mobility mods on LM body?
-Apoxie: Lengthen neck a smidgen.- Done
-Apoxie: Modify legs a bit- Done
-Apoxie: build up thighs to have more muscle and bulk
-Apoxie: possibly build up arms, etc for more muscle definition?- Nah.

Heads
- cut and sand off regular ears- Done!
-drill holes for rare earth magnets-Done!
- glue in magnets and cover them and smooth the area
-sculpt sets of monster ears - Partly Done
-drill ears to hold magnets, and glue magnets into ears so they work with head magnets- Done!
-cover and smooth magnet holes on the ears.

Aesthetics
-cover all mods, smoothing, sanding and painting.
-Sueding- always a Must. Wiring arms.
-body blushing, blending grey legs with pale body
- faceups
-make the wig


Update 1/11



I have finally combined the head with the body. It is a lovely sculpt. I think I'll be adding a bit of height to the neck just to give him a more inhuman and elegant shape. He is a bit on the bobblier side than what I prefer, but adding neck length will help that, and he's not human anyhow. Edit: I am getting different heads for this, in White Skin, but the same Saint.

Testing out the fibers I will be making his wig from- I like the greens and blues against his copper eyes.

Update, 1/16

Got the legs! Here they are, and I will be getting fancy on the knees here to make this combo work.



As you can see, the LM body has knees designed almost exactly opposite to the Soom grey legs I want to use, so I'll be more or less making entirely new knees. The angle will need to be set carefully so that the doll maintains a good center of balance over these digitigrade feet, but I think it can be done. I'll be cutting the LM leg a little higher up, where the width of the LM thigh matches the Soom leg better.

I am altering my mod list of steps up there at the top of this first post accordingly as I figure out each of the steps this project will take. Stay tuned!

Update 1/21
I have figured out a few things, so for the next while I'll be working on the body until I get the rest sorted, and believe me it will take some work!

Here's a ridiculous but useful shot of how the torso looked before I started to do anything to it.


Then today I worked on defining the muscle a little bit more, particularly underneath the pecs.


Those of you who are shy of body parts, avert your eyes please...

The Little Monica body is nicely sculpted, but it had a pitiful representation of what ought to have been anatomical bits, so I am attempting to give him a bit more dignity and realism. I've never understood why a sculptor can include the nuances of musculature, and then stick on an oval dot and call it genitals. I don't care what size they make them but the attempt should be made to get them to resemble actual parts.

I carved the knees away from the thighs to give them the right proportion of length to the grey lower legs, but as I compare them to the lower legs, I think I am going to use Apoxie Sculpt to form the new joints. Then I'll be adding bulk to the thighs, in the style of Soom's Chalco legs.

More to come, of course. When, I am not sure.




Update February 8th.

I've done some work on the Saint head and faceplate set, and started the rough sculpt of the monster ears. The original ears got sawed off neatly.

Here's a shot of the faceplates, de-eared and smoothed out. The sawing took moments, the sanding took hoooooooours. Uf.

This is the neutral-pose set of ears, made out of Sculpey polymer clay. They need refining and sanding of course, but this is the rough shape. Eventually they'll be much smoother and sleeker.

Updates continue in Part II!