Step 1 - Choose your base

Choose wisely. Don’t chose a base where the body proportions don’t look right, or you don’t like the face (unless you plan to make your own edit later) I have chosen to use my new fashion base. Also picking a pose can be important. I like to use bases that are a bit more dynamic than a plain front on pose. For example the tilting of the shoulders and hips here add more interest to your doll. A front on base with the dolls having her arms by her side is not interesting at all

Step 2 - Designing your Doll

I never ever ever start a doll without drawing out what I’m going to doll first. I start with a 400x400 canvas usually placing the base on a new layer in the middle. A tip for entering contests, read the rules and work on a canvas the maximum size allowed because then you know you haven’t gone over.
Pick a dark colour and draw on a new layer your design so the design can be erased later. For drawing I use a 1 px brush with 100% Opacity and Flow.
In this doll I’ve gone for a kind of rock chick look. I keep the design very basic, very quick; I don’t spend forever neatening off edges etc. I can however spend a long time on this part of my doll because if I’m not happy with the look then I often erase bits and draw new bits in. This saves time later because all decision making is done now.

To carry on the dynamic pose I added a bit of movement in her hair and skirt as if she’s just flicked her hair and hips. This isn’t quite a windswept look, just a bit of movement. Think about your base choice and where the movement lies in the base or if there is none think about how the hair might flow over the shoulders.

Step 3 - Flat Colour

This bit can take a while. Set the background colour to something intermediate, such as a grey. Another tip for contests, work on the background colour of the contest site, your doll will then look best on that background colour so no more worries about your doll looking really bad on the background. I then lower the opacity of the sketch layer and make a new layer over the top. Using the pencil tool at 1 pixel thick I then draw in flat colour each of the areas of my doll. Each different colour warrants a new layer so I can work on each one separately later on. Remember, the eraser is your friend, touch up the outlines until they’re exactly the shape you want them to be.

Because I layer over the top of things I didn’t bother to neaten up the top of the skirt as the jacket would cover that. Think carefully about which layers you want over the top of each other.
When working in black use a dark grey for the flat colour so you can still add pitch black shadows.
For the tights I duplicate the base layer and darken the colour using the brightness contrast adjustment filter. I then erase the head and the arms from the base. (I find this easiest to do when hiding the sketch layer.) You can then later adjust opacity but for the moment it will do.
I personally do not add hair right now so I’ll leave that for the moment, and I have decided to leave the extra sleeves off the doll and just perhaps add some bracelets instead.

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