The art of the livng doll

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I would like to thank my tutor Mario Kkounnous for
elieving in me and supporting me throughout my three
ears on the degree, his belief in my work has made me
elieve in myself. I would also like to thank Jud Walton
for letting me feel like I could be myself while in the
classroom. Most importantly I want to thank my Mom
and my Grandma the strongest women in my life who
elped push me, inspire me and make me as strong as
em and ultimately helped shape the project into what it
is today.
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Contents
Page 4. Synopsis
Page 6. McKinnon and Saunders
exhibition
Page 10. Blackpool Tower Circus visit
Page 16. Making of the model theatre
Page 22. Making of the model doll
Page 28. Making the dolls outfit
Page 32. Initial concept art
Page 34. Illustration process

or my final project I wanted to write a young adult
iction and create a model of the main character to
alongside it. The concept Synopsis of the story is one I have
ad for a long time; it is about a teenage girl called
Delphine who is in a freak show. Delphine is a
ntortionist, but we find out towards the end of the
novel that she’s being controlled and therefore
ntorted by a voodoo doll. Delphine is friends with
rcy, another act in the freak show. One day Percy’s
rother shows up and hatches a plan to help them
cape the show but it’s not as straightforward as it
ems. Because this book is set in Victorian Britain, I
hought it would be a nice addition to also create a
adow box theatre along side the doll as these were
common in the era.
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Mckinnon and
Saunders exhibition
the start of March, I went down
o sale to visit the Mckinnon and
Saunders exhibition in the
aterside gallery. The exhibition
ncluded a large amount of their
ppets on display along side some
ehind the scenes photographs of
he making of the models. At the
me I went the new Guillermo del
oro's Pinocchio animation, had
st been released to the public so
ey had multiple models from the
ilm including face replacements,
maquettes and armatures.

The model on the right is one
of my favourites from the
exhibit and inspired me to
make my own model for my
project. There was something
very creepy about this doll
that stood out from the rest
which really embodied what i
wanted to achieve with my
doll. Up close with the doll
you can see small
imperfection such glue in the
hair but when you are
admiring the doll all of these
things become invisible, this
realisation really helped me
control my perfectionism in
my own work.
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Armature and final model 8 of 'Pinocchio'

Elder <- Aliens Gutknecht from Timpuppet
from Burton's The Mars Corpse Attacks! Bride ->
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Blackpool Tower 10 Circus
At one point a
rformer in the circus
March I also took a trip to Blackpool Tower circus, a
t injured doing their
rcus which has taken place in the bottom of Blackpool
ct, this made me add
wer since 1894. Although I was unable to take photos
lements of death in
f the circus during the show I did manage to get some
ircus to my story.
photos of the ring before the show and the circus
archives. As this was a Victorian circus I paid close
ttention to any architectural details from the time as
ell as just taking in the atmosphere and the audiences
reaction in the show even when things went wrong.

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the circus archives they 12
d old costumes worn by
evious clowns which I used
a reference when designing
e costume for my main
aracter Delphine. Large
ffy sleeves and bottoms
re very common with a
ore form fitting body and a
all ruff around the neck. I
ew my outfit was going to
as monotone and muted as
ssible but I was surprised to
e how vibrant and sparkly
e old costumes were as this
't visible in the black and
ite photos.

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ere was also a print of the 14
iginal 1894 poster for the
cus along side an illustration
the ring prior to
furbishments. I used these
ages as a reference when
cking out a style for my
ustrations. Although I did my
ustrations digitally which
uldn't have been an option in
e Victorian time, I tired to
ulate the cross hatching and
e very clean details in my
awings. I also took inspiration
m the poster for my own by
ing a similar lay out for my
xt and image.

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aking of the model 16 theatre

I drew my designs for my
model theatre out on
paper and then worked
out how many layers I
would need to cut to
create the depth in the
model. I intially had
designed my theatre with
four layers of curtains
receding to create the
rounded look to the inside
of the ring. I made my
theatre out of foamboard
which I marked with
pencil before cutting with
a craft knife.
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ce I cut out all the pieces I
ered them all on top of each
her to get an idea of how it
uld look and see if any bits
eded to be cut smaller or
moved. I then took an A2 piece
foam board to used as the base
d marked off where each piece
ed to be. I then measured the
dth of the frame, minus the
ickness of the foamboard and
ed this to work out how tall the
m blocks holding up the base
eded to be. I then cut the foam
cks and added them onto the
se and then hot glued the cut
t frame onto the front.

On a separate piece of foam 19
board I used tissue paper and
PVA glue to create texture for
the curtains. I experimented
with rolling and scrunching
tissue paper and draping a
flat piece over the top as well
as pinching a wet piece of
tissue to create grooves like
hanging fabric. I chose a style
I liked and then covered one
of the cut out pieces in PVA
and tissue paper, unfortuntly
this warped the card so it
became unusable so i had to
use another technique. I then
got some black spraypaitn and
lightly speckled some pieces.

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After trialling different spray painting techniques and
creating depth through the different shades I ditched the
curtain design all together. I found a picture in an article
on 'The Story of Circus' from the Victoria and Albert
museum which I had previously used when researching
my project. I used this image to create a new design on A4
paper. This new design included a row of people in the
audience, supporting beams and a curved roof. Once I was
happy with my initial drawing I scaled it up to A2 and
drew each layer out and cut it out to see if I liked it. I
then traced these layers onto the card and cut them out. I
used black and white paint pen to draw on the piece of
card adding shading and detail. I reused some of the black
pieces I had previously spray painted to make the frame
and the back of my set. I found images of Victorian photo
frames and zoomed in to see the patterns that were used
on them and replicated them in white pen. I then cut more
foam blocks and hot glued each piece to the base.

aking of the doll
nce I bought a doll with a
ce shape I liked I put the
When planning my doll I
ad in boiling water to melt
went back and forth on
e glue inside the head so I
hat material I wanted to
ould pull it off. I then cut
ake it from. I drew out the
ll the hair off and rubbed
ze I wanted to make it and
he paint off with acetone.
ade a basic armature out
f wire and foil but after a
while I decided my best
option would be to buy a
oll. Because of the nature
the character in the story
needed the body to be able
to bend at the spine, this
eant I needed two dolls,
e for the body and one for
the head.
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Making
Once I bought
of
a
the
doll with
doll
a
face shape I liked I put the
When planning my doll I
head in boiling water to melt
went back and forth on
the glue inside the head so I
what material I wanted to
could pull it off. I then cut
make it from. I drew out the
all the hair off and rubbed
size I wanted to make it and
the paint off with acetone.
made a basic armature out
of wire and foil but after a
while I decided my best
option would be to buy a
doll. Because of the nature
of the character in the story
I needed the body to be able
to bend at the spine, this
meant I needed two dolls,
one for the body and one for
the head.
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wanted to make my doll in 24
the style of a Tim Burton
uppet, I looked specifically at
he models from The Corpse
ride. I really liked the grey
undertones to in the eye
sockets and the large eyes.
When I looked at Victorian
olls they also had very large
eyes so I knew I wanted to
encorperate that.

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To create the dark sockets around the eyes I used black and
fuchsia eyeshadow and a small paint brush to buff it in. I
then put a tiny bit of the fuchsia on the lips and cheeks to
add some dimension to the face. I then used acrylic paint
and tiny brushes for the eyes and a single hair brush for
the freckles and eyebrows.

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To make the hair for the doll I ordered lambs wool online
as it had a similar colour and texture to the hair of my
character. To turn the loose strands into wefts to use on
the head I needed to create a band along the top of the
hair. I laminated some paper to create a shiny flat
surface to make the wefts on. I then picked out a few
individual curls which hadn't become too discoloured and
lay them in a line on the laminated paper. I then painted
a thick line of PVA glue along the top centimetre of the
hair. I repeated this process many times until I had 15
wefts of hair. I then left these to dry completely for 2
days. Once the wefts were dried I peeled them off the
laminated paper and trimmed down the glue on the top
to a 3mm strip. Next I trimmed off any dirty bits of hair
and placed the head in in an egg cup with cling film over
the painted face to protect it. I started at the bottom of
the head and glued strips of hair to the scalp using
contact adhesive. I followed the hair round in a circular
layers until I got to the top of the head. I took the last
two wefts of hair and glued them and pulled the hair
over in the opposite direction, this ensured that the glue
line was not visible and left a seamless parting.

Making the dolls 28
outfit
hen I was designing the outfit
r my character I took a lot of
spiration for an image from
y prior research, also from
e article 'The Story of Circus'
rom the Victoria and Albert
useum. I drew my costume
ith a corset style tight body
nd puff sleeves and bloomers
ith cuffs and ballet slippers.

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The first thing I did when making the costume was make
a mock up of the corset using felt. I cut it loosely to fit
then put it on the doll. Once I was happy with the shape I
took the corset off the doll and lay it out flat on paper
and traced it to create a pattern.

ce I had my paper pattern I
chose a fabric to make the
tfit out of and traced it onto
he back. I wanted a simple
d grey fabric with a little bit
f sparkle to pay homage to
the costume I saw in the
rcus archive. I cut the pieces
t and pinned then to the doll
I then started on the legs
peating the process from the
rset. Once I pinned all of the
pieces to the doll I sewed it
together by hand. Once I
finished the outfit I found
ome little silver roses to put
on the corset like buttons.
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Finally I worked on the shoes. I
started by tracing the bottom of
the foot to create a sole. Then I
cut out a strip of felt and
wrapped it on the foot and
marked out where to cut it down
and ended up with a crescent
moon. I then hot glued the felt
onto the feet and trimmed them
down. I then found the slimmest
ribbon I could and glued them to
the foot and put the sole on top
of it. I then wrapped the ribbon
up the foot trying to cover as
much of the joint as possible
before hot gluing it in place and
tying a bow.

Initial concept 32 art
hese are my original pencil drawings I created when
starting the project to help visualise on paper the
landscape and characters I created in my head.

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Illustration 34 Process
my first step in my illustration process is collecting
ference images for my drawing. If I am drawing a human
I always try and find someone standing in a position as
se to what I want to draw as possible. For this particular
lustration Master Oddity is stood next Percy in a tank of
ater so I needed to find a person floating, a water tank
and a man presenting.

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I couldn't find a water tower that matched perfectly what I
made in my head so I had to find the closest one I could and
work from that. I turned the round water tower into a
hexagonal one by drawing over the top in yellow pen using
the shape as perspective guidelines, I then put my image of a
girl under water in the tank and traced it roughly, I then did
the same with the man next to the tank drawing.

I then went over the
utline on a new layer
d did a line illustration
adding in detials and
darker lines.
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Finally I shaded the image
leaving me with the final
illustration.
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For other illustrations I would draw directly next to
y reference image. I would then on another layer I
ould do any edits in red and keep building up layers
ke this until I got a shape I was happy with. I would
then shade and reposition my drawing. For this
particular illustration once I was done shading I
ecided I wanted the bucket tipped over so I rotated
the image and then added the water.

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THE LIVING
DOLL