𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐏 | 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐅𝐀𝐄 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 | 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝-𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥

December 11, 2020 in Art Doll Making Videos, Artistic Inspiration, Fantasy Art Doll

I recently spent some time documenting some terrible, malevolent, dark fae, the redcap. These nasty, blood-thirsty creatures make their homes in castle ruins or sites of gruesome battles and prey upon any who enter their domain. Redcaps are described as red-eyed old men with long, greasy beards, carrying pike staffs or scythes, and renown for wearing heavy iron shod boots and despite their ungainly footwear, move with preternatural speed. What really gives them their name are the red hats on their heads. The red is no mere ornamentation, it is actually soaked in blood and must remain so, for if a redcap’s hat ever runs dry of the crimson ichor, the creature will perish.

Watch me make the Redcap Art Doll here:

While the lore tends to describe the evil fae creatures as having a stout build, I tend to like spindly creatures. This poseable art doll was made in my typical mixed-mixed media style, beginning with sketches and ending with a finished dimensional-illustration. I made his fleshtone a sort of minty green hue because I thought it would coordinate well with the red cap on his head. One direction I decided to take on the design of this art doll was to make his hat resemble a mushroom- surprisingly, not many artists had made this character design decision. It made perfect sense to me, there are all manner of benevolent fae seen wearing mushroom hats and given that their are a good number of mushrooms that can seriously harm or kill a person and the redcap fae creature is menacing it’s self, it almost seemed like an obvious choice.

The art doll has a Sculpey polymer clay sculpted head, poseable wire armature body, fabric clothing, and his accessories are made from a variety of mediums. I particularly love some of the dingy little details of this malevolent creature like his spiked armguards and shoulder pad made from upcycled materials. His whole outfit was meant to have a rough-hewn, thrown together quality to it as if this creature doesn’t spend much thought to how he looks at any given time.

Sketching the design of the redcap art doll

Prints of the dimensional-illustrations made with the redcap art doll are available here:

Open Edition Prints

“Redcap’s Rage” https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/redcaps-rage-evil-fae-fantasy-art/

”Redcap’s Rest” https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/redcaps-rest-evil-fae-fantasy-illustration/

“Redcap’s Reaping” https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/redcaps-reaping-wicked-fae-fantasy-art/

Redcap's Rage

Redcap's Rest

Redcap's Reaping

Color studies for the various dimensional-illustrations made with the fae art doll.

Thanks for joining me so far and here’s to the adventures we have in future! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon. Catch all of my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. And sign-up for my newsletter (in the sidebar) to get the latest studio goings-on! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and until next time: Make. Believe!

𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐋𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐚 𝐚 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 | 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝-𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥

January 17, 2020 in Art Doll Making Videos, Fantasy Art Doll

I recently wrapped-up making a piece called “Manifest Garden” that featured a poseable wizard art doll as the main character. The fantasy art doll, who I named Manifest Lalora, is crafted in my usual mixed-media process and there’s a fairly extensive timelapse tutorial if you would like to see how she was made. The Manifest wield the power to shape and manipulate reality in the fantasy world that I’ve been tinkering away on.

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐅𝐚𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥

August 31, 2019 in Fantasy Art Doll, Art Doll Making Videos

Meet the latest addition to the world I’m building, a dharkling. These dark faerie creatures are more your spooky fae spirits of old, along the lines of being strictly on the malicious side. Their wicked blades stab at dreams and they’ve certainly been known to carry out the abduction or two. But we shouldn’t hold it against them too much, it’s in their nature.

Watch the Crafting a Dark Faerie Creature with Polymer Clay

I played around with the design for this fantasy art doll in my sketchbook and I imagine them as a sort of race of dark faerie creatures. They might vary a bit and height and proportions, but they all have a similar look about them and even wear the same drab clothes. The dark upper part of the head was inspired by one of my favorite fantasy artists growing-up, Brom, though I hope I added enough of a twist with giving it a sort of dripping look. I also enjoyed this idea of the hair being these wispy tendrils that constantly languidly drift behind them. I imagine them having this unchanging neutral expression on their faces and they may not even speak at all. One element that I’m thrilled about is his dagger. I often end-up with a sharps container that little by little gets full of X-acto blades that I’ll have to eventually have to dispose of… but I figured I could make them the blades of tiny daggers, so now I can upcycle them into mini weaponry!

crafting a dark faerie creature with polymer clay fantasy art doll

Darklings are said to be comprised of malignant shadows and spiteful dust. They are the Sleeping Emperor’s knives of the eventide. Though others might speculate that their under the sway of the nefarious and secretive Dream Syndicate. With their hateful blades they come and cut away at your dreams if they live you living at all. They come stepping out of shadows and are gone in a whisper. Their faces the most unnerving of all as they gaze at you with a soulless, remorseless visage. Be wary traveler of the shadow that looks as though it is following you!

Shadows Wake
Shadows bide and shadows lied
Shadows lurk and shadows slink
Shadows stride and shadows hide
Shadows trick and shadows prick
Shadows take and shadows wake
-Efraen Children’s Rhyme

Prints of “Dharkling” are available here:

Open edition printhttps://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/dharkling-dark-faerie/

"𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆" | 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

June 10, 2019 in Art Doll Making Videos, Artistic Inspiration

I’m not sure what my latest polymer clay fantasy art doll Drust is… I think of him as some sort of goblin I suppose. If you asked Drust, I don’t know what he would tell you he is either. I imagine him to be adventurous and likely mischievous at times. One day in his boredom, a wayfly happened by and Drust couldn’t help but chase it!

In the scene captured in “Reaching”, I imagine that Drust has scaled a column of face vaults, statues with secrets of the ages locked away within, and finds his wayfly quarry just out of his grasp! Will he catch it or will it slip through his spindly little fingers?

A wayfly is a winged-key found in the wilds of the Dream Syndicate. Found individually, in pairs, or flying in flocks, wayflies often are found near ancient ruins or in catacombs. Capturing a wayfly takes guile, but the real clever feat is to determ… — A wayfly is a winged-key found in the wilds of the Dream Syndicate. Found individually, in pairs, or flying in flocks, wayflies often are found near ancient ruins or in catacombs. Capturing a wayfly takes guile, but the real clever feat is to determine which lock a given wayfly calls home.

Watch the process of how the poseable goblin art doll Drust was crafted

Prints of “Reaching” are available through my store here:

Limited Edition of 25 Print: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/thedreamsyndstore/reaching18x24print

Open Edition: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/thedreamsyndstore/reaching11x14print

Watch Details Being Added to the Face Vaults Polymer Clay Sculptures

Check-out a Winged Key Fantasy Stop-Motion Animation

BRAMBLING 🌲| Making a Fantasy Art Doll

June 09, 2018 in Art Doll Making Videos

And finally, a brambling is full born... or is it sprouted from a little acorn? The biology of the little fae creatures aside, this fantasy art doll is completed! All told, he probably took around 16 hours to craft (including accidentally sculpting two right hands for him! Unfortunately, not the first time something like that's happened, I assure you!). In prior videos I shared the process of sculpting and painting him in-depth and in this most recent one, I sew his clothes and show-off a bit of the staged set that went into making the finished dimensional illustration.

Watch Brambling | Making a Fantasy Art Doll

I enjoy characters with fanciful clothing and while the brambling's clothes are meant to have a utilitarian, rustic look to them, I was able to add some visual interest with the fae creature's asymmetrical, tattered cloak. The clothing was distressed by wrinkling, staining with acrylic paint, sanding, and then hand-sewing the fabric directly on to the art doll's body. I usually make a point of distressing an art doll's fabric as i like the viewer to imagine the secret life that the art doll has when they're not around. A life with a bit of mystery and magic's a better one! Lastly I set-up the scene by arranging fabric, vines, butterflies, and even used some small tree stumps! I photographed this mixture of found objects and then spent a little time post-producing the image in Photoshop.

Here's the finished dimensional-illustration:

You can find a print of this illustration here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/601530840/brambling-fey-fantasy-fine-art-85x11?ref=listings_manager_grid — You can find a print of this illustration here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/601530840/brambling-fey-fantasy-fine-art-85x11?ref=listings_manager_grid

I hope you enjoyed exploring this magical fey creature as much as I have! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon (but because YouTube's wonky, you can also join the newsletter). Catch all of my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. Until next time, make believe!

Painting the Brambling | Painting a Fantasy Creature Head

May 26, 2018 in Art Doll Making Videos

Now that the brambling's head is sculpted to my liking, it's time to lay down some paint! When painting a fantasy creature head, it's actually kind of important to ground yourself in realism because bramblings are elusive in the wild! I had to do the next best thing and bring a couple of tree branches into the studio. Who'd have thought realism's the best strategy when painting a fantasy creature head? By looking at this tree branch I could observe that it was largely a warm grey tone with moments of green and brown on it rather than that iconic brown Crayola crayon that we might all instantly imagine.

Watch the Brambling Head Be Painted with Acrylics Here

I used a range of earth-tones in painting the fey creature's head- siennas, umbers, ochers, and greens with touches of grey tones to dull-down the pigments. I also painted the head generally lighter than I would have naturally due to the fact that I was about to embark on trying my hand with an ink wash technique...

EXPERIMENTING WITH INK!

ACRYLIC INK

In painting this head, I tried a technique that was new to me: using an acrylic ink wash with dark toned ink. I had carved a lot of bark texture all over the brambling and I wanted a way to darken the recessed areas that didn't involve my painstakingly painting in dark tones and then carefully trying not to undo this work as I painted-in lighter tones. Before I used the technique on the actual fantasy art doll head, I tested on scrap sculpted piece I had (who'd have thought I was doing myself a favor when I accidentally sculpted two right hands for this art doll?!). Admittedly, I still feel like I can do a better job at highlighting sculpted details with this technique, but overall, I'm happy with the outcome.

If you would like a print of the Brambling final image, you can purchase it HERE.

Making a Brambling 🌲 | How to Sculpt a Fantasy Creature Head

May 04, 2018 in Art Doll Making Videos

Bramblings are fey creatures that wander the forest floor looking for mischief to get up to or something good to eat. They can helpful to a lost wanderer or a nightmare to those that break some esoteric woodling taboo. The brambling has been living in my sketchbook for some time and I'm glad to see it finally come to life. I see them as a species rather than any one individual creature and being somewhat wild and unpredictable.

Watch a brambling get crafted here:

This fantasy polymer clay sculpture was crafted with Sculpey Medium Blend, which is a mixture of Sculpey's regular and firm variety, and was my first test with that particular clay (Super Sculpey beige being my "go-to: polyclay). While I found it pleasant to work with, I thought it had a pretty similar consistency to my regular clay. At some point I'd like to experiment with Sculpey Firm and see how that handles. I really could have stood to use a firmer clay since the oh so thin branches are a very delicate aspect of this art doll sculpture. I could see trying Firm or trying my hand at Monster Clay, which doesn't require baking in the oven since it's a two-part epoxy.

I spent a lot of time during the sculpting process creating the bark-like texture of the creature, smoothing-out and trying to create the delicate lines of the branches. I also sculpted tiny clay-like hands. I typically craft art dolls with poseable paper mache hands, but in this case I didn't think I'd be able to get the jagged texture of the bark with such delicate material.

If you would like a print of the Brambling final image, you can purchase it HERE.

A brambling in it's natural environment.

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