Here are some of the pencil/penned sketches of my Gnome paper dolls.
As you can seen my original sketch was kinda dull and lifeless, and their limbs were entirely too stocky. I'm a huge fan of the Wil Huygen/Rien Poortvliet gnomes, (I assume everyone who loves gnomes is) and I like the look of their design of spindly limbs for quick, light movement. The heavy limbs in the first drawing made them appear more like dwarves. I'm a lot happier with the second attempt.
My biggest design challenge on these was Papa's beard. I love a Gnome with a long, fuzzy, crazy beard (DON'T WE ALL, LADIES?) however, if he had a very long beard changing his shirts/coats/tops would pose a problem. If I left a blank V space for the beard the tops would slide off too easily. And if I painted the beard into the fashions, it would leave a line across it where the clothing layer began and the doll ended. Mama's hair will be this way, but the lines will be much thinner and not, oh I don't know, in the middle of her face.
And so I opted to give Papa short, full whiskers. I think this will make him easier to play with.
I can't wait to create their clothes. I'm going to try and stick to a traditional Scandinavian folk feel. Lots of little embroidered flowers and embellishments, wool looking fabrics, warm layers. And I may create a few pointed hats for special occasions, like parties, harvest celebrations, weddings, etc.
Let me know what you think!
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| The whole Gnome family |
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| Mama and Papa Gnome |
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| Gnomes are supposed to have one set of twins as offspring. These two should look a lot better with paint, they're a little flat at the moment. |
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| He has one slightly wonky eye that I'm kinda in love with. (I love wonky/lazy/weird eyes on old people if you couldn't tell from Grandma Hawker in Swan Eaters). |
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| A draft of their 'every day' clothing set. |
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| This is the first sketch I did, it got scrapped and I did the sketches above instead. There's nothing really wrong with it, except that I hate it. |
As you can seen my original sketch was kinda dull and lifeless, and their limbs were entirely too stocky. I'm a huge fan of the Wil Huygen/Rien Poortvliet gnomes, (I assume everyone who loves gnomes is) and I like the look of their design of spindly limbs for quick, light movement. The heavy limbs in the first drawing made them appear more like dwarves. I'm a lot happier with the second attempt.
My biggest design challenge on these was Papa's beard. I love a Gnome with a long, fuzzy, crazy beard (DON'T WE ALL, LADIES?) however, if he had a very long beard changing his shirts/coats/tops would pose a problem. If I left a blank V space for the beard the tops would slide off too easily. And if I painted the beard into the fashions, it would leave a line across it where the clothing layer began and the doll ended. Mama's hair will be this way, but the lines will be much thinner and not, oh I don't know, in the middle of her face.
And so I opted to give Papa short, full whiskers. I think this will make him easier to play with.
I can't wait to create their clothes. I'm going to try and stick to a traditional Scandinavian folk feel. Lots of little embroidered flowers and embellishments, wool looking fabrics, warm layers. And I may create a few pointed hats for special occasions, like parties, harvest celebrations, weddings, etc.
Let me know what you think!
The second try are certainly an improvement on the originals! Not really a gnome person, but am prepared to be persuaded! Look forward to seeing them painted!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
Oh my!! I love these! I LOVE gnomes!!
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