Let’s pretend this is a audition

I Let’s “pretend” this is an audition to be a prototype artist

Share your “best of show” one baby, no more than 5 pictures.

Include detail pictures hands feet hair etc

Show off your skills. What do you excel at? Rooting? Painted hair? Is it your unique style?

Be sure to mention what kit you painted and what products you used. Mohair prisma Golden ghsp etc did you texture skin? What did you use to seal.

Include a little intro and some background on how you got started, how long you’ve been reborning, how long it takes you to create a baby and why you’d want to be a prototype artist.

If you are serious this is an interesting read.
https://m.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152744645098494&id=191861613493

Not sure how old this is… says save the date so I thought I’d share with my favorite artists

@Reborndaddyog
@PaperCityDolls

7 Likes

I will start by breaking the rules and posting photos of a couple babies. I don’t have one favorite baby.

(By the way I think this is a cool thread and it is a super great way to get people to self affirm, our inner critic can really mess with our heads, appreciating the best parts of ourselves makes us better people at the end of the day thanks)

I use GHSP. I have used air dry for a couple alternative babies and although I do illustrate and paint in acrylic I am not a fan of painting with air dry on vinyl, I get frustrated with shading and drying time.

I started painting babies a couple years ago by accident, a friend asked, I said no, felt bad, got on you tube, bought the paint and a kit and made her a baby (not a pretty one). I had left over supplies after that first baby so I kept going, sold a couple on Etsy and thought, I am gonna do more of this, it is so relaxing and fun.

In order to justify the cost I turned it into a business (that honestly I did not put enough thought into at the time).

Here I am a couple years later, still having fun, the “business” is doing well and I have met some really awesome ladies I consider friends. Never in a million years did I think I would be here doing this and saying no to other projects so I could get babies made.

No regrets.

I am starting silicone in March.

I think my style would be…hard to say. I paint deeply, that means I am gaudy. I like a lot of color, shading, shadow, depth, I like to see the paint on a baby. I am shooting for realism but not at the cost of being a bit painterly, if that makes sense. I guess what that means is I will sacrifice realism if I think something looks interesting and appeals to me.

I love hair painting and I root like a cave man. It isn’t terrible but I love that beautiful very detailed one strand at a time rooting some ladies do. My goodness rooting is a labor of love. I root directionally and I process and dye most of my own mohair now. I get one, maybe two hairs in at a time but mostly I am rooting for affect not perfection.

I struggled with hair painting at first but I was determined to figure it out. I don’t use realism when I illustrate so my baby hair looked a bit like a drawing hair instead of actual hair, but I just keep practicing and it is coming along nicely, my favorite part of the whole process is painting hair, it is meditative. Really if you think about it, it’s a mandala.

Why I want to be a prototype artist:

I want to have worked hard, developed my skills to point where another artist trusts me to paint their sculpt in a way that will make people fall in love with their baby a little bit more. I love collaboration, and really that is what is happening with prototypes, artist and artist are blending their craft to create something beautiful, how cool is that?

I think I am a hard worker, I am efficient, I try to work from a place of integrity, I know how to stick to a deadline without compromising creativity, I deliver the best of what I have. I will admit that pressure to perform well can stress me out a little but I have developed a way to ride that out, mostly just doing my best and surrounding myself with supportive art friends who are honest and kind.

Here are some random photos of babies I have painted over the last couple years.


!(upload://azPh88yGiOsY0Swx8kL6fakvWy6.jpeg)

22 Likes

@Gabriell you definately have defined your style. I haven’t seen a baby painted like yours ever! They are truly recognizable :heart_eyes:

3 Likes

So awesome. Who is the first little boy? He would win a pageant )

1 Like

Little Darren I believe.

and thank you.

Aww thank you. I am eagerly awaiting more replies to your post, we have some awesome artists here.

1 Like

I am lucky enough to have a baby painted by @Gabriell… this baby is just amazingly PERFECT :heart:

4 Likes

I’m waiting too, there are some amazingly talented people here, it’s kind of a big ask to put together, but I would love to see someone featured as a prototype artist.

I just wanted to give you guys a little feature spotlight so to speak, because hey “you never know” :wink:

I thought the first article was interesting. That doll sculptors actually want artist to send them inquiries. Since you all do the above you can package it up into an inquiry email and send it off to your favorite sculptors :heart_eyes:

4 Likes

I am planning on chiming in today. We are traveling home from our winter vacation, soon as I get ready and we are back on the road for the day I will try and narrow it down to 1 baby😁

2 Likes

I am pretty sure this is my 4th year reborning, sorta lost track a bit. I had been doing newborn photo shoots for many years, I found myself making so many props that I decided to open an Etsy shop to sell my creations. Then I didn’t have enough baby shoots for everything I was creating so I bought a couple of realborn dolls from a sweet artist who then encouraged me to try my hand at making one for myself. Being a photographer, capturing details was very important to me. Lashes feet, fingers etc. that now translates over into the babies I now create. I would love to be a prototype artist, not only so I can give my clients peace of mind as to the quality of my workmanship but to know all my constantly trying to improve actually was achieving a high quality baby.

Choosing a single baby is killer since I do different ethnicities but I am more of a follow the rules kinda girl (not a rebel like @Gabriell :wink::grin:)

My style I am finding is not anything stand out different than most that paint for realism, but, my detailing is vital to me. My clients tell me over and over again that they buy my babies because they look so realistic, stops them scrolling to see, then they are thoroughly impressed with how even more realistic they look in person. I have received letter after letter sharing this with me.

I use premium quality mohair only, I paint with GHSP, I paint my prows and then seal with GHS matte sealer.

The Favorite it…Skya, she was my first and only A.A. Baby so far.

19 Likes

Your story is exactly my story :heart_eyes: you should definately do another aa baby

1 Like

Thank you, kindred sisters❤️ My newborn photog was only for friends and family, although I have over 60 nieces and nephews so they all kept me busy🤣

3 Likes

You absolutely deserve to do a prototype; I love your work! You never fail to deliver a perfectly precious baby ~ one day I will own one :two_hearts:

3 Likes

Hello Karen! Thank you you are my confidence boost :two_hearts::heart_eyes:. If I ever start to collect we can do a baby exchange!

3 Likes

DEAL! :two_hearts:

3 Likes

I am going to follow @Gabriell’s lead and use a couple of different babies. I don’t have just one favorite and my best rooting does not necessarily accompany my best painting.

I use GHSP. I like the way that it moves, mixes, and layers. I have tried UF with the 3D painted hair kit and while I love the tutorial, I do not care for the air dry paints.

I started painting babies in October 2018. I have always loved painting, but I had never really tried anything other than watercolors. Maybe that is why I like GHSP - it is more watercolor like to me that acrylics :thinking: Anyways, my daughter wanted a real baby and showed me a YouTube channel with a reborn and said she wanted one for her 10th birthday. I said absolutely not, but it got me thinking. I talked to Hubs about it and he said that he believed in me and that if I wanted to try he would buy the supplies. Sold.

I painted my first two babies and rooted one of them. They were OK and I sold them both. I used that money to buy more kits and just kept going like that until I started to really turn a profit. I only paint babies that I like and I prefer to paint them my way. I view every baby as if I might end up keeping it and this helps me stay true to my style.

My style of painting is inspired by Impressionism, Luminism, and Art Nouveau. Think Thomas Kinkade and Alphonse Mucha. I do not just strive for a realistic baby, I want a 3D painting of a baby that captures as much light and color as I can. I will always side with the painting aspect of reborning over the hyper-realism.

I love painted hair, but I currently lack the skills/experience to pull it off. I am a decent rooter and I can get hair that lays flat, is very smooth, and has clear directionality. I am working to improve my monorooting. I hope to be able to root sparsely when I want to and not just as a happy accident. I also struggle with photography and I just don’t have an eye for composition.

Why I want to be a prototype artist:

I feel that it would be a validation, a sense of arrival, for someone to choose me and my work to premier their sculpt. I love it when the prototype babies differ greatly from each other and I do believe that my style is unique in the way that light and color are used. Rather than starting each baby with a vision of how I want it to look, I let the baby lead me to the final result. I would love the challenge of creating a version of a baby that has no others out there to influence my decisions.

I work very hard at the things that I do. I am not a perfectionist, but I can feel exactly the moment when things are done and the baby “speaks” to me that it is complete. I am a teacher and I have been a research scientist, so documentation, deadlines, and details are important to me. Communication is usually one of my strong points and I am quick to accept constructive criticism and apply it. I thrive under pressure and preform best when I have clear, high expectations.

Here are some highlights of my painting:


And rooting:

13 Likes

So far each of you have wildly different styles! I so wish I could see the same kit painted by each of you lol

4 Likes

That would be fun to see wouldn’t it lol

3 Likes

You have such talents. You are able to allow the baby to speak to you. I personally don’t think that is just something everyone has. And, you know the moment you are done. Those are 2 things that I think are really awesome. I hope we do get to see you doing prototypes before too awful long.

4 Likes

I am going to continue to bend the rules here just because I feel like I can’t choose one baby that represents my style. It has an overall “feel,” that can be seen over multiple dolls, even with different complexions. I use GHSP for all my babies, brows, and hair painting and seal with a combination of Genesis and air dry mediums.


!

I’ve been reborning just shy of one year. I would say that my specialty is painted hair, although I also can do fully rooted babies. Some people may think 1 year isn’t very long, but I’ve had some special unconventional training that has led up to my ability to paint dolls. Some fun facts:

  1. In high school, I took 4 years of art, and studied human proportions and features heavily. I spent most of my time drawing bodies, faces, and silhouettes.
  2. I majored in science in college. I got to take a ton of advanced anatomy classes- even a cadaver lab. Those veins, bone structures, tendons- I have seen them from the inside! (I ended up leaving the medical field, but take it to heart when I paint.)
  3. I attended an advanced cosmetology school. There I got to not only see a ton of features up close, but also learned about skin, nails, anatomy, hair growth patterns, contouring, eyebrow proportions, etc. now That I look back, it was Reborning 101.

I would love to be a prototype artist, because I feel that my life has led me here to do this, and prototypes are my ultimate goal! My knowledge of humans is outstanding and it helps me bring realism to the equation. I don’t mind a little pressure and I work very quickly. As an artist, I bring to the table the ability to make kits look totally unique from others.

14 Likes