Freestyle Doll Base
This tutorial was written in Adobe Photoshop CS4.
It's likely this can be pretty easily translated into your graphic program of choice provided it offers layers.
Using whatever color you can easily see over your background or transparency, quickly sketch in a rough idea for the pose you want to create. Do NOT replicate mine please. Create a pose of your own liking.
Here I have used the brush tool in CS set to 3 px. This will make it easier for me to see and refine the next steps.
Add a new layer, and with a darker color and your brush tool set to 1 px, create an outline of the form you just created. As you can see it does not have to be neat!! We are still "sculpting" this shape.
Go in with your eraser tool set to 1 px and clean up your outline a little bit, adding details such as face placement as you go if you wish.
Duplicate the layer you are working on and make the original invisible. I have changed the color of the outline just to clarify that I am working on a duplicate. Go in an refine the curves of the arms and legs, adding more detail as you go. Make sure to step back and look at what you are drawing. My freestyle form had boobs that sat way too high, so I brought them down and made them a little fuller. I articulated her hands and waist a little more. I made her neck broader to match her body.
On the same layer continue adding details and creating volume. I have made the line where her thighs meet her stomach broader and more round. This creates the "belly" illusion. I've also added toes. I have cleaned up the lines a little more.
Here I have refined her head shape, making it more natural.I have also cleaned up her feet a bit and thinned her legs out a little more.
Duplicate this layer and move the figures until they are side by side with some space between them.
We are going to make these into pixel images next, however I want a larger one and a smaller one. Pixel images look awful when resized and do not handle transparency well at all, so I am resizing our second figure before we go in to "pixel" them.
Add a new layer and with your "pencil" tool and a new color, start tracing the smaller figure. I am using fleshtones myself so I had to make my background layer a little darker so I can see the outline I am drawing. You will need to alter things and clean up any jagged pixels. But don't worry about being too neat, you will inevitably have to refine your lines, so don't stress over it. Next, hide the layer with the original smaller outline.
Floodfill your new outline with a lighter shade of the same color. I have made my background lighter here so I can better see the outline along with the fill.
Go in and clean up any jagged lines, reshaping any sections that don't seem right to you. This is where you want to try to be a little neat, but still.. perfect is not required! When you have it the way you like it, select the fill color with your wand tool like below.
My fill is still selected, I just have it set to not showing the marching ants ;) Go ahead and shade as you normaly would. Fiddle with her face and digits as you do to find something that looks good to you. Faces are super difficult at this size. To make life easier for yourself you could make her head bigger, thereby getting more space for eyes a nose and a mouth and eyebrows.
Keep refining the shapes and adding details. Although it is possible to overwork your drawings, good drawings do usually require a good amount of time invested. So work your image until it feels right but go for "good" instead of "perfect".
Repeat the same steps for the larger base and you have two new bases, in two different sizes!
I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!
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