How to Make a Pixel Doll
Pixel dolls are virtual paper dolls with small, detailed features created in computer graphics programs. These dolls are used as website graphics, avatars on message boards and chat rooms and in Internet doll dress-up games. Pixel dolls are most often created from templates, known as "bases," and customized with detailed hairstyles and clothing, making each doll unique.
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Instructions
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Open your computer graphics software program, such as MSPaint, Adobe Photoshop or PaintShop Pro.
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Load your desired base—the doll's body—into the program. The base has an unclothed body and a bald head with facial features. The base gives you a starting point to design your doll's clothing, shoes, accessories and hairstyle. If you do not have a base, most pixel doll websites offer a selection of doll bodies from which to chose.
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Select the color palette. Your graphics program should have a color palette for each color, ranging from lightest to darkest. For example, if you want your doll to have red hair, a purple dress and blue shoes, select red, purple and blue.
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Draw the outline of the clothing item using the smallest-sized paintbrush and the darkest color in the palette.
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Select the graphic program's "Fill" tool and fill in the clothing item with the lightest color in the palette.
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Select the second-darkest color from the palette and shade in the darkest areas of the clothing. These areas typically are under the bust, sides, underarms and clothing fold lines. Continue shading with the other colors as you see fit. For example, if you are creating a T-shirt with the light hitting the center of the doll's body, the lightest areas would be the top of the bust and the center of the shirt. Then, continue blending outwards.
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Draw and shade the doll's hair and any other clothing items you wish to add.
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Save your completed pixel doll as a GIF file.
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Tips & Warnings
Most pixel-doll creators use bases created by others to make doll creation easier. Because everything from the hair to the makeup to the clothing is customizable, dolls created with the same base can look drastically different.
Join online doll communities to learn more tips, view doll artwork and get ideas.
If you post your doll on the Internet, link back to the website from which you got the base.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images
