How to Draw a Chinese Doll
Every person in the world is different, and this is true about dolls of the world, too. Dolls come in all shapes and sizes, and they replicate many different looks and cultures. When you are drawing a doll, you need to keep this in mind: a drawing of an American doll will look distinctly different from a Chinese Doll because the features of the face and body and dress are unique to the culture the doll is representing. Therefore, as preparation for drawing a Chinese doll, you should spend some time studying the characteristics and features of the Chinese people and the various styles of Chinese dolls before beginning your drawing.
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Things You'll Need
- Chinese doll (if available)
- Drawing Pencil
- Notebook
- White Drawing paper, 16 x 20-inches
- Drawing board 20 x 24-inches
- Black marker, fine point, water-base
- Black marker, wide point, water-base
- Red marker, fine point
- Markers, colored set, water-base
- Pink pastel stick
Instructions
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Make small thumbnail sketches before starting the large drawing. Sketch a few pages of thumbnail drawings in your notebook of an actual Chinese doll if you have one available to draw from. If you don't have a Chinese doll, use photographs like the one illustrating this article as references for your drawings. Making thumbnail sketches first has two benefits for your final drawing. First, like a pitcher warming up before a baseball game, making thumbnail sketches gives you time to warm up before tackling the large drawing. Second, thumbnail sketches give you an opportunity to decide how to compose your drawing on the large paper, and to decide what drawing effects will work best.
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Lay the doll to the left or right of your drawing paper and begin drawing a line drawing of the entire doll with your pencil. Do not worry about fine details or color at this first point. Concentrate on getting the proportions and shapes correct. If you are unsure, use a ruler to measure the height and width of the doll and match these measurements to the measurements on the sketch on your drawing paper. You can also lay the doll directly on your drawing paper and trace an outline around it to get the exact proportions.
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3
Draw in the various areas of the doll, still in line only in pencil. Start with the head. Notice how the shape of a Chinese doll face is oval with a pointed chin. Sketch in the head, and the large mass of black hair that encircles it like a picture frame, followed by the ribbons in the hair. Lightly draw in features of the face such as the slanted oval eyes, curved brows, delicate nose and small pouting lips. Draw lines for the sleeves down to the hands and sketch the hands in. Note how the hands are very small and delicate. Finish the line drawing by indicating the large folds of the dress, as well as finer details such as the belt, feet and shoes, and design pattern of the dress. The key to drawing clothing is to think about how it was made while you are drawing it and reconstruct it in your drawing.
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Fill in the colors of the doll with the colored markers, starting with light colors first. For instance, fill in the light pink flesh of the face and hands and feet first, followed by the light yellows, pinks or cream colors in the costume. Complete this color fill-in stage of the drawing by coloring in the bright body color of the outfit, as well as the bows in the hair and belt.
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Note the fine lined details of the eyes and lips on Chinese dolls. Outline the finished colored drawing with the black fine point marker, varying the line width in shadow areas to create interest and depth. Use the black fine point marker to indicate the eyes, the brow and any detail in the hair. Draw in the lips with the red fine point marker. Fill in the black hair of the Chinese doll with the black wide point marker. Finish the drawing by adding a few single hairs to the head with the black fine point marker and a light, soft and blended touch of pink pastel blush to the cheeks.
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Tips & Warnings
Use the notebook to do your color and black detail tests before working on the final marker drawing.
Study the line work in Chinese art to learn about Chinese drawing techniques. This will be very helpful when drawing the figure of the doll and in particular, the details of the face.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit geisha doll image by Joann Cooper from Fotolia.com chinese new year decorations image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com
