The title of this entry once more comes from Randy, who has slept under the same roof of the cursed Archie and Reggie dolls. He’s still alive.
Death from Above.
Before I get any further I’d like to point you the people who now have my old Archies, Stupid Comics.
How Archie started (and how I wish I’d taken more photos but this was an impulsive thing).
The truth is that the shape of the face itself isn’t that bad but the paint job fails in the way so many Archie dolls fail.
THOSE EYES.
Archie’s way of asking for consent is awkward.
Classic Archie and the gang have eyes that work great for comics. They are simple and expressive… yet they are black dots. Big black irises.
Some updates have failed by trying to give them more realistic eyes. BEGONE DEMONS!
Yet the biggest issue with the dolls is how the classic eyes can be TERRIFYING when they look straight at you. The Effanbee Betty and Veronica dolls show how these eyes should NOT look directly out.
Ronnie looks cute in her intervention gown. Betty has NO idea what’s coming next.
The Hamilton series dolls (like the Archie I’m working on) fail in the same way.
Meanwhile at the Riverdale Chok’lit Shoppe, Playing Mantis is all “Hold my shake, I got this…”
Playing Mantis Betty will bite your head off during a make-out session.
And suddenly “realistic” eyes are looking SO much better.
Thank you, Mattel.
I knew I wanted Archie to be looking to the side AND to have colored irises.
This is my first “repaint” ever. I use quotes because the medium used is mostly dry (pastels, water color pencils) with just a tiny bit of water and a touch of acrylics. My BFA is in drawing, not painting, so the distinction matters to me in a way. It’s been drilled into me, actually.
The first layers of color were chalk pastels with a little bit of color pencil for the first layer of freckles.
I’m going to admit this got frustrating pretty quickly. I’m used to new crafts coming easy for me.
It eventually boiled down to me needing to learn a LOT more about properly priming the surface with fixative so that it would have enough tooth to take the pigments.
I invested in a mask. This shit is toxic. I have asthma. I probably took years off my lungs in college with a variety of pigments, chemicals, and cloves.
Because of issues with priming I don’t LOVE the final face..the eyes got away from me…but I do love the hair. I love drawing hair. I always have. I figured it would be better to accept an imperfect but much better face and move on to hands/shoes/ and a new wardrobe.
Midway
You see what I mean about the eyes? One side properly fixed and the other..well.
I know now how much to prime and when NOT to add acrylics.
Messy ears. Look, I’m used to aceing this kinda thing. I’m learning to be humble with tiny dolls.
It’s been a reminder that I worked drawings that were LARGE and hard to afford frames for…not small. I probably need to invest in a magnifying visor if I do much more of this.
Figuring out how to handle Archie’s hair lumps.
Archie still has hands, shoes, and tailoring for his new body to tackle…but until then I suggest you go enjoy the photos here (click the photo ).
Do It Yourself: WFU 