Deciding color schemes for dolls

I usually decide on a color scheme for my dolls by thinking of what would go well with their face ups and the personalities I envision for them. I like to have variation in the appearances of my dolls, so I try to think of color schemes that none of my dolls have yet and see what would fit the newest doll. Sometimes I end up repeating color schemes if it really suits a doll though.

 

i usually decide wigs, eyes and color palettes, along with names, way before i even own the doll :'D it helps me to get excited and bond with the doll beforehand if i have their look down way before i can even hold them! it also makes me feel like the decision to finally buy the doll is more thought out and results in less impulse buys in terms of both dolls and clothes! i like to have each doll have its own aesthetic and color palette so they can be as distinct from each other as possible.

 

I start thinking about colours when I know the doll's skintone and pick hair and eye colours to go with it. Hair/eye colour are pretty important since I don't change these traits at all unless it ends up not jiving with the doll's skintone (and then it's hard to figure out what works better). I like variety and am trying to not repeat hair/eye combos in my dolls if I can help it. Though lately I seem to have ended up with more blondes than expected ... it bothers me a little! I want variety! so I'm planning to shift one of them into a different hair colour.

After skin/hair/eye, I figure out their clothing colour schemes. I always decide on value first: whether they're dressed black/dark or white/light. All my dolls are divided into Team Dark or Team Light, some of them are more extreme black or white than others. Value is key because I'm more flexible with exact hues/colours, but firmly want a doll to dress dark or light.

Then I try to get specific, pick out their preferred colours while staying within their value range. Sometimes I get inspired right away (usually it's a colour scheme I want to try out), sometimes I don't have strong ideas and have to plan it more. I do some of this during character development, then adjust it when the doll is home and I can try clothes on them. I also figure out the colours they don't wear: the off-limit colours are just as important as preferred ones. Overall, I try to buy/sew their wardrobe according to their preferred value and colour palette, and some dolls have more diverse palettes while others have very limited ones.

I've always owned dolls in flesh skintones, but lately I've become fascinated with grey skin. I love grey as a colour in general, because it can be so colourful -- cool or warm or neutral in temperature. I'm fascinated by the blushing and clothing colours needed to make a grey doll look warm and alive, so I'd love to own and paint a grey doll one day.

 

The man is a natural redhead with green(ish) eyes so his colour scheme tends to be gold, teal, green. He would look awful in red. The woman has grey hair, grey as colour, like mouse grey, not what you get with old age, and bright blue eyes. She can wear blue, purple, red, black, grey. The one doll that I don’t have yet (head only) will be very light blonde and his main colour will be Mountbatten pink which really is not pink, but a shade of violet, there was an attempt to use it for warships as it blends with the sea water, mist, dawn etc marine colours.
This thread reminded me of a trend a few decades ago when it was advertised intensely: everybody is a season and can be either warm or cool. I tried it and was announced to be cool summer. Got colour samples that l should use, grouped in basics, lights, accents, metal. And a warning to keep away from salmon colour. One that I like so much. But they were right, their colours fit me best even today, although l have changed a lot.

 

This is the part I struggle with the most honestly I will either look towards the many blogs and pinterest boards I have for inspiration in terms of color, and draw some mockups from there. I do find most of my color combos for my dolls so far to be quite basic and common, partially because I like ease of shopping for stuff and the rest is because I'm the least creative in the color department. One of my goals for this year is actually to do more and more art with more colors so I am less intimidated by making choices about them.

 

I really love dolls of all color schemes. I usually based a doll’s intended color palette on the character I am designing them to be based around. In addition, all of my dolls play off the idea of complementary colors for their resin/vinyl/pvc etc color. I also love contrasting colors on some of my dolls from their resin colors. Neon and pastels are especially near and dear to my heart. Then with my avid love of makeup the possibilities are really endless for me. I love dolls.

 

I draw mockups! When I'm buying off a catalog I copy or composite the photos on the doll body to get an idea, or I draw ideas from scratch. I'm going to piece together this outfit for Leona which shouldn't be too hard except for the pauldrons/gorget bit on the shoulders (I'm thinking of sourcing something off Dollsfancy on etsy for that).
I had in mind to dress her all in black but after I got her in-hand I felt she didn't jibe too well with dark fantasy, so I'm going for something more colorful like a Landsknecht. I started with a red scheme and switched the color flats.

 

Well I was about to sell my dolls but as I had some back from the reseller I decided to give the hobby one more chance but this time in a way that makes sense for my personality so yes a color scheme is the most important thing as my dolls are only for visual pleasure the visuals are the only important thing and color is a part of visuals my vanille Eclaire boy will use white, cream beige and some yellow light brown caramel honey colours as the syrup on vanille represents sweets with vanilla . Caramel Eclaire will use light brown, caramel and orange hues and some darker brown to dark brown chocolate or black colours as syrup in caramel. As it represents sweets with caramel. So the color scheme is very important in fact I don't even want them to have faces or clothes just some blushing in accordance with the color scheme and fabrics like sheets or fluffy surroundings in accordance with the color scheme.I have more ideas for any dolls that will stay mostly food sweets and flower based but no matter what they are going to be all color scheme and no more. So yes I use a color scheme and in fact it is the only thing I focus about with dolls.