Hello, y’all,
You know that stiff wooden doll in all arts and crafts shops that’s promoted as that tool all artists have and use because it’s always shown in photos with artists? Yeah, you know the one. IDK about y’all but to my kid self, that mannequin was the tool that would take my status as an artist to the next level, so I had to have it. I saved up my little change and bought one from a local shop and couldn’t wait to put it to use. Yeah so about that… I tried to make the thing sit and it barely could bend over. Talk about disappointment. Admittedly mine was a cheaper version, but even the pricier ones tend to be lacking and just make me go… “But why…?” I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out, so I kept it around for years as a paperweight before forgetting about it when I moved out of my Ma’s place.
As I developed as an artist, I’ve come to find that figure drawing form real life is the bees-knees and really makes a world of difference, but sometimes you just don’t have time (or want to) do a photoshoot with someone to get a quick pose that you need, that’s when I heard about using a Made to Move Barbie while listening to the webcomic creators podcast Dirty Old Ladies (not for children as some of the hosts create adult content, but they are a wealth of information as all 3 have different levels of engagement in making comics and are super insightful.) As soon as I heard Amanda describe the multi-joint action of the Made to Move line and that there is a plus-size version (she thick, not fat FYI [a girl can dream though, one day]), I was like OK-Then, lemme go look this up. I found both of mine at Target for about 15$ a piece.
For 15$ whole a$$ bucks you can get a figure with some facial features, hair, clothes, and 10x more mobility than the 15$-50$ wooden figures. The joints bend, the head moves, and this barbie line can sit upright on her own. They are so darned handy and I’ve been slowly building a pose folder of pics to refer to later when I’m “modeling” them (Yeah I know I’m just playing around, but so XD).
While I was playing around with my two made-to-move gals, my fiance went to his bookcase and pulled down his mad crazy intricate, and expensive limited edition Venom and Spiderman figures (They are from the Square Enix Marvel Universe and Kai Arts line so the ones we have can only be found from secondary places now, but this is the official store and they have others. Some are from games and anime too.) and started to play with me.
I laughed at first, but have since kidnapped his figures as they are just as flexible as the Barbies and offer different body types for me to work with. I wouldn’t recommend buying them to use as art figures as they are collector’s items and pretty expensive, but if you happen to have some already, give them a go haha! They’ve been in the house for years, but I never would have thought to use them if my darling hadn’t pulled them from the shelves first.
Anywho, you guys have any wood mannequin alternatives you’d like to share, or do you like and use the old wooden folks? I’d love to see and sure others would too :D!
TLDR: Check out Made to Move Barbies for more modeling for your buck as an artistic reference tool or the more controversial collectors figures if you prefer action figures with the same range of motion. Do you use the old wood models or prefer another method?
