Matryoshka dolls - finally finished! + progress shots

Hello everyone, hope you had a fantastic Christmas! I personally had a very quiet dinner with my parents - er, as quiet as you can whilst hacking and coughing - we've all managed to catch the cold >.< 

But anyways, I'm excited to say that these dolls are finally finished! I actually finished them a while ago, but only got around to photographing/blogging about them now.

I found these blank wooden dolls online, on an Etsy shop, earlier this year, but couldn't figure out what on earth to do with them. I had several ideas - I wanted something ornate, and intriguing, but also something that fit in a single cohesive theme. I finally settled on a fairy tale-ish look - as you can see here, I'm referring to the unabridged, dark, messed up, non-Disney-fied kinds. C:

First I sketched out some ideas, mostly for the bigger dolls. Naturally I wanted the biggest one to be the most ornate and eye-catching. Initially I was thinking of a more greyscale color scheme, with only a few splashes of pink here and there. I later figured that that was incredibly boring. 

...and then fleshed out the designs onto the dolls. 

Laying down the paints - also, my embarrassingly messy desk. 

Here's a shot of the back, which I referenced from some vintage fabric and freehanded with ink. I'm really happy with how it turned out! 

The little ones were a challenge to do! 

Halfway done!!!

I had a lot of fun doing these. The dolls have been varnished, dried and are available for purchase in my Etsy shop. Have a great day!
Megan Missfit