New W Club Doll: Anja "Regal Solstice"

The new W Club doll, due to be delivered during the first quarter (Jan-Mar) of 2011 was announced to members today. She is the new character, Anja and is called Regal Solstice. 

I don't follow the story lines but they are saying that she is wearing the "grand finale gown" of the Von Weiss 2010 fashion show and it's one of Giselle's creations. 

The dress is put together with embroidered chartreuse organza over navy blue tulle. The shoes are hot pink with purple lining and black straps and the jewelry is black multi-strand, multi-shape beads.

Integrity Toys Photo

Integrity Toys Photo

Integrity Toys Photo

Integrity Toys Photo

My first reaction was "what happened?"  The Anja from the convention had a beautiful, sparkling face.  Upon careful inspection of the closeup one can see that the lighting on the doll's face makes her nose look elongated and beak-like.  Look at the shadow under her nose. The overhead light should have been moved about 20° to the left to create a beautiful shadow which would enhance the sculpt.  Lifting  her face and looking at her in a different light will show how gorgeous she really is.

I don't understand the fashion and I will be looking at the latest runway images to see if there is something current going on here. I love the colors and it does look like there is an abundance of detail in the organza overlay. The style doesn't make sense to me.

I would have liked black hair on a doll wearing these colors. Her eyes look stunning.  What does the back of her hair look like? Is her hair short? Could it be a cute little pageboy cut that can be opened up to frame her face in a more casual way?

I've read many mixed reviews so the jury is out until the real Anja shows up.

Picture of the Week Award ~ Al Gudka

I came upon this stunning photograph of the new Mini Avantguard doll Androgyny on the W Club board.

 Property of Al Gudka

Al's photography is  a favorite of mine. He's a master of composition. You will come across his posts not only on the W board but also on Doll Divas and BC.Com.

Here are the answers Al sent to my questionnaire:

-This gorgeous doll is the Mini-Clone Androgyny AvantGuards with her original wig

-No changes were made to the doll itself, but I did release the wig's ponytail

-She is wearing the Barbie by Jonathan Adler dress; corset and stockings from Aerodynamic Vanessa; shoes from last year's W Club Eugenia; jewelry from Flight Pattern Kyori

-The Hows:

• The camera I used was a 15 megapixel Canon Powershot G10
• For the backdrop I used a white foam-filled poster board; doll is leaning against it
• The only prop was a little desk fan that doubled as a large industrial fan in 1/6th scale
• For lighting I used a cluster of three 35 watt daylight florescent bulbs placed directly in front of, and slightly above the doll, at approx 6 ft away.  I hung a large sheet of tracing paper 2 feet in front of the lamps.  This diffused the light and made it look like natural light.

-My inspiration for this shot was some behind the scenes footage of model Gisele Bundchen during a photo shoot.

-The biggest suggestion I would give to budding photographers is to get acquainted with Photoshop.  It can transform a dull, lifeless photo into a brilliant, high contrast eye-catcher. It is also indispensible when it comes to white balancing your photos if your camera can't do it properly.  I see so many beautiful photos that have been unintentionally marred by green or yellow color casts. 

__________

Thanks for sharing your expertise with us, Al. 

Tricky Eugenia with her hair down.

I broke one of my rules this morning and photographed a doll in full sun. Shame on me. The result was overly contrasty and unacceptable. That's when Photoshop comes in with it's tricky filters. When I need to rescue a picture, I fool around with the filters until the picture looks as if I meant it to be that way.

Eugenia's head is fully rooted (YAY) and comes out of the ponytail easily. I just had to trim a tiny bit from the part that was wrapped around the tail. Because her hair was factory crimped, the mark from the rubber band isn't so pronounced that it requires boil straightening. This was an easy one. I like the look much better this way.