Cecil part 3 - stories of the stars (aka mostly weird headcanons about Cecil's tattoos and then a lot of pictures)

So the hair took...well it took from Tuesday to Wednesday morning.  And then last night I decided to just take the plunge and do his tattoos.  So here's some fun headcanon stuff.  If you don't care, feel free to just go look at the tattoo pictures.  Spoiler alert: they're constellations.

Bit of a background headcanon to my tattoo headcanon.  Night Vale is unstable, and always changing.  Everything is constantly in a state of flux - the streets change on a regular basis (it's more a weekly schedule than anything), things disappear and reappear arbitrarily, and nothing is constant.  In that vein, Cecil's tattoos.  I think they are sentient and do move, but not always, and certainly not very much.  I think they're bashful, and they prefer to not be touched, or even really seen as much as possible, so they tend to shrink away from people (except Carlos, who they like)  Of course Cecil does have some measure of control over them too.  But here's where I think the most drastic "movement" occurs: I think they change either daily or just sporadically.  One day they're tribal, the next they're smoky shapes that drift, the next they're geometric, sometimes they're tentacles, other times they're standard vintage designs.  When I first saw astrogyaru's constellation Cecil I just added that onto the list of things Cecil's tattoos definitely change into.  and then as I decided to do a Lala, I also decided constellations are also probably the only form of tattoos I could give him that wouldn't a) completely suck and b) have no relevance.  It also fits in well with the idea that Cecil has three tattoos that he did not get done himself at the local parlor.  Now for pictures to describe what those three are and then which constellations I put where and why.

The three tattoos Cecil did not get done, are an eye on the back of his neck and the moon on the back of each hand.

do you appreciate how hard it was to resist the temptation to make this a Sheikah symbol?

this one appeared the day his mother disappeared.  he doesn't have a third eye in his forehead, because this is how he sees the town.  in my deity!AU it's the source of his omniscience and the mark of his power.  in my normal hc, he uses it to "feel" people's presence, by which he can almost tap into their existence, feel the things they feel, see the things they see, sort of read their minds. (A Story About You, yeah?)  he also sees emotions as color auras around people (see what I mean about colors?)  All of these abilities slowly culminated until he was 15 and his mother left and he woke up with this mark that synthesized all his abilities.  he can make this one move, but left to itself, it stays at the base of his neck where he keeps it pretty covered with his clothing. 

on the back of each hand, he has the phases of the moon working from the equinoxes in opposite directions of the year.  most of his doubt and mistrust of the moon comes from the fact that he doesn't know why he has these marks.  (in the deity!AU it's so he can keep track of controlling the flow of time itself, the gravitational stability, and the balance of life in the desert)  in my normal hc, the marks help him read the stars to predict the future which is a trick he learned from his mother, and these enhance his ability.  he doesn't read them often because he likes to be surprised by the events of the present, but on the occasions that he does read them, he is yet to be proven wrong.  (he also glimpses the future when he hiccups but that's irrelevant) click here for a fun little bonus comic I drew that I actually do like about him reading the stars.  

So now you see why the constellation thing is pretty cool, right?  It fits in perfectly with the hc I already had.  Now, I am super intrigued by the creativity behind astrogyaru's designs.  I even asked once for a reference of them to see the full set and why they chose the constellations they did.  For my little Cecil however, I chose an entirely different set of stars to paint (the stars in glow in the dark white, the lines connecting them in glow in the dark lavender) and golly gee does he glow!  so here we go.

so this is the constellation Horologium, the pendulum clock.  because all the clocks aren't real.  

 

this is Mensa, the table mountain because mountains aren't real either.

this is Aquila, the eagle because it's the closest one I could find to a bird of prey (also some discrepancy on how it's drawn out which is why it has a different fancy comparison picture. I liked this way better than the other method)

this is Microscopium, which as you might have guessed, is a microscope because ~science~  Again with the discrepancies - some people connect the top two stars into a box, but I think that's a little boring (I guess accuracy < my personal enjoyment now?)

the last one on the front is Gemini, which if you don't know Gemini then we're in serious trouble (it's literally the only constellation that even resembles what it's supposed to be)  I included it not because it's Cecil's star-sign, but because of the whole Kevin/Cecil doubles thing.  also because it was really fun to draw.

Canis major, the dog.  Who is absolutely not in the dog park.  And is probably also just a plastic bag drifting by on the wind.  Again: nobody draws this one the same, there's like literally zero consistency and had I found this particular image of it earlier I probably would have used it but whatever, I went with this one version on nasa's kids website so yeah mine looks like a Tim Burton dog. 

this is Lynx, the closest thing to a cat, which I chose for Khoshekh who is probably at least remotely close to being a cat himself.  

Cancer, which is my Cecil's star-sign. (my Carlos is a Virgo) (again an arbitrary decision I made based on plot convenience, and the personality traits they both display most frequently)  

the last tattoo is Chamaeleon, the chameleon.  Remember about the colors?  Remember how everything in Night Vale is constantly changing?  That's what spurred this decision.  Again people are always drawing it differently, and again if I had seen this one first, I would have gone with it cause it kinda looks like a boxy object with a line  a reptile poking its tongue out. 

Anyway, I'd just like to point out once more that the credit for the inspiration of this particular tattoo idea belongs to astrogyaru, I simply took it and applied my own twist because I have a longstanding love of stars and constellations and I kinda instilled that into my Cecil too.  Though Night Vale stars are different than our stars, and his favorite constellation is the Flower Crown of the Goddess.  (I actually did think about just using the fictitious constellations from my fic, but then it would be like an inside joke with myself and I would feel really lame trying to explain it to other people.  this way I at least can tell them they're actual shapes from ancient star charts.)

Feels good to get the blog all caught up on progress.  Now I'm awaiting a nebulous trip to town to get fabric (possibly tomorrow?) and then the daunting task of learning to sew doll clothes.  At least the poncho I can probably do freehand (I crocheted a Merida Lalaloopsy completely from scratch with no pattern once) but the sewing...I'm better on a large scale than a small scale I fear.  But we shall just have to give it a shot and see I suppose!  

Cecil part 2 - it's not rainbow, it's *prismatic*

Hair.  Let me repeat this.  Hair.  I spoke too soon about Carlos and his perfect hair, because for goodness sake that was the simplest thing I've ever done.  When it came to Cecil and his hair, I came close to tossing the poor thing out the window and into a snow bank.  (okay that's an exaggeration, but I did come close to scraping my paint off and leaving him ginger.  Since I also really like ginger Cecils an awful, awful lot)  But I persevered.

Again this blog post is delayed, since this happened on Tuesday, but anyway here is the long, involved story of his hair.  I started with one coat of ivory pearlescent paint.  
      
I put two coats on the front bit because it was apparent that it was going to need it and I thought I'd see how it looked.

two coats all over (by this point I was wishing I'd left it red)

finally with three coats of ivory, and on the standing up part, I did the third coat in a mix of my metallic white and a teensy tiny bit of pearlescent violet.  but I wasn't done there.  here: look at this other crappy Cecil artwork I drew (I really really hate this one, it was drawn before the other two you've seen, and at this point I was still trying to nail down any semblance of a hc, but I kept this one because his hair was so dang fine)

so you probably can't see it at all, but his hair has actual strands of different really pastel colors just tossed in, because remember how I said he was super colorful?  but I was really trying not to go rainbow with it.  because it's not a rainbow, it's supposed to be prismatic and iridescent.  I don't know how well that intention translated into painting the doll. 

upon looking at these photos I would like to rephrase my question from "does it look like a rainbow?" to "does it even show up at all?"  (hey isn't that the same question I had about the drawing?  I sense a recurring theme..)  I'm not super concerned about it, because at least it looks a little shiny.  Which is close enough to prismatic to please me.  

Cecil part 1 - from a mechanic to a fashionista

This post is a little late because I haven't had time to take pictures off my phone for a few days.  On Monday, my Ace Fender Bender doll arrived in the mail!  He was in much better condition than the Battlescarred doll.  The seller said this one was a collector item kept on a shelf (how many times do they say that?) but I actually think this one was true because the only issue was a little bitty smudge on the back of his neck.  Since the freckles and pink cheeks are going to stay for this one (freckled Cecil is very important) I decided to start with the eyes.  

now, my headcanon Cecil is very colorful - in personality, in fashion, in everything.  So his eyes are actually like a mood ring: they change almost constantly (blue for sadness, green for curiosity, orange for concern etc.) but their standard, typical color is iridescent violet and amber mixed.  here - have some kinda crappy bb!Cecil art I drew and didn't delete simply because I think the eyes flawlessly illustrated this color.

(also because I liked how his hair turned out shh)

so I tried to capture this the best I could with the laces being iridescent indigo and the other part amber.  it's okay I guess?  Next up came another essential part of Cecil's Cecil-ness.  A wacky sense of fashion.  My hc for that is that he has a whole collection of weird clothing that he pulls out for special occasions, but for work he wears nice slacks and button downs and sweaters and the like - but in all these weird colors that don't match at all even remotely.  (see this image for a striking example of his everyday wear:)

In this poorly-matched spirit, I decided to take the boots from Battlescarred (the red sneakers from Ace are unsurprisingly staying exactly as they are and being given to Carlos) and I painted the soles of the boots hot pink with a touch of glow in the dark.  

it took three coats of pink to stick thick enough to be nice.  I also took some metallic silver and mixed it with varying amounts of black to paint up the buckles on the shoes and the tongue.  

my main inspiration in this decision was this lovely pair of wingtips that you cannot convince me do not live in Cecil Palmer's closet.  

now about Cecil's clothes.  I'm unsure what it is I would like to do for them.  I am fairly sure I would like to knit a poncho in some shades of teal and lavender and possibly some orange furry pants.  I would also like to make a nice little flared-sleeve white tunic to go under the poncho.  I also want to make him a nice little lavender shirt though and a really bright sweatervest and some galaxy pants.  I'm going to Jo-Anns tomorrow so there's a good chance I can find some scrap fabrics to this end.  I get the feeling that he's going to be my dress-up doll.  I'll just probably scan what would cecil wear? (one of the best blogs in this fandom) and pick a few outfits here and there if I ever get good at making doll clothes and I'll just change them out frequently.  

Carlos...perfect of hair

Today I was sad and emotional.  When I am sad and emotional I like to work on simple things with my hands.  Therefore today I took the plunge.

I painted Carlos's hair.

So I had some issues right away when I couldn't find my brown paint.  But then I found a bottle of the same shade in the basement.  Now the bottle was all frozen and reconstituted and a horrible consistency, but when I was patch testing it against some other shades of brown I had in a craft bin, I realized that the shade of brown I couldn't find was really yellow.  And after trying it on the eyes and the cheeks, I think I've decided I would like a more reddish brown for the hair.  Which I fortunately had quite a bit of.

So first I mixed some burgundy I found with a bit of skin tone and did a layer-over on his cheeks.

It probably looks exactly the same as the last job did in the photo, but trust me when I say it is much much better.  (as a side note, at this point my mom started playing a dvd on the universe and photos from the Hubble telescope in the background and things got very science-y very fast around here)

Next up was the hair, which as I previously mentioned I have been warned is very complicated, time-consuming, and frustrating.  "Especially the curls" people said.  So I braced myself and mixed some brown with a bunch of black, and took the plunge.

half-done in half an hour!  by the time the closing ceremonies of the Olympics started, the brown on the front had already almost dried (solving another of my major problems: how to paint this with the same shade of mixed paint and have it dry since he doesn't sit up without being propped?)  Painting it was shockingly easy.  I used small strokes, horizontal so the paint would fill the ribs in his hair, and just went carefully and at an even pace.  I took each curl separately working from the top down, in order to have them dry evenly and at the same thickness.  by the time the closing ceremonies were done, so was his hair!

as you can see it's a little shimmery (which is odd since all the paints I used are matte?) and you can see some of the reddish brown peeking through.  I originally had planned to do a touch up layer anyway, but after really looking at it now that it's dry, I actually really like it with the hint of red beneath.  It's nice and warm, and a little more fun than a single flat color (after all - if Cecil gets prismatic shimmer hair, Carlos deserves something cool too.  besides, what's perfect hair if not a little color-flowy and shiny?)

funny bonus: Carlos + new dark hair + no clothes = Mowgli

not even kidding, I was tempted to paint his little underpants red.

Metallic =/= Pearlized?

paint, man. 
I have zero knowledge of paint and types and all that.  All I know is that Walmart does not sell pearlized white paint.  They do, however, sell metallic white paint whose name is "Pearl White."  For $1.47, I figured why not give it a shot?

I tested it on the plate and let it dry and it dried nice and pearlescent, so I'm gonna go on ahead with it.  Now, what it is remains a slight mystery.  See, as with always, I don't know for sure what I want Cecil to look like.  I was informed today that the doll shipped and will be here Monday, and I still don't quite know what I'm doing with it.  Namely: his hair.  I was thinking of mixing ivory with a drop or two of this shimmery white to paint the majority of his hair, and then the brushed up bit that's all messy I was thinking of painting straight up with this pearly white.  The ivory bit however I was thinking of painting over with traces of pale green and pale violet and pale amber.  I kind of like the idea that his hair is iridescent because I pretty much just associate him with color in every way (his eyes change color like a mood ring, he can see emotions as color auras on those around him, he dresses in clashy bright colors all the time, etc.) so I was thinking iridescent, sort of multicolored hair.  But then I was thinking of maybe incorporating light purple into the messy bit.  I'm not sure.  

Anyway, the answer to the question is yes, metallic = pearlized where white is concerned.

Carlos the Scientist

Hello, internet.  This is going to be the chronicles of me getting in way over my head with custom paint jobs of Lalaloopsy dolls.  I'm not going to attempt to rationalize why I love Lalas, I just do.  I'm going to be 20 in two months, and I'm finally actually really into dolls.  I guess because I grew up playing Legos, I'm making up for lost time now?  Who knows.  Anyway, I was looking at some Lala minis customized on Etsy to look like fictional characters (namely this adorable Esmeralda) and I got the idea that I should make a little custom Cecil and Carlos from Welcome to Night Vale because why not?  Well after searching the internet and finding that any and all male Lala minis were going for almost $35 since they're no longer in production, I accidentally stumbled across a full-size Sir Battlescarred for only $16 with the auction ending in 3 hours.  I pounced on that auction, watched it like a hawk, and swooped in at the last 5 minutes (I felt like a ninja - in truth, nobody else was actually bidding on it) and that's the story of how I ended up with this little guy.

he's super cute and in pretty good condition.  he does have his shoes (I took them off because they're going to be Cecil's shoes, not his) but he didn't come with the dragon.  which in retrospect would have actually been humorous to have since Hiram McDaniels and all that.  but honestly I view the little animal buddies that come with Lalas as excess trinkets to clutter up my room, so I'm not too concerned.  Carlos did have a few smudges that I was able to wash off and the numbers "1509" written in pen on the back of his neck.  those I was unable to remove fully.  somewhere between dish soap, Mr. Clean, ajax, and oven cleaner I was able to smudge it out to a faint bruise-like appearance

which hey - he's got a scar on his face so what's a few bruises right?  (he did almost die at that bowling alley, after all)  There was also some dried white paint in his hair but I was able to wash that off easily.

So last night I began my customization.  I told myself I was going to wait and do it all after I get my giveaway items made and then given away, but I then decided I can't do all of Carlos's paint job in one day anyway, there has to be drying time between, so why not get started in between patches and knitting?  so I started with his eyes.  

I put some brown onto my plastic party plate palette with a bit of light green.  I was trying for a hazel-ish color.  (or as Cecil puts it in my fic - "oh his eyes! They're like melted chocolate with a touch of honey mixed in.  I just wanted to drown in them!") So I suppose this is what chocolate with a touch of honey would look like?  It took a surprising amount of the amber for Cecil's eyes to get it to not look grey.  For my purposes, this seemed rather surprisingly close to what I was going for so I went with it.  

Painted the laces straight up brown, and used the hazel on the little shiny bits around the edges.  Here's a closer look at one of them. 

done with a toothpick and absolutely no breathing on my part.  I get really nervous about tracing.  

I left little Carlos to dry overnight, and then got back to it a bit this afternoon.  His cheeks were the next thing to go.  They're cute as they are - but so pink, and they seem too pale for his skin.  also, a bit feminine for what I'm going for.  So I took some brown and mixed in some ivory and a touch of indigo and came up with a good alternative. 

pre- and post-paint job.  he lost his shirt somewhere in there because I got nervous.  (even if I don't intend to keep the knight clothes, I don't want to mess them up with paint.)  my brother likes the new color - I think it needs a touch more pink, so I might thin down some rosy skin-tone once I get it and do a thin over-layer.  but it's better than the pepto bismol shade they were.  on second thought, they look a lot better in real life than in the second photo.  I might just leave them as they are.  

so next (and last for Carlos) is the hair.  I plan to go with a darker brown, the same as the laces in the eyes, with a bit of black mixed in to darken it and take a bit of the brightness out.  I've read that painting Lala hair is a lot more difficult than it sounds.  so I'm probably not going to do it until I finish giveaway stuff.  After all - if his hair is to be perfect, I must take my time with it.  

But this is progress so far, and I'm quite content with the results!