Painting a DISNEY MOANA Nesting Doll Set from Start to Finish

January 24, 2022

Painting a DISNEY MOANA Nesting Doll Set from Start to Finish - PART 2/5

Continuing on from Part One, now we begin painting the second-largest doll - Tamatoa!

DAY 1 - 2 hours

As per usual, I started with the face. It's a little tricky getting Tamatoa's crab-like shape to fit the nesting doll but I am very happy with my progress so far. I have been building up layers of purple and yellow to serve as a base for the next steps.

End of Day 1 Progress

DAY 2 - 1.5 hours

I didn't make much progress today, in fact, I feel I have taken a step back - I decided to change the eyes from yesterday to be more menacing but once painted, I preferred how they looked before. Tomorrow I will repaint the eyes to match Day One. I also continued blocking out colour, including a nice base coat of yellow for the treasure-laden shell, this should make it much easier to continue painting. I feel I need to pick up the pace a bit to make sure this doll is done before the end of the week!

End of Day 2 Progress - Front

End of Day 2 Progress - Side and Back

DAY 3 - 2.5 hours

I spent a few hours today building up the purple, blue and pink tones and blending them together. I also repainted the eyes, which took a surprising long time to get right. I made a quick outline for the treasure pile on the back and neatened up the shell. With this design it is easy to get lost in the details!

End of Day 3 Progress - Front

End of Day 3 Progress - Side

End of Day 3 Progress - Back

DAY 4 - 2.5 hours

I finished the front of the doll today! I got carried away adding highlights and barnacles, but I am very happy with how the front turned out! Especially as this design was so tricky to fit on to the nesting doll shape. I think the light blue highlights really bring the character to life. I spent a lot of time going back and forth, makings lots of alterations and getting caught up in the details and trying to make everything look perfect. Tomorrow I am hoping to paint all of the treasure on the back of the doll, hopefully I am not being too ambitious. I will need to focus on working efficiently!

End of Day 4 Progress - Front

End of Day 4 Progress - Side

DAY 5 - 2.5 hours

On the final day I painted all of the treasure on the rear of the doll. I didn't want this area to look too busy but I also didn't want it to look sparse so I spent a bit of time experimenting with different layouts. Once I was happy with that I added some highlights, and some blue to tie in to the rest of the doll.

In my initial design, I had planned to include some legs on the doll. I did try a few different outlines for this on the doll itself, but I couldn't find a way to make them look natural on the doll so I decided not to include them after all.

Initial sketch design showing planned legs

I'm really happy with how this doll turned out, it was a tricky character to fit on to a nesting doll but I think I did a good job. The next doll in this set will be Maui! This is the one I am most looking forward to painting due to all of the tattoo details.