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Gosho Prep

Phase 1 - Breakdown

After breaking down the doll into separate pieces, I began to primer. I knew that in the end I wanted the primer to remain in the final presentation. I felt the terracotta color was reminiscent of of older Asian collectible sculptures.

Idea Board

Now that I have a good base color to work from I go back to the drawing board to see what sorts of sketches I can come up with. I needed to determine other colors. In this sketch I did not consider all of the historical aspects of normal goshos - which were very pale skinned and even more elaborately adorned.

Even though I know I will deviate from the sketch, I move on to the green color that I believe will make the figure pop. After the paint was on and set, I felt it would make a better complimentary color. So I began to mask pattern and line details on the head. I will repainted this with a lighter color, then peel away my mask to reveal the green.

This keeps in line with my thought to tribute the book Siddhartha. I pictured a young prince leaving his home, looking toward the enlightened path. So hopefully the finished face of my Gosho has characteristics of enlightened change, while his clothing says royalty-displaying the dueling personalities of past and present.

At this stage I have several ideas in mind for details. As you can see by the dots on the green head. I do not know how I will translate the Buddhist imagery from my head to hands. I like the Tibetan/Hindu statue faces and I love the terracotta color of the primer. So it leaves me surrounded by many Asian art influences. I want to retain that wonderful warm primer color, but how much? I feel for this figure you really must have a balance of light and dark to keep it interesting. Plus I keep wanting to use with the pale skin color to get nearer to the porcelain look in the end.

Phase 2 - mask removal

After peeling away my masked areas I notice that the mid section feels slightly bland. This is when I decide to introduce the gold color. The gold paint is a little too loose for a smooth application, so I decide to “dot in” the gold with my small detail brush. After I apply the gold I feel it is a good addition to the overall color palette. The patience in the paint application pays off as it replicates the texture of custom armor.

Reaching this point was the the hardest part because I began to see the many directions I could go in detail. The legs left me with the option to paint or remain light. What would that mean in terms of prep. I could see how efficient the masks were after removal, noticing I had about an hours worth of touch-ups that would be saved for later. This taught me to be very patient with masking. Test, check and recheck before painting. And always use sharp Exacto blades!

Siddhartha - Gosho Submission

This was my final version of the Vinyl Gosho Submission Purchasing blank vinyl toys and doing custom submissions are very popular right now. This was my first so I really wanted something for the mantle. I attempted to create a high class looking statue based on the novel Siddhartha. I really liked the story and it was nice trying to recreate my interpretation of the main character through this figure. My little dude is up against some steep competition with more painterly styles, but I couldn’t be happier with my final product.

This gave me some real insight to the vinyl toy collector world and I can see how people get hooked on custom creations.

In case you are wondering what a Gosho is…

Gosho dolls show fat, cute babies in a simplified form. The basic gosho is an almost-naked sitting boy, carved all in one piece, with very white skin, though gosho with elaborate clothing, hairstyle, and accessories, female as well as male, became popular as well. They developed as a gifts associated with the Imperial court, and “gosho” could be translated “palace” or “court.” (wikipedia)

Super Rad Toys (contest creators) writes:
The doll we chose is a gosho doll, meaning from or of the Palace of Kyoto. The gosho doll is wearing a hat that represents it’s of noble descent or a member of the court, thus the hat is known as a court cap. The doll is carrying a rope which symbolized good luck. The figure would use the rope to pull in ships carrying treasure and other fortunes.

So you can see what I had in mind, a member of the court. I also envisioned this as a gift that would be given from one royal member to another. No matter how the competition goes, I am pleased that my initial concept presented itself in the end.