So here it is - the complete set of Star Wars Russian dolls I made for my brother's Christmas present…
I bought a set of blank Matryoshka dolls online and painted them with acrylic. It took several evenings to finish, whilst watching the original trilogy. There was quite a bit of cursing here and there, and the hair-drier came in very handy, but I think it turned out fairly well.
I tried to choose characters that lent themselves to the shape and size of the dolls, whilst trying to think which ones my brother would like best. Darth is roughly six inches tall, Yoda's about an inch.
One of the tricker elements was painting on a rounded surface. I wanted the light-sabers to look as straight as possible to the eye, which meant painting them in a curve. Not very intuitive, but it seems to work okay.
The worst bit, though, was the varnishing. It was the day before Christmas eve, and the nozzle on my spray-on varnish snapped off, which meant I had to direct the spray with my fingertip. And because the varnish was under pressure, it was freezing my hand. Just when I thought I'd got it sorted, the varnish dried pink!
Christmas Eve was spent scraping off the varnish with my fingernails, thinking I'd ruined the lot. When you're an artist, the risk of messing up a perfectly good piece of work is always at the back of your mind. It just happens from time to time, but it always feels heartbreaking. And so I was imagining the look on my brother's face as he opened his present, only to find a sticky, flaking mess of pink.
I had to repaint some patches here and there to bring out the colours again, and then apply a paint-on varnish I had knocking around.
Thankfully, the second varnish was clear, but unfortunately it was also slow-dry stuff. After more hair-drying and central heating it finished drying on Christmas morning.
I wrapped them just in time for giving - each one wrapped individually and nested inside it's parent. And to my relief, it was a hit with my brother and the rest of the family.
Maybe, if I get chance, I can buy an even bigger set and paint some more characters sometime, though whether I could cope with the stress is another matter.
If you want to see some close-ups and different angles of each character, here are the links to their individual posts:
Oh, wow! Those are incredible. My husband will wish he had them…FANTASTIC!
[...] de Navidad decidió hacerle a uno de sus hermanos un presente igual de singular: un set completo de figuras Matryoshka conmemorativas a la Guerra de las [...]
[...] Matt Brown vía [...]
[...] more pictures of them HERE. [...]
[...] Nesting Dolls, or Matryoshka, lend themselves perfectly to themed sets on any subject. Artist Matt Brown made this Star Wars set for his brother for Christmas. These are soooo cool - did you catch the [...]
These are just fantastic! we are on a star wasr roll 'round these parts.Thanks for sharing
[...] Artist Matt Brown hand-painted these Russian nesting dolls as Star Wars characters for his brother's Christmas gift. (via) [...]
[...] Art of Matt Brown - Abstract Fine Artist - Original Paintings, Canvas Prints & Card Prints - UKI bought a set of blank Matryoshka dolls online and painted them with acrylic. It took several evenings to finish, whilst watching the original trilogy. There was quite a bit of cursing here and there, and the hair-drier came in very handy, but I think it turned out fairly well. [...]
[...] este caso esa persona anónima se llama Matt Brown, y ha comprado estas matrioskas de madera sin dibujo y las ha decorado con los personajes de Star [...]
[...] babuške, zatim ih ru?no oslikao, i na kraju (nakon podosta avantura o kojima možete ?itati na njegovom sajtu) polakirao i umotao jednu po jednu, smiještaju?i ih uredno na njihova mjesta u nizu. Brat i [...]
[...] look really cool, and the detail on them is amazing, head on over to Matt's website for more details and [...]
[...] Matt Brown painted these Russian dolls for his brother for Christmas. He ordered an unpainted set online with [...]
Interesting Matryoshka Dolls
[...] poptherapy, Matt Brown, Anregungen für Eigenkreationen hier, hier und hier] .gallery { margin: auto; } .gallery-item { [...]
[...] all of the above made you want some russiam doll check this out, I love them! I need [...]
[...] home brewed creation of Matt Brown, this amazing creation was created as a Christmas gift for his brother. He says this about [...]
WOW! They are absolutly brilliant, R2D2 is soo cute, amazing
[...] hand painted Matryoshka doll set was created by Matt Brown as a Christmas gift for his brother. As he mentioned, it wasn't an easy task, but the results [...]
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Matt , i have to tell you this
Sorry Matt , just playing , please don´t take it serious . What you slhoud take seriously its the fact that I simple love the idea . Brilliant .
i am your lost sister
yes
my brother
yes
and i love stars wars , and i am a girl , so , dolls and stars wars it also my idea of a perfect gift .
[...] Matt Brown voleva fare un regalo al suo fratellino per natale e ha preso la sua bella matrioska di 5 pezzi bianca e con gli acrilici ha realizzato senza dubbio un oggetto unico e inimitabile per tutti fan di Star Wars [...]
[...] would like to believe that artist Matt Brown saw the post and comment thread that we had here at FanMadeDotOrg about these works of art and that [...]
[...] O qué mejor que tener tu set de StarWars. Creado por Matt Brown [...]
[...] Wars Matryoshka Dolls (made by Matt Brown) – more [...]
Wow you are amazing. Why can't I meet someone who would do this for me?
Ok this and a star trek version.
[...] you're interested in more of Matt Brown's art, please visit his site here) It is quite clear how three different members of an organization's staff could all think that [...]
[...] muñecas matriuskas de La Guerra de las Galaxias son un regalo que hizo un artista llamado Matt Brown a su hermano por Navidad. Según él, compró varias matriuskas sin pintar y comenzó a invertir el [...]
[...] The set hand painted by him includes DarthVader, Stormtrooper, Obi Wan Kenobi, R2D2 and Yoda. If you want to have a look at the dolls individually you may visit his site mattbrownart.com. [...]