How to Make Stardoll Graphics Without a Tablet

Install a digital painting program on your computer. Programs such as Photoshop, Corel or Easy Paint Tool SAI are suitable. GIMP, which is free, is also an attractive alternative. Paint, which is installed on many computers, can be used to make "Stardoll" graphics, but it is not ideal due to the lack of certain, useful tools available on other programs.

Take a screenshot of the doll you want to alter. If you want to paint clothes, use a plain doll with only underwear. Save the image and open it in your painting program.

Erase any background from the image using the eraser tool.

Create a new layer over the image of your doll. Use a thin brush and a dark color and sketch out the alterations that you want to make, such as different hair, clothing or accessories.

Choose your colors and paint a small spot of each color onto the sketch layer. Click the eyedropper tool on these colored spots to use them again later; the eyedropper tool samples pixels and changes your brush color to the color of the sampled pixel. The mouse on your computer isn't pressure-sensitive, so it is very important to choose the exact shades that you want for your colors. Pressure sensitivity makes it easier to control the color and blend shades. You will want at least three shades for any object: light, medium and dark. More shades of a color allow you to make more realistic clothing.

Create a new layer on top of the doll layer and underneath the sketch layer. Using a hard brush and a medium shade, draw and fill in the object that you want with one solid color with no detail or shading.

Shade the object with your dark colors by adding them to areas that would be dark. For instance, if you were painting a skirt, use a hard-edged brush to draw thin triangles from the waist to the hem, suggesting folds. You can also use the lasso tool to draw a shape, then fill it in with a bucket tool. For a mouse, just painting with the hard-edged brush may be easier for you, as you can go over your lines repeatedly until you form the shape that you want. A little difficulty with controlling the mouse does not inhibit this approach.

Add highlights to the object using the same approach as the shading, but add the light colors to areas that would be strongly lit.

Blend the colors using a blending tool and add any details, such as seams or buttons.

Continue adding more objects until your doll is fully customized to your satisfaction. Use a new layer for each new object. Delete the sketch layer once you have finished and add a new image or paint an image onto a layer behind the doll layer for a background. Save the file as a TIFF, GIF, PNG, JPEG or BMP in order to share your work with others.