My Neighbor Totoro

Totoro is my favourite childhood movie.  That's right, it's not a Disney movie.  It brings back lots of memories growing up and it was my mother's easy babysitter for a few hours.  Today's inspiration came from looking through the VHS rack and finding this movie covered in dust.  I think I should go watch it later.

You will need:

• Joe Powder Blue (pale blue cream)
• Rimmel 60 seconds Grey Matter (grey cream)
• Rimmel Nail Tip Whitener (white)
• Jordana Black
• Joe Jade (green cream)
• Rimmel Super Wear Top Coat
• Fine paint brush
• Thin paint brush
• Paperclip
• 45+ minutes (it's a long one...)

 Buckle up, this is a long one!

1.  Start off with a base.  I chose a pale blue but it can be any colour you like.

2.  With the grey polish and thin/fine paintbrush, paint an upside down 'U' and 2 lines at the top.  This is an outline of Totoro.

3.  Paint his ears into a slight diamond shape with the thin/fine painbrush.  Then paint the rest of him with the bottle's brush.

 4.  With the thin paintbrush, paint circles in white for the eyes.

5.  Dot the eyes with black and a fine paint brush.  Draw on a triangle nose.  And give him 3 whiskers on each side.

6.  Add a top coat and it should look something like this.  Cute!

7.  For the index finger, we'll paint the black dust ball.  Paint a circle with black, don't worry about being messy.  Then add tiny uneven lines around the circle.

8.  Using a paperclip, dot with white polish to make the eyes.  Dot with a fine paintbrush with black to finish the dust ball.

 9.  Paint a small plant on it's side.  You may remember this from the movie.  I mixed Joe's Jade with white to make this colour.
 

10.  Next, I painted the white Totoro pal on the middle finger.  Paint a horseshoe shape with white and a thin paintbrush.  Fill in the rest with white.  Draw on eyes with black.  Another cutie!  The design of the other fingers is up to you.  I decided to do more black dust balls.  Remember to top coat everything so it blends and also lasts.

Eek! He's missing a nose!

This one requires more work.  But the characters aren't hard to paint.  They're actually simple shapes.  What will your Totoro nails look like?  Or maybe you'll be inspired by a different childhood movie.

Good luck!

- SheNailedMe