An artist who thoroughly appreciates the beauty of faces, Noel Cruz started doing
portraits at a very young age. Self-taught for several years, he studied the works
of numerous artists in his native country, the Philippines.
Gradually overtime, his natural talent grew and developed. He began taking
commissions at 16, and has done countless portraits since. Charcoal, graphite,
pastel, and acrylics are his media of choice.
Noel holds a degree in Communications with emphasis on video editing and
digital imaging, and has shot and edited documentaries for California State
University Bakersfield, where he graduated.
Repainting dolls happened by accident when he was looking for a Gene doll to
add to his wife's collection. He stumbled upon several Gene dolls repainted to
resemble different likenesses. This became an inspiration for him to project his
painting talents onto Gene, which became the beginning of another facet of artistic
outlet for him. Much to his delight, he discovered that painting a doll's face is very
much like painting on canvas or paper, but with the extra challenge of working on
a three-dimensional surface as well as a different surface texture.
Noel has naturally transmitted onto his repaints his love of celebrities, many of which
he has painted or drawn before. In addition, he constantly strives to add diversity to his
work by working on other comparable-size dolls such as Tyler, Sydney, Franklin Mint
dolls, etc.
Please visit Noel's galleries for an upclose look on his work.
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