Are your dolls characters?

Since I have yet to find any dolls that could work for my "important" story characters, I just end up buying dolls that I like and make separate side stories for them in the same world as my main story. It's quite a bother though, mostly because I have yet to have 2 dolls that actually interact or are connected when it comes the the story... *sigh* I guess it can't be helped ^^;

 

I try to make characters INTO dolls (as in buying a doll because of an OC I have) and not the other way around. Even though I've done that several times. And am doing it again. Whoops XD

 

I would say five of my nine dolls came into their own character wise after they made it home to me. The other four I had characters in mind when I purchased them.

 

I don't really have fully fleshed out characters, but rather a basic concept of a character that I then use to mold the doll after I get it. Like, I knew I wanted to create a little fairy girl, so a pukifee would fit the bill. Now that I have a pukifee I'll work on making her more and more fairy like.

 

Even though I like to write, and draw a lot of figural things, my dolls don't have an existing backstory and I didn't buy them to be a shell for a character I created. Each doll had certain features that drew them to me profoundly enough that I had to have the doll. I do think they've developed some degree of personality for me, as they hold certain expressions in the combining of sculpt and face-up, and I have certain ways I like to dress them, but it isn't really a lot more than that.

 

Originally, I got into Ball Jointed Dolls because I wanted a reference for drawing. Eventually, when I finally got my first doll, he was way more than just a poseable reference for me. I definitely had his particular character in mind, and fully intended to turn him into a pre-existing OC when I bought him. My current floating head was bought for the same reason- he was absolutely perfect for an OC I'd had and I jumped on the chance to get him. My wishlist is the same, one sculpt for each major OC, and I tend to dig around until I find one that I deem perfect. So short answer, yeah, all my dolls (or future dolls) have characters. I don't think I could have one to just sit on a shelf and be pretty, it would bother me too much!

My roommate, however, is the opposite of me, and doesn't name or give her dolls a story or backstory until she has them in her hands and has had them made-up! she tends to go with whatever she feels, so I guess it's widely different for everyone!

 

My dolls are all characters! All 22 of them have a name and biography as well as a story to be a part of. I tend to work on their personalities and stories while I wait for them but sometimes that comes much later. Alternatively I come up with their stories before I even buy them!

That being said, none of them were based on my own pre existing characters. They all turned into one by themselves and have spawned some great story ideas for me.

The only dolls I have that are based on pre-existing characters are my Dollfie Dream and my Dollfie Dream/Obitsu girls. Who are based on the 3D models of themselves.

 

Generally, their character becomes apparent as I get to know them - sometimes only in detail after a particular doll joins the family and their character becomes apparent (along with how they relate-to/interact-with the others)

On rare occasions I will buy a particular doll to be a particular character... well once I did that, when I needed a sister to go with an existing doll who had slotted herself into the role of a character from a book - they remain my only two dolls that are characters from outside my own head.

Teddy

 

I make characters for my dolls they are my inspiration, I don't create characters beforehand.

 

Thats what im going to be doing with mine as well. Its also interesting to have a physical image of what a character would look like if they were sorta real...

Most of my futute dolls will represent my characters. However, Ill also have a few that have their own character- like if i find a sculpt that i absolutely adore but have no character to match, they would get their own character. But thats why(i think) most people love these dolls... Even though their just basically piles of resin and glass eyes, they have as much character themselves as any movie character or book character- but a more physical representation of that which doesnt exist- like game or book characters.

 

My first doll had no character before he arrived and I made that up after he came. However, after I ordered my second, I found myself making the character while waiting for him. Since then, my other dolls have been used to shell characters within the story I'm writing for them. The dolls and characters are closely tied because I see them as physical representations of those characters. As such, I want to make them as accurate as possible to the way they are in my head. This has led to a lot of deciding and going back and forth, particularly for a pair I've had for about six years now (characters not dolls). I have a feeling that I'll run across a sculpt one day and it'll just scream "me! Me! I'm him and you know it!" For now though, the dolls I do have were all characters before the dolls arrived, even if those characters were created right before the doll was ordered.

 

My dolls will always have characters... but, sometimes the character is set in stone and I decide I want a doll to represent them, whereas other times I have a vague idea that only really becomes a character once I see the right doll, and might only truly come together once I have it home. That was the case with Vince in particular.

 

My dolls are characters in the same settlement. My first one was a character I "met" in a dream and then she just kept on telling stories, before and after I found the sculpt for her (it took a while before I realized she was to be a doll). She told me about her girlfriend and girlfriends baby and backstory, then about her sister and their extended family. The detailed dreams faded and after that I've had no continuous verbal pieces, but loose names - often with faces and/or feelings/rough ideas about personalities, backstories and context.
I have tried not to search for the sculpts, but depending on them turning up in different ways. Both because to keep the spontaniety and to spare my economy (to have some time in between purchases).

 

I look for dolls that seem to fit characters that I have already created.

 

I only have one doll that's a character doll. It's my Sesshomaru. It was from a seller off of ebay. They made his outfit look just like the one he wears on the anime. This dolls is a larger doll and i just love him.

 

For me... I find a doll that I really like, and then I make the Character. sometime I will search for a long time for additional characters for the story I have made. Or maybe I will find Multiple dolls I like, and just toss them all into a story. But yeah, the story starts as soon as I seem them... and know that I want them.

My Lati's are Characters as well, but their story really isn't a "story" like I had wanted... I feel their too small to make a full story with them. but I still keep their characters.

 

Each of my dolls is a character in my story and have a name except for some of my floating heads.

 

At first I didn't plan at all I just wanted A BJD. Found one, bought him. Sat with him making him cloths so he would be decent and started day dreaming. First came up with a name, then started coming up with a character, the world he lives in and so on. Which then birthed new characters. Which gave way to wanting more dolls to fit those characters.
I would say it's the main reason I'm buying more dolls. To expand the world my first doll lives in. Not to mention I love tiny things. I just always loved tiny versions of real life stuff.
The planning is much like how I make any other OC. Just, random bursts of imagination and things that make sense, along with brainstorming and thinking on personality quirks. It is easier to think with the doll. Something to look at and focus your attention on. Imagining the doll in their own environment and how it would be laid out. What kind of cloths they would wear and why. So forth.
Right now I just keep it in my head. If i write anything down it's blue prints and rough sketches to what I want to make them. Like cloths or a room. One of the newest one's is like a bird. So I plan to get a bird cage his size. Cut it in half, give it hinges. then give it walls around the bird cage bars and a roof. Spray paint the roof and give it texture like old leaves that have been rotting in a forest for a while and subjected to rain. Haven't decided on what the wall will look like yet. Also want to give him a little stove with a pipe going to the outside. Little cooking pans hang on the wall. A nice chair thats a little scratched up and with feathers poking out because he sits at it the most. cute little rug. wood floors, candles, a bed and wardrobe. Table scattered in papers. It will be a big projected. And I cannot wait to get started.
Meanwhile the Giant needs a face up along with special marbles that I will try to make from resin. So I need to learn how to make them and do so.
Each doll needs a set of cloths to match their environment and character. Some will be muddy looking so I will have to learn how to age and dirty cloths without risk of staining the doll in mud.
One doll needs a mask. I made one for him in the past but the paint job on it is terrible so I will probably make him a new one.
So yeah, lot of work to be done.

 

When I started buying dolls they never really had characters, but as my collection of them increased in size I started making up back stories for them... which wasn't really a good idea... since I'm now looking for more dolls to complete their 'families'.

 

Mine do not have/are not characters