BJDs as artist reference?

i do it for alot of my paintings, and it seems to work pretty well, especially if you can't get a model to pose for you.

 

I haven't used mine like that yet (mine is currently headless and will remain so for some weeks yet), but I intend to do this. I've also received artwork from people who used their dolls as reference for the artwork they did for me.

I'd imagine it works much better than those wooden manikins you can buy and a bit less well than getting actual humans to pose for you. You'll just need to keep in mind that the stylization of the doll and scale may "trick" you into drawing something inaccurately.

Just use it as a tool as opposed to a crutch and it'll probably go well.

 

It depends exactly what you're referencing. If you're using the doll simply as an aid to posing figures in drawing (like an artist mannequin), or for help with scaling and not copying the doll down to the last ball-jointed detail then I think that's permissible, but you can get into a lot of copyright hot water depending on how you use a doll in art; see Mijn Schatje controversy!

I've used my dolls in my photography before, but I find drawing from life quite difficult and the results unsatisfying, so I tend not to draw my dolls.

 

If you are wanting realistic proportions I'd direct you to an off topic brand. As beautiful as these dolls are many aren't built like the average human.

Step one for any artist is to practice. Burn through a pad of paper and a few pencils with practice drawings, keep them loose and free flowing, don't worry about details just get a handle on the basic form. No one else ever has to see them, you just want your mind and your hand to use to working together. If you're having trouble with foreshortening look for a book called How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. It shows several ways to go about things.

 

I mainly use dolls to see where a shade would fall, after ive already drawn a complete pic of a person that looks nothing like the doll, i pose the doll in the same position, put a strong lamp behind, and see where the shade fall. Used to have a problem with that, but using dolls this way really helped.

Never actually use the things i draw for anything though, just for me to have fun drawing, so i could draw myself a mountain of Sooah's if i wanted too, just as long as their kept in the sketchbook

 

8V While I think using a doll as a subject or VERY BASIC reference for artwork, I'd really just go ahead and study anatomy instead. There are plenty of sources on the internet available to an artist that would be much more helpful in terms of improving one's drawing skills and accuracy.

I'd be happy to direct you to some if you pm me :]

 

Not exactly using them as reference, but ever since I started sculpting myself I'm interested in dolls from specific sculptors only. They inspire me and help me to strive to become better.
When I see the sculpts of Greg Araki, Anjonghak or Akihiro Enku I hope that one day I can become as good as them.

 

I wouldn't use my doll as a reference for drawing a human purely because he's anatomically incorrect. Most dolls are- they have idealized features, longer limbs, short backs, big heads, etc. For drawing a doll, he'd be fine ^^ and I love drawing him, but as a doll. Not as a human.

 

My sister and I both use our dolls that way. And for me...I use my dolls for anatomy, too, as the ones I own, and currently plan to own, all have the stylization in anatomy that I like and am trying to master myself. It can be hard to master a stylized anatomy style after working hard to master real anatomy, especially when all your references for poses are real people with real anatomy.

 

I've never intentionally used him as a model, but since getting Yoru my ability to draw that character has drastically improved. ^_^ Here's hoping it will work with the others...

 

I use my boy for a basic body form, or for a difficult pose, but other than that, I've never drawn him as the doll persay. If I'm doing something more difficult, I don't bother with the doll and go out and find someone to pose for a quick picture.

 

Actually, the Mjin Schatje issue is not so much that she was drawing specific dolls, it's that she was tracing over other people's photos of dolls and other people's artwork. You can use anything as the subject of your art, like Warhol painted Campbell's soup.

 

I used mine in my cersmics class, that was a fun night

 

I know what the Mijn Schatje issue is about, but its a good starting point for anyone thinking of using dolls in art. No one wants to get into a sticky copyright situation and making other people aware of the boundaries of the doll owner's rights and the boundaries of the company's rights helps people avoid the mess Mijn Schatje is finding herself in. Just because you own the doll doesn't mean you own copyright to reproduce it or make profit off it. If you tried to sell a photograph of a Delf El or a SwD Nana without first asking the relevant companies' permission, Luts and Volks would be pretty angry.

As for Warhol vs. Mijn Schatje, Warhol painted the can himself, he didn't photograph it from reality or claim it came from his own imagination

 

This topic has come up before, and I'll say what I said then-
As a trained artist I can't recommend using a BJD as a reference if you're at all concerned with realism. Their bodies don't respond to gravity or bend and lock like flesh naturally and the proportions are nowhere near correct. There are humans all around you, use them for models.
For an example, you wouldn't learn to shoot a rifle by playing with a squirtgun, you wouldn't learn to be a surgeon by playing Operation, you wouldn't learn to ride a mountain bike by playing on a plastic tricycle, you wouldn't learn to ride horseback by sitting on a carousel, and you can't get very far using plastic people as substitutes for real models. You'll get used to their proportions and posing nuances and then wonder why your drawings are so stiff and mannequin-like.