Changing face-ups: for better or for worse?

From my experiences, I was able to bond more strongly with a new face-up. My dolls never lost their charm. In fact, they were able to find their personalities and attitudes with new face-ups. Had I kept their old face-ups, I don't think they would have become as meaningful to me as they are.

With an experienced face-up artist, an old face-up can be redone with a cleaner look. Your doll can look refreshed and given new life with a new face-up. I always like to take photos of an old face-up so that if I make a mistake with a new one, I can wipe it and try again to achieve the look I'm going for.

 

I'm currently in a similar situation. I love the face-up my Soa has. It's a company face-up and it's damn near perfect for her. The problem is that she's approaching two years and I can see where her face up has started to chip. It bothers me so much. I'm afraid it's time to give her a new one but I keep putting it off because I'm afraid she won't be the same girl. I also could never part with her to send her out for a face-up so I plan on doing it myself. So, I'm in the process of learning how to do face-ups on a different doll and hopefully when I finally feel confident Soa will have a new suitable face-up.

 

Yep. I'm planning on sending my Avalon off once I find the right artist to get a new face up. I love his old one but it looks so dry and he looks so serious..I want him to have more of a whimsy to him to match the mischief making elf character he's turned into.

 

hmmm I've got a bit of the opposite problem in regards to face ups. I recently got my migidoll mir, and as he is my first doll I got the factory face up too. I love it, I love looking at it and admiring the brush strokes.....but it really bugs me at the same time! His eyebrows are a lot more 'angry' than they seemed in the stock photos and his nose and ears aren't blushed (its a small complaint lol). So i'm having hard at this moment thinking of him as what I want him to be! So personally I cant wait to get my hands on some MSC to paint him how I think he should be that's just me though ^_^

 

A faceup can really change the doll entirely! My first doll came with the factory faceup, and until I finally wiped it off and redid it, I just couldn't bond with him at all. Because of that, I've ordered all my later dolls blank (with one exception from the MP) so I don't have to pay extra just to wipe it off again.

And with an upcoming purchase I want to make, I have to keep reminding myself that the one I picked is the right face and eye shape for the character I'm shelling, because the company faceup in all the site's pictures, and in many of the owner pictures here too, gives him a completely different expression that doesn't match the character at all! And all because the eyebrows are positioned a little differently from where I'll be putting them. It's amazing how much just a small thing like that can effect the entire personality of the doll.

 

My two favorite dolls (and the ones I've had for the longest) have probably had more than 10 faceups each. I do them myself, mostly, and I think I improve each time. There have been a couple where I thought they looked worse, but then I just did them again and fixed it. Usually, I think they look a lot better after being redone. If I wiped them, there was a reason I didn't like the old look, and it was just time for a change. It might take a few days to get used to the new look, but I almost always think it's a good thing.

 

I'm lucky enough that I can paint my own faceups and my best friend in real life who I also introduced to the hobby is even more skilled than me. Usually we spend hours planning and painting heads and we revamp them every so often if we feel like it's time for a change. My first boy, Nowe, for example, has had at least six faceups to this day and every time I've been more pleased with him than the last due to the better quality, greater accuracy to his character as his character developed and so on, so forth. Changing the faceup is often vital to rekindling the love for a certain mold! c:

 

I'm a little finicky in that I would rather change the face up after I've had it for a few months or so. I'd like to see a whole different feel of what the doll could look like!

 

My earliest BJDs all had factory faceups. My first boy, Hiro (SD13 Link) had a default faceup from Volks with lots of brushstrokes visible in it, unlike the softer shaded faceups Volks does nowadays. Eventually he started getting some worn places and I had him touched up slightly by an artist. But after five years, I started getting tired of seeing his imperfections, bit the bullet and sent him off to a new artist to be completely redone.

I asked the artist to make him look more mature, and she did exactly that. He was beautiful... but he wasn't Hiro any more! He was too grown up. So I sent him back to the same artist again, paid for another faceup, and asked her to make him as much like he used to be as she could. His faceup is more shaded and softer than it originally was, and his angled brows are the same shape but a different style. And he has a slight smile he didn't used to have. But Hiro was definitely back.

It is indeed very scary when you think your beloved BJD isn't going to ever look like he or she did before. But I remembered particular things that had to be done just right, and made sure to point them out to the artist. For example, it was very important to his expression that his upper lip was only half painted (just as it originally was from Volks). Otherwise, he wouldn't have had his same smirky expression. I also sent closeup pictures of his original faceup. He's not exactly the same as he was, I think he is just a little better. And he is still himself! It was worth the extra time and money to make him just right again.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I only commission someone (I really suck at painting) and because I choose someone whose work I admire, I've never come to the point where I feel let down. If anything, it makes me love the doll more!

If there are a few things about a face-up that you would like to stay the same - maybe you came to see those as your doll's trademarks - you could always ask the new artist to add those features again.

 

I did the faceup on my bobobie elena and as it was the first one I'd ever done, it wasn't that great. But I loved her - she looked really sweet.....Then dissatisfaction set in as I bought more dolls with company faceups, and I decided to wipe her face and do a better one....BAD mistake - the new faceup wasn't 'my' elena - it was really like my doll had died and there was an impostor in her place! I was so upset I sold her immediately for next to nothing - I just couldn't bear to look at her any more

I would do a new faceup on a doll if I was wanting to reinvent its character completely - but if it's just a matter of wanting the same character to look better, I know that doesn't work for me.

 

From my personal experience, changing the face-up has always been for the better. I always get a second head to have that one painted though, I refuse to get rid of the original just in case. I had painted my Migi Miho head, and while I was fine with it, it wasn't how I had imagined him. I ended up buying a Migi Miho head on the MP with a "professional" face-up and it was everything I had originally wanted. I had one of my other dolls sent off to be painted, and the face-up artist did a beautiful job, but the more I looked at him, the more I realized that it just wasn't my character. I had a second faceplate for him, and sent that one off to a different face-up artist as a last-ditch effort to salvage my love for this sculpt. The outcome was amazing, and I knew right away this was my character. He went from being my least favorite to one I can't imagine letting go. If it doesn't feel right, change it!

 

My RS Feng is on his third-and-a-halfth faceup.
I was terrified to wipe his company faceup for the longest time, even though Resinsoul faceups are quite muted and basic. I thought he wouldn't feel like he was mine anymore. However, I was pleasantly surprised that even though the first attempt wasn't perfect, he felt 150% more unique and mine, and I bonded with him even more. After a while I felt my faceup skills had improved a bit and I wanted to try again, but I faced the same dilemma, with the same result! I love him even more.

I think leaving the doll with the faceup you're unsure of for too long can make it even harder to see him/her as the same character after they've undergone their makeover. If you have doubts about your doll's faceup now, it obviously means you're unsatisfied with it, so it's worth exploring one of the best aspects of this hobby; nothing is permanent and our dolls can be styled and customized over and over!

 

I love my dolls more when I do their faceups... then they become 'my' doll rather than someone else's interpretation of that doll. Any time I change a face-up they become 'more' of what I believe them to be if that makes any sense

 

Couldn't have phrased that better if I tried! That's about exactly what I feel about my own dolls as well~ that's why I've only ever sent two dolls out to be painted by others. One was my penultimate grail and I had a very specific vision for him that I couldn't realize myself, the other's faceup was done by a person I really like in the hobby and of whom I loved the faceups of at the time! c:

 

I agree with the person who said if you're thinking about wiping it, you're obviously unsatisfied with it right now...so it's worth looking into learning to do it yourself or finding someone who could do it for you.

Write down a specific list of what you like about the face-up (the shape of the eyebrows, overall sweet expression) and what you don't like (heavy brushstrokes on the eyelashes, blushing is too pink). That will give you some solid ideas about what you know you would like to be changed, and what you believe is vital to the character.

Also, and I don't think this has been said yet, nothing has to be permanent. Don't panic if you're re-doing your girl's face and it doesn't come out right. It's fixable! No, you probably won't be able to 100% replicate what you had before, but remember that you also weren't 100% happy with it either. Take a deep breath, step back for a few, think about where you feel you went wrong, and try again.

If you are looking at professional face-up artists in the marketplace, check out their portfolio for a style similar to what you have and like. Use your own shots and theirs as reference when commissioning as well as the list you made about what should AND shouldn't be done to the face-up. Don't be afraid to be specific! The clearer your communication is, and the better your examples are, the more satisfied you are likely to be with the outcome.

Personally, almost all of my dolls have been bought secondhand; many came with face-ups that weren't appropriate to the character I had in mind. Almost all of them now have face-ups from someone here in the Marketplace, and they have all done an absolutely sterling job! I'm not talented enough to do my own painting, but with enough planning and corresponding with different artists, I have attained the looks I've always wanted for my dolls.