character development before or after doll arrival?!

Most of my dolls are based on characters I've already created for the books I'm writing, so I'm definitely in the character first camp. There are a couple (out of 40+ dolls) that I ordered before I knew who they were because I liked the sculpt, but they had a fully fleshed-out character developed for them before they got home!

 

It depends on the dolls. Some of them have very detailed characters before they come, but a few have developed afterward. One I bought because I loved the sculpt and had no idea what to do for his character It wasn't until he arrived that I was able to get a better idea.

 

So far all my dolls' character development has been after they arrive home. It's like I'm building my cast in some ways.

 

The first several dolls I got years ago when I first started collecting they characters developed after they got here. But since then I have a pretty complex world/story built up in my head for them and I try to get dolls that will fit a character in the story. Sometimes I find a doll I like so much I will create a new character to fit in the story. But still occasionally ill get a new doll and it just won't be the character I intended it to be and then a new character emerges from the doll after I have it.

 

Always after - trying to do so before just plain failed in the face of the doll refusing to comply when they arrived.

Yep. My Narae was meant to be a super polished fashionista spy/secret-agent type character, but she refued from the moment the box was open and insisted she was a boho/hippy chick. So, that's what she is.

Almost all of my dolls let me know their character after they arrive, some straight away, some gradually as I "get to know them", some fill in the blanks when tye interact with the existing doll characters.

Sometimes it takes the arrival of a new doll to firm up details of an existing doll's character. For example, it wasn't until tomboy Hannah joined my Victorian family that Nesta came into her own as a snarky-older-sister type (even though she and Hannah are the same age, and cousins), hyper-critical of Hannah's lack of interest in clothes, fashion, and social niceties. I also brought out more of Cressida's character as the quiet little peacemaker between Hannah and Nesta.

Teddy

 

In the past I've always developed a character, including their backstory, beforehand and tried to find a BJD that seemed appropriate to shell them. Unfortunately I've noticed this always backfires, so far only two out of 30+ BJD that have lived here adopted their original character upon arrival.

Nowadays I still develop characters that I use for drawing or writing references but I no longer actively seek out matching BJD. If they match a character it's a bonus but if not I tend to just create a new one character tailored specifically for the BJD in question. It's actually fun to welcome the new addition home and get to learn more about them. And it's great to just purchase a few "guilty pleasure" BJD~ ^__^;

 

Thus far the process seems like:

1. See doll

2. Oh no that doll is too adorable I am in love

3. Think about doll a lot

4. Inevitably start coming up with character for doll

5. Oh no now I have a little story/comic-y-thing idea

They're not preexisting characters, funnily enough. Ara came up with something completely unrelated to all my writing worlds, and Nova got pulled in for the ride. Which I don't mind terribly much. I write a lot of aliens, robots, etc, which would be like, impossible to shell. Plus, investing all that money just for a story that might not pan out! Better for the dolls to be solely in their little hobby spot, the way I work.

But now I have a vague concept for the character of Ara's mom and she is banned from existing until I have enough space for a third doll, let alone what'd likely be an SD.

 

Do you tend to develop characters before or after your doll arrives?

I began collecting back in 2006, and from the very beginning I made the decision to only shell specific pre-existing characters. I was creating a complex fantasy world and letting my imagination run carefree to populate it, and there were no shortage of fascinating stories popping into my head. It was tremendous fun...the excitement of a new creative idea, the development of a style, and the hunt for the perfect doll to fit that character. Some were quite easy to find...others took a lot of searching...one took 8 years, another an entire decade! But the planning and the journey were great fun for me.

Do you have characters that you have written beforehand?

I started out with every intention of writing my story ideas down, but it just never panned out. I have certainly enjoyed writing stories in the past, but that’s just not where my doll journey took me for some reason. I mean, I tried it and wrote a small handful of stories for them but soon found that process far too limiting for me. It was like they wanted to have lives of their own, with their stories constantly developing in my imagination alone...much like how a child plays. This process fascinated me, and it felt right, so I just ran with it. I always had a basic well developed character with specific styling to start out with, but where their story went from there was very fluid (dependent upon their future interactions with other characters, accessories and props.) This is just how it worked for my collection.

Have you ever received your doll and it began to take on a character of its own?

This has only happened to me twice in all these years, and it came as quite a shock! I mean, they “looked” perfect for the part but once they arrived, they just completely rejected the characters I’d chosen them for! There was nothing left to do but make the best of it and allow my imagination to discover who they really wanted to be. It was surprising, yes, but I fell in love with who they eventually became.

 

I've mostly done the character development before I shell them. A majority of my crew I had OCs figured out years before I put them into resin form. Tahmos, my main OC, I'd had pretty much developed up to the point that I got into collecting bjds (along with about 3-4 others).

There are a few who have grown and developed as I've shelled them. With Mundei, I'd pretty much had a general idea of what he'd look like along with his personality, but he really started taking form after I first spotted Dollshe King Corey (and it was downhill from there).

A couple others developed alongside me shelling them, a prime example being Azabian. In their case, I had a general idea of what I was looking for, but it wasn't until I stumbled across a Little Rebel Kai head at a local meet that I had a clear idea of what direction I wanted to take them in. Their personality and aesthetic blossomed as I worked on customizing them.

Some have been an in-between, where I had a general idea for the OC, but they grew and developed as I shelled them.

Overall, though—I tend to have the OC fleshed out before I even begin shelling their resin form.

 

I have a pretty good idea of who I want the doll to be, but once I've gotten the doll they've completely changed. My girl Nari was supposed to be a confident musician but still down to earth. Once the doll arrived I found that she is more than confident, she's a little arrogant and kinda rude. She's not a terrible person, she is just blunt. Now when I got my Joon Bae, he was supposed to be a heartthrob bad boy, but he isn't at all. He is really sweet and almost a little shy.

It's great letting these characters grow in time. I have one doll, Mina who is a bit of a snob, and she's still a snob.

 

Well, it's also both. I have an image of a doll in my head and try to find fitting sculpt/face-up/clothes/accessories. But after the doll arives, he/she always shows its own opinion on my ideas, and then something changes. Moreover, the personality of the doll is finally formed only after I get the doll and start playing it.

 

Exactly what @AlexEllery said. If I am strict and try to stick to a character I’ll be disappointed when it doesn’t develop how I envisioned it. They always end up with subtle hints of my character idea though.

 

Usually after. The character takes form when I start their clothes and accessories. The only time I already have a character before buying is when I'm reshelling a doll I already have.

 

Both! I have a life planned for every doll, and I have a story where the characters must fit in. That means that I try to avoid impulse purchases that do not have purpose for the story. But, sometimes my dolls turn out completely different than I meant. One of my ladies even divorced her husband, which was a thing I totally did not see coming when I wrote them together in my story. They just did not seem "happy" together, their characters did not go together very well. At the moment I do not know what this lady will be up to next, I'm currently developing her character further.

 

That’s definitely an unexpected twist! Divorces always make me sad. Did her ex-husband find new love?

 

Wellll... He cheated on his wife with another man through the last years of their relationship, so let's say he had one waiting.

 

I’ve tried to make their characters before they arrived, but every time I do this it just doesn’t work out. The sculpt won’t match the personality and I’ll end up changing their fashion to much XD. I’m a digital artist so I make characters a lot they just always end up separate from my dolls. I have a really hard time finding dolls for my well established characters. So I just feel out their characters after I get the doll and play around with them more.

 

I tend to have some vague ideas for the doll's character/back story before they're even bought, however, the majority of those ideas typically go out the window when the doll actually arrives. I find it pretty difficult overall to really flesh out characters (it's a very slow-going process) but I do think that it's a lot easier to work on the character development aspect of the hobby when the physical doll is actually with me so that's what I go with now.
I try many different things on the dolls to decide their appearance (including eyes/wigs, in one case even bodies), then I research names until one sticks/feels right, then I play with them and "get to know" the doll's personality, their hobbies, likes/dislikes and how they fit in with the other dolls.

 

I just finished my dollzone Cindy's faceup and while I thought the tones would stay pretty warm and maybe green and gold she is more turning towards brown and purple tones thanks to the shimmer I used for her horns, so now I am going with the flow and bought her eyes that also have purple tones! Just have to figure out now what I want to do for clothes.

 

I started off with the idea that I'd only shell characters I had already created, but that kind of flew out of the window relatively quickly. While I tried really hard to find dolls with similar features, they would always arrive and I'd find myself put off by the body not being quite right, or the nose being a little too sharp, but at that point I was attached to the doll itself and didn't want to reshell.

Nowadays I'll usually choose a name and maybe put together a mood board for theme and fashion, fully expecting the doll to arrive and "choose" something else. Weirdly enough these dolls usually end up being who I expect them to be! Maybe it's the room left for growth?