Creating an OC?

This is probably a lot different for me. I know in advance what the original character is supposed to look like. Which often leads to frustration when my hands can't replicate the image in front of my inner vision. Their personality exists outside of matter long before I take their physical form.

 

For me, BJD character creation isn't a fixed matter. Sometimes the doll comes first, then the character. Other times it's vice versa. Or the doll and character don't mesh well, so I need to change the character to fit the BJD.

The important part is having fun with yourself and your dolls.

 

For me, I have to have a character already before getting a doll. I've learned the hard (ad expensive!) way that getting a doll with the plan to customize it without having a character already just results in the doll sitting there untouched. It means i generally spend more time looking for sculpts to suit how I picture the character, and I have fewer dolls in general (exceptions are fullsets, which are their own characters that are either licensed or created by the company. I tend to leave those as they come really, since the set is what I liked about them, or I already liked the licensed character).
It might help you to think about what specific aspects of the sculpt drew you to her and try to think about why. What kind of personality did you see in her sculpt, i.e. if she's got a sweeter expression or faceup, how could that inform her styling, and the kind of person she might be based on those things? You might try something like that and find it doesn't work after all, which can also be an interesting point to develop a character around the difference in how they might be perceived and how they really are!

 

One of my dolls was an impulse purchase because I immediately knew what character to give her. I had the exact hair and outfit in mind, so all the pieces came together pretty quickly. For one of my other dolls, I loved the sculpt and bought it, but I’m struggling to give him a character because I want his story to perfectly fit him. I have two different characters of mine in mind, but one is too old for that sculpt and the other has a much different personality, so I’m a bit stuck for him right now… If anyone else has struggled with this type of problem, what finally solved it? I’m curious.

 

I had something similar happen with my first doll, except the other way around. I had an idea about her character, but when the doll arrived I realized she was a bit too mature for the story fragments I had in my head. So I placed the existing story in her past, kept the character and simply let her live in a slightly later stage of her life. It worked out well.
Could the doll you have represent the first character, but at an earlier point in his life?
If not, then perhaps letting the doll develop a character of it's own is the better choice and save your existing characters for future dolls.

 

{sigh!} I now have two impulse-bought heads (they are SMILEY sculpts - my Kryptonite) and I'll have no idea what their characters will be until they're face-uped, have bodes, and I can start trying eyes, wigs and clothing styles on them... even then it may take a while for their personalities ad character backgrounds to become known to me.

One of them I got with a vague idea of her being a sister to an existing doll (heads from same company, new one vaguely based on existi ng sculpt) but the existing doll is already integrated into a family in my collection, so that won't fly. The other was a complete and utter "I can't reist that smile" purchase.

And in addition to that I already have two dolls who haven't even told me their names yet, let alone their characters and backgr ounds. One of them hasn't even come down on the side of a particular gender, so is probably going to be gender-fluid (or possibly that will just remain unknown), the other one came w ith a faceup but it's not really to my taste, so name and charcter may come easier once he (I think) has been away to @Jay for a new faceup.

Such is often my lot when it comes to doll characters

Teddy

 

Sometimes it's hard for me to recall how I came up with some of my characters, as it's been years since they've been in my head.

So I'll use my newer OC, Hikaru (SD65 Diez). When I saw someone selling him, I was pretty drawn to him. But I had no character to attach to the doll. So, while at work, I started to think about who he could be and how he could fit within my stories. I have my more fantasy-like story, so I decided to place him there. I have my one boy, Tsubasa (Delf Breakaway), and I decided to make Hikaru his younger adoptive brother. Then it became backstory, and it kept going from there until I started to flesh out Hikaru's character more, as well as his hair and eyes.

But then it snowballed into three more characters being made to go along with the story. One, I swear, he popped up and just made himself before I even knew it. It's been fun creating more characters and stories. I felt like I had lost that spark for a while, too.

 

Vince's character DEFINITELY happened once I had him-- so many of the ideas I started with, I threw out, and he became himself through my interacting with him. Every time I tried a wig or outfit on him, took pictures of him with certain props or in new places, it felt like I was kind of figuring out and solidifying who he is.

Jack started as my D&D rogue-- and HE started as me taking one of the characters from my favorite dumb movie and asking 'what would he be in the world of Dungeons and Dragons?', only to evolve a life of his own once I actually started playing him.

Most of my dolls fall into one camp or the other-- a character I really wanted to shell, or a doll that I thought was so cute I came up with a character around them. In the cases where the doll comes first, they often wind up named after a character from something I like and then I take some time to develop who they really are.

 

I find making OCs for my dolls to be a delicate collaborative dance between myself and the doll. Suspend your disbelief with me for a moment!

Most of my doll characters develop once they've arrived in my house, as I put them together and play with them. I wait for things to feel "right," whether that's aesthetics or names or personality traits, and the speed at which a character develops from these things is inversely proportional to how invested I am in getting them to work. If I try to force a doll to fit a pre-existing character and it doesn't work, it impedes my ability to bond with the doll and usually results in the doll being sold. Aiyu took me a few years to parse out fully, and even now, I'm still learning about and developing her.

That said, if it's a doll I've been interested in rather intensely for a significant length of time, they often arrive home to certain character traits and features already established. Finer details can still change (and I commit to absolutely nothing without trial and error first), but the foundation of the character is often settled. Khadija asserted herself as a character when I started developing my broader narrative in earnest, so I selected a doll that I expected would settle nicely onto that foundation. Her actual doll form surprises me and adds new dimension to her, though!

 

I made OCs out of the dolls themselves, actually. The faces, body language from the full set photos, and the eyes all registered in my head as a character who was waiting for a story and a name.

 

My first BJD, Laika, started out incredibly different from how she is now, because I got her when I wasn't really able to afford getting her a whole wardrobe or even a body immediately. I had a vision of her being a sort of "skater girl" type with pink hair but when I actually got her she seemed more sweet and mischievous for that. Eventually I figured she would be an android because I didn't want to get a faceup for her because I like her sculpt as-is. I had this ongoing story/"excuse" for my dolls for a while that basically had the OCs as doll-like vessels or homunculus-type creatures, and additional dolls I got became part of the story of my "household" so to speak. I never really had anything super conclusive other than my two minis being siblings at first. I felt a little bad that they weren't "written" in a more serious way, I was just going off vibes of the dolls themselves, and while that is a perfectly reasonable way to go about it, I wanted to get better at writing actual stories and was admittedly kind of jealous of people that had more coherent characters and backstories for their dolls.

Then a couple things happened: I got Laika her yellow wig so she could cosplay as Bill Cipher, but then really loved how it looked on her in general. I also started posing her and Halogen together and realized that the story I wanted to tell with them was about "space lesbians" rather than the initial concept of sister and brother, and this was around the time I realized I saw Halogen as a female character (possibly trans, haven't decided for certain since I worry I wouldn't write that well). With that, I came up with a setting for them to exist in... and then the OC story stopped being directly based on their doll forms, getting out of control and elaborate basically while I compiled an OC playlist for their story and listened to it a lot, choreographed AMVs in my head, etc. etc.... (this will get on topic don't worry!) and even Laika-the-doll seemed different from Laika-the-OC and I wasn't sure if I wanted to completely separate the concepts (or even just have doll!Laika cosplay as cOREverse!Laika but also be her own character in person).

But then the story I was writing in my head for the characters became one I wanted to portray with the dolls more, so I started being interested in that pair as BJDs again (I had been focusing on other dolls in the meantime) and now I want to bring Laika and Halogen to their full potential as OC dolls, meaning a possible faceup for Halogen and more outfits since I kinda neglected her look for a while. I'm theming Laika more scifi based off of synthwave and other themes and might paint some white circuitboard tattoos on her if I ever get the gumption to try something of that nature. Before I was keeping Halogen even though I didn't do much with her because she belonged to the story and I wanted her around as a reference, but now I want to do more with her doll form again as I develop the story and Halogen-the-OC. So they complement each other at the very least.

So basically, I ended up basing OCs off my dolls and then basing the dolls off the OCs as I developed them, it doesn't have to be one way or the other. If you want to write your characters in a different direction than what you do with your dolls, that can happen individually or both "versions" can influence the other. It can be confusing but fun too! And if you take a break from a doll because they don't inspire you, or if you end up just liking their look without a character, that's perfectly fine- though there is no way they are guaranteed to stay that way, because...

Well, dolls that haven't had much development can have inspiration based on completely different things! I was content to have my KDF Maska be a comfort doll without much of a character until I won a Muhan's Doll Puppy head and realized that when I make that into their own character, Leo (the Maska) can be their classmate! So I'm getting inspired about the older doll and am developing their character when I never thought it would go much further than their kinda emo-ish appearance from early on. New dolls can definitely influence older ones!

And of course, if you never make OCs but just want to enjoy the dolls as pretty things to dress up, I get that too. I see a lot of people expressing feeling like they "have" to have an OC for their doll or else they are somehow doing things wrong in the hobby, and I definitely felt that way at first as mentioned. In my case I decided I like having characters for dolls, but other people might find it too much of a hassle and that's reasonable too.

Regarding acquiring new dolls, I'm trying to limit myself to the projects I have already, if I see new dolls and get inspired it's usually because they look like they would work well as a fandom character I would love to shell (I have. quite a few planned blorbo dolls and am excited lol) but also I see nice aesthetics, and if I were still looking to shop for non fandom based dolls, I would probably let them inspire me based on their design rather than the other way around. Puppy was one of those, I actually didn't plan to get them (my thoughts were on the line of, if I was willing to buy a doll on a whim I absolutely would, but I had plenty of dolls I needed to work on to justify it), but then I was lucky enough to win them in a raffle I wasn't expecting to have any shot at, and so they are here and I am so happy with them! Unfortunately Puppy and Leo must be on a backburner as I work on more current projects, but they are there and waiting so...

...for what it's worth, if you feel you can justify waiting around with an unstyled doll, time is also a thing that can lead to inspiration. I know the feeling of worrying about keeping something expensive that doesn't inspire, and it's perfectly reasonable to sell a doll that doesn't "click" as a character, but if you really like the sculpt/design or styling etc., it might be worth just giving them some time to win you over! Or a different wig/eyes, as others have suggested. Or just holding them in your arms and posing them and getting a sense of their personality "quirks" that way. And if you have an impression of their personality already, you might end up interpreting things like them shifting around, kicking their legs etc. based on that preconceived idea, and that can help you develop that as well, it's kind of recursive like that.

(sorry for the long post/ramble-)

 

I do write and come up with fandom OCs, but so far that's been a totally separate process from giving my dolls characters.

With my dolls, the sculpt comes first. There are many lovely, cool, fascinating sculpts out there, and I am happy to sit and admire the lot, but a smaller subsection engage that "Oooh, who are you?" feeling. I'm not particularly picky about aesthetic matches among my crew - Ara and Suha are siblings, and the former takes a 7-8 wig and 14mm eyes while the latter would probably fit a 5-6 wig and uses 10mm eyes. They just need to find a spot in my brain to make themselves at home. For my MSDs, they fit together into a sci-fantasy sort of universe. The SDs (and DearSDs) so far are one-offs, but they're a much smaller population. I generally like to have an idea of who they would be, even if the details are vague. Could be something like, "Oh, you're the foster sister living with Suha and Ara's family to learn about being a Space Princess," or "Ohh, you're an Escaped Lab Experiment (tm) and need TLC and space to learn what it means to be a person."

Second is styling. Does the character the sculpt is giving me provide opportunities to try something new, or further enjoy some favorites? New hair styles, eyes that maybe I wouldn't give my other characters, a fashion sense I either don't have already but want to explore or one I really like. Ara got some extra freedom thanks to being the first, so he's pretty out there with purple hair and sparkly silver eyes. Most of the others are more down to earth! Except Violet, one of the DearSDs, who is specifically for fun colorful things, and Thalassus who has a fantasy skin tone.

The rest sorts itself out as I play with the doll and get to know them. Different companies' posing influences the details - my Black Cherry Dolls gals both have a refined, if somewhat shy air. Ara is a bit slouchy and casual. Megu, who is probably the loosest character of them all, with just a vague sense of personality and age, no backstory or anything, is polite but a bit... skeptical, reserved, if that makes sense.

Overall, it's all a discovery process!