Custom vs. Company Face-Ups

I just received Rey Lewis from Dollshe with a default faceup. I am still not sure if I like it. I think in the next couple months I will search for an artist to customize him. I just don't think the default matches the personally I have built for Rey.

 

I'm too afraid to send my heads out for faceups so I've learned how to do my own lol. When I first started I always bought the doll with a faceup, now I'll only pay for a faceup if I really love how the company has done it. My current resin family is approximately 3/4 painted by me and 1/4 painted by the company.

I find that when I do my own faceup I get a better sense of what the dolls personality is, or ideas will form while I paint. It's very relaxing ^^

 

I love custom faceups! It brings the dolls to life the way you want them to look. I prefer doing my own faceups but that just means I gotta practice alot before I get to where I want them to look.

 

I was wondering what most members prefer to get for their dolls: custom or the company face-up?

I prefer custom faceups. I came to BJD from action figures and Pullips, which come with stock faceups. I have enough [off-topic] dolls with company faceups and don't feel the need for more.

I have little to no mind's eye for faces (even people I'm extremely familiar with, like my parents or my own face), so describing what I want to someone else is pretty difficult. It's complicated by the fact that naturally, I know exactly what I don't like, but only after I've seen it.

So I've never been brave enough to commission an artist, mostly because there's a good chance I won't like it in the end, and it includes risk, like the mailperson or faceup artist accidentally losing or breaking your doll. (The risk, as little as it is, doesn't outweigh the benefit.)

That's the main reason, but another practical reason is that 5 of my 13 BJDs were intended to be male sculpts, and I've changed that. Keeping a stock faceup is hard when it's features lend the sculpt to be perceived as a different sex.

Once you go custom, do you ever go back?

I've never gone back for BJD, namely because I've never tried company faceups, but I have several off topic dolls to whom I provided custom faceups and then purchased dolls with a company faceup. It matters less for my off-topic dolls because the characters are less developed.

Or is getting a custom face-up too much of a pain? Or are you talented enough to make your own face-ups?

I'm not terribly talented (much better at other crafts), but I do my own faceups. I guess I'm in the "custom faceups are too much of a pain" category.

 

@donugene2 I didn't realize Dollshe even offered faceups. That must be a new thing?

Personally, for me it depends on the faceup. There are quite a few companies whose faceup style I don't like, so I would generally order a blank doll and have a custom faceup for it. Other companies have faceups that I really love and that suit the character I have in mind for the doll. My dolls are a mix of company and custom faceups.

 

I'm really new to the resin BJD hobby. I came from vinyls. In the vinyl BJD hobby, it's actually the other way around than it seems to be here. Sure, there's some people who will have a custom faceup. But the majority actually keep the company faceup. For vinyls, the company faceup is actually *less fragile* than any custom faceup you could put on yourself later. Also, the company faceup actually noticably affects the doll's resale value on the secondhand marketplace. If you don't have it, the doll is worth a LOT less, and sometimes makes it extremely difficult to sell a doll that normally might go really fast if it had the company faceup.

Since I came from that background, all of my dolls, to include the resins, have their company faceups so far. I am not artistically inclined enough to be able to do one myself anyway, so I'd have to pay someone to do it for me if I wanted a custom.

 

I don't generally enjoy company faceups-- I don't want my doll to look like anyone else's.

Once you go AngelToast, you never go back.

 

It depends on the doll for me, the concept I have and the quality of the company face up. I love most of LUTS and Fairyland's work, along with the smaller MYOU dolls. But I'd want to face up my own dolls in the SD sizes, because with them I have such specific concepts. It's interesting to hear about people bonding with dolls they face up. I've only done face ups on fashion dolls, but it definitely helped me love a doll I previously hadn't enjoyed. But when it came to my boy, KDF Bory, I loved him *because* of the company face up. However I got him with a custom face up someone did and I loved that even more, so I guess what I enjoyed is the sculpt and not necessarily the face up.

 

It totally depends on the doll and if I like the style and quality of the face-up. I've purchased dolls with company face-ups and then had them wiped because the quality wasn't great. I've also ordered a number of dolls with awesome company face-ups. If I really want to set the personality of a doll then I order it blank and then commission an artist to paint it. So personally I wouldn't pick one over the other; it's really just what suits me and if I'm not happy with it, then I have it changed.

 

It really depends on what you need and whether you fell in love with the face sculpt or the company pictures with their face up.

I ordered my first doll (RS Bei) with the company face up but ended up wiping it off short after because of bonding issues, 3 face ups later we still have the same issue but I've discovered I really enjoy doing the face up myself
weirdly enough I got my second doll (RS Mi) with the company face up too, but that's just because it was in stock, I'm currently working on her customization: face up, tattoo(s) and some light body blushing and I'm having lots of fun!

 

If I am super in love with the default faceup for a doll, which I sometimes am, I'm not opposed to getting a company look. Sometimes they are gorgeous, or adorable.
But sometimes imo the defaults are hideous, or don't fit my aesthetic at all. And honestly it feels a little strange to get a default look, it feels less personal. I like the idea of a doll being one of a kind, or at least more unique than sharing a face with 200+ other copies. I prefer a custom look.

 

I haven't bought a full doll yet, so I don't know if this counts, but I really enjoy practicing face-ups on the few heads that I do have.
Like others on this thread have said, it makes the doll feel more personal, more yours

Although if you just want the doll and not have to pay someone to commission I'd probably go for company and then edit it myself

 

I've yet to recieve my first doll, though I imagine it will be a case by case basis. I'm ordering company face-up for the first, though I'd like to try custom for the next. Im just really paranoid about potentially damaging my doll while painting or about inhaling sealant. Or my dogs inhaling sealant!

 

I'm in the minority here, but I like the company faceups and it's part of why I choose the doll to begin with. I just see it as part of the art. I also have a disability in which shipping dolls out for faceups would be hard for me, so I guess that's also part of it.

 

I personally want to do my own face ups but if i get a doll i really really like or if its quite expensive, id rather have the company do the face up instead of fucking it up myself!! XD thats just my thought!!

 

i got company faceups on my first couple of dolls, but once i tried getting blank and doing my own, i've never gone back. i even wipe faceups off most of my le dolls (bought with faceups only because they weren't available blank) after a lot of practice i can't do faceups that are professional quality, but they are good enough that i am happy with them. the reasons i wouldn't get a professional to do mine are just that i have too many dolls to be able to afford it, and i'd have to ship outside my country as there are no local artists and i don't want to have to pay customs again for the same doll.

 

the reasons i wouldn't get a professional to do mine are just that i have too many dolls to be able to afford it, and i'd have to ship outside my country as there are no local artists and i don't want to have to pay customs again for the same doll.

This is always my concern as well. The total cost of getting a face-up can be exorbitant compared to just the cost of the doll. I really must love the doll and the artist's work to consider having a professional face up on my doll.

 

My crew are a pretty even mix...

Some have commissioned custom faceups, some have stock or LE company faceups, some are One-Offs (Which is sort-of the half-way point between stock and custom, I guess-). A couple even have faceups that I did myself, though I have absolutely zero talent for it. It just depends on what I think looks right for the individual doll.

 

Customs. I feel like there's a too broadly accepted 'standard' when it comes to company default faceups and many of them come across looking too generic and samey while overshadowing the character of the sculpt. There are a few companies with outstanding faceups that defy the trends, of course, but in my experience they're the exception.

Plus, when I've seen absolutely beautiful custom faceups priced in the $20-$40 range, paying a company $50-$70 for a stock face they've given every to single doll that year feels like a ripoff.