Customizing: Do it yourself?

I am not an artist but i'm starting doing minor work on my dolls after 2 years owning dolls and I could answer for myself but its mainly because "Get the results you want?"

I don't mind if ts gonna cost more than asking someone else, if you did the work yourself its look like you share more with your BJD

 

My plans for which doll I'm going to get first changed, and this one comes with a face up as his default, so not getting a face up isn't a way to save money in my case anymore. Also, I want to order from Mint on Card and the doll they have already comes with a face up, so it would be extra weeks shipping to get him without his face up. However, I don't think his current face up will last very long on him before I take it off and replace it with one done by myself for the other three reasons you've listed ^^

 

I almost never do my own faceups (I tried, and decided I was too lazy!), but I do other super minor mods like seam sanding. It saves money and time (paying for shipping, waiting for it to be done, waiting for it to come back etc) and tbh prices for minor mods can be quite a lot for what it is (and I'm not surprised at all; gotta get paid for your time, right? AND does anyone LIKE doing seam sanding? I don't!) I modded the lips of one of my dolls, and it took what, a day? definitely shorter than a week of shipping to, modding, shipping back

I do bond with a doll that way, and doing a mod makes me proud I can do something right! lol

 

Bond with a new doll?
Yes, it does!

Get the results you want?
Absolutely. Although I guess it also depends on skill and patience to get to where you want to get
(I haven’t gotten to the point I want yet, but I am in no rush).

Save money?
I guess, it does help save on s/h and commission costs.

Express yourself artistically?
Definitely.

OR why do you choose to do your own customizing?
Because I am daring. XP I wanted to see if I could do it, so I did it. I also needed to change some sculpts
I've modified myself to fit my needs so I couldn't keep wiping other people's work on my dolls. It wouldn't be wise
or cheap to do, so I knew I had to do my own customizing at one point or another. I haven't gotten better at it,
but as an artist I enjoy the process, and it does help me bond with my dolls. Also I haven't seen customizer's work
I would love to pay for, so I had to "learn" to do it myself. (:



- Enzyme

 

Interesting question...
I love customizing them myself as it is definitely an outlet for my creativity.I have an idea for a doll's look that starts in my mind, then I like to bring it to fruition. The thing is now I really have enough dolls, so maybe I will do a few project dolls in the future.
I think it also depends on what you really like doing too, and I really enjoy doing face ups. I wouldn't say this particularly saves me money because I am always buying new brushes and pastels etc.anyway as I love different art products.
I'm not very technically expert at making clothes but I like to make them some outfits too, as the styles I like are the type that can't really be bought easily, although I have spent out on some lovely designer clothes too.
Actually I can do most things that I want with my dolls, but I still don't like re-stringing, it's my least favourite thing to do with them.

 

For those DoA members that customize their own dolls, do you think it helps you:

Bond with a new doll? Absolutely. I have to make it mine somehow. I only have one or two dolls whose faceups I did not do.
Get the results you want? This, mainly. I don't like most company faceups. Too much eye makeup, eyebrows too feathery, not natural enough, and not my style.
Save money? In the long run, yes, but supplies can be expensive. MSC especially.
Express yourself artistically? I have a bunch of ways I do this, but yes, part of the doll hobby for me is the painting of them.

 

Why do you choose to do your own customizing?
Bond with a new doll? I got my Luella with a default faceup and I still feel connected with her. To be honest though I can't wait to redo her faceup someday. I know when I did my test run on the Feeple faceplate it felt incredibly satisfying and bonding.
Get the results you want? This too. I can be rather picky and I like what I like. And I want to see results of my skills getting better after practicing.
Save money? Partly this. Yes it is expensive to get your tools and supplies but once you have a good base it is cheaper in the long run. You get more faceups from even from a basic tool kit but one faceup from a dealer or artist is the only one.
Express yourself artistically? Yes. I like putting my fingermark on my crafts.

 

It entirely depends on the project. For example, some of my dolls have required light facial sanding such as changing elf ears to human ears, shaving down a very pointy nose or softening an eyebrow ridge. These are small mods which I enjoy doing myself as it's true I can get the exact result I want with just a little time. However, there are bigger projects (usually those that require additive mods) such as mouth openings, ear piercings or in one case all but resculpting a torso entirely that I would not feel comfortable doing myself as I don't believe I have the correct skills and it's not a project I'd wish to 'test' out as my mistakes would only cause me frustration and I'd likely end up associating those bad feelings with the doll. And there are some things I'm capable of doing myself such as seam sanding, yet I find the ordeal such a complete pain in the tookis that I'd rather not deal with the doll for a few days, so this is also something I'd rather send off to someone else.

Face-ups are tricky. While I do enjoy the power over being able to decide exactly how my doll's face will look, this is better in theory than in practice. Just because in my head I know how I want the face-up to look doesn't mean my hand will obey and the face will actually turn out that way. So it's a mixed bag here as I can sometimes find only the flaws in a face-up done by myself and won't feel better bonded at all, and once again could associate negativity with the doll at the frustration of working for hours on a face-up only for it to turn out like a hot mess. While I haven't given up completely on practicing at that skill, I have no problem sending it out to a much more talented artist either.

 

I prefer to do my own customs mostly because it does help me bound with the doll, it feels more personnal. and if someone come and tell me "your doll is so prettyyyyy", it makes me feel so proud ^^

also, it's fun, it gets me out of boredom & if I didn't paint them I wouldn't do much with them. it IS less expensive and eventually if I'm good enough I could open a shop and therefore, make more money! $_$

but I'm not good so I can't get the result I want xDD;; if I had a very specific and complex idea (luckily I never do) I would need to send my heads over to someone cause I could never do it properly and would be super disapointed

 

Does customising help you bond with a new doll?
Yes. The very earliest stage of customisation is planning the desired final result in great detail. This step helps me bond with the doll, as it involves thinking a lot about the doll's character and why they have whatever feature I am customising them to have.

Does customising help you get the results you want?
Definitely. Oftentimes, default dolls just don't have the extra touches required for my characters (like freckles, or a sculpted tail, or back-mounted wings). Customising and modding allows me to have my characters represented exactly as I want them.

Does customising help you save money?
Again, definitely. I do all my own blushing, which saves me hundreds of dollars on my dolls. Customising my own face-ups saves me a ton of money I'd otherwise spend on commissioning other people (and shipping my dolls back and forth).

Does customising help you express yourself artistically?
Of course. It allows a fine-tuning of a doll, so instead of representing what the original sculptor/artist wanted, it represents what I want.

 

All of the above, yes, except I'm not always sure that I get quite the results I'd like. I'm not a great face up artist really, but I do like to try.

 

I only started doing my own faceups this weekend and it gave me such a satisfaction. I'm actually contemplating doing my own faceup on my incoming Bluefairy Olive!

 

I'm a DIY person for sure. I do all my mods/faceups/blushing myself. For me it's about 50% of the fun of owning a doll. I think I'd have a difficult time communicating exactly what I wanted to a faceup artist. I also am I bit paranoid about sending my dolls out. I'm not sure if doing my own work really saves money. Maybe in the long run? Art supplies are pretty expensive.

 

There's definitely a bit of "saving money," though the supplies for doing faceups and mods can be costly in themselves. I definitely do get a bit more of a bond with a doll as a result of customizing it myself, however, and by doing it myself I not only get to go for the exact style I'm interested in without nagging another artist, I also get to learn how to do the mods and customizations myself, so I can do bigger and better things as I move along.

I have a number of very specific characters I want to shell; some only need a faceup and a little work on a wig, while others are requiring major additive and/or subtractive mods--things I'll never learn if I don't do it myself, and things that could cost a lot of money to have someone else do! I get a certain satisfaction out of learning how to take on a certain task and accomplish it to a degree that not only I enjoy, but that other people looking at the doll enjoy as well. (I have gotten a lot of compliments over my modded LittleFee faceplate, even if I can see the learning-experience flaws in it.) And with learning to do it myself, I also know how to change things if I decide I don't care for what I've done, and want to switch things up in the future, without having to send the doll out again.

I only have one head that I've "sent out" for a faceup (not really shipped or anything, I actually worked with the faceup artist, so the transfer happened at work), and while he is lovely, I fear damaging that faceup, and he's definitely moving to a display-only object in the next few months (when I can get the new head for his body). I'd much rather have dolls I can play with and not worry about, because I can fix it if something happens; my overall enjoyment (both of doing the customization, and of playing with the doll afterward) is my biggest reason for doing it myself!

 

quadruple Yes! I do my own face-ups. Since I'm an art major I already have all the supplies lying around anyway so I might as well use them. Plus the doll really feels like it's mine after I paint them. It just wouldn't feel the same if I sent it off somewhere. My father also works for a paint store so I have this big treasure trove of painterly knowledge and an employee discount at my disposal. It the perfect "must do my own faceup 4 life" storm.

 

Personally, doing my dolls' faceup started out as a money-saver, and now it's become something I really enjoy. I'm planning a "doll aesthetics day" today, gonna repaint one of my girls if I can. I have a creative partner now and she's gonna have some input on the dolls' faceups.

 

I'm new to this so I've been looking up tips to save money and a lot of people recommended I do my own face up. I also like the idea that I can customize it myself! I'm planning on buying a doll and it's one of the things I'm actually looking forward to.

 

For dolls that I've assigned a character to, I like to do my own faceups. It gets the results I want AND saves me money. Nothing worse than paying blood for a faceup and turns out to be a total let-down (I mean company faceups)

 

I have no issue bonding with the dolls that I paid the company to do face ups for. I chose to get my very first doll blank, and plan to do her face up myself, even though I don't yet have the sealant or the mask to go with it and have zero experience. I also have no idea what style I want for her. I'm really excited about one of my next dolls, because he's going to be a customization project. Do I have any experience customizing? Nope. But I have to start somewhere.

 

All of the above except #2! LOL

No, but primarily, I'd do it to save money. Doing it myself also allows me to understand how to do it, so if I should have any problems later, I know how to fix it. :3