dark spots on the corner of lips?

Well... I dunno about BLACK dots. XD;;; But I definitely dig the dots, usually. I always make it a point to draw them when I'm drawing. But I mean, shouldn't they just be some version of the lip color? ;; And yeah, it's there for depth. Look at real faces, they've got deep indents there, especially when smiling~

 

I have to agree with above posters, some dolls can pull it off, some can't. I think how prominent the dots are too will factor. I prefer lips that are more glossy looking than anything. It's the black line in the middle that I've seen abit of that usually bugs me. I think a darker tone of lipcolour is a good way to go but the black can give a more dramatic effect I suppose.

 

I'm not a fan of the dots, either. I don't like them personally and when I request a face up, if an artist usually does them, I ask them just to use a lighter, more natural colour instead, or to leave them out completely. That being said I have one dot-toting doll and that is my Souldoll Chiron, who I got a custom face up for. Unfortunately I didn't specify he should or shouldn't have dots, so he came with them.

In any case, it's really personal preference to most people, but to me, I don't like lip dividing lines, or insinuated lip dividing lines (ie: the black dots), they seem to make everything.. unnatual? to me as I really am a stickler for natural looking lips. Just my opinion though.

 

I like them sometimes...but I don't like it when the dots are very dark or very large.

 

i do paint them on request, but i don't not like them. i draw a line with a somewhat darker shade of the lip colour and then blush the lips, then paint the rest and gloos then spray MSC. it depends. i don't do it for my custmers unless the doll had flat lips that needed depth. i know DOTs need depth. i do get requests for the original-like make-up, so i do it. i have no opinion but i don't like it.
see? darker shade but not black.

 

I'm neither here nor there on the topic of dots. If you look at a human being's mouth, the corners are considerably darker than the rest because of shadowing, this 'dark dot' look is more pronounced when the mouth is smiling. I think large black spots either side of the mouth look awful, but when done in a coordinating colour with a very thin brush, I think it's ok.

Some dolls have very undefined lips and need these paint tricks to create creases, folds and shadowing that would appear naturally on human lips. I also like faint lip lines and glossy lips on my dolls, other people don't like lines or gloss. I don't think this is a debateable issue because most people will either say the like the dots or they don't & there's a similar thread in the discussion forum here

 

Oops! Didn't realize there was a similar thread.

 

I still hate them. I don't mind darker corners, of course it's supposed to be darker where there's an indent - but black dots are just ugly, especially when they're made big and not contained to the indented area on the sculpt. I don't paint them or dividing lines in the lips at all, I just try to make sure the color in those areas is a bit darker. The sculpt should take care of the need for shadows in most cases. I do have one doll who has the black corner dots, and I love the rest of his faceup enough not to be willing to try getting rid of them, and if he ever needs a repaint he'll still have depth there, but not black just-ate-an-Oreo dots anymore.

 

I LOVE the dark spots



I don't really want my dolls to look like people, I want them to look like dolls. Swan (Bisou Ai Shiny, above) has the dots and Darwin (below) has a dark line: I don't think it stands out too much and gives her a very relaxed looking mouth rather than tightly pursed lips like some dolls.

 

I agree with those posters who don't really like them. They look like a mark made to govern the placement of the lips that should have been erased but wasn't...

 

I dislike them so much that I won't order dolls with face-ups from companies that insist on putting them there.

I have never seen a human being with dots like that. We humans have shadows created by the ins and outs of our lips, yes, but unless one is standing in bizarre high-contrast lighting or is using some very unusual make-up, there are never black dots that stand out from the rest of the lips. At most, the corners will be a darker shade of whatever one's natural lip color is. (Granted, I have not seen every human's face, but you'd think in 34 years I'd have noticed it at least once!)

Doll lips aren't flat, so I don't understand the need to "add dimension" to the corners, especially when the result looks so unnatural. It's not at all like body blushing or adding vertical lip lines, to me. Body blushing and lip lines add contour and shape to otherwise smooth parts areas. The lip corners on a doll aren't smoothed out and don't require such emphasis.

I always ask the people I commission for face-ups to refrain from adding dots. It's just not my thing. I can understand why someone going for a more stylized look might find them appealing, or if someone with very subtle dots wouldn't mind them, but for me, they really destroy the "natural" beauty of a doll.

 

I don't mind those spots if they are lightly done, but when they are really big and dark, they annoy me. I couldn't stand my Ami Ayase's default makeup for that reason, and had it redone.

But I must admit that they usually don't show that much on pictures :]

 

I like them when they are subtle or at least, blend well with the rest of the lip color. I find it adds expression to the face as opposed to destroying it, particularly when I want a smirk on a doll mold who would otherwise be frowning. It can give a different look depending on which doll they appear on.

Only one of my dolls has really darkened corners as I tried to hide a botched mod job in an attempt to make him look a little more smirky (haha). It turned out looking quite good though, so no regrets there.

What I dislike, however, is when the dots extend past the natural lip creases of the mold and look completely unnatural.

 

Subtle yes...I don't mind them...they look like my mouth.

But when it's obvious I really don't like it...it makes them look like creepy porcelain dolls to me...*shudder*

I thought those were part of the mold...I didn't know it was part of a faceup!

 

I agree with you here. I don't do them too often, but when I want an otherwise "neutral" expression doll to smirk a little bit, I add them, very, very small. I did this to my AiL Chloe and he no longer looks sleepy or pensive, but so deliciously devilish and sly!

 

I love them a lot! I'm surprised so many people dislike them. I agree with the person who said they want their dolls to look like dolls. Real people don't have omfg long bottom lashes either but a lot of people get them on face-ups.

 

I used to be totally against them. But then I sent Michael to get his face-up redone by a very good artist, and I asked her to try to diminish his "I'm SO AAANGRY" look, and one of the things she did was paint very small, natural-looking dots at the corners of his lips.



Yes, humans have a little indent at the corner of their lips, even when the lips are in the slightest of expressions. I just googled a bunch of my favourite actors to make sure since I'm a bit unobservant at times. And yes, they go beyond the lips, since they're at the very corners (just a bit, not full-on Joker-type extensions). Some doll sculpts have them sculpted in and as such only need a little blush to point them out, but some don't.

They have to be done subtly though. When they're done too dark or too big and obvious it looks like the doll was snaking on something dark (coal? chocolate?) and forgot to wash its mouth afterwards.

 

My 9 year old daughter frequently has these after eating. She might even have a food smudge on her nose to boot! AnnMarie