Deciding skin tones

I just recently had this same dilema. Loved a doll that came in three skin tones. I could imagine loving all of them ! I ultimately just picked one and ordered it. Of course, after she was ordered, I was filled with doubt that I had made the right choice. After she arrived, I fell in love with her, as I realized I would have no matter which skin tone I decided on. Basically, if you love the sculpt, I don’t think you can go wrong with skin tone. The doll will be yours and you will love it regardless

 

I had a very similar issue. The doll in question was a Gem of Doll. Based on her face, I thought she'd make a nice shell for a character of mine, but I was apprehensive about going for it because I knew I'd want her to be a tan doll and simply put, I'd never seen a single owner pic of a tan Gem of Dolls in tan. The tan examples from the company photos tended to be in dramatic lighting, so I had no concrete idea what the tan would actually look like. I took the plunge and when I got her... her face didn't suite and her tan was a different tone than I'd pictured for the character. But it worked out! She's still lovely and has become a different character.

Like Baktu said, if that sculpt itself catches your eye, then you should be good! In fact, seeing the doll you love in an unfamiliar resin color is kind of exciting.

 

I had this issue when ordering my migidoll (display pic)... i knew it was going to be normal or tan, and i decided normal (even though i soooooo want tan boy)... i want a second head for him for the future to be modded closed. i also want to get jointed hands for him too at some point.

so either i could order him normal skin and get those extra items, or order him in tan (which the company did not have photos of) and not get any extras like the extra head or jointed hands.

I am currently in this same dilemma for a girl, luckily i will not be ordering her yet, but i figure it might be best to go normal skin since tanned or darker skin in japan isnt really wanted, a lot of girls make themselves lighter.


I say, look and see if what youre getting is exactly what you want and take that chance, who knows, it might be exactly what you needed and wanted

 

I had the same with Loong Soul's Domimi. I wanted to buy him in Normal Pink, but in the promotional photos he was white. And I wasn't able to find any other his photos anywhere. In the end I ordered him in NP and I have no idea how he will look in this color. I hope he will be alright.

 

Usually when I decide on a resin color i think about what i need it for. Similar to what @onee-chan-taichou said, if I need to be able to either make a hybrid or change the hands or something, that would make me go for the easiest color to match (usually NS). Sometimes I have been lucky to find perfect tan matches, but it is rare.

If I don’t need to match the doll to anything, then I consider what color I’d most prefer.
I have ordered dolls in colors I was very unsure of but once they turned up they were just great.

 

It depends why I want the sculpt. If it is to shell a particular character, the skin tone is a no-brainer: the character's.

But if I just like the sculpt and have no specific character in mind, I try to picture the facial feature with the face-up I may or may not have in mind, and decide by how good that looks. It's trickier.

And sometimes, I just want to add diversity. So when I saw Atelier Momoni's Momoni's face and realized the features can pull off any ethnicity, I went for cocoa, simply because a black doll is missing in my collection of "normal", white, and tan, and not a lot of face sculpts can pull off Afrocentric looks or characters.

 

I find there are a lot of sculpts that I think look just okay in NS, but then I see them in a darker color and then I just absolutely love the sculpt. So I know for me, if I like the sculpt and tan is available I'll love the sculpt in tan, even if I haven't seen photos. That just seems to be my personal preference. I also purchased a doll Chateau sculpt in their new green without seeing photos of that sculpt in green, and it worked out beautifully. He's absolutely gorgeous!

TL;DR If you like the sculpt, try the color. It will most likely work for you.

 

I have ordered dolls unseen in their resin color.. 7 times now that I count.. out of 14 dolls purchased.

Sometimes I try adjusting the color of an existing photo, but the result looks nothing like the doll when it arrives. When I ordered a gray Dikadoll, I realized how few photos are out there of Dika's gray resin. There were very few owner photos of the sculpt, also, so that made my curiosity worse. I clung to a handful of good looking owner photos, which turned out to be custom (extra nicely faceupped) works, and set my expectations too high. In person, the gray resin was much darker and more.. colorful(?) than the monochrome gray I had psyched myself up for by making mock-ups, and the actual product made me feel ill to look at until I got used to it. That's about the worst possible outcome, but I kept her around anyway in hopes I'll come around.. there's a list of regrets and things I want to change about her, but in a strange way I like her, so don't want to give up easily!

Even with that experience under my belt, I wouldn't discourage another person from buying a sculpt in a color they haven't seen in photos.

If you can find other owners' photos of the resin color, even though you can't see the exact sculpt you want, pay attention to the lighting. Some photos which I thought "the lighting must be bad, it can't really be that dark" turned out to be showing a fairly accurate representation.

Also pay attention to how good the resin color looks against the colors in which you plan to dress your doll. (in my experience, Luts RSB looked very good with purple, neutrals, darks, and low-saturation warm colors. Not as great with gem tones, neons, cool tones, or rich primary colors, as they make RSB look washed out.. but darn it she was still way cute in them anyway.)

All that said, there's a leap of faith to it, for sure, and occasionally regrets to be had, but the resin color isn't highly likely to be the thing that makes or breaks your love for a doll, unless it was very crucial to the character you're trying to represent.

 

I try to keep in mind what I want the doll for. Usually I buy a doll to shell an existing character, so I'll check all the resin colors on both the company and owner photos regardless of sculpt just to see if the color seems right. I don't really need to see /that/ sculpt in the color, generally speaking, as long as I know what the sculpt and the color look like on their own. For instance, both my Loongsoul girls needed to avoid overly pink shades, so I chose normal yellow and I think it worked perfectly for them.

When I ordered my Venitu head I didn't have a concrete idea of his character's appearance yet, so in his case I decided to focus on how I'd hybrid him and how the resin ages. The skin tone I liked best would have been harder to hybrid unless I went with a body from Dollshe or someone who uses Dollshe for casting, and my friend showed me hers and told me it gets darker as it ages, and I decided that it wasn't quite right for me, even if it looked nicer in the resin preview photo. I ended up going with a shade lighter, which will make it easier to hybrid and not look too far from the character as it yellows with age. He's not here yet but I'm fairly confident in my choice.

 

I do this, and dither, and them just order ‘normal pink’.

 

I look for one lighter than I want long term so they can yellow nicely

 

I had this problem. The doll in my profile pic had only the normal skin company photos out there, and the company photos of the dark resin I wanted seemed black rather than a dark brown. Fortunately, someone else bought a different doll in that color and looking at theirs, I decided to get it. And I think she looks lovely in it. If you love the color and you love the sculpt, I think there is a good chance of them going well together. But that is just my one experience, of course.

 

Usually, I have a good idea of what I want my character to look like long before I even pick a sculpt, so skin tone is already planned. Sometimes, I even choose a sculpt based on what colors are available. Like if my character needs a certain color skin, I don't even look at companies who don't offer that color.

Occasionally, I do have a small debate with myself about what is better. If I don't have a clear cut picture of how I want the doll to look, I might choose based on which is easier to get (like if a dealer has one color in stock), or which is more interesting (like grey instead of white, when I wanted an anthro). Some companies also have several options, and then I struggle, like with Island Doll? I want a tanned doll, but is sunburned tan enough? Is tan too orange based? Is dark tan too dark? Or maybe I want light skin. Is white glowing white? Is normal good? Is Island really that different from normal? It's when I have more options than just white, normal, tan that I get overwhelmed with choosing. But at the same time, I love companies who offer a wide range of color!

 

I decided on white for the first Resinsoul I got, because I wanted to make a punk elf with white skin and punk makeup. Then I saw all the other colors the Mei comes in and it wasn't a matter of choosing for a specific character, it was looking at the skin color and seeing the character it could be.

 

I think I have kind of the inverse issue... I only have 1 doll right now but I'm making a dream doll list, so that could be part of the problem. Anyway, I know I'm going to want a purple and a gray, the problem is finding the perfect sculpt to show off the colors. I'm a super newbie though, heh...

 

I don't have character dolls, or else I'd do the obvious and go with that character's skin tone. BUT! I do tend to go for the different colored resin if I'm buying new.
When I first started the hobby, WS and NS was pretty much the choices. I fell in love with the tan skin, but only very few dolls came in it. Now everything comes in a huge range of colors.
I have several WS/NS dolls (and even a beauty green!!) But I tend to gravitate towards tan for my SD sized dolls and grays, purple, etc for my anthros.

 

I keep in mind what the character design for the doll in mind is, and the background.

For example, my girl Valeria, she is a tall Sun Elf girl, which means she has a very darkish tan.

But for my 73 cm boy Matthias, he's a Danish Prince, (most Northern Europeans being really pale) which means I have to get him in WS resin.

 

Oh boy do I have this problem. I had this problem recently with wanting a doll in tan, but I couldn't find what tan skin would look like in that particular sculpt with the outfit as an example. I think it was more the uncertainty of whether or not it'd look good, and I'd hate to have him arrive and me to end up not liking it. If I were to be getting a nude doll or a doll for a character I think it'd be a lot easier to decide though.

 

So far, in terms of skin tone, I don't think I'd choose a fantasy color skin tone (like violet or blue) as that's too stylized in my opinion and I would find it difficult to dress someone up. For now, unless I think the sculpt looks nice with a tan, I would stay away from that color skin tone too. I'd be generic and pick the skin tone the sculpt was shown in since I know what that would look like.
I would prefer to pick a skin tone I'm familiar with or have seen pictures of so I know what I'm buying. I would be afraid to take a risk and buy a doll in a skin tone I wasn't familiar with because what if I end up not liking it?
But I still don't own a doll yet so haven't had to make a decision but based on what I've seen and the sculpts I like, I tend to go with the skin tone pictured.