Discussion thread for Limhwa Limho Mano

I agree that there are people who just plain set out to 'offend,' and not offer
any valuable criticism, but it is always something you can learn from, IMHO.

I also agree that Mano changes so much, not only from resin to resin, but just
with different eyes and wig, even when he has the same Limhwa 'default' face-up -
truly an amazing sculpt. It's also great to see the broad spectrums he can
handle - I am not great at doing face ups as of yet (I do hope to get
better), but I already see that he can definitely take the heavier darker faces,
as well as the more neutral and 'soft' colors, like Limhwa's defaults. Not many
sculpts can do both, some look weird in soft colors, other's can't do dark/heavy
colors very well, but Mano can do both dramatic and natural. All thanks to the talented
artist who chose to sculpt an asymmetrical sculpt, who could be both a "hero and a
villain." ^.^

I'm looking forward to seeing all three Manos together!

- Enzyme ^^

 

Yes, the different resins, different materials he's made from do change his looks abit. The promotional photos of his clay cast for instance have a different look and feel to them than his first resin cast photos.

I think it is the way the different materials and colors change the way light reflects off his features, they can make the curves and dips looks harder or softer. The french resin because of its glowing quality tend to make him much softer looking, than the beige and the tanned.

I agree Enzyme, he is very versatile and can do many many looks. It is soo cool. ^_^

I also look forward to the photos of the three brothers together!

 

Haha! But they are NOT perfectly symmetrical-- even Volks-- they only fake it. If you take a set of calipers to Yukinojo's face, and measure what seems to be his museum-quality symmetrical beauty, you will find alllll kinds of inconsistencies. For real. And that's one of their more detailed sculpts. I had been staring at this guy's face for 2 years before noticing this... it was pointed out by a friend who'd stripped her boy down for modding (so she was actually measuring). Clever illusions! Having a faceup also helps the illusion too.

I noticed Mano's asymmetry right away, because I ordered him blank. So right off the bat, I had to start plotting out his features... and after 2 hours of hair-tearing failure, I finally figured out, "Why in blueball heaven can I NOT get his farking eyebrows to be even?!?" ;;; Oh, what a terror to paint he was. Then it dawned on me: he's so human that he's like me! My nose may not skew off as far as his does, but my eyebrows are reeeeally uneven too. XDD As soon as I realized that it was just asymmetry, it took me less than 30 minutes to throw out my plotting-points, & draw new freeform eyebrows that LOOKED right, even if they didn't MEASURE right.

I hadn't thought about why he looked so human & so natural, so it didn't occur to me to look for sculptural unevenness. But that sure does the trick, because he's quite lifelike in both expression & texture. I am particular to dark tan resin because I find it makes the same sculpt look twice as lifelike, the way the light hits it, though again I can't say why .

Anyway-- I find it severely ungracious that somebody would plot his face out on a grid and actually call him "defective". That is in such poor taste! Catrina, I read that HauteDoll interview too, and think Mano is spot-on with the vision she describes. At least to me. Bravo!! My only complaint about that article was that it did not have Mano pictures. *weep* Maybe next time HD interviews her, there'll be a ton of body-lovin' pics to entice people.


Oh yes, and as for my Stavros's hip-socket problems: Turns out that the solution was a simple one.... just add more glue! When in doubt, add more glue. ^^ Now he can practically do tai chi! I still have to shove his legs around pretty firmly, to get them to stay; rather than waiting for him to find his own balance, I have to remind him I'm still bigger than he is, muscles or no muscles.

Come watch him work out: http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=195951
(Warning: there's a wee bit of nudity, of course. )

 

Catrina, I do not ant to sound impatient, but do you have idea of what is happening with the rest of tanning Manos still to be sent? It is strange that some peope have already recieved theirs, and some of us don't even have a tracking number. Any news would be greatly welcome!

Jenny, thanks a lot for the pictures! he is really a nice sculpture, I can't wait to get mine and start working on him!

 

so far, for me, it's been the lips that irk me. i don't know about the grid thing, but to me, they seem out-of-midline.

 

and i love his lips! i like realistic dolls.... and I knew a guy who had a lips like Mano does... eh...

 

Mmmmm.... lips.

My own lips are out of midline, too. My upper lip has two uneven arches. My own daily face-up has so many corrective tricks involving lipliner & eyebrow pencil that I never even see how crooked my face is anymore. Since the human eye does seek symmetry, the longer you look at something, the more your eye & brain work together to fill in the blank/crooked spots. The mind is a stern taskmaster, so tricking the eye into seeing perfection really isn't too hard. Perhaps that's why it became easier to paint Mano the very moment that I gave up on geometry, and just went with painting features that felt right.

 

i find the lip indentation too deep for my tastes. D: has anyone tried sanding down the lips a bit? or reshaping them?

 

::wails:: No way! Sacrilege!!

 

Eeeh!? o.o; I seriously don't see whats wrong with his lips...and perhaps it is more the way they are painted that is bugging you, if the indentation isn't painted dark it wouldn't show up as being deep.

I guess this means you don't like dolls that sort of have an open mouth. My Kawaiinino(Ninodoll) Iz even has teeth behind his lips, Mano doesn't begin to have that kind of thing with his mouth.

I don't know of any Mano's having been modded. I know there are modders out there who do things like that with different sculpts, but I don't believe anyone that currently has a Mano was that dissatisfied to the point of modding him. Although, I do know that a few have resold theirs to others.

Perhaps a Mano really isn't the doll for you in this case.

 

Oh yes, the Mano boys were all sent out a couple weeks ago.

I know Italy and Spain can have difficult EMS. I want to be extra-sure who you are, so please PM me with your legal ordering name. I will ask Limhwa for your tracking number. Anyone else who has not gotten their tanned boy, please PM me for tracking.


Catrina

 

Well, I can see how his lips might be intimidating. Unlike other boys, he's got 'em full and full of expression XD. There is a definite crook to his mouth, he can smile smirk or be deadpan serious. He has a level of realism not apparent in other dolls and I can understand when some people are turned off.

And on a side note, I finally posted Ducan/Mano comparison pictures here if anyone is interested.

 

I definately want to see more of this guy.....hubby wanted a girl...no more guy dolls

 

Ee! Yuu-chan, Sky looks really cute next to his friend! ^^ Nice matchup, for that person who requested the photo.

Derilan85, that is so sad. ::wails:: I can't imagine having a cutoff limit for boy dolls! Well, anytime you need to look at manflesh, we will be happy to keep you provided with pictures.

 

His parting-lip-line is a bit deep, a bit deeper than all three of my other dolls combined,
and one of them is an open mouth-sculpt! But I don't see that as a problem,
other than I can't seem to be able to paint it just right. ^___^;;; Again, that is not a problem,
unless you want to do the face-up yourself, and you happen to have the pulse of a drunken
old man just like I do. ^-^;;;

I find the whole sculpt incredibly intriguing, just plain fascinating, I would never dare to
mod the sculpt - but I do tend to enjoy the realism in some of these dolls. I was thinking
it might be an age factor, my guess is that older audiences prefer the more realistic dolls,
and the younger ones the more "fantasy-like" sculpts, but maybe it's just me. ^-^;;
I might be the oldest Mano owner so that's where I get my conclusion, I'll turning 27, in May!


- Enzyme ^_______^

 

*pfft* Pumpkin, I'm 38 next month.
Last month I painted a Volks SchoolHead "B" (completely rudimentary anime features) and this month I painted Mano (nooks & crannies till the cows come home). I like all 31 Flavors of boy doll out there!

As to painting the mouth-line, it is very wide & deep and tricky. I used dark-brown pastel powder, in layers, rather than trying to paint a solid line. I may even still need to add another layer, or dot in a little black on top of the brown, to make it darker; but it's always better to stop sooner, than to glob on too much color & be unable to lighten it later. I just had to remember to keep cleaning the corners of his mouth as I worked (he's got those big corner-hollows), so they didn't look 'dirty'. Actually his mouth gave me no trouble to paint-- just don't get me started on the eyebrow-balancing. %$@!!*$....

earth.spirits, Luis is one of my favorites. He always looks so serene and wonderful, his eyebrows are truly an inspiration, and you two are clearly so fond of one another. ^^

 

I like anime as much as the any (if not or more), I practically grew up watching
Japanese animation, but I have found myself looking for more realistic dolls now after 4 years in
this hobby. Although I don't plan on buying any more, I do admire the more realistic ones coming out.
I own two sculpts from two of the more stylized companies right now, and two from the
more "realistic" ones as well, so I guess it's my taste is divided, half and half - but I do see a "trend," where
the younger like the X companies more than the Ys, and the X tend to be more stylized
than realistic - although everyone's perception of reality is a bit twisted. I guess my age conclusions
of this hobby should be funded on better grounds than that ^^


I don't want a dark part-line, because Mano's is deep enough to have
that effect on its own, but I do want to add some more "depth" to the
color of it, just so that if I want to do an extreme close-up of his mouth,
it won't look like it's a doll. ^____^;; I know I'll eventually get it right, I just
don't want to do it over and over, or I'll start to wonder if I've failed as an artist
because I can't paint miniatures, when the smallest medium I had done before
are poster sized canvases. XD

Eyebrows I can get the shapes as I want, it's the darn hairs I can't paint well enough,
they are too fuzzy too thick, not sharp or dark enough. I blame it all on my crummy pulse from
h*ll, but maybe it's my untalented skills to paint hair in that scale. XD



- Enzyme ^______^

 

I do prefer realistic sculpts.... Even when I was like 5 or 7 years old I wanted a doll looked like a human but couldn't find it back then..... So I'm very happy that now I can buy what I like!

 

Today I sueded my man up and gave him a wig to wear.

I haven't been able to photograph him properly yet - but I'm in love - big lips, flat feet, bumpaly skin and being two-faced (physically though I'm not to sure about personality yet) included.





I'm 28 in November - I don't consider myself old yet

 

I will stalk this thread more now, I'll be 37 this year....goodness if I don't look old I sure do feel it when it rains or gets cold really suddenly