Disliking the blank scuplt

Oof. I feel this. I have complained before that I don't have the "eye" to see the potential in a blank sculpt. I honestly choose dolls based on face ups, which is hilarious now that I've started ordering them blank and trying to DIY my own. A face up I love can totally change my mind about a sculpt, too - I'm not much of a fan of Angel Philia heads, until I saw one with a lower lip piercing.
So, yeah - I have no idea what to do now.

 

I think the face up makes the doll! I have several I was unsure about blank but like painted. I think my best example is my Soom Io. I never wanted one, but my sister had bought him and he didn’t work out so she gave him to me. I really don’t like him blank, but after I got him painted as my boy Quillon, I think he’s perfect for the character and I couldn’t have picked a better sculpt myself!

 

I tend to buy because I like the company face up OR I see the potential in getting it blank and paying someone to paint it. But I try to do a lot of googling first before I buy to make sure I like the sculpt for sure!

 

It’s really hard to see the potential in sculpts when they don’t have all the features needed to see them as a fully realized character (like those picture of celebrities without their eyebrows they look so uncanny). For me, I take a picture of the blank sculpt and draw a quick mock-face up to see if I like it. Since I do my own face ups for the most part, I guess it’s easier to imagine.

Strangely though, I often find myself liking and buying doll heads that are blank but not really liking how any face ups work with them that’s when I send them over to another artist who has a vision for the doll that I don’t have

 

I'm the same way. If the doll doesn't look attractive to me in it's blank state, I'm very hesitant to purchase. I can do my own faceups, so that does allow me some level of experimentation with molds... but I suppose the hard part is unseeing what I don't like.

For example if I see the sculpt blank, and really dislike the eye shape... although I can paint it to alter the shape (somewhat) I sometimes have trouble unseeing the shape underneath. It's like when someone points out a mistake, or weird feature in something and my brain can't disengage with that image.

I suppose the only time I really break that rule nowadays is if the doll is dirt cheap.

 

I was actually talking to my spouse about this problem the other day! Specifically for me, it seems to be Ringdoll sculpts. I think they're gorgeous with all their faceups and styling but then I see the picture of the blank doll and I'm just like... meh. I did almost go for it anyway when they announced they were discontinuing sigrdrifa but came to the conclusion that I just couldn't drop that much money on a doll when it was the full set I liked, not necessarily the doll on her own.

It does show how far presentation goes - sometimes just framing that blank face with a wig makes a world of difference, but I personally want my canvas to be interesting too.

 

I have no eye for blank sculpts, unfortunately.
I usually need to look at several owner pics or official faceups to determine if I like a doll.

 

I only buy dolls that I think look decent blank. Faceups don't last forever, so I want to be really certain I'll still like the doll if the faceup needs to be changed. That said, there are dolls I dislike 90% of the time that I see with a faceup that makes me really like them every once in a while, and then I start to see why someone might buy a sculpt they are 'eh' about blank. Faceups really do affect the whole doll.

 

Honestly me too! I don’t really have an ‘eye’ for it like MaleficentMrsofEvil said, and my impression of a doll can become even worse when the official face up doesn’t do it justice imo.

would like to add on to Scincidae too: Ringdoll has gorgeous full sets and their stock faceup is always to die for, but unfortunately I’ve heard their faceup quality is inconsistent (they even have a ‘villa’ on a Chinese bjd forum because they get bashed quite a bit, I heard). I thought about it, and it’s like, if the doll’s sculpt is decent, even if the faceup is off by a bit, I’d assume it shouldn’t matter that much because the base is aesthetically pleasing by itself. I might be coming at it with the wrong idea though

 

I usually buy dolls based on the company faceup or second-hand dolls based on their custom faceup (if they have a custom one) since I don't have the 'eye' to see the potential of a blank sculpt and I can't do my own faceups.

So far the faceups on my dolls have been quite sturdy even the ones that are over a decade old.

 

Sometimes a face up can make all the difference in dolls for me. Lets take Ring Doll's Lucifer and "Davidson" which are 100% the same base mold, just different names and face ups,and full sets etc. However 100% same mold Ring Doll even says as much in Davidson's sales info. I own both a Lucifer style B and a Davidson and the face ups make them look so different it's hard to tell they are the same mold at all. Jerrik my Lucifer is kind of smiling, and Felix my Davidson is frowning and looks so forlorn, 100% face up makes the diff between them.

Another case of face up makes a big diff for me is, and please do not judge me too hard for these words, but I always kinda disliked the Saint mold. However I've seen a few Saints with face ups where I went ok that's a good looking doll. I never really wanted a Saint, or thought I'd end up owning a Saint, but I own a mini one now. All because a friend of mine had one with a face up I loved. I mean I LOVED it, I saw him and was shocked I liked a Saint as much as I loved this mini one. So when she fell out of love with him and went to sell him. Well I just could not pass on that glorious face upped man. So in spite of me finding most Saints kinda meh, I have one and love him, for the face up and other small styling choices made all the differance.

Sometimes base mold is great and any face up will rock, and sometimes the face up it's self makes the doll for me.

 

I have several whose blank sculpt (and lots of painted versions) don't appeal to me but the particular faceup they have makes allthe difference - I like happy looking dolls, preferably smiling/cheerful looking, so non-smiley sculpts aren't really my thing, but the right faceup can make even a non smiling sclupt cross the line into "right" for me.

I find most DollsTown Arins too downright grumpy (well, most dollstown sculpts for that matter) for my taste, but the Arin have fit right in as my thoughtful little boy with a seldomseen wicked sense of humour. I'm quite indifferent to the Volks SchoolA sculpt in most instances but while looking through sales post for a friend who was in the market for one, I spotted a head that had such an appealing faceup I felt sure she would pick it as the one to buy. She didn't, and I felt I couldn't let it pass without buying it myself.

Teddy

 

I always look for dolls that look nice blank (or rather, have features I find pleasing) because I mostly do my own faceups and I know that my dolls usually end up looking very differently from the company pics. I need to be confident that I can turn the head into something beautiful, even if I change everything. Because I tend to improvise a lot.

 

I’m with you, OP. Faceups can do a lot for a sculpt, but if the underlying shape of the features doesn’t do it for me I know it’s not going to go far enough to fix the things about it that bug me. I have to see potential in the blank head too.

 

When choosing a doll, I always look for the blank sculpt before making my final decision to buy. I think of it as a blank canvas, even if it already comes with a wonderful company faceup. It simply HAS to be a good canvas from the get go, something pleasant to work with if I might need to redo it in the future. I can do my own faceups, so I always want that as a possibility in case the character changes or I come up with a sudden creative brainstorm. I’d certainly rather be exploring the beauty of a sculpt creatively than to be mired down in fixing what’s wrong with it.

 

I think the blank sculpt can help but to me what makes the doll is 90% the faceup. To choose a doll I usualy like looking at owner pictures, with the default faceup and custom ones.
If even after seeing many variations I still think it’s not for me, or feel nothing, than I won’t buy the doll.

 

I’m not picky. If I like a sculpt, it I get it. Most of my dolls I buy blank to save money, and they stay blank, as I really don’t enjoy painting them myself. My only rule for buying a doll with a face up is with anime sculpts. I prefer them with a face up, as blank they just don’t have much personality. It’s not an absolute rule, as sometimes the doll is just too cute. I’m so used to seeing my dolls blank, seeing them with a face up would seem…odd.

 

I'm not sure I have the eye to pick just from a blank sculpt yet either, but I wouldn't buy a doll with a blank sculpt that I actively disliked. I at least need to be neutral to the blank sculpt. A faceup can change a lot, but it can't save a sculpt you hate. There are traits you cannot remove or add with just a faceup.

 

i NEED to see the blank sculpt before I can make a decision. I've had too many where i've seen the blank one and gone "yikes... that was unexpected" and it's made it difficult.

I paint my own dolls so I like to know what canvas i'm dealing with.

now that said, some faceups make a "meh" sculpt really appealing and i'm in awe of them. But for my own dolls, knowing i'll be ordering them blank, I need to feel inspired by the blank