Do your dolls reflect your own ideals of beauty?

I think this can be applied to me, albeit carefully... it's not my ideals of beauty necessarily, more my idea...

What I find beautiful in people is a bit different to what I'd choose to surround myself with in resin- human faces are so much more expressive (due to being alive and whatnot ^_^) that it has to be different. However, the common thread is probably an 'unusual look.'

I'd hate to own a doll that was just so ridiculously beautiful that it was no more than a hunk of resin, and I tend to feel that way about those ethereal, delicate, stylized dolls.

My resin gang really doesn't look all that 'ethereal' even for dolls XD
I love sculpts that are 'lively', big pudgy noses, full lips, smaller eyes (not too small though) dolls that don't usually evoke that "Woooow how pretty!!" from people. At the same time, I know that there are lots of people who will appreciate my freckle covered Cass (with sunburned shoulders) and my pouty faced Peitan with her snub nose.
I think their beauty is the way that dolls with stronger features that are less conventional seem to have waaay more subtle and delightful expressions, and how a different faceup can totally change those faces!

 

I..I'm not sure..of course the dolls that I find beautiful..suit my ideal of beauty..but somehow..not the dolls I own.. My first boy was bought since I thought he was gentle looking..and I KNOW that he isn't half as handsome as most out there..and I don't really care anyway. My two girls-to-be..I was simply looking for sculpts that fit them since they are original characters of mine. I was going for the "feel" rather then anything else..So..there you have it! I'm not sure!

 

I wouldn't say my dolls match my ideals of beauty, leastwise, not much. My girl doll has pink streaks in her hair and purple lashes, and an obvious make-up styled face-up, while I myself tend to dislike pink hair, false or colored eyelashes, and prefer natural beauty over some make-up version. But I can live with it, and love it, because it suits the character she is.

Another doll I have is missing a chunk of his ear (the cat knocked his head down, and I haven't been able to get the supplies I need to fix it) and several disfiguring scars on his face.

I don't know if I'll ever have a doll that matches my ideals for beauty, it's not likely. Of course, my dolls are going to be pretty or beautiful, as I don't think there's an ugly mold out there. However, their hair color won't be what I'd consider ideal, or their eyes, or they'll be hideously scarred, etc.

 

Yes. They got to have a face I fine pleasing and I like a decent rack on my female dolls. Not necessarily big, just nicely done...

I am male, so I am easy to please...

Phil.

 

I think they are, but they don't have to be. Like, my dolls are going to have tattoos and piercings, and that's part of what i think is beautiful. One of my dolls is going to be very bright and colorful, also my idea of beauty.

At the same time, they are not exactly my ideals. My Unoa will not be nearly as curvy as she would be if i were the one making her body.

In regards to the example you gave, my character IS supposed to be ugly, and i'm beyond excited to have a doll of him. He's supposed to look sickly and demented, so it's not really about what i like, it's about how the character looks. However, i must say that i don't have said doll yet, so i can't tell you from experience that i'll love his ugly mug, but as much as i love to draw him i don't think i'll have a problem.

 

Yeah ~ who else's idea of beauty would it be? My doll, my vision.

 

Absolutely! I have quite an obsession with what I find beautiful, and dolls give me the means to have beautiful things that I could not otherwise possess for quite a few different reasons :p

 

I have found that I am EXTREMELY picky when it comes to looking at dolls and choosing the ones I like. Most of the ones I find myself being drawn to are the more fantasy dolls (Although I do think that some of the vampire ones look a little bit silly).
I love that sort of ethereal beauty, the kind of beauty that could never be real.

 

Not gonna lie, this made me LOL.

You know what's funny though is that I'm the same way, and while I am quite sure I am straight (trust me, I've asked myself that question in earnest MANY times), I am much more focused on the body sculpts of female dolls than I am about the male ones. When I look at female dolls I care a great deal about the body... I say to myself, would I enjoy doing sexy photoshoots of this doll, or does she not have what it takes? I think as someone who has never thought of myself as sexy or beautiful, and can never live up to my own standards, I truly do live vicariously through my female dolls.

Although currently none of this really applies to me because I am so completely smitten with YoSD that I haven't seriously looked at big girls/mature minis for more than fleeting moments. I'll run into a day every now and again when I miss just that - the beauty and sexiness in the girls sculpts. If I ever got back into bigger dolls, it would likely be to do those sorts of photoshoots again.

 

I do have to admit too to being pulled stronglly to the larger more mature curvacious girls, such as the beautiful array of Iplehouse's EID girls, although I own none yet myself. I'm perfectly straight (married mum of 2) but have always admired beautifully "womanly" women...probably as I too am no vision of perfection myself. I think there is, too, for me that desire to live vicariously through such dolls

 

I believe that in a way, yes, and in a way, no, to having them be your vision of ideal beauty.

I like my boys to be pretty or sexy, and my girls to be adorable, yet sexy, and I've found that even though I LOVE the cute, smaller, more childish dolls, that I have yet to pick one out that I could really decide to put money on.

I've also found that in my few years of looking, I'm very easily pulled to every idea of clothing. I have ideas for punk dolls, girly dolls, masculine dolls, and dolls who can do whatever they want. I find it's one of those things that draws me to them. I can make each doll an icon of what I find gorgeous about all of those styles

I base my dolls off of my characters mostly, and some of them I simply pick because I love the sculpt, or the face, or something similar to that. I'm very fond of beautiful girls in gorgeous dresses, but I would never get into that myself simply because I'd rather dress down. I think everyone is beautiful in their own way, and dolls are just the same. My dolls are beautiful to me, but I often times prefer the more average looking girls and guys in reality.

I think to most doll owners there's a sense of beauty in all of them, if only because they can be made into so many different things with a simple faceup or wig swap.

 

My plan for my soon to be home first doll is to make her very plain and kinda creepy looking. If she's beautiful, then I'll feel like I've done something wrong.

I might make a doll later on that will reflect my 'ideals of beauty". To be honest, I can't really even say that I know what is meant by that.

 

This thread has the best of both worlds - an interesting and insightful topic, and a hypothetical question to answer. I love that!

On a personal level, it is a little bit of both for me. I have one doll, and one floating head who is anxiously awaiting a body. The completed doll is based on a character, and isn't so much what I find attractive, but rather, how I envisioned the character. Not to say that I think she is ugly at all - every time I see her I think about how pretty she is to me! On the other hand, my floating head is a fun fantasy "what I find pretty doll." She has pink hair, giant elf ears, and purple eyes...because I read WAY too much shoujo manga as a youngster!

Another example is my plan for the next doll I purchase(incidentally this kind of answers the hypothetical question). I have a character who is very, very dear to me. She is brash and tomboyish, wears her hair short, but has enormous boobs. As far as I am concerned, it's DDdy all the way for this lady, because everyone else's are too small! When I finally own her, I will probably think that she could be prettier, and I will also probably think about how ridiculous her melons are...but I will love her all the same! Because she will be special and unique!

I hope I addressed the issue well enough. For me, I can easily say that there are MANY factors that I consider when I buy dolls or dolly stuff

 

My dolls don't necessarily reflects my ideals of human beauty, in fact, I think some of my dolls would look very awkward as people. I love big eyes on girls, but if someone had a face with eyes as large as those on my Suiseiseki, that would look very...not human. I love the face of my Rosette Doll Fir, but again, she's better as a doll than as a face for a real person. The one doll that I have that looks more realistic has a plain look to her.

As for the more realistic looking dolls, I tend to like those that have a bit of a quirky look to them; perhaps not the conventional idea of pretty or handsome, but I suppose in a way they do reflect what I find to be most beautiful in a person, after all, that's what draws me to those sculpts.

 

I could write a whole dissertation on dolls, beauty, and ideals from an academic standpoint but it would take forever and probably start a lot of debate I wouldn't be prepared for, and I don't think I have enough experience with BJDs yet to be saying anything too deep (or enough research material).. so... insert big fancy sociological statement here regarding standards of beauty, facial composition, and inherent desire for yadda yadda yadda.. and now that no one's still reading: my actual input.

The only doll I have right now is pretty much my ideal, and I got him for pretty much that reason. Like, I can't think of anything else I've ever seen in my life that I thought was prettier than Bill Kaulitz my doll. It took me forever to find the perfect head, and though the perfect body was not hard to find, it's going to take me one more forever to get the perfect wig and clothes for him. That's my goal - to make him the reality of everything I've ever wanted.. and then hold him up to future boyfriends and see how they compare!
The doll I will be getting next is more or less an image of myself - and the funny thing is, I'm having trouble finding one that is merely average-looking! I don't want him pretty or masculine or in any way beautiful, really, just plain... I think that in itself says a lot about most dolls out there: beauty is so the norm. I never thought that would be a bad thing XD

 

I am very picky about dolls - I definitely tend toward more mature and more realistic looking dolls, which makes this question particularly relevant to how I view dolls.

In short, yes. I definitely think that I base my dolls on a sort of ideal beauty - but I think it's more complicated than that. I don't chose or create dolls to be a perfect representation of what I find beautiful, I simply select for traits that I find attractive (on a doll) and try to put together a doll that is "whole." By this I mean eye color, hair color, facial structure, body, jointing, all of these things have to come together fluidly with one another. The result may not be "ideal beauty," but "congruent beauty." That's what I look for in a doll (and simultaneously why I love Iplehouse dolls so much XD).

 

I find beauty in a lot of things, both obvious and obscure, and since my dolls have become my major muses they each reflect st least one aspect of what I find beautiful. I find beauty in androgyny, I have one that expresses that. I also find it in the female form and have one that expresses that also (however very stylized). Child-like innocence, nature, and pure joy have also found their way into my dolls, some at the same time and all of which I find beautiful.

And to answer the 'ugly' scenario, I own one such doll and, well, it's kind of strange. I love my one dark elf character; he's been through the most development and I just had to have him as a doll, but he's horribly scarred and, written on paper, pretty disgusting. I like my villains to make me cringe and he did, but for some reason now that the character three dimensional I don't cringe as much anymore
I drew him to be sculpted without the mods, so when he came to me it was like looking at my character before anything happened to him. I felt guilty with what I was about to do and actually put it off for almost a whole year. I was so worried that I was going to ruin it and I wouldn't be able to look at him. Though after I finally started working on his mods I found myself loving the character even more. It's more of his personality that I find ugly rather than his appearance; he's pessimistic, grouchy and has little appreciation for anything outside of his own well-being, to name a few things. Normally I dislike characters like that but I'm alright with giving him this personality because a) it's way outside what characters I normally create and I like to challenge myself, and b) as the creator I know he wasn't always like that and will change. Not any time soon, but eventually.
Right now he may be the villain, but he's my villain and I love him.

 

I mostly have tan.....umm, dark tan dolls and although I don't create the dolls, I buy what I think will represent a base of what is beautiful. Since my dolls are a definate minority on this board, my answer would be yes. With the addition of eye color, specific hair color, facial expression/modification/face-up, type of body, and jointing, style of clothing, doesn't everyone's doll reflect thier ideal of beauty? Yes.

Yea! Iplehouse, home of my first SD

 

The simple answer: Yes.

The slightly more detailed and probably a little bit babble-y answer:

BJD's are expensive, even the tiniest tinies are usually still at least 100 USD and then there are clothes and shoes (Shoes! The bane of my hobby!) and wigs and props and sets and accessories and jewelry, etcetera. Because of the cost I am not about to buy a doll that I do not find exquisite in some way.

I also try not to subject my resinites to anything that doesn't suit my tastes either. I don't like mullets, so I won't give my dolls mullet wigs. I don't like pink and frills so my dollies are safe from those as well.

 

My dolls do have one facet of my ideals of beauty. However, in having their faceups done, I wanted them to have a bit of an expression, and in doing so, they were more attractive to me. My ideal of beauty is having a basis in reality. I like the sculpts realistic and above all to accurately represent the character I have chosen them for. (Iplehouse FTW! ) This often takes several tries. I prefer masculine dolls, in a very Western sense of the idea, so it's hard to find the right sculpt for the right character, but as 97% of my characters are female, this isn't much of an issue.

If I had a physically "ugly" character and wanted to dollify them, I'd do it and you know what? They'd still be beautiful to me. It's a passion of mine to have three dimensional characters, which is why my most "beautiful" one has the most personality/mental flaws (and is the only pre-existing character to be a doll at the moment) and my most plain ones tend to be the least flawed. If I love a character enough to dollify them, then they are lovely, no matter their appearance will end up being.