Does asymmetry in your doll's sculpt delight or bother you?

Zain's (my BBB Bao) default face-up has left with a much gentler appearance than what his sculpt is normally protrayed as, mostly becuase of his oddly shaped eyebrows. At first, I thought it looked off, but becuase it's unusual and since I still don't have any experience is doing a face-up myself, he's likely going to have his look for a long while.

 

I dislike asymmetry, but, as in human beings, it can be disguised with appropriate the makeup/faceup. It's only when it is too distorted to be corrected that it would bother me...

 

I really wouldn't notice an eye being slightly larger or a mouth placed a bit off on the face. My dolls are rarely ever posed looking straight forward, that could be why. If I'm noticing "imperfection" it must be pretty drastic and that would bother me. I'm not the type to break out the ruler but if it's highly noticable I consider that a mold that was made with less care than I'd expect considering the amount of money I'm paying for hand crafted work.

 

I suppose it might put me off at first, since it won't be "perfect" but I will get used to it and probably attach to it before long.

 

Human face is assymetrical too. I notice the pattern in rodin's sculpture too.
Blythe's face doesn't bother me, but if it's bjd that has unnatural assymetry, I think it will.

 

it depends on what is uneven. My resisnsoul mei has slighty uneven eyes. Nut that does not bother me that much. since my own eyeslids are not similar to haha, kinda connects me to her.
But I have seen a doll with an uneven mouth.. that is something I would be bothered about

 

As someone who is a big fan of symmetry, it irks me a touch. >_o But it doesn't override my enjoyment of the doll.

It's just that little thing that bothers me in the back of my mind. . .

 

If asymmetry is just slightly noticeable it's great because it resembles asymmetry of a real faces. But when basic features are distorted it bugs me greatly. We tend to see people as beautiful if most features are in line and different SMALL irregularities are shown here and there. But eyes on a different levels, base of the nose moved to a side, different cheeks, a chin shifted to a side, different size and placing of ears are counted by most people as imperfections. They may add to the personality but I want my dolls to be close to perfect.
Both my dolls (Soom Lazule and i-Doll Byul) are pretty symmetrical. This means if mirrored their faces would look nearly the same.

I was greatly unsatisfied with minimee head because it had a very noticeable asymmetry. E.g. one side of his nose was longer than other by ~1.5 mm! Multiply this by 3 and you'll get 4.5 mm in human size - pretty much, isn't it? Also his face was placed not in the center of the base blank head they use for sculpting. It was very noticeable if looking from the top and rather noticeable on the front photos. And I planned to have a bald character(((
The worst part is that asymmetry can't be seen on the preview photos they make. So I sold the head and started to sculpting my own. Not trusting them anymore.
Of course I carefully checked for symmetry in my own head on the different stages of process using both mirror and photos + Photoshop; I only allowed some asymmetry in the corners of the mouth, it gives him personality.

 

My RS Song has a sleepy left eye. It didn't bug me at first, but it does now because I can't get his eyes to look right. Next time I do his faceup, I'm going to attempt to sand it out a little more evenly-it is noticeably narrower than his right eye.

 

I think I would prefer when I get my doll for him to be slightly assymetrical... It seems like it would add to his character But if there was something like his ears or his eyes being ridiculously uneven, I would be sort of disappointed (but I'd still love him )

 

It depends. If it can be covered by clothing or is not that noticeable, asymmetry doesn't phase me. For example, one of my girl's pinky toes is smaller than the other one. I could care less!

If it has to do with the eyes, however, I'd commission someone to mod it. That would drive me nuts.

 

Personally, i like it. It gives the doll some character. Perfect, mathematical simmetry can sometimes be almost boring and look "lifeless".
It reminds me of a scene in Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm)... She asks to become a "pure iron blade" or something, but her mechanic tells her that impurities in metal make it much more stronger, give it "life". I think it describes what i feel about this.

 

I think the same, perfect symmetry is unnatural for me

 

Doing Face ups you notice that quite a bit, and it doesn't bother me because it's more natural. The most asymmetrical I've seen though around the eye area is Souldoll Hye....

 

My AoD Kim has rather frequently met defect - uneven eyes. With make up it was almost impossible to notice, I discovered it while re-doing his make. Of course it irritates a little - because you have to try harder to compensate it with make-up and sometimes eyes do not fit well.

 

Wow, after reading this thread I did a mirror-flip of my dolls' pictures in Photoshop, and was I ever surprised!

I always knew my DM Asha was asymmetrical, but I thought it was part of her charm until I realized she looks like a picasso in the mirror. o_o

Even my other dolls who I always thought were perfectly symmetrical do have noticeable assymetries when flipped, and they're not flattering.

I definitely see this as a flaw. Superior art should look just as good in the mirror; after all, my picture looks the same whether flipped in Photoshop or not, so I'm not chalking it up to being lifelike! (For the record, I'm not unusually beautiful or anything.)

The other question this begs is, why can't I notice the asymmetry until it's flipped? Do I have a bad eye for art? Do left-handed people see my dolls differently?

 

I'm really curious about what other people think , and haven't been able to find a thread about this. If there is one can you please link to it for me.

How much does symmetry in a sculpt matter to you? Is there a certain amount of asymmetry that you can accept? Do you dislike dolls that are too perfectly symmetrical? Are there dolls that are obliviously asymmetrical that you still love/would buy? Does symmetry in a body matter less to you than in the face, or vice versa?

For me, I don't mind asymmetry to much, as long as its not very noticeable. I'm fine if the features aren't completely the same on both sides, but I really don't like it when the features are obviously slanted/pulled towards one side. It's impossible for hand sculpted dolls to be perfectly symmetrical, but with computer made dolls I would prefer it if they added in a tiny bit of asymmetry to make it a little more lifelike. I'd say I care equally about the body being symmetrical as the face.

I hope this is in the right place. I'm a newbie to this forum, so please move it if its not.

 

I wish I could say asymmetry doesn't bug me, but it does a little. When I first got my Dollmore Lillis Liv I noticed quickly that one of her ears is higher than the other. But I just told myself to get over it, because you don't really notice once the wig is on anyway. I also notice some asymmetry in my Pipos Cheshire cat. But again, I just tell myself to get over it. It would become a real problem though I think if asymmetry was so prevalent in a doll that it interfered with its functionality... like a leg that was too short, or a joint that didn't fit in its socket.

 

I honestly don't get too bothered by it... I know I've seen some threads or discussions where someone mentions that the eyes on their doll are asymmentrical or what have you, and often I only notice it in a photo because I'm looking specifically for an inconsistancy in the sculpt. Of course I'm talking about relatively minor issue- if a doll has glaringly obvious symmetry problems (which I've seen with modded dolls but not so much with originals) then it probably would bother me. I do know of some dolls which have body symmetry issues from the company- the most frustrating of which is probably when one leg is longer than the other, because that can affect their ability to stand (aside from just looking funny).

I remember reading something about sculptors intentionally making a doll slightly asymmetric because being slightly imperfect makes it more lovable or lifelike. I think this was from Volks... certainly it sounds very Japanese to me, since similar principles are important in Japanese art (well, what little I know of Japanese art ).