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

If it got that asymmetrical, I'd contact the maker o.o;

 

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/s...ulpt-delight-or-bother-you&highlight=symmetry

Please use the search function;;;

 

I did, sorry guess I overlooked it. Thanks for posting the link. Should I contact a mod to delete/lock this thread or just leave it alone?

 

ouo b Just leave it, they'll pick it up.

 

Humans aren't generally all that assymetrical unless something went wrong during birth, even though they don't line up exactly - it was really only art training that made me notice it much. Human assymetry is much less noticable, IMO, than doll assymetry, as human faces are mobile and dolls are frozen.

Doll assymetry really, really bothers me. A lot a lot a lot. Assymetry in faceups is no problem, but actual faces? Eeek. It's more than suspecting it's sloppiness, it unsettles me horribly.

My F01 head came with a faceup, so I didn't know if her mouth is really all that crooked or if it's how the dolfie dot black line things at at the corner of her mouth were painted (that can make a huge difference), but her mouth looks distinctly wonky to me and to be honest, it bugs me. (Looking at blank pics of the sculpt, the mouth itself is crooked.) If the faceup wasn't so pretty, I'd try to adjust the way it appears myself... romana assures me I will stop noticing after a bit, but I do try to angle her so her mouth looks straighter. I love her even wonky, but I kind of wish she wasn't. However - it's only her mouth. People do hold their mouths crooked in expression, so I can cope with it.

Now - eyes or line of face from chin through nose to forehead? I need to be even. (Exception is "expression" sculpts like Unoa Bully.)

There are Souldoll sculpts that, although the rest of the sculpt is stunning, I literally can't look at even pictures of without feeling incredibly uncomfortable because it looks either as though the sculptor really favoured one hand or that something went wrong in making the mold from the original sculpt (some Harry Potter resin figures have this problem, OMG nightmare Cho.) They make me too uneasy to look at, they are so "off". It's the fact that they look human, but twisted. But I know there are other people who are not bothered at all and can happily appreciate the rest of the beauty of the scupt.

I was planning on getting a ResinSoul Ni to be sister to my BBB Isabella until I noticed her eyes were assymetrical, and then I just knew she wasn't an option, no matter how cute she looks in pictures. Someone told me their Lan, who was also on my "maybe" list, was wonky, so I crossed her off, despite her delicate beauty. And the little Doll Leaves darlings have one eye deeper than the other - no, can't do it.

It sounds really German to me, maybe because I used to be very interested in German dolls, and quite a few sculptors did this. There was one sculptor who I read praising herself to the skies (ego, much?) because her dolls were so unique and human and beautiful and character-filled because they were assymetrical "just like real children". I looked at pictures of her dolls, and became so stressed by their awful twistedness that I caught myself pacing the room trying to get rid of the dreadful sense of wrongness and the anxiety it triggered.

After this post, I guess it comes as no surprise that I was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder. Hello, I'm Autumn, I have OCD and like my sculpts symmetrical. No modded dolls for me.

 

I want my dolls to be asymmetrical. Completely symmetrical faces look dead to me. It is a common sculpting method to make the faces (and bodies) a bit uneven, because it helps bringing the sculpture to life (as well as giving it the ability to have different emotions). This is not just a German or Japanese thing, all sculptors/ painters do it. No-one is perfect; in fact, most people have one ear that is placed higher than the other, differently shaped nostrils etc.

 

Yes this has been discussed, but I'll have a go at it again. Symmetry does not exist in the human face. Therefore in a doll it would be freakish, and I don't want that. True beauty exists in imperfection. Nature is imperfection. Synthetic, or man made is symmetrical, even, perfect and IMO, ugly.
And yes, all humans are asymmetrical. If you want proof, take a photograph and divide it in half and have a real hard look.

 

As Stella has said imperfections are what makes something more appealing and beautiful.

I find perfection and symmetry in faces incredibly dull, blank, and lifeless, quirks make them interesting and give them life and character.

I prefer BJD with asymmetrical faces for those very reasons.

 

I always kind of wondered if some sculptors did that on purpose so the doll could look slightly smiley from one side and slightly frowny from the other. I'm sure some do. It IS definitely better than eyes. Crooked eyes would bother me. (cuz that's like.. a crooked skull. XD; ) A lot of crooked things don't seem like they'd be THAT bad though. Lopsided boobs would bug me a little. XD;; But it's a little weird how no dolls have intentionally asymmetrical navels or penises. XD I guess that might just be because they don't want to add any features that are too distinctive. Anatomical asymmetry is sort of a personal quirk, and it would be a little weird to think your character doll had the exact same quirk as a hundred others.

 

For me it depends on the sculpt and the type of doll. I cannot tolerate obvious or ugly asymmetries in Volks dolls. They're very stylized and it seems like they "should" be 'perfect'. I sold my Carol because I couldn't stand that one eye was so different from the other, I found it too distracting and ugly in a doll that was supposed to be so cute and idealized.

With the more "realistic" companies I can deal with it better, such as Souldoll; I feel the realism of many of their sculpts (Hye for example) allows it; and it contributes to the realism (Dollstown, too).

But it's always a sculpt-by-sculpt basis, ultimately. I've seen some Souldolls I wouldn't want because there's too much asymmetry for me, the head looked *warped* ^^;;

Raven

 

My biggest issue with asymmetry is the sort that makes eyes not track properly. That's the most annoying thing in the world - it ends up looking as though there is a flaw in the eyes themselves or the doll ends up looking wonky or stupid. When that's been the case with a doll that came to me blank or which I faceupped, I have no problem fixing it. But when the doll has a beautiful faceup by the company or by someone like Ravendolls you really don't want to be digging around in there trying to equalize the eye size.

I also had a Leeke Luke head that just absolutely had to have its chin shaved down on one side because he really looked totally lopsided. Given my amateur status as a modder, he's still slightly asymmetrical - but my daughter owns him now and thinks he looks great

 

The only asymmetry I don't like is in eyes, like if one eye is different sized or not level with the other, because it's all I can see after I notice it and it just looks off and wrong. Souldoll's girls are pretty bad about this, and some of luts' junior delfs and last year's event head are like this too. I don't mind other asymmetrical things though, like ears, or even mouths -- I do have a souldoll Star, and her mouth is horribly askew, but I don't mind because the faceup really hides it and I love her mold to death (one of the few souldoll girls that doesn't have asymmetrical eyes haha). Asymmetry doesn't really make a mold any more unique than a symmetrical one to me; as long as it looks good, then it's fine. I'm not looking for replica humans, haha.

 

I don't actually notice it either way.

The face sculpt of two of my gang is known for the asymmetry of the jawline and bottom lip - I didn't notice it until I saw it mentioned here on DoA.... One of them has had it modded the other hasn't and I really have to try very hard to see which it is.

Which, I suppose, means it doesn't bother me either way.

Teddy

 

True beauty may be imperfect - but IMO push the imperfection too hard and it stops being beautiful but just becomes - well, ravendolls used the right word, I think, "warped". But I'm perfectly aware that I'm not rational about this by very definition, as the strength of my emotional reaction is down to it being a mental illness trigger. Human faces are rarely all *that* off - if you have to play tricks with rulers and mirrors and things to see it, it's not as bad as certain sculpts that hit you with their wonkiness at first glance. And like I said, assymetry in human faces doesn't usually bug me, because human faces are rarely static, even in sleep. Doll faces are nothing but.

I guess it is possible that it's intentional in some cases to give different expressions, I never thought of that - but it still bugs me.

Assymetry is interesting as it's used as both the sign of poor quality and of good quality, i.e. it's said that certain companies have assymetrical sculpts for artistic reasons, but when a new company comes out, the first report on owner dolls has so often been "The sculpting is of good quality, there's no obvious assymetry" as if any assymetry would prove they were horrible dolls.

Heh, actually, lopsided breasts wouldn't cause me any problems. It's just faces!

 

I prefer dolls to be asymmetrical because it gives more variety to a set of photos of that particular doll. It also tends to lend a doll more expressions. Subtle asymmetry is ideal, like with Volks, and some Luts dolls (among others).

If a doll is too symmetrical, it just looks more "fake" in a way. I don't particularly like Dream of Doll's style as much for this reason.

 

Usually I don't mind. People's faces aren't symmetric so why should dolls. For example a little asymmetric smile gives a face loads of personality and feeling of hand-sculpted (instead of computer modelled) feeling that I quite like.

 

I don't mind a little asymmetry as long as it's hard to notice unless you look for it (ex: I never noticed an F01 has a crooked little smile! How cute~), but if it's really glaringly obvious then I hate it... especially when it's the EYES! I've always liked BBB Mei, but then I noticed one eye is lower than the other, and now I always notice it when I see a Mei. I also thought Souldoll Hye was pretty, but when I was looking at some photos of her by a very talented photographer, her eyes were so off it just looked bad. o_o;;

tldr; Asymmetry doesn't usually bother me unless it's in the eyes, in which case I can't stand it.

 

Yes. That's really annoying in a doll, because it can really affect their overall look.

 

Natural asymmetry, like it happens to us, people, is ok for me in sculpts and bodies - In my case it is more obvious in a couple of Unidoll bodies among my resin bunch because the two of them are originally based on the idea of this natural asymmetry -. In fact, that is the symmetry I most like for, and which best fits, my BJD. I would consider absolute symmetry something too artificial in any of both things (Sculpt and body), although I can think about possible exceptions. There may be BJD whose characters are completely perfect in symmetry because they are created so and there might be BJD which have a more pronounced asymmetry because of the same reason, but this happens to none of my BJD characters.

 

I realize that asymmetry is natural, but anyway I would be bothered if my doll would be asymmetrical. I'm quite odd with that but I just like perfect things - not only dolls - all every-day items, like chairs, tables, cups etc. I don't say it's a rigid rule, some curving shapes are pretty. Although - I prefer simple forms.