Doll Expressions?

Thank you so much! By the way, I did judge his sculpt mainly on his expression, and I knew I wanted him the moment I saw him. It took me more than two years to make him a reality. His eyes smile too! Several of Ninodolls' sculpts are like this, and some of them have eyes that "smile" even more! I think that Ninodoll heads tend to be on the smaller side, though.



Looks like a lot of people replying to your thread think that eyebrows are almost as important as the sculpt in conveying expression!

Linda S.
galatia9

 

All of my dolls have very sad, lost, lonely, bland, etc. expressions. I think they're prettiest and I like them best. Plus I like how they give the opportunity when it comes to face-ups for a wide range of expressions as opposed to dolls that are blatantly smiling or frowning. While those dolls can be made to hold different expressions, it takes quite a bit of skills, and I prefer softer expressions anyway. Even my most smiley and happy doll is using a sculpt that typically very sad and sorrowful looking, my DiM Bellose, so the overall expression sort of evens out. Doesn't bother me. I guess I like unhappy dolls.

 

I think a doll's expression can be determined as much by the sculpt itself as by its faceup, to be honest.

This is the page for DollZone's Floy: http://www.dzdoll.com/pro_detail.asp?id=91

The factory faceup kind of makes him look sullen/forlorn/pouty/scared, I find.

I had a blank Floy head kicking around, so I decided to do a faceup on it for fun.

This was the result.

In my opinion, the eccentric faceup I did actually looks pleasant, rather than sullen.

 

I think the IPle guys can be quite smiley.
I'm normally drawn to dolls that look a little sad or amused. Not so much as a smile more of a glint in their eye.

 

Sometimes, I wish my Ringdoll Sol (Alex) would look a little happier at times. But, he really pulls off the melancholic look beautifully. Currently, he's sitting on a shelf on my desk and he looks so lost in a sad thought. He's just so beautiful at the moment that I don't want to adjust him!

As for favourite facial sculpt, besides my boy at home, I'd have to say Eric from Iplehouse. I have to smile every time I see his cute smirk!

 

I see Iplehouse Claude mentioned a lot (and his basic clone, Eric) ... and it is true, that doll is one of the happiest & cheeriest & most puckish adult male faces in all dollydom! My own Claude is a big warm puppyish overgrown-babycake type, so that sculpted-on smile is perfect for him, I love it.

Iplehouse Lee and Barahan also have sweet gentle smiles, which can be emphasized or de-emphasized depending on how you do them up.

My most joyful doll is either Volks SchoolHead B or Volks Ryu.... Those are both smaller dolls (SD10 & SDCute, respectively).

You actually can get a doll whose mouth is sculpted with upturned corners to look very sullen, depending on any of a zillion variables: tilt the head, paint the mouth, reposition the eyes, change the angle/thickness of the eyebrows, change the eyeballs, change the hair, put on a hat, etc. I often see this effect with Volks girl heads who've been turned into boys-- the mouth was originally intended to look nonthreatening and happy, but the new body & paintjob turns them into slightly-snarky male beauties.

(And btw, I have seen some Claudes who look markedly sinister, instead of sweet, so I know it's possible to use his smile for evil instead of good! ^~)


The opposite is also true: Sometimes, you have a sculpt that's neutral/pouty, but when you change the angle/lighting/eyes/etc., you suddenly see a smile! Many sculpts are really versatile like that. It's quite possible to buy a sculpt that doesn't have a sculpted-on smile, & still end up with a cheerful-looking doll. Those are my favorite-- I like a soulful face that has the OPTION to look serene or happy. :> I seem to have a lot of those.

 

I like dolls with middle expressions, not exactly happy or sad or brooding, really something that can vary from picture to picture. So, any doll that has an over exaggerated expression is automatically taken off my list. Since most of my pictures call for a wide variety of emotions, and I can't very well change my dolls entire face-up for a few picture, staying middle ground tends to work best for me. But other then that, I like all faces, they all interest me in some way or another.

 

I think more dolls have neutral expressions because it's easier for a person to project their own feelings into the doll. It's the same with a lot of children's stuffed animals, many of them were made with neutral expressions so the child could reflect their own mood upon the toy. like for me, my pipos charlotte has a fairly neutral expression, but doesn't it look like she's smiling here:


but frowning here? :


I think that's part of the reason there are more neutral faced sculpts rather than sculpts that have defined expressions.

 

Hmm... I think happy expressions should be left to yo-sd and lati yellow size dolls. It'd look creepy or weird on an older doll. I love my boy's sad expression and the one I'm picking up from the post tomorrow is a yawner. To me I like adults to look sophisticated to smiled usually don't feel right.

 

I agree that faceups, as well as lighting and angle, have hugenormous effects on the perceived "expression." That said, I personally like dolls on the happier side. I had never given pukipukis much thought until I got to play with someone's Pongpong at a meetup, and I just loved it. So cheerful! So now I have one of my own! And even she looks different in different pictures. From a downwards angle, she looks sweet. From an upward angle, her face takes on kind of a maniacal MUAHAHAHAHA expression:

Awwww.

Aaand threatening world domination.

My MSDs are much more subtle, though (personally I like the more extreme expressions a lot better on tinies). Part of what drew me to my first doll, a Resinsoul Mei, was her soft, sweet smile:


Meanwhile, I find that Resinsoul's Mai sculpt has an extremely variable expression, and you can take his barely-there smirk and olive-shaped eyes in just about any direction with the right faceup. Mine is a little gentleman, and I wanted a heavy-lidded, relaxed, mildly amused look for him:


So, yeah. I like happy dolls, personally, but it's not only sculpt that decides expression!

 

Ohmygoodness! I loooove your doll!
I know what you mean about liking 'definite' expressions, and the ones that change with different angles. The doll I fell in love with is just amazing for that. I fell in love with her mouth.
I do that a lot >.<;
She's an Angel Of Dream Qi.
I'm getting her soon [hopefully]. I can't wait to bring her home!

 

I have a serious weakness for smirks, sleepy eyes, and cute pouts on guy dolls. The current doll I'm drooling over I fell in love with because of his lips. I mean, sure, that's not the only thing I like about him, but a pout is so cute! The right facial expression defines a doll for me.

 

Thank you so much! That first pic of him is one of my favorites. I hope your AoD Qi comes home soon! I've been looking at AoD Qian for a while now, I really like her.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Yes, definitely. I'm the opposite of the OP, though - I can't stand smiling dolls! This is something I didn't realize until after I'd been in the hobby a few years, but I greatly prefer sad or scared looking dolls. Dolls that have a kind of blank or confused expression are fine too. I don't like smirks, smiles, or angry expressions. At first, I wanted some happier dolls to add variety to my collection, but they've all been sold.

Something unrelated to the sculpt: I've noticed that if the company face-up for a doll has sad eyebrows, the doll will definitely catch my attention more than a doll with happy/neutral/angry eyebrows.

 

In reference to my own previous post (#26), here is a perfect example of Alex's melancholic look:



I do have to admit that he is beautifully sad, and sometimes he can look as though he is smirking or softly delighted. For a somewhat unassuming doll face, he can be quite expressive. It all depends on lighting, angle, eye position, etc.

 

that's exactly what drew me to my RS mei. She just had such a sweet face! I love her so much I'm getting another