Doll Expressions?

I am accumulating alternate heads for many of my dolls to give them more expressions, I have four of them already. Two are sleep heads, but two are alternate waking heads. You can see the waking heads compared here (DollZone Cherry) and here (k-dolls).

It is becoming addictive! I have plans for at least one more in the works.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

See I know what you mean. I am looking at so many sculpts right now and the only "smiling" doll that I like is Iplehouse Eva. Her smile is more soft but that would change with a faceup too

 

I like to look at the sculpts without face-up, eyes, or a wig.
I look at the blank head and see who it could become.
The ones with removable tongues and teeth are somewhat creepy to me.
Sleeping and even winking heads are acceptable to me.
Those heads wouldn't be a default head, they would be floating heads used for specific photographic moments.

 

I always figured that sculptors just thought that neutral expressions would be more marketable. But it's really important for me that my dolls smile, even the least bit. They're characters are positive and happy. Gentle smiles seem to give the sculpt more of an opportunity to change with the angle and lighting. I think that would be harder if the expression were more pronounced. I love that about my Nim, she's so changeable. I get a kick out of the fact that a few of my friends have mistaken her for different dolls in photos I've done.

That said, I really want a Fairyland Cupid3. He's just so XD!!!!

 

All of mine have neutral expressions, but I was surprised to find that my Leeke Mabel can smile from some angles. I didn't even notice until someone commented about it on a picture. My Migidoll Owen looks truly neutral to the point of looking emotionless, but the girls have a kind of gentle sweetness even though they're not smiling.

 

I think this is true. And in some way, neutral faces ARE more marketable, mostly because there seems to be this strong idea that neutral faces are more capable of showing emotions than a smiling, sad, or angry looking doll.

When I entered this hobby in 2006, I used to think the same way. It's was one of the reasons why I almost decided against buying an Elfdoll K-ss (the first 'angry' looking sculpt). I thought he would be limited in his expressions. Am I glad I still bought him! K is such a versatile sculpt, even with his frown. My K has a tendency to look morose, and cynical and angry, and is able to smile.

Any doll sculpt will have its possibilities and limitations. Try tell a joke to a neutral face. He will not suddenly burst out in laughter; the only expression you will get in return is a deadpan look. I think it's not so much the face that conveys emotion, as it is the mood of the photo, the backdrop, the lighting and colours.

And don't rule out our own brains. Our heads have a tendency to 'explain' what is going on in a picture. One of the earliest experiments with motion pictures showed this. The director wanted to proof the importance editing, so he made a film in which a female actress with a neutral expression on her face was shown in different settings. Together with the music, the editing of the film, he was able to fake such an emotion that people were applauding the woman for her acting abilities!

But maybe I'm biased. I LOVE Iplehouse's strong faces and if I had the money I would've bought over half of their sculpts.

 

Have you consider Iplehouse SID Eric? He always looks happy and smiling to me
This faceup is custom made, so ignore the scar (the original sculpt doesn't have one):

Picture1 (Faceup by SDink)

Original faceup pic

You can find him here:

http://www.iplehouse.net/shop/step1.php?number=2585

 

I love that Loki! Never found one, only Thor! What a great picture.
I usualy like a serious face but not sad.
I'm more partial to a Mona Lisa's smille. I feel it shows a bit of the doll personality.

 

I bought Soso because I loved that adorable,smiling face and I got RS Lan because I thought she looked sort of pouty and sad. I recently ordered a FantasyDoll Dane because I love his sulky/pouty expression.

 

IoS Jaguar is a perfect example of why I don't especially like smiling dolls. Psycho killer he is.
I prefer expressionless or slightly frowning dolls. Although I have a soft spot for IHDexter, who has a little grin

 

I am open to having different kinds of faces, but I have never seen a doll with teeth that I liked, they all looked kinda creepy to me. Though I have seen some pictures where dolls with teeth look good, I just don't see me owning one. I have also found that I don't enjoy doll that look overly sad, a slight pout is ok but an all out frown is something I dislike. Yet as people have said different angles of a photograph can change how a face looks.

 

haha i have a similar impression as the poster. When I was looking for a female tiny, my 1st doll. I wanted a doll with a slight smile, and have s spark of life in her. But everywhere I looked, it seemed like 90% of the dolls had either 1) stoning/ pouty look. 2) sad hush puppy look, or 3) dunno why am pissed/ angry/ cool looking (especially boy dolls)? I think the gentle feminine kind of hush puppy look dolls are popular. There were some dolls with big huge cheerful cute grins and smiles, but since the smile is perpetual and unchanging, I feel tired for the doll. XD Finally found a few dolls with slight smiles and got my doll already!

 

I personally like dolls with a neutral expression. It givesthe BJD owner a chance to do a face up and create their BJD own character.

 

i'm personally not a fan of sad or pouty, but I'm not really into overly smiley either. pkf pong is really cute, but such a strong expression all the time, narrows down your options a bit photography wise.

I agree with Aoiinut though, having different face plates would be amazing!

 

I do find the 'too' happy faces to be kind of creepy, and having teeth usually pushes me away as well. However, I had recently found a face I quite liked that was somewhat 'angry'. I do favor a plain face or light smile on a doll though, usually. I wouldn't want any sad dolls, I think, and the 'angry' one I would see as more determined or focused.

 

I like a wide variety of facial expressions. I have dolls that are smiling, pouting, angry and neutral. Most, if not all of my dolls, appear to be smiling/smirking from a certain angle. Even my Dollshe Saint, who I would consider to have a "neutral" expressioned sculpt, has SO many different expressions with his face-up. I shy away from buying sculpts that are locked into anything besides a fairly neutral expression because I feel limited as to where I decide to take the character. However, I still think some of them are awesome sculpts (IoS Jaguar and IM Hound come to mind) and would consider owning him in the future

 

I don't go for big toothy grins but I love the little smirk on Iplehouse Eric & Claude.

Here is a pic of my Eric:

 

I like my expression of the doll to fit the character I'm going for. I tend to be drawn to slightly sad expressions on female dolls, though. I feel like there's a story behind that sad expression. And of course, my favorite dolls are the ones that have sad expressions

 

what I love most is when you get a doll that can appear without physically changing it (just clothing and pose/setting) can give different expressions. My guy is a quiet brooding type mostly, serious and does not do the joke thing well. This is a good example of him normally.


then I was taking pics of another outfit which is quite wonderful... except for one certain item... the hat is rediculous... and he knew it. The look is as plain as day on his face... His eyes rolled up (no i didn't change them just got an odd/lucky? shot) and you can just hear him thinking...
"Are you kidding me?"

 

My Dollzone Petdoll Fox often looks like she's deep in thought and contemplative, while my Bobobie Apollo usually looks like he's sulking or too serious. My Bobobie Ophelia always looks at peace. I keep changing which one is my favorite, so I guess I'm not too picky. I don't set out to find specific expressions, on the whole.