Ever get off-setted by a doll's face up?

I have to say, Volks and BBB/RS's default faces and site pictures put me off. I haven't looked into owner photos that much, and I'm sure lovely things can be done with them, but if I was basing it on company-only, I'd never buy from either!

 

There are a few company faceups that I don't like, however that can be remedied with looking at owner photos like you said.
There are a lot of times I pass a sculpt up (when browsing) because it doesn't look particularly attractive to me but then I'll later see an owner photo and love that same doll.

In general though, I usually like most company faceups. I like seeing the potential for a sculpt even if I won't use that same faceup.

 

I was very put off by the AOD dolls due to their default face-ups. Then my friend got her Lan back from getting a custom face-up and she is very beautiful. Her Lan is one of my favorite dolls I photograph. So yes I also have to see a doll in a different light if I do not like a company's default face-up on their website.

 

I find it frustrating. I wish more companies had pictures of just the sculpt, bare of face-up, in addition to the made up pictures. I have in my head what I want the doll's face to look like and it's hard to see whether that could be done with the face structure of the head sculpt when I can't see the actual head sculpt. I've probably passed several sculpts that I might otherwise like but for the picture with a face-up on the website. I also like when there's pictures of the naked bodies so I can see the joints and the sculpting on the torso. It would be nice if more companies gave close-ups of the hand sculpts.

 

I look at owner photos so not really, I wish they'd show them with and without faceups as well as close ups of the body on ALL the dolls... some of them only post head shots and it doesn't really show enough. I don't mind checking things out for myself but it would be nice if they made it easier for people

 

I find it distracting. If I see a sculpt I think I might like I try to find pictures of it with and without face-up, to see if I still like it.
I also find lack of knowledge about the body the various heads come on off-putting. If I get a body with the head, it's nice to see what I'm going to get.

 

I don't want ANY company faceup, I like to do them myself. Not that company faceups are bad at all, just not my thing. It used to be really frustrating when I couldn't see the blank doll, but now, I've been in the hobby for 5 years, done over 100 faceups, probably close to 200, on tons of different sculpts, and I'm pretty good now at seeing through the faceup to decide if I like how the doll actually looks. I'd still prefer to see them blank, but as long as there are good pix from different angles, I'd still buy the doll if I wanted it.

 

It happens to me all the time, I find most of them really awful or just meh I usually find sculpts that I like by looking at owner photos.

I can't understand why some companies don't include body shots! If I'm going to spend hundreds of $ on a doll I want to fully know what I'm getting... blank body and face shots should me mandatory, really. I know that most people do their research and spend hours looking at a sculpt but I'd expect the company site to be the source of most basic knowledge - like, you know, how the doll actually LOOKS like u_u

 

Faceups are so important... They can totally change the look of a doll, for better or worse.

Usually I like company faceups, so it's rare when a faceup puts me off a doll.

 

The AOD default faceups are terrible, aren't they? I remember looking at them while I was trying to figure out what sculpt my AoD was (bought second-hand at a convention, and, come to think of it, had a very unfortunate face up done by the person selling him) and was VERY put off from them.

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Company face ups can be extremely off-putting. Like a lot of people have said, I, too, like to find owner photos before I make a final judgement/decision on a sculpt. It's even better if photos of the blank head are included. It can be difficult to try to look past the face up to see what the mold actually looks like.

Doll Chateau and a great deal of Doll Leaves's stuff comes to mind as far as face ups that make it hard to like the mold.

 

Face-ups tend not to put me off from a doll entirely - I can usually see the potential of a doll past the company styling, as it's all about the facial features for me - but there are a LOT of company face-ups (and overall styling) that I think are terrible for their dolls. For me, the first that comes to mind is Iplehouse...as pretty as their dolls are, there are SO many things I could say about the way they style their dolls on the site.

 

I usually depend on the company face-ups to decide on whether I like the doll or not as I am relatively new to the hobby. Some company's face-ups put me off the sculpt cuz they don't look fantastic, but when I do actually look for owner photos of these doll, some look simply gorgeous! I guess face-ups do play a really big part when it comes to any doll.. ^ ^)"

One thing I would have loved to see more on the doll websites are some of the different face-ups that would go with the doll~ Something like what iplehouse does! ^ ^

 

I had it happen to my doll by the first face up artist not by the company (since they don't exist anymore XD) I told her what I want (innocent, natural, virgin-like, young, angelic, etc) and what I got out of it was that she looks very angry and pissed off at everyone, and wanting to kll me, and not to be mean but creepy.



now she is with a friend of mine Hellsing365 to do her face up and it's looking a ton better than before. I'll get her back next week

 

Not really... I have gotten pretty good at seeing through faceups when the Vision really hits me. If a doll's got good bones and good presence, I can see through the paintjob and impose my own vision on the face, 'that's how this guy should look!' When I bought my Limhwa Mano I knew I didn't want any of the men shown in the sales photos, but I still wanted the man beneath, so I ordered him blank. At home, he painted up exactly as I'd envisioned, so I knew I had the right man.

But most of the time, I seem to end up liking the company's/artist's own faceup. Especially when it comes to Iplehouse; I love their paintwork so much that I collect the faceups as works of art themselves, as much as the dolls. And my last few Volks dolls had such stunning faceups that I wouldn't've changed a single brushstroke. (Date Masamune got a particularly spectacular amount of eyeshadow, for being a warlord. )

 

Sometimes, yeah, but I try to see past the faceup to the sculpt. I do my own faceups, so I never order a doll with a company face. Even my limited Volks head got his fancy limited faceup altered a bit once he got here. (Sacrilege, I know, lol)

A lot of dolls can have their real potential horribly hidden by a lousy faceup.

 

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else think that the face-up artists at and photographers at RS secretly hate the company and are trying to sabotage them?

I mean really, have you SEEN the company photo for Gang?

 

I usually go looking for the blank mold when buying anyway... so I don't pay that much attention to the faceups? xD;

 

If I want a doll, I must look at pictures of them withour faceup to decide whether I should get it or not. I find face-ups to be so misleading sometimes. It can make ok-looking dolls gorgeous, and can make very pretty sculpts look bad. It's quite frustrating. I also look at many owner pictures to get an idea of what I can do with the doll's future face-up

 

Hm I believe that has rarely happened, but it has happened. The one case I remember very well was with IOS Anos. I never liked him in any face-up picture I saw and I jumped at one on the MP because of the blank picture. He was gorgeous with a blank face!