Ever have that character that just seems impossible to shell?

I have that one OC who's a chubby/larger man.

There doesn't seem to be many chubby bjds out there... so I guess I gave up on getting a doll for him.

 

I've had a pair of OCs for years now and I'd like to shell them both at some point. However, since I can't even draw them to my satisfaction, finding a sculpt is hard. I've seen characters who remind me of them but none who are perfect. For the height difference, I think a Souldoll Vito size and then a 60cm would work.

 

I am on my 6th doll and 2nd Lahoo for one character. But all it took was begging & bribing DOD to make me a WS Lahoo. Now I am happy.

 

Not an issue for me - the character comes as I get to know the doll.

Teddy

 

Yes! I have two OC's I want to make dolls for, boyfriends, and I can't quite find the right sculpt for them, or if I do find the sculpt, I forget about it ad find an even better sculpt thats WAY too expensive!

 

I generally don't shell my book characters--I'm not good at drawing them, either. I guess I like to keep them intangible. I don't mind shelling tabletop RPG characters or characters from established franchises, though. And usually I don't look too hard for those...they just kind of fall into place, or I let the design of the doll help develop the character's appearance instead of looking for something I already have in mind.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture, but I've been trying to shell my very first DnD character! A Paladin named Lorilae Firedawn! I've been wanting her in an SD body but I've been having trouble finding one that I feel really suits her. I thought I had one but then I looked up some owner pics with other photo angles and just lost all interest in the doll. Still looking. I'm even looking into other companies; basically going down the BJD sellers list in the BJD wiki here on DoA.

 

I have a character, a young girl who is chubby but still very cute. I have been looking for the right sculpt for her but I haven't found anything that even resembles her. I gave up on finding a doll suiting her.

 

Oh heck yeah. My problem is, a lot of my rp characters are very very clearly designed in my head and on paper, so I can't just "fudge it" or whatever. they have to be JUST right. And my characters tend away from conventional, not just with fantasy features like pointy ears (which are moddable). I have found a sculpt I think would work for Jarral (overbite and hooked nose) but I would want them in scale with one another, which presents yet another problem. Finding appropriate bodies in a large range of heights to represent heights from 5'5" to 6'4", NOT an easy task. Shorter male dolls are particularly awkward to find.
I'm also struggling to find a sculpt that's just right for my twins, I need a slight overbite, a sharp slightly hooked nose, a narrow chin and angled eyes argh. I can find a lot of sculpts that are ALMOST right but my courage with serious mods like lips or face isn't there. I think I can manage ear mods, but that's my limit you know?

But yeah, it's awkward when you already have such a set idea to then shell a character. It's a lot easier if you create the character after the doll heh, or have a doll in mind when you design the character.

 

All my main character's are a bit atypical. Evangeline is a tree basically loosely inspired by the trees of cheem from dr. who and she'd probably be about sd sized in an msd universe. She's super spindly and skinny aside from the whole tree thing. My other characters (a gnome and a halfling respectively) would have to be mature tinies. Kelryn (the gnome) is nonbinary and I'd need to find a gender neutral body that looked vaguely adult. They also have a rather prominent bumped nose and I haven't seen that on any scale.

 

Oh I can completely relate!!!! The face is never right and the only body similar to my character's body that I can find just looks more cartoonish and less realistic and detailed.

 

YES! Since 2006 I have tried ten times to shell a character. She is Keiko, the twin sister to my SoulDoll Lune, Kaoru. They are twenty one years old. I've brought home SO many girls to be her, and none of them have worked. Her character is very outspoken, strong willed and self sufficient, but she hides a gentle, sympathetic nature behind her stern exterior. I want all of that to show on her face. She doesn't HAVE to live here, because in my storyline she is still in Japan with her fiancé, but I would like to reunite her with her brother someday.

A quick list of the dolls I have brought home to be Keiko:

Iplehouse Freezia, ElfDoll Carolei, Supia Roda, Dollzone Cherry, Unidoll HS Bess, Luts SD Annette, Iplehouse Freezia (again!), Angell Studio Kana, Dollzone Kang Xi, Volks School C.

Three of these girls (Cherry, Kana and Kang Xi) have stayed to become other characters. The other girls were resold. The Volks School C is still here, but somehow I don't think she is right either. She may become another character, though. My latest candidate for Keiko is ElfDoll Lydia, but she would need just the right faceup. I have not brought her home yet.

foulmonster, I LOVE your drawing!! Best of luck finding a head sculpt for him. MSD size with those types of features is tough!! Many more choices in the SD range.

I have two Dollfie Dream/Obitsu 60cm hybrid boys, and they are so skinny with their 55cm alternate torso parts. I have been wondering if maybe I could make them a padded suit to fill out their torsos some more? Maybe that would be an option.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

One of my OCs is a middle-aged/elderly female character named Karla. She's also the reincarnation of a fertility goddess, so she's always pregnant. Yeah...

...I've never even attempted to shell her because I want her to have an anime-style look ala Obitsu/Parabox or Dollfie Dream (which we all know are very youthful and very not-pregnant).

But it's not completely impossible because I'm somewhat confident that I could still achieve the look I want if I'm really careful with her faceup and use @galatia9 's suggestion of a padded body suit. I'm thinking that I'd want her head to be either an Obitsu Mizuki or a Dollfie Dream DDH-02, on a 50cm - 55cm Obitsu body with the large bust option part.

The 48cm Obitsu doll who's on the way (and whom I never stop talking about) may possibly be shelled as my old imaginary friend from when I was a teenager. Their name is Scooter and they are a cheerful, loving, and free-spirited character. Judging from owner pictures, the Misuzu head that comes with the body looks pretty suitable to Scooter's character, and I have as close to a perfect wig as I'm going to get. The wig is shorter in length than the hairstyle that Scooter typically wears but I couldn't pass it up because the color is absolute perfection! I may also buy the boy chest option part because I've never envisioned Scooter with breasts, but I don't think it will be a necessity judging by how flat-chested the default 48 cm girl bust looks.

 

I've been having trouble finding the *perfect* sculpt for the other main character in the story I'm planning. The OC's name is Nick Somner, and he has a sort of air about him (languid, disillusioned,and apathetic, are just some adjectives one could use to describe him) that is very hard to find in a doll sculpt. I've flopped around DC Colin, Doll Leaves Jeremy, and DZ Moment-ji. I'm thinking that DL Jeremy will be the best bet, but I'm still not so sure :///

I also want his body to be very lanky and spidery to contrast the other character's more full curvy figure, so DC Colin, but head sculpt looks more mischievous to me than melancholy... I might have to hybrid a doll oTL

 

Absolutely-- a lot of my most-loved characters, be they original or just characters I love enough to want a fan-doll of-- have generous, aquiline noses... and even those who don't tend to have at least one feature that not many dolls have (usually it's a nose problem, though, that's my biggest stumbling block). Or a body type problem-- if I have two characters that I would need to shell as a couple, it makes it harder. I'll be looking at a body that's a little too muscular for one, but with clothing, would look perfect (and has a head that's mostly perfect), but 70cm is too much for me, and the closest body to his partner's body type is MSD anyway (but none of the faces are right)... And of course I've got characters I'd love to have a doll of who just have awkward proportions. Girls with broad shoulders and narrow hips? I might as well keep dreaming!

Some characters I've accepted I'm not going to be able to shell in a 100% visually faithful way, so I worry more about whether they give off the right vibe, though, and that's a lot less heartbreak-- but it does take a lot of hunting, and a lot of waffling on my part.

 

Only one...
His name is Nemissary and he was one of my favorite City of Heroes MMO toons.



My tag-line about "dancing with a deathmage"? He's the Death Mage... 'Former Circle of Thorns magus built as a DarkityDarkDark Defender. I always had a great time playing him, covering everything in sight with ectoplasmic tentacles. XD

Over the last few years, since NCSoft pulled the plug on the game, I've ended up with resin versions of all my other favorite toons (Including Kestrel and Cardinal, the pair in my avatar picture-), but there's just not a doll sculpt out there that I've felt like would do Nem justice. Not even an Ark has the right look... He's not young. He's not bishie. He's not even what you'd call attractive. He's a pretty serious-looking older guy who's been through literal hell and carries the scars to prove it.

So... yeah. As much as I'd love to have a resin avatar of my much-beloved semi-reformed necromancer to complete my City character set, so far it hasn't been possible. He's just not someone I'm willing to compromise with. I like the old grump too much for that.

 

@galatia9

This may be a bit late, but many action figure companies do this to add to the potential body types of their few stock bodies (Hottoys does this a lot.

If you look on ebay, they sell action figures loose without their stock clothing. You may be able to find enough seller photos to determine how they are made. (It looks to me like almost plushie making techniques, with knots/tacks and stitches to "sculpt" the padded fat suit to the right shape.)

 

I had a character for a very long time who was impossible to shell. He's gone through a few iterations and moved from plot to plot under a different name but he was always the same - a very handsome young man who's still got a little bit of boyishness left but who's already starting to develop some more masculine features. He was basically a male ingenue. All male dolls were either way too effeminate, way too masculine, or, if they happened to have the right mixture of youth and masculinity, were way to smug/coy looking for the character. The top guy here.

ANYWAYS. He was impossible to shell since I started the hobby in 2008. I quit for a few years and came back to find that while I was gone, Mr. Dollshe had apparently heard my pleas, and released Arsene, who is probably the closest I've ever seen a doll get.

 

I've been having this exact problem for quite some time now

 

I have the hardest time with both of my dolls. My first doll, I have tried giving him a few different looks and I have no idea what I want for him. I have a general personality for him but I have absolutely no idea what I want his look to be. My other doll who is just a head at the moment, I am preparing to do a face-up for him and I just stare at him going "who are you?!". I buy scuplts that I love but maybe I should give more consideration into their style as my doll as well. I want them to have a style but it is so difficult for me to find something that I am satisfied with.