Ever have that character that just seems impossible to shell?

Definitely. There is one character named Nadine, and so far the closest options are Doll Chateau faces but I'm thinking even those would need a mod. She has a small, upturned nose and large lips with caramel colored skin, and lots of piercings. I've not yet found any sculpts that perfectly capture the silhouette in my mind.

 

I want to shell Geordie Riddle, who is a character in Charles De Lint's "Newford Stories" , he is a brown haired and eyed Scots Irish fiddler, with a craggy masculine face, a gentle kind personality, but not handsome. I need him to be MSD size to fit with his friend Jilly Coppercorn, who is an Iplehouse JID Leona. I am kind of thinking of going with Iplehouse FID Rex....but he is perhaps a bit too pretty. If anyone knows of a MSD mature sculpt with a heavy boned craggy face, please let me know, thank you.

 

Have you looked at Agatti Doll?

 

No, I had not, thank you for pointing it out, that might work!

 

There's one of my Star Wars: The Old Republic characters that I would love to make but I haven't found a doll that looks anything like him. He's got a more masculine Asian face with a heavier/more masculine jaw line, monolid eyes, and a flat nose. I tried to find some recommendations but couldn't find anything even close. The closest I found is Granado Raguel but I want him for a different character (plus he's no longer available anyway). If I ever make this character I'd have to sculpt the head myself.

 

X

 

Finding the right head sculpt for an aasimar is darn-near impossible. I love the SD size, so I'm content to stay with that (65cm+), and it's a pain to find Brennan looking the way I want him to. The worst part is his body--he's not muscly, and he's a druid, so long and lanky and lean. I've searched probably for 20 or so hours so far and have yet to find more than 1-2 companies that offer something even remotely in that direction (thank you UniverseDoll).

I'll still have to do some modding because split lips are not quite what I'm looking for in terms of face, but it's as close as I can get, I think.

The next issue is saving up, which is going to take even longer, and then figuring out how the heck Taobao works so I can order direct from UniverseDoll.

 

@Brightfires

Have you looked into Souldoll? I'm not sure what size your others are, or if size matters but they have two sculpts that might be able to pull of an old man. Adolf and Lock both have a bit of 'aging' 'roughness' to their face, I've been eyeing the two for one of my older gentlemen. Its hard for me to see the detail of his face in your picture but I figured I'd share the knowledge in hopes it helps.

 

I actually did end up finding a sculpt that would work for my grumpy old Necromancer... He's a Granado V-07.

While not quite as old as the original City version of the character, the V-07 head hits most of the features that make Nem look like Nem.

 

Ive got a lot of characters who I will probably never shell as BJD just because there aren't currently dolls made to look like them- especially the more rugged, solid, square-jawed or stocky amongst them.

 

Eeeyyup, and it's been driving me crazy. I just can't seem to find a sculpt that matches my character, and I really didn't think they'd be this hard to shell!

They're a genderfluid character (who mostly presents themselves as male because of reasons in their story), so the head sculpt would need to be pretty androgynous, preferably on a flat-chested female body since they were born female. They have long, thin facial features, a rather long nose, almond-shaped eyes, and are of Italian descent. They're very pale (welp, at least that's not hard to find ) and have a sort of gaunt, gangling look, nearly malnourished, with dark circles under their eyes. The only artwork I have of them is in a super stylized anime style, so the only way I can really describe their facial features accurately is kinda like a more stylized, prettied up dolly version of the person in this music video.

The only heads I've found so far that even kind of resemble the character are for male dolls, and I'm not really confident enough to attempt making a hybrid. I was kinda thinking Loong Soul Iman's head, but I'd probably have to mod it to fit onto a female body, which I don't have the skills for. But even that sculpt isn't really that close to how I imagine them at all. :/ If I could just find the perfect face sculpt, even if it only came on a male body, I'd probably just settle for that.

 

Commission an artist to sculpt it?

 

Yesss and it's driving me crazy! Michaela/Tomo is one of my oldest character and it's super hard to find a good mold to shell her. She's super girly and fierce and I love feeple60 body. She somewhat remembles FL Chloe but I'm not sure if I like that mold myself

 

I have a character that’s been incredibly difficult to shell as when I draw her, her proportions are very exaggerated and cartoony, making it difficult to find the right sculpt.

 

I’m 80% sure I’ve settled on Angell Studio Mini Gus for Tianzhu.... but that missing 20%! I’ve gone back and forth over shells, with none being quite as perfect as some for my other characters... which is weird because you wouldn’t think it that hard to find a pale, pretty Chinese-looking YoSD with a regal but gentle expression, and yet! Hideyasu goes without a boyfriend still.

 

I havent been searching much, but I can already tell one of my characters is going to be difficult to shell. He needs a bored but kind expression. I still have a few others I am going to get before I get to him though so I have time to search.

 

I'm having a heck of a time shelling a Japanese character. Each time I get a sculpt for him it ends up looking Korean, or Chinese, or having too Caucasian of a nose, it's too anime, or it's too young/too old, or something is terribly wrong with the sculpt that you cannot see from anyone's pictures. All I want to do is find a 20-something year old Japanese guy who has distinct enough features that are ethnically appropriate, and looks realistic. Does such a sculpt even exist?! I thought these were "Asian ball jointed dolls" made mostly by people... in asia. Apparently the majority of sculptors want to make anime cartoon or Caucasian sculpts... this is so strange to me.

 

@rosalynmouse Eeee, a Newford fan!

I'm having an impossible body problem. I want to shell my Ancient Greek Eunuch but there are very few soft male bodies with dadbod chique, and very few faces that would age well yet be eternally young.

 

Update: since I posted in 2017, I may finally be on my way to getting a sculpt for this character! The answer, as I expected, was just to get a commission. Not sure how long it’ll take from here on in, but he should be here by mid 2020 at the latest if all goes to plan!

 

Pretty much all of my pre-existing characters are impossible to shell. It's mostly just a stylistic issue- I have a very cartoony style, and none of my cartoony characters would work as dolls unless their faces were sculpted basically exactly how I drew them. I might be able to get close by heavily modding an anime-style head, but even then the body would be impossible since I have an overabundance of characters with pudgy, lanky (Like awkwardly so, not elegant DC lankiness) or just weirdly proportioned bodies.

And I can't really make them more realistic for their doll form, because then they're not themselves anymore.

I figure I'll just sculpt the characters I really want as dolls.