Face-up on your First doll; Brave Enough?

I voted I would but I think the default or someone else could do better than anything I could think up.

I mean, honestly, I believe anyone with enough knowledge, a steady hand and a decent sense of aesthetic can do their own face-ups for their dolls, but it's my personal belief that it takes a lot of time and practice before any face-up artist gets, well, good.

I paid a few hundred dollars for this piece of resin, so I don't see the harm in paying maybe another hundred more so it actually looks like I've paid a few hundred dollars for it. A face-up can either make a doll look like a million bucks or a few cents, and I'm not willing to risk that :p

 

Nooooooo... Back when I got my first boy, I was a complete doll newb, I didn't even know about DoA, so I'd never have attempted a faceup. I can draw, paint, etc. but I have EXTREMELY limited patience and painting several layers with fine lines on such a small scale would put me in an institution. Besides, I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford the extra cash for default faceups and/or commissioned artists, and I highly prefer the professional look to a badly done diy job. I feel like, I already worked hard enough earning the money to BUY the doll in the first place, so I'm not working anymore now that I've got it! Let someone else do it!

Edit: Well said, Elliryn, your last sentence sums it up perfectly for me.

 

I ordered a face-up from the company for my first doll, but I'm thinking about getting a blank head to practice on. Or I might eventually wipe my doll's head and try on her <.<

 

Well, lets say I know my limits

 

I've done three of my dolls and one of my sister's. I think faceups are very fun to do, and though they can be difficult at first, they get better over time as with any art form. :3

 

way too nervous to do a face up with my first doll but since my first doll was a blank I will get around to doing a proper face up on it when I have the time

 

i would do it my self because i'm educated in art and my cousin always lets me practice before painting on her doll i always draw something simillar to the doll face in a paper and practice on it first!!

 

No, I am definitely not brave enough at all to risk it.

 

Nope. I was way, way too nervous to try and scared that I would make her look terrible, you know one of those 'what have I done??' scenarios. So I went with a pretty default face-up from the company instead. Though I do plan on wiping her at a later date and doing my own face-up, but that is only after extensive practice on a practice head and when I actual know how to do face-ups.

 

I ordered both of my dolls with face-ups because I wanted to bond with them right away, and I fear I couldn't bond with a blank doll. I plan to wipe them later and do my own.
However, I ordered during an event, and so I got a free event head, which will be blank. I am going to very carefully practise on the event head while I bond with the other two.

 

I did my first doll's faceup. I have years of art and painting experience, so I was fairly confident. The sculpt was SD sized and also a very detailed and realistic one (my first doll was an Elfdoll Rita), so that helped---- I've since learned that it is a bit easier to paint a realistic face with a lot of molded detail than it is to paint a smooth/stylized face. Since that first one I've gone on to do all of the faceups on my dolls and also my daughter's dolls, and I look forward to continuing to do the faceups on all of my future dolls as well.

 

I did actually order my first doll with a faceup. Well, he came with one, anyway. (He was an in-stock doll from a dealer, and all they had at the time were faceupped dolls, so that's just how he came; it was my first order, so I didn't realize at the time that faceups were a separate purchase!) And while there was nothing wrong with it at all, it never felt "right" to me. So not long after I got him (I can't remember if I'd joined here, or if I got information from another source) I read up on doing faceups myself, stripped off the company one, and redid it myself.

And yes, it was amateurish and imperfect. He has a second one now, which is still clunkier than my current work. But even with that first amateur faceup, he suddenly looked right in my eyes, and I finally developed an attachment to him. I haven't ordered a (new) doll with a faceup since!

 

I bought a second hand blank sleeping faceplate and did my first face up. I'm happy about it but all my other dolls have the company's faceup because I like it best. Some artists do wonderfull works but if I like the company's why try something else (also don't like my dolls travelling much due to abduction horror stories with the postal service )

 

Nope ! I would prefer buying a blank doll instead of ruining my first haha xD

 

My first was a YOSD and my second was a TinyDelf. Due to their size, I was 100% sure I couldn't do them justice so I opted with getting them their default faceup. My later dolls were a lot larger so I had more confidence.

 

I didn't do a face-up on my first doll, but I did give him two tattoos. I actually like his company face-up very much, and I was afraid to do it anyway. I went years without doing any other work on the dolls like that, and then I gave my floating head a partial face-up a few weeks ago. Poor thing still needs the rest finished off. The head was my fifth resin roommate to arrive.

 

Actually I "DID". I did my first head which was Vampire Miho 2013 Event and..."FAILED"...That time I was still quite new about BJD and the first thing that arrived to me, was a V.Miho head. (my full doll, Ren, was still on waiting list, even though I'd ordered him before ordered this head) I did face up after he'd arrived for 30 min. and redid it again and again, until I realized that my skill was really awful and untalented. Thank goodness that my first doll, Ren had face up from Manu (dealer). So he didn't have any painful and shameful experience because of me.

 

I generally fall in love with the doll's face, so so far factory face up.

I am buying a male practice head, as I'd really like to do a character doll of "Jean Havoc" from FMA. Most off the rack face ups are "too bishie" for him. If I get good on the practice head, I'll do it, otherwise I will commission someone.

these are too expensive to mess up, especially since Havoc will likely be a Luts Model body. Not absolutely sure in a head though. He heeds to be ver masculine, and mature looking, but not "brooding". He smiles and laughs a lot, even if is being half the time sarcastic.

 

I'm totally doing face-ups, but it so happens that my first doll to do that on was my third doll. The others were fine with their company FUs. ^^

 

I'm already doing my first doll's face-up, so XD I think it wouldn't be bad to at least try, and I think it'll be more of a bonding experience!