Faceup Artistry- what constitutes 'copying'?

OK, now I'm starting to worry, so let me ask you for some advice. I will be having two dolls, an SD and a tiny that will embody the adult and chibi version of a char of mine. Since they're the same char I want them to have the same face. The chibi will be a grey MsDoll elf Pan with the "dark devil" version default faceup, which is absolutely perfect for the char, and I'd love to have that faceup on the SD version (DZ Violeta-2) as well. I would basically be asking a faceup artist to copy a default faceup onto a completely different mold. Would that be unethical to do? There's a whole bunch of Pans with that same faceup out there already...

 

Most commissionable artists I've dealt with say upfront they will not copy default face-ups or other artists' work. Why not buy both dolls blank and send them to the same customiser with the 'dark devil' face-up as inspiration? That way it won't be ripping off another artist's work and both face-ups will match because the same artist will use the same style on both heads.

I used a picture of the Volks YoTenshi Yuh default face-up when I commissioned my Soom Glot's face because I wanted a similar natural, peachy face-up so my Glot and my Yuh would look aesthetically alike. It didn't work out with Glot as a doll, but I thought her face-up was gorgeous and Glot and Yuh did work as a pair while I had them both together.

 

The statement about not copying a faceup has 2 points:
1. An artist doesn't want to break copyright laws copying work of another artist;
2. An artist doesn't want to repeat himself/herself because faceup comissions done in the past should stay OOAK.

Well, actually it's pretty possible. Not to the level of every hair on an eyebrows of course, but the new faceup will look as an old one overall. I was forced to do it for my lazule just because the old one was damaged. I painted him second time looking on the photos of what was done before, and my intent was just that: to repeat the same. I did a very minor technique improvements though...

It's aso possible to copy other artists' faceups to a certain similarity so an average person would say: "Oh, this is the same faceup". Of course not everyone can do that, as far as not everyone who can paint well can do dollie faceups too.

I suppose it's ok because you would own both dolls and the same artist would paint them. So nobody would suffer from such copying. More, it's an interesting trial for an artist - to do two different dolls as alike as possible))

 

A copied face-up is one who's intent was to copy, regardless of the actual result.

I did a face-up on my Soulkid Katie.A and I meant it to look like her default. To me, it looked nothing like it because my style was nowhere near as good as the one from Souldoll. However, someone else who has a Katie.A on her wishlist recognized the face-up and it was close enough for her to believe that it was indeed, the default.

As far as ethics go, I have mixed feelings. Obviously, I just admitted to copying a face-up, but I did this more for practice, and would never copy a face-up for sale. I think it would be really tacky to copy a doll that is incredibly unique and to keep that face-up for a long duration of time.

 

Technically, the concept of copying face-ups is a business practice for any BJD company that offers a default face-up for any headmold. They have many artists and each artist strives to achieve that "norm". So, it is entirely possible for talented individuals to copy face-ups.

Personally, I see three categories:
1) For personal use/not resale/the individual likes doing face-ups as a part of doll enjoyment
2) For education/personal use/not resale
3) For business use

In the first and second examples I don't have a problem with people copying face-ups provided the doll is not on the marketplace. In other words, not for profit situations.

I disagree with it when it is for profit as in the third situation. The exception to this is when redoing an older face-up designed by a company that has disappeared, is not really accessible (i.e. it's difficult to access Volks services for many people) or the face-up styles of a company have changed due to newer techniques. It happens. It's nice if individual face-up artists can recreate that look of a beloved doll. I doubt that a face-up lasts forever.

 

For me copying consists of attempting to duplicate exactly an existing face-up. I don't have a problem with an artist doing a face-up in the "style" of another artist or factory But when it comes down to an exact reproduction (and there are definitely talented enough artists to do this) then that's copying to me. If a customer just wants a similar eyebrow or lip shape or color, I don't consider that copying but more of an inspiration dictated by the customer.

 

I don't think copying is/should be a problem. I don't care if others want to use any faceup I've done or will do on their dolls, and I don't see how others should mind, either. Faceups have such few elements to them that the line of copying is really fuzzy in any case. I mean, it's one thing to copy a drawing, copying background and poses and such, but another to copy a facial expression. I don't care if someone copies a hand from one of my paintings. It's just a hand. If they copied the entire thing, it'd be different, but because of the limited scope of faceups, I say it shouldn't be a big issue, personally.

 

I wonder if the 'copying' here is following a trend...I mean, in real make-up world, I hear sometimes, 'this year' make-up trend (^.^)'''...really, there were ad campaigns like that in my local tv. They promote the colors, etc...
perhaps, in dolls, too? I mean, the 'trend' can create something 'similar' although not really-really similar but the 'nuance' is the same...
I think to 'copy' precisely, the artists must have a very good skill in copying term. Really and we are talking about 'painting'...I always think, painting (and drawing, illustrating, make-up, etc), cooking, making sewing pattern --> different hands, different result. It's because a 'taste' or 'style' are included there...May be the artist should provide their portfolio to show their genuine style?

 

This topic makes me because it happened to me.

What if you buy a head off an auction (painted in unique style) and sold by artist, then later on the SAME artist accepts commission and painted the same head in the same face-up?

How can the head owner ask for SUCH a request, and how can the artist do such a thing as to copy her past work from an AUCTION HEAD? What the.........

How disrespectful can you be?

-_-+

 

Maybe the artist should have made clear that she reserved the right to repeat her faceups, or maybe it was misleading if the auction stated that the faceup was OOAK and would never, ever be repeated.

But in all honesty, I think there are people who don't give a darn if the same artist paints the same head the same way twice. As at least one artist has pointed out on this thread, doing the same faceup on the same sculpt twice is not going to create an exact copy - there will be subtle differences. And we're all used to limited edition dolls where more than one doll is released with the same limited faceup. So what you think is a giant matter of disrespect might not matter at all to someone else.

Besides, I know there are artists who make a big deal about "oh I never repeat a faceup I've done previously" but all of their dolls are painted in such a similar style that they look very much alike to me anyway. So one's got slightly redder lips or blacker eyebrows...still looks like the exact same doll to me, sorry.

To me, faceups are very temporary things and I will never pay a huge amount just for a faceup, nor care if it's a "unique" faceup, because I figure it will end up chipping or wearing over time and will need to be replaced anyway. It's not permanent like a mod or sculpt.

 

Well the auction is more than half a year ago I cannot go back to look at it now. Of course face-up is not the same as printing a book, so no 2 face-up will look EXACTLY the same. Even if it's duplicated there will be subtle differences. But the intent to copy is just wrong.

I assume whenever a face-up artist puts a head up for auction the face-up is ALWAYS a OOAK. Otherwise what is the point of people buying on auctions in these type of situations? If an individual face-up artist plan to do the same face-up again for someone else, or auction off another one with the same face-up later on, then it is totally deceiving for the person who bids is it not?

It is not the same as from buying a batch of limiteds with similar face-ups because in that case the people who buy from that batch know before hand that it is mass produced.

 

That's really interesting - I never knew people had that expectation of a faceupped head being put up for auction, that it be OOAK. Although it does seem like a lot of faceup artists have some statement on their pages saying "I do not repeat faceups or copy faceups" so that would naturally lead one to assume all the faceups were OOAK and be upset if one appeared to be a repeat.