First doll w/ or w/o a face-up?

I got my first doll without a faceup because that was the part about BJDs I really loved. I wanted to be able to make her really "mine". Unfortunately I never bonded with her and sold her. My second doll I got with a faceup because she was in stock at DDE with a faceup. When it started chipping though I took it off and now I do her faceups myself. I got my third doll without a faceup (I sold her as well though).

 

My first doll was with a face up. I honestly thing that a person should get a doll that has a face up cuz chances are your not going to know all the basics for doing doll face ups!

 

I just ordered my first doll, and I ordered her without a faceup. I think it depends on the person. I am good at painting and drawing, so I figure I will be able to manage doing the faceup myself. We will see how it goes later.

 

^ I am of the opinion that, even if it does go badly, having a doll ordered without a face-up is worth the experience. (Not that I discourage buying dolls with face-ups, if an owner prefers their first doll that way.)

 

My first doll was without face up. I got into this hobby as an artistic outlet. My first face up attempt was decent but a year later (after I had gotten more practice), I went back a redid it. I think it all depends on how artistic a person is and how much research they do before they buy their first doll.

 

My first doll was with face up. I liked her face up and I still do! But I do not want to do face-up's myself. So I am not that artistic. What I will do is to ask someone else to do it for me! Then she or he must do it, how I like it. That way it is my style and my doll. I did a workshop and so I do know now that I can not do it.

 

I got my first doll with face up. I just don't think I want to do face ups... so my 4 dolls were bought with face up already done.

 

My first two came without faceups, though the lack of faceup for the second one did affect the way I bonded with it- that is to say I was rather disappointed with it. It wasn't till a year or so later that I worked up the courage to paint their faces myself and I like them both much better now.

So what I'd say if you're new and want to get your first doll.... If you expect it to or want it to look like the company picture, order it with the faceup. Otherwise you might be a bit discouraged and not like your doll as much as you thought you might have. HOWEVER if you plan to make the doll more like an idea in your head rather than the company picture, go ahead and get it blank. It'd not only make for great practice but you'd get to make the doll more yours in the process.

Even if it's not your first doll, I'd highly recommend eventually getting a blank doll eventually. That way you can learn painting faceups on your own and get some practice, you might even find you've bonded with it more than some of your others. Not to mention the money you might save by doing it yourself.

 

I ordered my first doll with a default face-up - and despite the promos having very pink lips - she came with brown toned lips. I was very sad about that. I was too clingy to send my doll off, and well still weary to commission in general to get someone else to repaint her. I had the same problem with a few dolls after that - mostly too much brown in the lip colour. So eventually I started sending my dolls off to other people to be painted. Now I buy blank most of the time, or even if I get the default and hate it... if I like the mould enough I'll suck up having to part with them their head for abit to get it changed.
I'll never paint my own doll heads though, I do not have the skill to cultivate and am quite aware that I am far too picky to ever get the kind of results that I demand. ^_^;

 

My first doll was without a faceup. But I think it in fact depends on personal preferences and on whether or not person has even rudimentary artistic skills. Those people that do have something to do with art will be most likely more inclined to get a doll without a faceup, but those that have no prior expirience with visual arts will perfer to have a faceup already done by someone else. At least that is my assumption.
Other than that it is really just a matter of taste.

 

My first doll didn't have one. I was still new to the hobby at the time and still was confused by the terms..."Face-up" was something I hadn't quite grasped yet.
So I eventually sent her off to an artist and then when my skills developed, I decided to paint all of my dolls faceups.

 

I actually bought my first dolls close together (still waiting on them!) But I got my very first with a face up and the other two come with second heads, so I got face ups on the heads I was going to use and Im going to use the blanks for practice heads and then I will decide if I will continue to order face ups or do them myself!

 

I ordered my first doll with face-up. I know how to paint, but my style does not depend on meticulous detail so I was scared of screwing up and then feeling like I wasted $300 (and I'm terrified of sending my doll off to someone else to work on... I feel really unsettled by headless dolls...). >_> I still haven't gotten the moxie to do a face-up in full, though I can do touch-ups and stuff which is good enough for general up-keep at least.

 

My first boy is coming with faceup. I definitely don't trust myself to do it on my first doll... however I'm already eyeing floating heads in the MP for practice. I'd like to get good at it, but if I don't.... at least my boy will have a nice faceup. XD

 

Honestly I would have liked to have gotten my first doll with a face up, but I could not afford it since I was already busting my bank with just the doll xD
I think if someone doesn't have patience or a drive to try face ups then they should get a face up already done, but if they want something specific or they want to start practicing then go ahead and get one without~
Before I was able to get dolls I was going to get them all with face ups, and then try to buy a junk head on the mp to practice on, but then of course I had to dive right in as it was all I could afford. And guess what? It sucked horribly, my Bia looked like a MESS. But I just wiped it clean and tried again :3
So really depends what each person wants out of their "bjd experience"

 

I got my first doll without a face-up for two reasons: because it was easier to convince my dad to buy me the doll that way and because I wanted to try my hand at doing my own face-ups. I guess I could also chalk it up to being worried that if my doll came with a pre-painted face that it would set his character/personality in stone in some way. Years later I still kinda feel that way about the process and continue to get my dolls blank if I can.

 

Well I think that if you plan on doing faceups for your dolls yourself, or get someone else to do it for you, then I don't think that you should get your doll with a faceup. I decided to get both of my girls without faceups because I figured that if I got them with faceups I would either be to lazy to do it, or I would think it was done so beautifully that I wouldn't want to change it! Hope that was helpful.

 

I ordered my first one with a faceup, but two after him had no faceup. then the 2 after those had faceups. It varies over the years...now I am getting faceups again.

 

My first doll came with a face up from the company...reason i just loved the companies default face up, second it was my first and though I draw and paint, I would much rather not mess up a very expensive doll due to my inexperience.

I say for others, it depend on how comfortable you are with your artistic ability and how comfortable you are with messing up your doll due to inexperience.

How to go around getting experience? Inexpensive doll heads...maybe?