How do you doll plan?

Gosh, reading these posts keep me really unorganized--I tend to keep a lot of thoughts in my mind, though I often will go to a dealer and just add a lot of the items I'm interested in my cart. That way clothes and other doll items are kept in the same place, but I don't really need to put in much effort in remembering which clothes, sculpts, etc., I was looking through.

 

This thread makes me realize I have like no tracks for my dolls. I guess I should do something so I don't lose info on them xD I have receipts in my email but that's about it. With as many as I have, I should make more of an effort to keep them all organized.

 

I have documents for most of those things:
- On one document I keep track of the heads, bodies, eyes, wigs and face-ups my dolls currently have (company / artist names, dates of ordering, original prices...).
- On other document I have listed all the clothing items I have (also including prices, companies and such).
I used to also have a separated document with their personalities and stories but that is under renovation now as some of my oldest characters are shifting to newer ones and I still have to get to know them.

 

Ooof. I have a Google doc that keeps track of clothes and accessories. Also various wishlists.

I spend at least a month agonising over the doll themselves so don't tend to plan the actual doll so much as what they may need.

For fun and to help with decisions and my need to ask for opinions, my partner and I had a scoring system based on certain features of each contender. For example no points if not an elf sculpt.

 

In the past I would usually draw the character and then evaluate which dolls in my head alone, but recently- I still keep most info in my head and don't write it anywhere (that's my one toxic trait lmao) I do however still draw and paint over company photos to see if they'd work with the face I have in mind.

 

...plan?

 

Right now I'm using a page on Notion, that also has things like art supplies I'd like to buy, to keep track of the shop links and have a savings goal! But like others, I already have a good visual concept because I imagine I'll be shelling characters for the most part, with occasional deviations for other stuff that interests me. In that case, I sketch out the sculpt and play with outfit ideas on top!
Reading this thread has made me want to make some physical stuff, though! Maybe if I leave a notebook out for it, I'll remember to write down stuff like when I receive a new doll and how much they cost, etc...

 

Right now, I'm dumping links to dolls I want to buy and inspiration in a channel in a private discord server! I never thought of using Notion though even though I use it for other stuff, so I may move to that! My main reservation is that discord is super easy to use on mobile, while notion is way more finicky

 

The only planning I’ve ever done is keep a list of Japanese names for flowers for my SDCs… I do keep records though. I have an AirTable for my dolls, and one for their clothes & accessories. That one has come in very handy for the dOLiA*s catalog I’m making

 

I only have one document created in Win Paint, which depicts a bunch (like several dozen) stickmen with doll names attachted to them so that I can keep a record of all the dolls I've ever owned. Thanks to this, I know that I've had more than 50 (never at the same time, thankfully) and I remember them.

Also, I have one doc saved as a 'draft' on my blog... oh, actually a few of those drafts. But this one is particulalry important - I register my doll sales or plans. I like to come back to it, to see what my plans were, say, 2-3-4 months ago. It's more of a diary. I'm a revolving door owner, so it helps a lot.

The other drafts are more like diary entires, never to be published. Those are my silly doll-related doubts that are too personal or not PC for e.g. the forum, but also too abstract for 'normal' people who don't get the idea of considering a personality or simiply missing a character of a doll... It's just me trying to listen to myself talking about my very personal doll drama and draw some cocnlusions, find a direction, etc.

When I had more dolls (like 8-12) I used to create MSWord docs, where I'd make a table with +, -, reasons to sell, other info, etc... One could *think* I was working super-hard there...

 

I'm sorta messy.

I have a photoshop document that I dump all the images into. If I don't think I'll remember where the image is from, I'll name the layer with the source, but I can usually keep it in my head while it matters. Then I hide the layers of stuff that I decided aren't gonna work out, until I'm eventually down to just the things that need to be purchased. I also photoshop/draw in the face-ups and wigs on the dolls in another document.

I rely on my etsy favourites and the doll wishlist on DoA for some things/stores that I've had good experiences with, but that's about it. I think at this point in my life, I have no patience to "save-up" or plan for my doll hobby. I see something I like and I either have extra cash I think I can spare, or I don't, and then I just don't buy the thing. So there's been no need for long-term planning beyond like, "maybe some time in the next two years, I'll look for another pair of eyes".

 

Wow! So many cool ideas that I will definitely be giving a go. So far I have only written in a physical notebook my want to buy lists with their prices and calculated shipping / layaway costs.
I also have a folder of images named faceups on my phone with pics of cool make up I would want for my dolls.
Other than that everything is stored in my head.

 

I do a combination of things! I am a very visual person so when I start planning any doll or character I draw them first. My process for that being to sketch in my sketchbook and if I like it I make it digital. I normally keep doll photography in a separate computer folder than my drawings though even if it's all the same character because sometimes the drawings make it into my portfolio. I do keep my faceup mockups in my doll folder with the photography, but honestly my sketches also help push my faceups in a general direction.

I keep a word document with a wishlist of dolls and their prices which is nice to reference when I'm remembering how much I need to save. My dolls that have stories at the moment are shelled characters for a previous story, and that story exists mostly in drawing form.
I'm not a seriously organized person to begin with and I think if I tried it would stress me out.

 

I've been playing around with Pinterest of course, Trello, and Asana... I might see Notion -- I know a lot of people use it in a similar fashion to Asana/Jira/other project management software. I like to have everything in one place as much as possible, so Trello has been nice for projects -- but I do wish there was more to it.

 

I also use Pinterest a lot for inspiration and when I'm looking for general ideas. I don't make a real visual board usually, I just go with the flow when I see one item that I really like and can kinda build the rest around.

 

I use a Google doc and an Airtable spreadsheet.

 

EDIT: Removed the incomplete sentence.

I use Clip Studio Paint on my iPad to sketch out faceups and outfits ideas. I have a folder in Dropbox called "Custom Dolls" that I create folders for each of the dolls in. I wishlist items on a few websites, but if I wanted to be more organized I would probably use Microsoft Excel (or you could use Google Sheets or other similar program) with tabs for each doll listing the details and what I want.

I use Excel for so much, be it my job or my hobbies. It can be maddening at times, but the ability to make tables and quickly sum up costs and such is *so* handy.

 

That's actually a really good idea (and very efficient)! Thanks for the tip.

 

I'm glad it was helpful!

 

I've collected some images from pinterest that give me a rough idea of what I want and messed with picrews, but tbh, the image of my ideal doll is so strong in my head that having a physical plan is not necessary for me.