How do you pick a doll? The company faceup or the blank sculpt?

Definitely blank sculpt. A faceup can be changed regularly if you choose, a sculpt can’t. I also do my own face ups, so the sculpt needs to fit even before paint goes anywhere near it.

 

A bit of both. Generally, it's how a head looks painted that'll draw me initially, but ultimately, I know I'll get a different faceup so if I don't like how it looks blank, it's a no go. I use both since it gives me how the face looks, but seeing the company faceup gives me an idea of its potential

 

Blank sculpt, I also like to Google what other people have done with the same sculpt and compare.

 

I definitely judge by blank sculpt, the 'bone structure' of the face is whats really important-faceups can make it look really different depending on the style.

If youre having trouble envisioning it, maybe take a rook at some real make up tutorial vids or before/after pics. They can help you learn how different features look with different techniques.

 

Blank sculpt for me I do what @Ilzar does too and google that doll to see a variety of styles.

 

Blank sculpt too for me. The bones have to be right!

 

Blank sculpt, I do my own faceups anyway, and if I get a doll with a faceup I'll wipe it no matter how much I enjoy it. It's better that I look at the actual sculpt of a doll to see if I like it.

 

I have to see it with a faceup. I’m kind of faceblind to begin with, so a lot of blank faces look identical to me. With a bit of color and highlights to lips and eyebrows I can see the differences better.

 

Double post because my internet is being stupid.

 

The blank sculpt and even looking for what other people have painted the doll like!

 

I start with blank sculpts, but if the default face-up looks nice, I don’t mind having that for the first few years. If you’re unsure about a sculpt, you can look to see what others have done. That will give you a good idea how versatile a sculpt is.

 

I really have to see the doll with a face up, clothes even. I haven't gotten used to seeing blank dolls yet and seeing the potential.

 

I look at both. I like to see how the company sees it and then look at the blank one to see the potential of the sculpt as well. Sometimes the company face ruins the sculpt, and sometimes they make it look way better than it actually is. I like to see the sculpt done as many ways as possible to see the potential.

 

Depends. If I like the doll with its company faceup, I still look at the face blank to see if I like it just in case I ever want to change its look. Otherwise, I want to see the face blank so I can get a good feel for facial structure.

 

The blank sculpt, since the rest can pretty much be customized to look like anything

When I first learned about BJD's, I was more interested in how the website images looked, with the default faceups and the fullset outfit. But once I learned more about how to do a faceup and how I could get whatever clothes I wanted from anywhere, the only thing I look at now is the sculpt

I got my first doll completely blank anyway, and I didn't get the fullset wig or clothes

 

I try to go by the blank sculpt, however I look at the faceups of others to make sure that my intuition is right! A face up can really change a lot! However sometimes the company face up is perfect so it doesn't really matter! Ha ha

 

Usually the face-up is the first thing that draws me to a doll, especially if it's styled in a way that kinda looks like one of my characters. However, before I make a choice, I also try to find as many pictures of the blank sculpt as I can, as well as pictures of different face-ups from different owners. Sometimes a doll looks just perfect with that one very specific company face-up and/or when the picture is taken from the right angle, but once you look at the blank sculpt and/or at a picture from a different angle you may realize that the eye shape is not exactly what you need, that the head is actually smaller/bigger than what you thought, that the mouth is entirely different from what it seemed at first... and so on and so forth. So looking at blank sculpts or owner pictures from different angles can be very helpful to figure out what you're actually going to get.

 

I tend to love dolls by their original company faceups, but lately I am learning to pay more attention to the SCULPTS!

 

I choose the black script, causes just like my shop, I have my own shop makeup by other face up artists. They are super cute, and mostly individual face up artist will do costume which will be much more fit to you or me.