I know I should look at the blank sculpt and kind of imagine all the possibilities. But to be honest, I know I'm just gonna end up deciding based off of company face up because I'm too lazy to do the faceup myself and too impatient to have one custom painted. Maybe one day in the future I'll change my ways, but...well. Here we are.
For me it is about the blank sculpt, and then off that sculpt I try to figure out in my head if I can use my idea. If not I pass it.
I'm usually drawn in by the company faceup first! It's difficult for me to picture possibilities off a completely blank sculpt, so the company faceup helps me get an idea of how the features come together. From there I'll look more closely at details like nose and lip shape, eye angle, brow ridge, etc. and determine how well they match up to the character I have in mind.
The company face-up sometimes grabs my attention, but I think the decision definitely comes down to whether I like the blank sculpt or not.
