Idea in mind, or just browsing?

Generally I find a mold I like and base a character around that. When that character gets a name and imprints itself in my mind I'm screwed. Othertimes I have a character that I try to find a mold for. That makes it harder for me. My only doll was done the second way...but he was supposed to be tanned so that made the list a lot smaller XDD;;.

 

Usually I have a vision in mind of the character I want and I look for a sculpt that matches.

With the twins I had no idea what they would look like but hands down one would be Jareth so the other would need to be simular.

In the case of my tiny I just wanted a baby vampire and figured out who she was after. Now I want a mini vampire and I'll have to figure out who he is.

 

Its somewhat of a mix of both, sometimes I'm just browsing looking for dolls I like, and others, I have a character in mind.

 

I suppose it's a bit of both for me. The characters are already pre-established, it's just a matter of finding, or stumbling, across the doll that best suits that character.

 

My dolls house already-existing characters, so I've always got their faces at the back of my mind and look around for sculpts that most closely match those features. In some cases my choices are narrowed a little by skin colour: for example, Dee needed to be a Volks doll since their sunlight resin matches his skin-tone best of all the companies I've seen, but F-16 fitted him perfectly face-wise, too. The same has happened with my next boy, who needed to have Luts tanning skin no matter what. I suppose I've been quite lucky in finding matches, really

 

There are certain dolly attributes I'm interested in, for example I still want a doll with wings and one with cat ears, but I won't buy one unless it really strikes me. And I do browse around like crazy.

 

Sparrow summed it up for me perfectly. The character comes from the doll its self

Sera~

 

It's a bit of both for me. Some of them I just want too much, and have to invent a storyline for instead of try to fit them into my character ideas.

 

For me, I saw a mold and went "oooh! So pretty! They could be blah blah blah". So, no, I usually don't have any ideas in mind, they just kind of spring from the doll.

 

When I first started to get into the hobby, I lurked and browsed A LOT. Like... seriously a lot. I'm definitely a planner, since I like to have characters fit to the dolls - but during my phase of manic browsing, I got a pretty good idea of the various dolls that I fancy.
I guess you could say that very early on, I had a very good idea of exactly who I wanted to be in my family...
'Course... plans and actuality have a funny way of failing to coincide sometimes, but generally speaking, I've followed my "plan".
-V

 

There have been cases where I had a certain look in mind and would hunt around for a doll matching that. But there have also been times (many times actually) where I just happen to see a doll and instantly adore it.

 

I'm definitely a browser when it comes to dolls, as I really don't envision characters by how they look, but more by what they wear. So I'd rather make the costume to suit the character than choose the face and body because I don't see them in my head.

 

I can't imagine the difficulty of having a doll pre-planned, and then having to find a mold to fit it. With Cain and Tetchan, I fell in love with the molds first, and then came the names, then the personalities, etc. It must be so hard to find the right mold for existing characters .. maybe I should try it some time.

 

Both, really. I had wanted a doll for several months. All I knew was that I liked the name Doolia. When I saw Latidoll Blue Cara, I fell in love, and Dooly developed as a character. In retrospect, I wish I'd thought a bit more on her before concrete-ing anything, there are some things about her I think are silly sometimes. But I love her nonetheless. With Etain, I looked for the right mold for a long time, already knowing the character. And with the doll I'm saving for, I fell in love with the mold, and with a character, and realised they rather fit together.

 

I had no idea I even WANTED dolls until I first visited the DOD site. ^^ After that, I bought Camine and have since bought a Megi (Dollzone). I'm a browser and then sometimes, I'm just impulsive. XD

 

All the bjds I have are love at first sight type. I never had an idea in mind, whatever mold caught my interest then I buy. Another thing is I am very picky on which co. I buy from so I tend to stick to one or two co..

 

As Vega said... i've been lurking and browsing ALOT, now i've got a basic idea of who I want. It started with a friend custom making a BJD of the mascot of a large site i've had forever, and that got me into BJD's and the DOA forum. Then I browsed around for a long time and am planning my entire doll family around the first one.

 

Two of my dolls (El, and Dark Elf Soo Vampire) were just molds I liked. But my Two Unidolls (Ark and UH11) I took one look at them and knew exactly which character they were.

 

I'm a browser. Since I'm still new to BJDs, I don't know all of the different companies, molds, etc. So I tend to just look at the ones that are interesting and then keep a mental note of specific molds or companies that really struck me.

 

I'm a browser ^^
I'll look around at a bunch of different sites, and see what strikes my fancy
I've tried to do the 'character' thing with a couple dolls, but they just haven't worked out, so now I buy dolls I think are really nice and let them build their own 'characters' after they arrive.