Is having a doll without a faceup normal?

I think you're being a little too vague. What do you mean?
lots of people have dolls without faceups because they are practicing faceups, or they havent sent them off yet.
Other people keep them that way for the aesthetic- its a little creepy, and some people like that for their photos.
Some others just like them without because it suits their character or they prefer it.
So Im wondering what you're asking, specifically????

 

For the foreseeable future, Raven is going to be face-up-less (she came to me that way), because I don't trust myself to do a face-up skillfully, and I don't think I could bear to just send her head away to some stranger for a few weeks xD Also, I don't want to spend money regardless, since I've already spent enough buying her and Victor. She looks nice without a face-up so I'm okay with it, although I do wonder if she feels sad about it D: To be honest I couldn't imagine her having a face-up!

 

Oh, okay! gotcha XD

So, I would not have a doll without a faceup unless it was faceup-pending. I just prefer them better with, rather than without

 

Interesting question! I'm debating keeping a few of my incoming dolls blank. Because..they look okay without faceups! Really..a doll without a faceup can be cute too!

 

I prefer them with face-ups, I don't think I'd buy one without it (unless my intention was to try one on my own). It would look unfinished and too simple to me.

I don't mind if someone else does it, that's their choice and the dolls still have beautiful faces even without make-up. I think they can still be cute.

 

Ha, I was thinking of this today. Whether I would be willing to buy a head without a face up...in the end I decided it looked fine and would probably buy it. So I would keep it without or use it for practice for doing faceups.

(I'm really new to BJD collecting so the idea of me doing my own is scary..but exciting!) ^.^

 

I don't have any dolls without faceups, and I don't think I'm likely to. However, I find some faceupless dolls really striking with the right photography, and I really like well-done understated faceups - I think it really shows the skill of the person behind the camera if they manage to pull together an emotive or striking set with dolls with out faceups. I don't find it abnormal regardless of it being uncommon.

 

I bought all my dolls without face-ups (except my puki) and while I for sure thought that they'd be freaky without face's, my Bambicrony stayed faceless for a long time because I actually really liked her that way. While she was colorless and plain, the sculpt was interesting enough that the way it cast shadows made it actually interesting to look at. My Juri and Puki Pipi's faces are the same, they both went a while without anything while I worked their characters out. After practicing face-ups I really prefer very light natural faces, but overall, and given my experiences I wouldn't be to worried to go an extended period of time with it not painted They can be very beautiful al naturel Much like a movable sculpture.

 

Haha, well, I would definitely buy a head without a faceup - to paint it myself

But keeping a doll faceup-less...hmm...I have seen some gorgeous and mysterious, sometimes even creepy examples in the galleries where the dolls were definitely intended to go without any paint on their faces. They were beautiful - Zaoll girls always seem to call for strange ideas, and in some cases this means no faceup...or minimal faceup. There are also people who just prefer to look at the naked sculpt and admire it, so they don't want a faceup to obscure the real features...though they usually have some minimal faceup on their dolls...

I love the look when I know it's on purpose, and has artistic/character reasons behind it. Most of the time this shows on the pictures. But I don't like it when someone is just scrimpy and after spending hundreds of dollars on their doll they don't want to pay those extra few dollars to get the poor doll finished. This - also - shows on the pictures most of the time.

I personally don't think that I'd ever have a character where the naked sculpt is needed to complete the personality. But hey, I'm just collecting average, boring looking guys (and girls) - nothing otherworldly going on here

 

I think there are plenty of 'heads' out there that look marvelous without face-up. Sometimes it really just depends on how you dress/imagine your doll.

So to say, it's variable and objective to many extern factors like the backgroundstory and whatnot n w n

 

A doll head without a face-up doesn't really has a 'face' to me. So, keeping a doll blank on purpose seems a little odd to me... (Still, of course, I'm not the one to tell you what you can and can't do. )
The only reason three of mine are face-up-less is because I'm very picky with choosing a face-up artist and I haven't tried it myself yet.

 

Right now one of my doll is face-up-less and will stay that way for a while because I canot seem to get his face-up to be the right way for his character ^^
I really love this head (Zaoll Luv) without a faceup and it really doens't bother me to keep him without face-up for a while... at least untill I get the good "vibes" to do it xD

 

I don't really think it's weird personally. My Zaoll Muse had been without a faceup for ages, and her face was just striking to me nonetheless. There are quite a few molds that can have expression without an actual faceup.
Sure I prefer them to have a bit of color, but for say, art photo's, faceupless dolls are downright perfect most of the time.
I think the only reason my Muse got a faceup in the end was because compared to my other dolls, she stuck out too much, in a bad way.
But to me, faceupless dolls show perfection, of which I am a fan, lawl. They're just so pure

 

I have a number of dolls without faceups. Mostly because I haven't had time to do them, though there is one that just... it goes beyond my inability to do him justice, or get a slot with an artist to do it for me. His sculpt is just gorgeous. There is so much detail there, that even blank, he's incredibly beautiful. (He's a Soom Corvi; his photos on their site do the sculpt NO justice at all, none.)

I want to do some myself, and need to practice more before I could really do it properly. Others I want to send out, but either the people I'd like to send them to are full at the time, or I have no money when they do have slots open. It just figures, right? *laugh*

 

I prefer my dolls blank. I feel that some moulds are much, much more expressive without a face-up that can "lock" the doll into a certain look, character, emotion. I do have two dolls that have amazing and beautiful minimum face-ups and that's been a great middle-ground for the types of photos I enjoy taking of the dolls.

 

As an artist, all my dolls have face-ups I painted. The only reason the doll I'm waiting on has a company face-up is because where I'm at now I wouldn't be able to do a face-up anytime soon... or at all really, till December.

Personaly, I don't like to see my dolls without a face-up. When people don't have make-up on they still have some natural color in their face, so to me a doll that doesn't have any color at all falls a tiny bit too close to the catagory of the Uncanny Valley for my tastes. A minimal face-up to me would have at least eyebrows, eyelashes (painted on or real), and at least a little color in the lips. And that's what my boy Tarrant had for the longest time till I finally gave him a little more dramatic makeup (He's due for another face-up because I'm starting to hate this one). But I've seen some magnificent face-ups that exclude all three of those things and STILL look amazing, so there's not one set way I'd define a minimal face-up.

Anyways, I personally wouldn't ever keep a doll face-up-less for any more time than I had to. I have seen some blank dolls that do look good without, but my thoughts always stray to "I wonder what s/he'll look like when their face-up is done?" XD

 

Finished dolls without faceups aren't all that common, but they are definitely out there. I have seen a few pics of then on this forum and while they are not my personal favorites, the ones I have seen do seem to fit with the look their owners were going for and looked okay on the doll.

I have only ever had one doll come to me with a blank face and she stayed that way for about a month until I sent her out for her faceup. During the time that I had her, I kept her out but it did weird me out a little to see the blank face and eye sockets. So I put eyes and a wig on her and that looked just as strange!