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Let's talk about mature faces

May 23, 2015

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    1. Surprisingly, this topic doesn't seem to have been brought up.
      What do you look for in a "non-child" bjd face?
      What do you specifically avoid in a mature face?

      I'm limiting the topic to mature faces because I know I look for different things in child faces, and I assume others do, too.

      To start with, I prefer realistic faces on adult dolls. I can stand a bit of an anime look on child sculpts, but Idon't like it at all on grown-ups. Eyes that are the slightest bit large or round will earn a sculpt a place on my Nope list. I actually like the look of smallish eyes on mature faces, and an almond shape instead of a round one.

      Now, there is one combination of features I see on LOTS of dolls, and I really dislike it: long, pointy, kind of ski-slope nose, with a small pointy chin and a weakish, somewhat receding jaw. I feel like this is such a common thing because Asian artists are exaggerating features that are thought to be more European. Now, I truly don't mean that statement to be racist in any way. I think it is a natural approach that any artist might take, regardless of race. If a European artist was designing a doll for a market with lots of Asian comsumers, he or she might easily exaggerate the features thought to be more Asian. But I definitely prefer faces with a shorter, "softer" nose and a slighly stronger chin/jaw.

      What do you look for? And what do you NOT look for in mature faces?
       
      #1 BellaRose, May 23, 2015
    2. ^ That's basically was I look for in mature sculpts, generally when the doll is supposed to be older than 29. There's young looking adults, and then there's just childish features, so trying to find the former can be a little trying, especially when there's a character that has pretty specific features, that a lot of artists don't add to their sculpts.
       
      #2 Senko, May 23, 2015
    3. #3 hobbywhelmed, May 23, 2015
    4. But isn't that thread dead though?

      For mature faces, I like nice jaw lines and strong bone structure. I enjoy looking at the subtle dips and bumps that real humans have. I prefer Iplehouse, sometimes Souldoll, and lately Impldoll. Soom tends to create faces that are too feminine and etheral for me. I don't like their puffy lips, and the slender noses are getting a bit boring. I like the eyesize, variations, and level of realism Iplehouse dolls have. Some artist-made minime's like that of Ira-Scargeear(Whispering Grass) are too realistic for me. Regardless of how good her celebrity sculpts are I want a doll not an action figure. (No offense to those who actually want those.)
      My taste in bjd faces change as I grew up. I prefer what I thought was pretty realistic. Back when I was about 12 I really liked a certain SD-13 boy. They didn't have mature looking dolls back then. I didn't really thought of buying one till I saw Elfdoll K. Among a long list of cutesy baby faced dolls, he was really something. Even though it's an anime styled face, you could really see that he is an adult. I think bjd aesthetic evolved from that point and we saw a lot more mature looking sculpts. It's just that... they(dolls from a few years ago) look more like drawings than people. I guess that's good as the faceup artist can blush it however they want on such a level surface. But for me, I prefer a face that I could love even without the faceup.
      Overtime, I loosened my strict list of realism. I'm still in love with Elfdoll K, even though he has such big eyes compared to Iplehouse. I got one of my grails, two Orientdoll Tae(which is an unusually mature MSD, more like a fashion doll.) I fell out of love with Zaol, but fell in love with another doll with big eyes, Boy&Girl Aurora. I guess, I'll just have to put a mature faceup on her.
       
      #4 joankagami, May 23, 2015
    5. There's no such thing as a dead thread on DOA unless it's formally Closed. Just not-recently-posted-in! Feel free to make it active again if you find the last discussion there something you'd like to add to.

      While I prefer smaller eyes now than I did when getting into the hobby in 2006, I still have no attraction to the overly buff/Amazonian IP sculpts (or the latest Dollshe, Impldoll, Souldoll). Those massive jaws and chins are far too strong for me, as I look for a more mature Asian-style head, which gives me more leeway in chin and face shapes. I'm not as strict about noses, as nose-tips (and under-cheek hollows) can always be modified to choice.

      But I'm with joankagami; there are still some bigger-eyed sculpts I loved in the beginning and still love. In those cases, faceups can be and have been done to add some apparent years. I think it boils down to what features someone personally sees as belonging on an older doll or younger, and that's related either to their own phenotype or one they're attracted to. But believe me, there's also a big difference between what a 20-year-old sees as a "mature" face and what a 50-year-old considers "mature"!
       
      #5 hobbywhelmed, May 23, 2015
    6. For me, I mostly only have mature boys, not girls. All of my girls are 19 and younger, so I don't mind them looking young and innocent, though my oldest looking girl (who is actually 18) is a SoulDoll Paris, and I think having a 'boy' head makes her look more mature. She doesn't have the huge round eyes or Kendall Jenner lips. XD She's also on a Volks SD10 body, which while it's meant to be a child, I'm using it as a small bust, chubbier adult. The clothing I choose makes her look older, and next to my super skinny teen girls, makes her look more mature, IMO. My oldest girl actually appears to be my youngest, though she's 19. She's only 50cm, small bust, large eyes, innocent face. This is intentional. She's a teen idol/pop star/actress (loosely inspired by Ariana Grande), and meant to appear much younger than she actually is.

      For my adult men, I like smaller eyes (usually 10-12mm, mayyybe 14 on SD+), a strong jaw/chin, large nose and prominent brow. Thinner lips, depending on the character. I also want big masculine hands, veins are a plus! If a doll's hands are too small and delicate, it doesn't matter how manly the rest of him is, I'll see him as feminine or childish.
       
      #6 CloakedSchemer, May 24, 2015
    7. I don't like realistic sculpts and I really don't like dolls with small eyes. If I wanted an action figure, I'd buy them, and I do. Dolls are a much more stylized aesthetic for me, so I want the larger eyes and the pointy noses and such. They're just more visually appealing to me.

      Age is often more about styling than the actual sculpt, as resin doesn't show a lot of our common age markers like wrinkles and blemishes, so I think you can say a lot about a doll's age with the way you dress and style and present them.
       
      #7 Kim, May 24, 2015
    8. Regarding the similar thread from 2011. I think that topic was slightly different because it used the term "mature" to mean "well into adult years." I am using the term in the sense of "not a child or young teen." Grown up. When we talk about "mature bodies" we generally mean fully developed; age 18 or so, and up. I used that same term for faces: i. e., a grown- up face, not a kid face.
      Just clarifying.

      I don't like the big he-man jaws either. I just see so many face sculpts that are just the opposite. An off-the-top-of-my-head example would be the various senior, super senior, etc Delfs. They seem to all have similar profiles: longish, thin noses, pointy receding chins. Many other dolls by other manufacturers have those same features. Of course, we all have our personal preferences; I'm not saying those features are unattractive. I just don't particularly like them and that type of nose/chin can seem almost like a standard in adult bjd sculpts.
       
      #8 BellaRose, May 25, 2015
    9. The anime aesthetic is what got me into this hobby, although I'm okay with both I prefer ones with bigger eyes. I feel like they convey a more playful emotion which is what I've built with their characters.
       
      #9 Cyberwings, May 25, 2015
    10. For me, it's less about the maturity of the sculpt then it is about the realism. Now that they're becoming more readily available, I absolutely prefer a realistic sculpt to the anime styled ones that privilege that were prevalent at thebeginning the hobby. This is often interpreted as a preference for mature sculpts, but my dolls actually span the range of ages from infant to toddler through young child to teen and adult, up into the elderly.
       
      #10 Kiyakotari, May 25, 2015
    11. I guess we (BellaRose and I) part opinion-ways here! When I was in my 20's, I would have considered 18-20's as a fully formed and mature adult (lol, on so many levels!). Now that I've long taken note of the broadening/squaring off/chiseling changes that go on in men's and women's bodies in their late 20's-30's or even 40's, I can only see the prior age range as young-adult - almost there, but not quite physically mature.

      I agree with Kim that in the absence of actual carved wrinkles, faceup and presentation can add some age to some sculpts. (Can't say absence of blemishes, I think, what with the trend towards heavily freckled- and/or moled-faceups!) CloakedSchemer has a point about lips - plump lips are usually seen as a youthful sign (the plastic surgeons doing medical "plumping" will likely agree!); thinner lips can look older.
       
      #11 hobbywhelmed, May 25, 2015
    12. I love the more realistic look and agree with others that smaller eyes add to this. I love Iplehouse sculpts for this reason. I also love minimees as they actually have a more realistic face shape as well as having things like thinner lips and wrinkles. My latest is a Robert Downey Jr MNM and he is modeled on a guy who is 50 so it would look weird if he had flawlessly smooth skin. I also like veins on masculine looking hands/arms as that adds to the realism.
      I do have other mature guys that suit that androgynous look as well as having larger eyes. It really comes down to how I want my character to look as to which sculpt I choose.
       
      #12 Kavarr, May 25, 2015
    13. Hi hobbywhelmed, regarding what constitutes "mature," I definitely agree with you when it comes to real life! I wouldn't call an 18-year-old "all grown up" either. But I think the world of bjd sculpts is different. You have little kids, tweens, young teens, and older teens/young adults. Although, as some have pointed out, styling can add years to a doll, the older teen/young adult sculpts are as "mature" as you're going to get.
      I think Iplehouse makes beautiful adult-ish faces. I often go to their website just to gaze at all the eye candy. Unfortunately, the iplhouse bodies are too muscular/voluptuous for my tastes, but that's aother topic.
       
      #13 BellaRose, May 25, 2015
    14. In my BJDs I like realistic mature adult faces. I want them to have a realistic profile with a perfectly straight nose and strong jaw and brow. I like slender faces with prominent cheek bones and small. realistic sized eyes. I don't have child dolls, just adults. Iplehouse is my favorite brand. I have three of their dolls so far, and I plan to get more. I find them very beautiful. The anime look, with the pointy ski slope nose, weak receding chin and huge eyes is the complete opposite of what I find attractive.
       
      #14 rosalynmouse, Aug 17, 2015
    15. I am with Overwhelmed, I do not consider an 18 year old as mature physically. This insight only comes with years.
      As far as dolls go, there is no age that I do not like, When it comes to the more "mature" dolls, there is a certain set of female features that I do not care for. Those are the gals that look like they should be standing under a street light. They have hard faces, look as though they have seen far too much of the less than savory side of life.

      I also do not care for the pouty lips with the expression of displeasure, a mean expression, or the face that has far too much of the 'come hither' look. I have seen some sculpts that change with a different company face-up, from fresh girl-next-door to the girl who-has-dated-too-many-guys, just with the face-up change.

      The more mature male dolls all seem to fit one type: really good looking male models. I do like them, like the strong jaw and even the fine o'clock shadow. They look a bit young to me now, but older than the effeminate boy dolls which I do not care for. They look a bit like the heart throbs in the teen magazines my sister used to buy. If I was a young teen, I absolutely would love those boy dolls. I like the muscles on dolls, but wonder if ever a doll would be made a bit of a tire around the belly, would anyone buy it, I doubt it.

      So we are back to square one, the mature dolls I prefer at this time are not the hard faced ones, mean looking ones.

      I like my dolls to be a bit ethereal. I was a bit confused when I first started looking, when so many Asian artists have been creating so many western faces, and not so many Asian faces. I really like the Asian doll sculpts I have seen and plan to get one. There is a really different look of dolls created in Asia, Eastern Europe and the States. I like them all, and seen dolls of all races that I would love to own. I just don't like my dolls to look like cartoon characters or too hard.
       
      #15 flyboru, Jun 14, 2016
    16. I tend to prefer really strong jaw lines and very direct gazes for sculpts of adults - I am a big fan of Whispering Grass's sculpt, for example.

      What I've been looking for is a larger range of adult body types in 1/4 scale. There was a sculptor I was following who was making a very heavy-set woman doll with the kind of face I mentioned, but she ended up not being able to cast the doll. I've been on the lookout for something similar ever since. There are a lot of slim or even muscled bodies out there, but I'd really like to see some weight, ranging from just a little bit of extra weight to Santa Claus. And the face sculpts to go along with them - the faces of people who have had a few years of life.

      At the moment my collection is entirely lacking in mature faces. It seems like the faces are more available in 1/3 scale, and I don't have a lot of experience with that yet.
       
      #16 DollSewist, Jun 14, 2016
    17. I think it's hard to define 'mature face' on doll. It depand on person and depand on the doll company. To be honest, I prefer more stylish and young face on doll, but I aslo feel charming point like 'mature' on doll. I think 'mature face' on doll is looks like LUKA from Volks.
       
      #17 florayun, Jun 15, 2016
    18. In the dolls i'm looking for the same things as i'm looking for in real humans. People often think that 'realistic' is the same as 'commonly met', but real people can be very different.
      So, I strictly avoid anything faelid/nordid and prefer gracile types of mediterranean with some asian features. No square or heavy chins, no low foreheads. I like almond shaped and upturned eyes, pay much attention to mouth line and nose tip shape. So, I'm basically addicted to asian type of beauty - not asian race, but asian vision of beauty, where male beauty is the same as female, in a counterweight to europe where good looking man is a masculine man with a heavy chin. No, thank you

      Btw i dislike most of bodies because they're simply unproportional. Thin as stick male body with a short body and very long legs? No, thank you again
       
      #18 Aikorn, Sep 24, 2016
      • x 1
    19. I think I prefer the slightly mature dolls. When I see the more mature dolls, I don't find them very appealing. But I wouldn't say that I might not get a more mature doll, because if I think of a character for one I will want that doll. (It's the way I am) But I do prefer the slightly mature dolls.
       
      #19 extreme_paranoia, Sep 24, 2016
    20. I tend to look for a bigger nose and more 'there' chin, if I'm looking for maturity-- even on a female sculpt, something that says 'this is an adult woman, not a child'-- though it's even harder to find female sculpts that move away from small chins and little anime noses. Not that they don't exist, I'm always thrilled when I see one, but it's a lot harder to find them.
       
      #20 Anneko, Sep 25, 2016
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