I definitely start with a doll who then morphs into a character, I'm not much a planner. The most planning I've ever done is like, "I want a doll so that this other doll of mine can have a girlfriend" but the stories and personalities really come as I work on the doll.
For my first doll I originally was going to use him as a shell for an oc I had for years, however, when I saw him in person his character clicked and I realized he was someone else! From there I had created a new oc that was based off of my doll and I couldn’t be happier.
While I definitely have characters that I would love to shell in doll form, I absolutely cannot. It just doesn't work, no matter what I try. Finding the perfectt sculpt to match what I see in my head is just a plain non-starter for me. So I'm very much a person who comes up with ideas based on the doll itself. The closest doll I have to a pre-formed character is Pips, my Soom Viol. At the time I was looking for a smiley, brown resin doll that exuded happiness, who I could dress up in all pink. She was very much inspired by my love of the Pokemon Clefairy, and has remained that way. Beforehand I had seen some blank owner pictures of Viol's surprise head and thought "huh she's much cuter than the official Soom pictures made her out to be" and then Soom re-released her in Brown Tan and I *just knew* she was Pips. Only doll I've ever seen so far that just screams something that already existed in my head. My two latest dolls are definitely ones completely based around the doll. My incoming Withdoll Alex's main characteristics and personality started to form the minute I saw his fullset. It was a no brainer to buy him when he was re-released (albeit much sooner that I thought he would be lol). My Tamikan Space One Little Alien was 100% bought because I simply adored the little guy at first sight, and as such their character is definitely a work in progress. And of course, as a completely different example, there's my first doll - who still doesn't have a personality or a character (she's gone through many) and at this point I don't think she ever will.
Usually I approach with an idea in mind, but for sure I have had some doll pics jump out of the screen at me and beg to have a character made from them. Most of the time it's the shape of the face that really calls to me, and I plan to customize everything else -- but the Dollfie Dream Sister "Karin" definitely has a lot of personality that calls to me, and whatever character I design to put into that kind of shell would for sure be informed by the existing doll and the way she looks!
