Recognizing sculpts

Years ago, before a ton of doll companies popped up, I could almost recognize "every" doll. Or at least identify what company they were from. I think it's just that I spent a lot of time on the forum and looking at doll companies.

 

I think it just depends on how interested you are in the hobby and how long you've been in it. Personally, I'm very new to the hobby but I get very passionate about things I'm interested in so I can recognize a handful of sculpts already, of dolls I like/want. I think it's unrealistic to try to memorize what every sculpt is, as there are sooo many different dolls out there. But, if you just focus on certain companies you like then you wont be overwhelmed trying to know every sculpt.

 

I think for most people it's just something that happens naturally over time.

There are a lot more companies out now than the used to be, so I think it's unrealistic to expect to know all the sculpts, but I think that you do become familiar with dolls within the companies/size range you're interested in.

 

I found it odd when I joined that people would recognise sculpts and companies easily, but three years in I’m finding myself seeing a bjd online and being able to guess the company and sometimes even the sculpt. I guess those who’ve been around the hobby a long time just get used to it. Funnily enough, BJDs may be easier to recognise because they’re (usually) human and our brains are preprogrammed to name and catalogue human faces!

 

I find that a lot of companies have their distinctive style, so after you've seen a lot of pictures of them you start being able to tell what company made a certain doll. The example you made of doll chateau bodies is valid for a lot of other companies, they just have more "subtle" characteristics, but still distinctive aesthetics... I think Fairyland, especially Minifees are quite recognisable...
I can't personally recognise a lot of sculpts specifically unless I've seen it a lot, or if I own a sculpt I usually am able to recognise it with a different faceup...
In the end the ability to recognise sculpts might just be due to how much time people spend looking at pictures, whether they've seen a lot of dolls in person because they do faceups or just how good they are at "visual memorisation"...

 

I am still garbage at recognizing most dolls. Like even some of the dolls I personally own, I won't recognize with a different face-up.

I think it's because I'm slightly face-blind. I'm like literally the person Superman's disguise works on.

 

What haiiroko said.
It's just something that comes with time and exposure to what's out there.

You'll probably find that it comes easier with some companies than others, and that you'll start being able to pick out sculpts from your favorites pretty quickly. If you're into MiniFees, you may develop an eye for identifying Fairyland's different faces before you can tell one Volks doll from another, for instance, or before you can spot the differences between a big Spirit Doll guy, one of Granado's bods and a Soom Idealian. That's not at all unusual.

And for what it's worth... even after thirteen years, there are still sculpts I can't identify reliably. There are just SO MANY options and companies now that keeping up with them all would be a full time job! So don't feel like you're doing anything wrong if, even after awhile, you still spot things you can't put a name or brand to.

 

Too funny

 

I've been interested in BJDs for just a little more than two months by now and still struggle a lot to recognize specific sculpts or company styles, especially when they have different face-ups! In the beginning many dolls looked SO similar to me, I really couldn't tell them apart.
But I'm slowly getting better at it. I guess it really depends on the time you spend looking at different sculpts and BJDs in general.

For some reason Venitu is the easiest to recognize for me!
Oh, and most Iplehouse sculpts, they seem to have a very distinct style for some reason. I can't tell all their different heads apart but at least I'm able to point the company out.

 

If my sister or I have owned the sculpt, I'm pretty good at recognizing it, or at least being able guess what company a doll is from. We've been the hobby for over ten years, and we do a lot of buying/selling/trading, so a LOT of sculpts have passed through here! I'm more of a storyteller/creator than I am collector, so I enjoy getting a doll, checking it out, playing around with it for a few months or a year or so, then letting it move on so I can try out something else. That has allowed me to become familiar with so many companies and sculpts!

 

It's just something that happens over years of looking at doll pics, I think. I'm not always very good at recognizing individual sculpts unless they're fairly distinctive--- the more stylized ones especially run together for me, and there are just too many individual sculpts out there to keep track of them all! But I can almost always recognize which company a doll is from. Some companies especially have such a strong "family resemblance" between their sculpts-- I always recognize the general company aesthetic right away even if I can never remember which face goes with each name.

I actually think it's cool when I see a doll that catches my eye and I have no idea what sculpt or even what company it is. It usually means I'm about to either find out about a new sculptor I didn't know about before, or I'm seeing a familiar sculpt that I don't recognize because of a really unique/creative mod or styling choice. Either of those is awesome.

 

I'm not very good at this anymore. XD

If I am familiar with the company and/or the company is very well-known, I can usually guess where the doll came from. "That's a Volks" or "That's an Iplehouse" is about as specific as I can get though. If I'm super familiar with the company I can probably guess the sculpt, and if I own it myself I can definitely get it right. I have a much higher success rate if the doll is older; it's really challenging with so many options available nowadays!

 

I'm usually better with certain company styles than specific sculpts, because some companies have a distinct look (Fairyland, Doll Chateau, Migidoll, Iplehouse, Granado, Resinsoul). Though there are specific sculpts I know because they are so popular (I know most Dollshe sculpts). For me it is just intense research and lurking on many, many forums. Although a faceup can easily fool me. For example, I own a Migidoll Ell, but most of the time I can't recognize him. I either thing a Migidoll sculpts is him, but isn't, or I think a sculpt isn't him, but it is.

 

When it comes to older sculpts and companies, I'm pretty good at spotting which doll is which. But new companies that popped up in the last 4 years? Nope, completely new territory for me.

 

I don't know if I'd necessarily call myself new to the hobby - I've certainly seen bjds and known about them for a while, just never really seriously got into them until a few years ago - but even then, there are a few sculpts that once you see them a few times, you could spot them a mile off. (You mentioned Venitu, which is one I definitely can recognize.)

There really are no secrets- some people just have an amazing photographic memory, some people just know a lot about certain companies, and some people have just been around too long.

 

I can't say from experience in this hobby, since I'm still new. I know some sculpts from my favorite companies, but only ones I own or intend on owning. Honestly I don't give enough of a shit about most companies to recognize even their most iconic/popular sculpt. Chloe who?

But I know from other hobbies that when some people get fixated on something, they tend to develop an encyclopedic knowledge of that thing. I have a near encyclopedic knowledge of a lot of my favorite video games, and I'm sure a lot of people in the BJD hobby have the same information-gathering instinct that I do.

 

Volks! Most of the time i see them online i instantly know where they are from but not the sculpt tho, lol

 

It really is just experience. As others have said, there were a lot fewer companies when I started in the hobby so it was easier to get a feel for what was out there. You hang around here, go to meetups and own your own dolls for a while and you’ll start to recognize faces from your favorite companies in different contexts. I can’t recognize every sculpt out there (especially from newer companies), but I can still spot an El at thirty paces.

 

For me, I'm pretty good at recognizing Iplehouse dolls, they have a strong family resemblance, and with other companies that have strong, harmonized aesthetics. I can get the LUTS and the Fairylands, most of the Dollshes... but many companies are a bit chameleon-y for me and I have a hard-time pinpointing their look. I still don't know any of the Volks, I find they have a lot of chameleon features.