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Sculpt or your vision?

Aug 4, 2007

    1. Hi,

      I have been pondering this for a little while now...

      Is it the sculpt (facial) that attracts you to a doll, or is it the opportunity to mod/paint the sculpt that is the closet match to the vision of your character?

      At this point I find for me it is the sculpt. Perhaps that will change as I become more familiar with these dolls.

      I would be interested to hear from others on this subject.:)

      -Seeker
       
    2. To me... customising a specific mold is what appeals the most :,D First I find a mold I love, then think of what I could do to make the mold more to what I have in mind for the character. There's always something small I wanna change about a certain mold ^^'''
      (Or I just really like tinkering with things XD)
       
    3. I try to find a mold that most closely resembles my character, and then I think about what else I could do (wig/faceup/mods/etc) that would make it complete. ^_^
       
    4. for me, i would prefer to keep the mold as it is.. then only give the doll character throught the clothes and face up.. i feel that the molds are beautiful pieces of art by the doll-artists and i like to keep them that way.. the most i would do is to open the eyes of closed eyed dolls or even out uneven eye holes
       
    5. i have no characters, and its definetly about the mold. and when the mold isn't out there, i want to create what i would wish a mold to look like, hence my getting a minimee. I tend to lean towards molds with same facial realistic facial characteristics and proportions.
       
    6. It's both for me. There are some dolls I've bought without a character in mind, just because I love the sculpt. Then there are dolls I bought for specific characters. In their cases, the deciding factor was how much a sculpt looked like that character. Because of this, I've ended up with some dolls I may not have purchased otherwise, but I'm really glad of it--it's give my doll family a lot more variety, and I've gotten more familiar with various companies I may have overlooked (just because there are so many now).

      So far, I haven't really had to do any modding to get headsculpts right for characters. I've been able to find sculpts that work, and give them the appropriate faceup, wig, and eyes. I have, however, had to go the hybrid route for two of them--one was only available as a head (he hasn't gotten his permanent body yet), and the other needed to be shorter than his original CP body allowed. He's now a CP/Serendipity hybrid.
       
    7. I buy for sculpt & face-up. I have to like the factory face-up before I buy it or buy one already customized. I do tinker with them but I want a complete doll right from the start. Characters play no role in it.
       
    8. One word: Potential
      That's what I look for in a doll, and lots of it ^__^

      Sera~
       
    9. For me it is definately the sculpt. I'm quite picky when it comes to facial features. If I dont like the nose I wont get the doll, same if I didnt like the eye shape for example. I wouldnt be able to customize anything myself.
       
    10. its a bit of both. sometimes i decide purely because i see a sculpt and love it, and it becomes/ creates a character, other times i search to find one to match what i see in my head ^^
       
    11. It's a mixture of the two for me, personally. I've always loved the CP El-SS sculpt simply for how it looks, but it was a bit of both when I picked Abadon - I loved his sculpt, whilst also knowing that I would have to customise him myself to turn him into one of my characters, which I can't wait to try for myself. I can't think of any other dolls with the exception of Harang and Abadon that I've looked at and thought 'If I do this and that to him/her, then they'll look wonderful'. though, so I have to admit that I do normally tend to gravitate towards a sculpt based just on what I can see on the website and not what I could do to it to make it look better.

      That might change once I get a little more immersed into this hobby, though...
       
    12. When I was into CP dolls I was relatively against modding. Now that I've converted to Volks I have switched to a point that I almost cannot have a doll without some mods.
       
    13. A mixture of both, I'd have to say.. as well as the same as what Ferret-hime said :)
       
    14. i seem to tend to create a personality around a mold or an idea. for me i prefer not to have anything super spacific they they have to conform to judt a story or an idea. though that may change seeoing as i only hae one thus far.
       
    15. the sculpt for the most part. i'd love to make dolls of a couple of my characters but one has freckles and a big nose(but not like unidoll jace's) and the other one is short and argh. just too much work. and i could probably never find a doll that fit exactly with how i wanted my boys to look(boy characters, not dolls XD) so i go for the sculpt. i'd rather make up a new character to fit the doll :D
       
    16. The sculpt, I look for a face that comes closest to my vision. With Xavier it was down to Dollzone Fei or the vampire, the vampire has a closer face to my origonal vision but there was something about the Fei that spoke to me.
       
    17. Thanks for your answers everyone, I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and feelings with me. :)

      As I am still kinda new to bjd's I was interested to see how others' see them.

      The sculpts of some of these dolls just blow me away. Even without a face-Up, eyes or wig, I marvel at the detailing...the tiny curve of the upper lip, veins in hands, muscle structure in the legs...and well? It seems to me even without the finishing touches they sort of remind me of classical sculpture; only in a kinetic sense, and one we can interact with and impose/intertwine a little or a lot of ourselves upon.

      Or..

      We can as Gywdion mentioned...just enjoy them for what they are.

      For me? Well, the sculpt is the thing...at this point. The character generally forms afterwards. Having said that I am still in the quest for my ideal of the perfect female bjd, and I am kind of having a tough time with this...so hence the question:

      Sculpt or vision; or... push the envelope and marry the two as best as I can.


      Thanks for listening and sharing with me. :) These dolls are a big investment and I want to make sure I get this right.

      -Seeker
       
    18. I want to say the sculpt matters more to me, but it's both in reality. I try to look past the company face ups as best I can (unless I adore the face up) and see if I could make that head mold look like the character I want. Mostly it's how the eye holes are done cause that is what matters to me with a character. If the eyes are off that makes the whole character seem off and then it bothers me to no end. Face ups can be changed fairly easy, and I don't like messing with the sculpt (cause that still freaks me out to even think about doing that), so I have to be happy with what I find until I get a little more experience.
       
    19. Both tbh!

      I chose Hyun for my girl simply because the mold WAS the character. But for all my other ideas the character has changed slightly to fit with the mold. For example, I really wanted Dambi and Harang, but had no chars for them, so I made a couple up! But with Breakaway/Moon, i want the mold because he'll suit my char Adrian lol...

      My 2 cents ^^
       
    20. It's the mold, for me. If I find a mold that I REALLY love, I just can't do a thing to it, even if it doesn't look at all like the envisioned character. :sweat I'll even find myself editing my existing character plans, or creating new characters altogether, just so that the character can fit the mold!