Shelling OCs vs Dolls You Like

During the first 3 years in this hobby, I just go with a sculpt first and then name. Their characteristics came after I have played with them. But after taking a long break and come back, I have changed. Recently, I shelling a Dollfie Dream into my OC and super happy about the result. I wish I could get another DD girl, but it stops me when I cannot think of which OC I want to make. Even I have so many sculpt that I love to have. My past self would just go and buy the head without any hesitation. haha

 

I've gone in just about every direction, but my main focus is shelling OC's. However, since that can be extremely difficult, I do allow myself to give less perfect options a chance if I really like the sculpt. Sometimes the OC is underdeveloped enough that they will allow themselves to be turned into that doll. I've also written characters for particular dolls and I have a few of the Oooh Pretty variety. Mostly, they eventually start telling a story. It's more a matter of how impatient I am with them to start talking and this depends on how amazing I think they are as a doll, their price tag, body/posing frustrations etc etc. Doom Bomi was my most expensive Oooh Pretty and she's now my current writing muse, so she was absolutely worth it

 

Oh gosh this is such an issue for me lol. I have my set characters and I intend to just get them, but any time I see a really pretty sculpt I try to come up with a character that fits just so i can get them lol

 

I have never had OC's until a week ago when I started writing again. For now I still have dolls that I just thought were pretty, but now I'm looking to shell my OC. I am currently thinking of having one doll go in between being said OC and what I designed her to be (character from a manga) because I more or less inspired the sculpt after her. However I am stuck between making my layaway (Ringdoll Alice01) or getting a Kana by A-Studio.

If anyone has any suggestions for sculpts I'd appreciate it too! My OC is a young Victorian woman. She's 22 but baby faced ^^

 

How it went was "I want to do bjds to shell my favorite OCs. I'll only have dolls that are characters" then almost immediately i was like "oh I really like this doll on the second hand market... let's just make an OC for him real quick"

And it's just a slippery slope from there. I spend my time looking for sculpts to shell characters, that is still what I really want. But that doesn't stop me from buying a limited sculpt I just like at the same time as I buy an OC shell. And then proceeding to make her a character where I sign myself up to need to shell her parent too.

Predominantly all of my dolls will be OCs and have a place in my stories. But some won't have characters right away.
Even the pet bjds will have to find a way to fit in.

 

I do both, my first doll I picked because I liked him, and built the chacarter around him, then I worked on shelling two OC's from a RPG I was commited to..as I worked on that other dolls came to me as other chacarters that I had role played previously, and some dolls jumped out as related to the dolls I currently have. Whats funny is that the OC I build around my original first doll, has now had three different doll forms. And some of my OC's I sold the doll forms of, though I do intend to re-buy.

My main reasons for buying a doll are that I cant stop thinkning about that sculpt and then a name and personality will come to me and it will usually have some relation to the current story I have in my head. Right now I have two related storyline where dolls fit, and as I see things I like...I work them in.

 

I've turned out to be kinda both. My favorite sculpt (Evangeline) went through roughly 3 characters that just didn't fit before I settled on one - a very new one that blossomed up around the doll itself. And 3-4 of my crew are connected to him. I've been joking about how any doll I want for reasons I can't pinpoint is probably a Billy story character.

I can't do flat full sets, though. I love some from a distance, but I don't see the point in spending $400+ on something I don't have a lot of work to do on. The work is the hobby for me.

 

I’m still waiting on my first doll, but I bought him with the intention of shelling an oc. Because of space and resources, I do think that for now, at least, I’ll be sticking to the oc route, though it is veeeery tempting to throw all my money at Ring Doll. Their men are so gorgeous that I just might have to break my own rule should the opportunity present itself.

 

I am honestly inexperienced with the whole making OCs thing. The last time I created original characters of my own that wasn't part of a pen and paper roleplay campaign was back in middle school. I actually do plan to shell these three characters of mine, but at the same time I'm probably going to rewrite them while still keeping to the core personalities as best as I remember. they've stuck with me throughout the years and I'd love to envision them as dolls.

As for dolls outside this project, I probably will buy a doll I like initially for how they look and then create a character around them. The hope is that by doing skill inspire me to be more creative and to feel compelled to write characters, and give me something to work on. I would still consider myself very new to the hobby so saying this now probably doesn't mean much, but at this current moment I have a hard time believing if I liked a doll when I purchased them, that I wouldn't like them once they arrived. But we will see as time will tell and as an obtain more dolls of my choosing.

 

Except for the few that are fan character based, none of my dolls are based on pre-existing characters. Most of my previous writing is set in vaguely Renaissance era, but my dolls story is set in the present day. I don't have much interest in making BJD versions of my pre-existing OCs, though some of my dolls' characters might be influenced by them.

I enjoy creating new characters based on my dolls, and writing about my mixed group of humans, elves. fairies, and sprites. I never would have had come up with some of the characters if it wasn't for the fantasy dolls they are based on.

 

Used to be more strict about sticking to an OC list to keep myself from buying every pretty face and now like.... I have 5 "because pretty" heads to 7 "this is a character I am gonna smush this doll into" heads. (A few body sharing for space and expenses).

I think it is because my drawing style is including more and more face types that are atypical to the BJD world or things that do not translate to 3-D. Drove myself crazy on the wig for a new OC doll because I draw the curls in a way that legit makes no sense as a 3-D object....

 

I have a bunch of OCs I draw and love, but ultimately the dolls I like are usually not very well suited to shelling anyone. qvq I would love to shell some sometime, but I wouldn't want to pass up on a sculpt I love more for that sake.

 

@Epicari are you actually me? Your evolving relationship with BJDs mirrors mine closely.

I, too, started out very excited about the possibility of making my own characters as dolls, and that's how I purchased my first few BJDs. But as beautiful as these dolls are, they could never be a 100% match to my imaginings...perhaps because they tend to be too beautiful? So my choices would be: a) do I spend $$$ buying a doll I am not completely feeling due to its resemblance to Character X, or b) do I tear apart my doll plans entirely and buy the dolls I really love but have no place in my narrative?

I went with Plan B.

Initially, I was so distraught over this "choice" I felt I had to make that I went into the extreme opposite direction and renamed all my original BJDs! Though it felt like a drastic move to me, I found I enjoyed them much more as dolls in their own right rather than as pre-established characters. I continued to add to my doll collection based on my fondness for certain sculpts, but the storyteller in me kept thinking, "what if?"

Finally, I reached a compromise. If I brought a doll home and it sparked a story idea, then I pursued that line of thinking. If I brought a doll home and just enjoyed it as a doll, then that was perfectly fine too. Now, some of my dolls are part of a larger narrative and I do write about them, and some of them are just dolls who inspire me in other ways. For me, the difference is that the characters I have now are suggested by the dolls themselves rather than the other way around. I have found that this approach works well for me; it allows me to enjoy the best of both worlds while keeping the hobby stress-free.

 

I have a list of OC's that I want to shell as dolls, but it has happened on occasion that I fell in love with a sculpt without knowing who they were ahead of time. In this case, I usually go ahead and get it and develop the OC for the sculpt during the wait time. There is one doll I received for winning a drawing and that doll does not have a character associated with it. It is the only one.

 

I did try to impose the rule of OCs only, but it's not worked. I've got two in my collection who were just complete impulse buys, but one can maybe work as an OC. I'm just waiting on a few bits to verify that. And, out of the 5 heads I've got on order, only two of them can potentially shell characters. I need to verify their potential when they arrive.

However, I have found that my two OC dolls are my most cherished.

 

I have a mixture, but started with dolls I loved and then added in a few of my favorite characters that I wanted to make dolls of. Overall I have more dolls I bought just because I loved the sculpt and for no other reason. This is why I've ended up with tons of Soom dolls, their sculpts slay me (and my wallet)

 

I have a mix. Most of my dolls I got because I liked the doll and the character followed. All but one of my dolls I have has my own face-up work, which allows me to work out a lot about the character I want the doll to embody. The one oddball there I just love the pipos face-ups, so she just is what she is.
One of my dolls was a head bought as a bit of an impulse. When it arrived I realized it easily fit an RP character whom I hadn't drawn (and therefore wasn't set on the design). Only one I really sought out a doll with my character in mind, but this time I had kind of wanted a doll from creating the character so I intentionally avoided finalizing her design to allow the doll I chose to heavily influence the design of the character. Those two are probably my favorite dolls I have and are the usual ones I am making things for.

 

I definitely have OC's but I've never really had any desire to shell them. I think I'd be too nitpicky to ever find sculpts I'd be happy with and I know I'd immediately into that pit of 'well I shelled so-and-so so now I need to shell whats-his-butt the romantic interest, and whose-her-face the sister'. So I'm a 'buy it cause you like it' person and they'll slowly become all new OC's of their own

 

I actually have a personal rule against shelling OCs. As a lifetime writer, I simply have too many. And if I started, I'd want to get them all. So, no OCs for me. That said, I have yet to find one that looks especially like an OC of mine, aside from once or twice, and only kind of.

So all of my dolls are just ones I liked, and then I created "characters" (not as fully fleshed as those I write with) for them over time.

 

I usually have characters in mind for my dolls beforehand, sometimes OCs and sometimes characters from books/shows/other media. If I've got a very clear idea of the character's appearance then I'll specifically go looking for sculpts that have a likeness. And for me a likeness doesn't always have to be completely exact, I've often found sculpts that have minor details awry (maybe for this character I'd pictured eyes a bit wider-set, for another one a slightly more upturned nose) but the face overall just felt like them.
Other characters that I have a more vague mental image of tend to "adopt" my favourite random sculpts out there. If a new doll is released that makes me go I WANT! then the first thing I do is revisit my wish list and see if it will fit one of my planned characters that I don't have my heart fully set on a sculpt for.