Uncanny Valley / Assymetrical Sculpts

You really can ADD that asymmetry with faceups in general, if necessary. But I've noticed most sculpts seem to have asymmetrical eye shapes anyway. Like, the actual doll, not the product photo.

 

If the doll is sculpted you can see all sorts of it evident. Painting tends to hide these things as we attempt to fool the eye. Try looking for blank pictures of them. It let's you see what there is to work with without the face up. That's what I like to see as I look at sculpts.

 

Hmm well there are a few artists that sell heads of famous celebrities and the like or otherwise heads that are super realistic
The other thing that comes to mind is something like meeksdoll that is very unconventional
There’s also bonelace who is opening a pre-order soon for a female orc doll that has a very unconventional body type (and I personally love).
With dolls that get away from Eurocentric ideas of beauty, I adore Impldoll Candice

Edit: I didn’t realize that this was under discussion whoops. I’m going to leave my suggestions up because they’re all dolls who I think deserve more attention

I do agree that I love dolls with interesting faces, part of the reason I spend so much time in this hobby is that I love finding the weird and uncommon, often there’s kinda a bland sameness to a lot of dolls, so it’s fun getting out there and finding something different. I also love modding for that reason as well. Like I have one character whose defining trait is his snake like smile and I know I’m either going to find dolls that match that one single trait or dolls that actually look like him. So modding is the way to go!

 

Hmm... So I definitely think about this myself (although I'm not as much interested in overly realistic sculpts anymore). I don't think for me it's the uncanny Valley though perhaps, but I strongly dislike doll faces that feel too "perfect" or "sterile" and this can have to do with symmetry as well as just the proportion of different features together and perceived "imperfections" as well as type of expression. So maybe we have similar taste, maybe not, but some of the artists/ companies that tend to make more realistic faces that I like more for various reasons are: Amadiz Studio, Dragon Shell Doll, Rainman, Dollmore, Dollshe, Iplehouse (sometimes), Dollklans, Pasha Pasha, and probably more but I'm not thinking of them.

I definitely find that dolls made with 3D sculpting tools can fall into an indesireable "boring/ overly perfect/ expressionless" place for me but I do think that a lot of artists counteract this effect even with extremely symmetrical sculpts by simply choosing to exaggerate and pronounce certain features in a way that I think gives the face more personality. Anyway, even if you don't like any of my suggestions I understand completely where you're coming from and I hope you have success finding some of the types of faces you're looking for!

 

If you're looking for unintentional asymmetry, Migidoll Ryu is the one that comes to mind as the most asymmetrical. Flip him upside-down if you want to see what I mean. Right-side up, it's not as easy to see, upside-down is a whole new story. Supposedly Miho has two different sized eyes, but I've had one nearly the whole time I've been in this hobby and never noticed.

Ringdoll K has two different sized eyes, something I did not notice until I was modding one of mine, and could not get the eyes symmetrical...because they didn't start off that way. Mine wears an eyepatch (I prefer my dolls asymmetrical too, but I just do it myself with faceups)

If you want asymmetry on purpose, Granado Hansel is your man.

 

I don't look for asymmetry, per se, but I know what you're talking about - those delicately perfect features that are hyper realistic, but at the same time, defy reality. For me, I tend to gravitate toward sculpts that have "flaws" - especially big noses (for guys, anyway). Iplehouse's Leonard, for example, is one of my favorites when he's painted well, with unusual catlike eyes and a very big nose that has a tall, wide bridge. It's definitely a big honker. Yeah, if he were a real guy he could probably get a job modeling on the front cover of GQ, but at the same time, there's not much about him that is standard, conventional beauty. I had mine painted with a scar on one eyebrow and a couple of small moles on his face - and maybe it was those additions that made him asymmetrical, but he may have been the most eye catching doll I've ever owned.

 

I totally agree with this, especially the idea that it has more to with features than symmetry. Two of my favorite artists (you've listed many other of my faves right above lol and this applies to them too), Rugged Realism and Natalia Loseva, are digital sculptors who make pretty much perfectly symmetrical sculpts only. However, they choose very varied features for their dolls, resulting in undeniably beautiful faces that still manage to miss out on the uncanny valley effect. I really do think it's a clever technique of combining the right features and proportions to make a balanced, realistic face that is pretty but not unnaturally so.

 

As others have said, hand sculpted dolls are more likely to be naturally asymmetrical. For example, if you look at Maskcatdoll blank face sculpt, the eyes, nose, and sometimes the jaw are a bit uneven. It doesn't detract from their beauty though IMO, they are my favorites (I will soon own 3, haha) and do look fairly natural.

I've never seen a "perfectly symetrical" human, so it makes sense that dolls aren't (unless they are robots, in this case, it's justified). It would creep me out. XD I think that if I see something too symetrical, I lose interest pretty quickly.

 

Souldoll Hye was a popular sculpt and one of my first. I only noticed her asymmetrical eyes in my own photographs. I don't mind it but I do have to be careful with my lighting or it looks too extreme.

 

I've found that a lot of Doll Leaves' dolls are pretty asymmetrical, often to the point that it's immediately noticeable on the blank dolls. Faceups do wonders to conceal it, though. I personally prefer symmetrical faces with somewhat-asymmetrical faceups. Though I do get what you're saying about them being "too perfect." To me, symmetrical faces with symmetrical faceups feel less humanlike, and while they're nice to look at in pictures, they feel more fake than dolls with minor imperfections.