What determined your dolls character?

I already had a look in mind for all my characters. I had drawn them many times. I looked mostly for head sculpts that looked similar to what I had envisioned, and bodies were secondary. Now that my first doll is otherwise complete, I’m looking for a more accurate body for her. My other girls took the body into account before I bought them.

 

I tend to scroll through Instagram to find inspirations

Although my new incoming doll is designed because i wanted a certain artist wig and eyes to be placed on him

They were really of great quality and i just couldn't help myself!
I even ordered a kimono fabric just to make some quality kimonos

Now I'm just short of a faceup artist that fits the style

It's a mixed of chinese x Japanese inspired by me and my boyfriend difference in race
So I'm quite excited to see how he'll turn out

Edit;
Also it's a yosd because i want a doll that I could bring out easily and not draw too much attention

 

Since the character comes as I get to know the doll, I go by liking the face sculpt and whether the body it comes with goes with the sculpt or whether will have to hybrid onto a different body.

Once I have the doll with the faceup, eyes, and wig that suit it, I start getting to know the doll and find out its character and what clothes will suit.

Teddy

 

I have a loose idea of a character in mind when i buy dolls. Sometimes the character itself changes and the doll cant keep up. Sometimes another idea just fits the doll better.

Most of the dolls I want have interesting features like animal heads, feet or wings, or interesting proportions. Getting clothes and wigs for them is a pain though.

 

It was the second doll I bought that clenched both my first and second doll purchases.
One of my 'rules' for purchasing a doll is that I have a firm plan beforehand what I'm going to do with the doll, in terms of having a character for it.
When I first started looking for a doll I had found one I liked a lot, but decided to keep looking around to see if there was one I liked better before deciding since I just liked the way she looked but didn't have any specific ideas for her.
Then as soon as I saw the doll that eventually became Caspar (my ResinSoul Feng) I instantly knew who he was/ suddenly had a complete character for him, and with that came the complete character for the first doll I had been looking at. (the ResinSoul Mei that became Callista.)
So I ended up getting both of them eventually, Calli was just first since she was a bit less expensive.

 

Sculpts. I only ever intended to shell pre-existing OCs from one of my stories, but as I found dolls that better represented them and other dolls didn't work quite as well as I'd hoped, I've ended up with a secondary group that I can't let go of because I love the sculpts so much. They don't have a proper story yet, but it seems to be steampunk themed...

 

Generally, I buy dolls to shell my roleplay characters, so the doll has to fit the character I've imagined in both head and body sculpt. Sometimes I'm not so set on a specific look, so I might several dolls that would work and just narrow it down to whatever doll I like best. Other times, I need something very very specific, which may require hybrids or mods.

While I usually do have the character first, sometimes I just fall in love with a doll, and end up building a character around it. I'm currently doing that because I really want an excuse to get a Doll Chateau girl.

I don't really have any specific look that a doll has to have, as I like a variety. My only real requirements are that it must be in the 1/3 range (unless it's a child, anthro or pet) and sort of in the middle between realistic and anime styled.

 

That is a really good idea. It should save you a great deal of time and money.

 

If you have example images of what you're looking for, you can always post them (or links to them if they belong to other people) in the Visual Concepts section and ask for suggestions! If you're still looking for more ideas, that is. ^_^

 

It comes to matching characters up with the sculpt. I have characters from a couple novel ideas I have been developing for a few years now, so I looked around (scoured the net in some cases) to find sculpts and bodies that fit their physical appearance from the sketches I've done of them. I do pretty much the same thing when it comes to the existing characters I've shelled in my crew as well.

 

First I'm falling in love with a sculpt, then I'm checking the body and in most cases go with the company one. Cause individual body and it's posing abilities/restricts is a part of a character for me. Final stage is to see who he or she will be, whom of my crew they are belongs and what fits the sculpt itself.

 

If a character hits me as soon as I see them, or I can't get them out of my head, on the list they go. The real sinker is usually if they get a name. Names are hard for me, so if they get one I usually get them sooner or later.

 

Face sculpt is most important. I buy dolls with face sculpts I think match OCs I want to shell, doesn't always work out, in that case I would change the doll to another character and look for another sculpt for my OC! Body is also important, but since I only go for SD size it is not a big deal for me and it's easy to hybridise anyway if I want a specific body