What do you think makes a well sculpted doll?

I agree with you- realism isn't necessarily the mark of good sculpting, but you do have to have some knowledge of the human body in order to make a stylized version. It's the same with most forms of art, where you have to know the rules before you can effectively break them.

All that said, good sculpting to me is the crossroads of aesthetics and engineering. When a doll not only looks beautiful, but poses well and stands sturdy, that's where it's at for me. Not to say I don't own dolls that don't fit this criteria, but this thread is about what counts as good sculpting, not what you eventually end up buying.

For me, the head is the most important part of the doll; as a matter of fact, to me it is the doll. I can change a body, change a faceup, but the head is the core of the doll's "being" for me, so obviously it has to be sculpted well. Exaggerated features are fine, especially the eyes, but certain things say to me that the sculptor doesn't have a great grasp on the human face. Eyes too far apart, lips looking like worms, chin nonexistent, stuff like that. For some reason, I also fixate on the nose. The nose has to be well-sculpted, looking like an actual human nose and not a pig nose or a triangle. Bonus points if the nose is of a type you don't normally see on dolls, like a Romanesque nose or a hooked nose. Those details tell me that the sculptor really knows what people look like.

Next in line for me is the torso. For female dolls, the breasts must be realistic. (This... might be why I don't have a lot of female dolls.) Nothing torpedo-like, nothing that looks like a balloon slapped on. They have to look like an actual human chest, whether that be in or out of a bra (I've noticed most dolls are sculpted as if they're already wearing one). For male dolls, the chest needs at least some definition in the pectoral area. I don't need my dolls to have huge muscles, but the fact that they have muscles at all needs to be apparent. Some definition of the abdominal area (on both genders) is a big plus, as is the bump of the hips. Again, a situation where going the extra mile there tells me that the sculptor is experienced and skilled.

And then, for some reason, it always strikes me as good sculpting when a doll has that little ridge between the shoulder blades, the curve of the spine. it gives me the impression that the sculptor knows that a body has parts you can't see, beneath the skin, and is able to invoke that in their work.

When it comes to limbs, I think form and function are both important. I also dislike tube arms, and some muscle definition is needed for it to look good. Hands should be delicate and graceful, unless on a body where that would look out of place, and no sausage fingers. As for the joints, I'm really not fond of the "peanut" shape, nor the joints that just look like they're included because they have to be. It's good sculpting to me when the artist puts effort into making the joints look in line with the rest of the doll, stylized the same way and not interrupting the "flow" of the doll's shape.

Finally, I look at the feet. You can cover the feet, so they're of low priority to me, but for good sculpting, they have to just not be blocks. I've seen one too many dolls where the feet are just blobs or rectangles with toes. Bone definition is a huge plus here, but just getting the human foot shape right is good in my eyes.

A little side note about fantasy sculpts: I have a lot of them, so I now have opinions on that as well. The animal parts should look as realistic as the human parts, otherwise they don't look like they belong together. Making fantasy parts is obviously harder, as you have to learn new anatomy to make them, but getting that anatomy right really makes the doll something special. Making it extra special requires making it able to stand sturdily, and not just be a collection of limbs that look neat.

And I guess that's how I define a well-sculpted doll.

 

Facial features are important to me. I like to see a deep line between the lips if the mouth is closed. Having well sculpted eyelids also important. I want see a lot of definition in the face.

Hands too, while I do have a lot of dolls just boring hands and fingers that are just kind of there. I really like the ones with well sculpted fingers that are individually posed to complete the whole hand.

I don't mind a lot of muscles on my guys if they are done right, but sometimes the muscles are sculpted very oddly and I am thinking what is this weird bulge on the dolls back/leg/arm supposed to be? I like the sculpted muscles to make sense.

I like when there is a hint of hip bone a lot dolls have a nicely sculpted upper body but then it looks like the sculptor got bored and didn't finish the lower torso, a want to see the upper and lower torso flow together with the attention payed to to both the top and bottom half of the body.

Cantaloupe breasts bother me. I think this is one of the reasons I don't buy a lot of female dolls. Natural breasts on my females please. I prefer the smaller breasts but is they are going to be larger, I like them to have an accurate appearance and not look like someone just stuck a couple round balls on the dolls chest.

 

Oh boy, this is one of my BJD obsessions, do you really want me to get started?

I handle my dolls a lot and constantly play with and pose them - I wouldn't be involved in the resin BJD hobby at all if I couldn't pose them realistically. So my criteria for a well-sculpted doll is heavily biased around this. Also, I'm much more picky about bodies than I am about head sculpts, so all my thoughts below are about body sculpting.

I definitely look for that intersection between aesthetics/beauty and good design and engineering. So to me, a well-sculpted doll is a doll that is aesthetically beautiful, is pleasant to handle and play with, and the engineering accounts for realistic pose. Since no doll perfectly marries aesthetics and engineering, there's going to be some tradeoff of appearance for posing, and vice versa. I understand there's a truism (although I don't have a quote for this) that legibility is a mark of good design: you can identify the reasoning and decision-making behind all the design choices, just by handling/looking at the object. So a doll is well-sculpted if all the design choices feel purposeful, and as I handle the doll, I can identify the reasoning behind any tradeoffs in the sculpting.

Overall I think good sculpting understands that dolls are physical objects , are toys to be played with, and are manipulated by human hands. I want to enjoy posing my dolls, I don't want to have to wrestle or babysit them into a pose. I also want to enjoy looking at them!

That's the TL;DR. I put the nitty gritty under a spoiler because it's, uh, very long....

Spoiler: My aesthetics & engineering criteria

Aesthetics that I look for.
- Body sculpting has harmony. Like others have said, I want to see evidence that the sculptor understands human anatomy, and is purposefully manipulating it to create a certain type of body. It's a kind of "I know it when I see it" sense. A male doll can have huge muscles but is it exaggerated purposefully and does his whole body support that mass and give it expression? Another male doll can be slim and soft and youthful, but does he still have form and evidence of muscles underneath the skin? A female doll can have large breasts and be curvy, but is her physique sensible for the boobs, and are her curves all consistent with each other and expressive of a particular curvy type?

- The body shows realistic and tasteful sculpting detail. The parts I usually look at are upper arms, thighs, belly, hands. Do these areas have sculpting at all, and do I find it attractive? I've been able to winnow down my body wishlist by just looking at these body parts. (Please: no shapeless tube upper arms, no ungraceful unnatural hands, no weirdly defined abs, no gratuitous veins, and the thigh shapes have to make sense with the body's physique.)

- The doll "falls into" natural poses. The human body has organic curves everywhere: does the doll's body have this kind of rhythm and flow too? Another "I know it when I see it," and I think it shows up in company promo pics. I have one doll who lacks natural rhythm: I noted the body's stiffness in the promo pics when in neutral standing/sitting poses, and indeed it is stiff and a bit action-figure-like in posing overall, so I have to introduce rhythm into the poses to make it look more human realistic.


Engineering that I look for.
- Good at freestanding. I pose my dolls without using stands, and I love showing action and movement, so this is very important to me. There are a number of criteria that seem to contribute to powerful, stable standing: strong ankles, and low centre of gravity.

- Pleasant to handle, which usually means rounded joint engineering and smooth interlocking and movement between all parts. I want to enjoy posing my dolls! I don't like having my fingers pinched by sharp edges on joints. I don't like how some joints snag and chew on clothes every time I manipulate them.

- Joints that I can manipulate singlehandedly, which generally means smoothened corners and shallow locks. Deep, sharp-edged locks are instant dealbreakers -- locks that lock a joint into a "preferred pose" and I can't do fine-grained movement on it, or if I have to use two hands to pull out/push around a joint. Maybe locks like that are helpful for other doll owners, but they make my life much harder when posing dolls.

- Double-jointed elbows and knees look realistic in both neutral pose and engaged/fully exposed. Between exposed peanuts (where the knee/elbow piece is always visible) and hidden peanuts (hidden inside the limbs when in neutral pose), I strongly favour exposed. They may look wonky always, but the sculptor is compelled to consider both engineering and aesthetics when designing an exposed peanut. OTOH, hidden peanuts may give a smoother look to the limb when hidden, but when engaged they tend to look unrealistic and immersion-breaking to me. So far, I've observed that not many doll bodies consider the hidden peanut's shape/appearance when the limbs are bent.

- A 3part torso that functions well but also respects the body lines. I generally prefer 3part torso (joints cut at chest and waist) because it's more expressive than a 2part torso. So much body language comes from torso posture -- slouching, lounging, standing contrapposto -- so I'd rather have a waist joint than not. For the chest joint, I much prefer it cut following the ribcage, since that's where humans bend their torsos.
I don't favour underbust joints for two reasons. The engineering reason - humans don't bend that far up because the ribcage is in the way, but if the doll also has a waist joint, then both joints can simulate a real torso movement. The aesthetic reason - the underbust joint is high enough that a poorly cut joint can cut across the back and shoulder musculature, and disrupt the flow lines there. I've seen this on a few doll bodies: the underbust joint looks nice and discreet from the front, but cut across the shoulder muscles from the back, which is aesthetically displeasing to me. So I much favour 3part torso, but I'll accept a 2part torso/underbust joint if I like the rest of the body enough AND I approve of how the back looks.

Thank you for reading my giant essay about BJD body sculpting preferences I'm happy to be challenged or debated on any point too!

 

This is my nr. 1 pet peeve! Some bodies have these really weird shoulder joints, I guess for increased mobility? But they look so awkward, inelegant, and unnatural. If I can't imagine putting my doll in a sleeveless top, it's a no go!

 

For me a big one is volume and shape.
Bad sculpting usually looks very flat, and as if any features are just tacked on. Faces have no real profile, and lips/nose/eyes are just kind of attached to a pan cake with lumpy ears
Limbs usually end up looking just like tubes. You basically have a very straight upper and lower arm for example. It makes posing and the doll itself look very stiff and unnatural, because there is no dynamic at all.

Also something that insanely bothers me: when you can tell the sculptor did not polish their work at all. Even amateur work looks ten times better when it's properly sanded and polished. But that is a lot of extra work for what feels to be very little reward/it's not as much fun as sculpting itself.

So the opposite of that makes a well sculpted doll to me. Where there is depth to how it was sculpted, you have defined muscles and shapes, and it looks intentional. A proper finish is a big plus on top.

Now well engineered doll...that is a different cans of worms Some dolls pose well but are kind of ugly. I'd argue those are well engineered, but sculpted? Not necessarily.

 

I definitely look most at headsculpts and their proportions. I don't mind stylized sculpts, but the features need to feel more or less proportionate to appeal to me, unless it's something purposefully going for a more chibi kind of aesthetic. Like Switch's sculpts are pretty stylized, but the features are still proportionate to each other, so they look appealing. I also look at the jaw line and prefer ones that lean towards more "natural" shapes. I've noticed some don't seem to have much shape or grading from the ear to the jaw/ chin and that is less appealing to me.

I am very picky about bodies, and tend to pay more attention to the aesthetics than the function for something that is mostly going to be fully clothed on my shelves xD I REALLY dislike the current trend of hypermuscular "i starved and dehydrated myself to look good for this" marvel movie-esque guys. There's a difference between a strong figure and a figure with every single muscle exaggerated and sculpted to the point of caricature, and a lot of them fall more into the caricature levels to me. They don't look like the character would be comfortable or be able to move well if they were an actual person! On that line, the current trend towards bigger and bigger dolls too. Like bigger isn't always better, and it seems like in some cases, they're going for the trend and sacrificing function or aesthetic, or both. I also wish companies would make some leaner guys, if they're already making a trillion variations of the same muscle bro. Like there are lean/ softer guys out there too! Instead of like 6 variations on bodybuilders, why not make softer/ leaner body shapes?
For female dolls, I tend to judge how the breasts sit/ are shaped. Some of them are way too high on the chest (as well as too large), which would make it difficult to dress them in the kinds of styles I'd want to. There's also an irritating lack of any kind of muscle definition at all, especially in the arms on a lot of female dolls, especially older ones. Like women have deltoids and traps and biceps and abs too!! Even if they're not muscular, *some* shaping should happen. Similar to the guys, I'd love to see more variation in body shapes/ builds for female dolls. Most of the ones I see are either willowy with very little shaping to them or exaggerated pear/ hourglass shape with oddly twig like arms. Like...if someone is that shape their arms should reflect that.

Elbows I always look for double jointed, and preferably having the elbow "joint" sculpted as part of the peanut joint instead of like the lower arm. Some companies have the latter and it creates this really awkward looking jutting out edge in pictures for pretty much any pose where the arms aren't straight. But i think those are mostly an issue on older bodies.
I like when a company puts some detailing in the hands, like nails and some lines in the palms, creases where the finger bends, but not super veiny. Super veiny ones and ones lacking details just bother me because neither feels very realistic to me. I think hands can be really expressive and add character, so it's nice when companies pay attention to them too and not just focusing on the face and rest of the body.

 

I also agree that it's not realism that makes good sculpting but the visual flow between elements - I like my dolls to look like dolls but not in the way that they appear stiff. An easy win in sculpting for me is using stylisation right, especially if it comes to elongating parts of the body (one can tell immediately if it's thought through and on purpose or whether it's just because of not knowing better - often it's the overly long torso that gives that away). Personally, I also find it a great sign when the sculptor has not only thought of muscles and bones but also that there is a layer of fat and skin on top - the former are easy to reference off anatomical guides but knowing how the upper layers work and move is also important (or maybe it's just my disdain for six-packs on every male doll... getting abs to show takes a lot more work than with any other muscle, it's certainly a little much in many cases /compared to the tonedness of other muscles on the doll... ). Even though I'm a fan of stylisation, I prefer seeing the sculptor having confidence in their skills to make bodies that have the anatomically correct makeup without explicitly showing the muscles in detail.

With engineering, I think less is more - it comes off as more skillful sculpting to use less joints that do what they do well rather than add tons of joints to offset some shortcomings. Aka a good elbow joint can turn and swivel and the arm shouldn't need more joints to make those movements happen. I also much prefer one good torso joint that moves naturally to a 4-part torso that is hell to handle. Quality vs quantity and all that.

For head sculpting, it's always nice when neck mobility and elastic/hook fitting through the hole are thought out well! I'm also a fan of easy to handle s-hook systems (not explicitly fairyland's neck mech, more like... a big enough hole that doesn't make changing the head a nightmare). For the aesthetics, it's nice to see the face handled as a 3D object with depth, as something that has functional muscles inside, minor creases in the right places, etc.

Hands/feet... if they're detailed and the right size (is it just me or are the hands often way too small?), you can tell there are bones and knuckles inside (lack of knuckles and wrong length of finger segments has drove me to get the doll different hands a couple of times and it's my no 1 per peeve with a certain company... that hooky finger really haunts me).


Tl;dr, a well sculpted doll for me has been stylised in a way that doesn't disrupt a flow, doesn't appear stiff and tense, uses the bones and muscles without overly flaunting them and doesn't run out of steam with hands and feet. Oh and no melon breasts

 

To me, aesthetically in a sculpt I am looking for something that has enough (or the right, selective) details that it suggests a character, even without a faceup. I've seen some sculpts that just look so...anonymous when blank. I think a doll is "well sculpted" if it feels alive and looks like it has a face even before being painted.

Engineering-wise, sitting well and solidly seems like it should be basic, but apparently...isn't? This isn't a knock on doll artists, but apparently stability in a sitting pose is actually harder to achieve than I would have thought. There's not only whether a doll can sit at 90 degrees instead of leaned forward or back (as others mentioned) but also how well thought out the hip joints are. A well sculpted doll in my opinion should feel solid at the very least when being held or sitting. The legs and torso shouldn't feel like they're splaying every which way if the doll is strung tight.

 

I am so picky....but before I get to my list, I do want to say it's more about looking "right" than "pretty." I actually like some dolls that are not conventionally attractive. I don't think being "ugly" equals bad sculpting, and I don't think proportions need to be ideal to be good sculpting. Some real people do have short arms, big heads, stubby fingers, super lanky legs, far apart eyes, crooked noses...none of that is bad sculpting, in my opinion. Good sculpting, for me, combines details and function. A gorgeous doll that can barely sit up is not good sculpting. An amazing poser but lacking shape and detail is not good sculpting. A few things that impress me:

-Posing: Definitely can sit and stand and look natural doing it. Can hold poses and has a good range of motion without joints popping out all over the place. Doesn't look stiff or awkward. Doesn't flop constantly. Locking joints are awesome! Joints look pretty and not blocky. Body can slouch, stand at attention, and lean side to side. Every single joint is useful, no extras that don't add to the range of motion (like some under bust joints on girls where the breasts block any useful motion).

-Definition/details: It doesn't have to be super realistic, but like others said, it does need some definition, whether that be in muscle, bone, fat or tendons. Noodle arms and "glove hands" lack definition. Smaller details too, like nipples that aren't buttons, belly buttons that aren't just a poked hole, male genitals that aren't a tic tac stuck on as an afterthought, defined wrist bones, collar bones, ribs; tendons in hands and feet, arm and leg muscle. Eyes with waterlines and tear ducts and eyelids, not just a hole cut in the head. Sculpted nostrils. Brow structure. Breasts with some "weight" to them. Bottoms of feet have sculpting, not just flat.

-Function: Hands/feet that are easy to pop on and off, like Fairyland's magnets or Volks's one touch system. Headcap sits smoothly on the head without gaps. Preferably, the headplate is inside the head, so bald or shaved hairstyles are possible. Neck/head joint is smooth and head can easily be tilted or turned without it snapping into one position. Eyewells are deep enough to keep eyes in place, but able to accommodate a range of eye shapes, sizes and positions. Head shape easily accommodates standard wigs for a good fit, not a super shallow or egg shaped head. If the body has that joint across the hips, then the upper part fits smoothly into the lower part and stays there, in a way clothes don't get caught in that joint (though I prefer the body not have that joint at all.)

 

For me it's all about the silhouette. Maybe it comes from my background in pixel art, 3d, low poly and voxel, where silhouette is king. I care almost nothing for posing abilities and will always prefer a doll with a more beautiful and harmonious silhouette from all angles in whatever poses they can do.

 

I agree with much of the above, so I'm not going to beat the metaphorical dead horse by repeating other people's points. However, one thing I haven't seen mentioned yet as a hallmark of good sculpting is when the stylization is obviously intentional as opposed to the result of a lack of skill or experience.

I'm not sure how to communicate this for the non-artists in the room, but I'll give it my best shot. New artists (of any medium, not just sculpting) will often be hindered by their lack of experience. As their experience grows, they will learn how to critically evaluate their art and understand what looked wrong before and why, then will adjust for it going forward. After a point, the artist will begin to re-simplify and stylize their work and it will look much better than their early pieces, even if they choose to go back to a similar style to their starting point. It's like why young artists tend to have weird looking hands even in simplistic, cartoon-y styles (because hands are hard), but more experienced artists will make good looking hands even if their art style is simplistic.

With many novice BJD sculptors, you can tell that they don't have the time and experience under their belt to be making intentional design choices, which is why so many look rough or otherwise unfinished. They "stylize" in ways that are intended to hide their gaps in knowledge rather than stylize in ways that complement their tastes/strengths.

The only thing I've really been a harpy on with regards to posing is that my doll needs to be able to sit. I don't currently pose my dolls a lot, much less anything wild/out there, so most other posing abilities (and their associated aesthetic trade-offs) are negotiable for the right project. However, there is no sin in this house greater than being unable to sit. If I plop you down on a shelf, you better be able to stay put and look good doing it on your own or you're out of here. I also strongly prefer dolls that can stand on their own without much fiddling, with bonus points added if a stiff breeze won't knock them over. I'm willing to suede/wire a doll for the aesthetic, but I'd really rather not have to.

 

Seconding Intentionality. If a doll looks "off" I will often find myself thinking "did the artist consciously make the decision for the doll to look like this, or is it just how it ended up?" You could argue it's hard to tell what is intentional vs. what isn't... "I meant to do that, it's my style" isn't an uncommon sentiment among artists. But I do think that people can tell.

Maybe this is a hot take but honestly? The overall design/impact being consistent is more important than specific things like musculature, anatomy, etc. I have quite a few dolls with what people might describe as "tube limbs" but I'd say they're actually quite well sculpted because their simplified limbs are stylistically consistent with the cartoony aesthetic that the sculptor was going for. Actually (in my opinion of course) those dolls would be worse if they had more musculature because it would clash with the intended style and look uncanny.

Giddeous Project Baughn is the first one I can think of... he has arms that are almost perfect cylinders. Do I think he would be more "well sculpted" with defined biceps? Not at all. So I don't really think realistic muscle definition has anything to do with sculpting quality unless the doll itself is intended to achieve a certain level of realism.

As for engineering... honestly I'd consider "sculpting" and "engineering" to be two distinct skills. But I guess without getting too specific I'd say well-sculpted articulation would make the most of the joint. So if the doll is going to have double joints, they should fold past the point that a single joint could. You'd think that would be a no-brainer, but... Also little things like hip joints actually having enough room to engage when a doll is in a seated position and torso joints that can actually stay in place instead of immediately sliding back into the default position.

Basically if you have a joint it should work as intended. Everything else is personal preference as far as I can tell.

 

Personally my favorites are anime-like ones. Too realistic will turn me away, but if it looks straight out of a cartoon I would also be turned away. I’m sorry this is short lol I don’t have much experience

 

Excellent question, so many great points here! The main thing that needs to be present for me is the Artist's love for their sculpt- I think this shows right throughout from the conception to the finishing of the doll. When everything about the doll 'flows' together- stylistic choices, joint mobility, the way each piece fits together, even resin choice makes for a well sculpted doll. I think if the Artist doesn't really put into the sculpt some their heart and soul and has input into the sculpt from start to finish it shows in the final product, there is a certain lack of continuity apparent .

 

So since @aihre basically took the words right out of my mouth, there is one more thing I'll add that I haven't seen mentioned yet, and that's sculpt versatility.

What I consider well-done face sculpts are much, much harder than I initially thought. I think it was a Fanff head - they posted one of their head sculpts painted both as male and female, and that really blew my mind.

Face-ups are so important in this hobby, but over-sculpting, or too much detail, can limit what kinds of face-ups a doll can have. To me, creating a really good face sculpt is like walking a tightrope between a complete blank slate (almost no sculpting at all) on one side, and too much detail on the other.

Lately, I've become a huge fan of subtle details - very lightly sculpted peaks and valleys that can be highlighted with blushing, or camouflaged over by lack of blushing.

 

I love more “unique” sculpts that look people like, I want to look at a doll and imagine they could be real. On the other hand, I also love highly stylized sculpts that don’t adhere to the super basic angelic aesthetic usually seen on bjds (especially girls). There are so many different dolls and different brands but I feel like I’ve been seeing the same faces with different names forever.

As for bodies, I can’t stand the super unrealistic chiseled 12 pack abs typically seen on males dolls, regardless of the rest of their form. Whether it’s a thin guy or a broader guy, the look is just off putting to me. I know it’s a doll but I can’t stop staring and thinking about how that shredded look would require a super low body fat percentage that wouldn’t make sense for the amount of muscle present everywhere else. So I love when sculpts look balanced in terms of fat and muscle, with definition present where you would see it on an average gym enthusiast rather than a bodybuilder. I love muscles on guys irl though, I’d like to see a buff male doll with a wrestlers body (big but not overly low body fat percentage).