What makes you pick an artist doll over a more well known brand?

If an artist only sells through social media, I'm not going to order them since I'm not comfortable doing that, and I'm not on Instagram.

So far I mainly have mature tinies, and they aren't all that common. Companies that make them tend to sell them as limiteds, and they often get discontinued. I have several from Lumedoll, a one woman artist company has stopped making dolls at all as far as I know. Dollshe has been around for a while, but it seems to be mostly (if not only) one person, hence the 2-3 year wait times.
I'll buy artist dolls if they appeal to me and are reasonably easy to order.

 

I buy what I fall in love with. I really don't care if it comes from a large, established company or a small independent artist...if the sculpt captures my attention and still pleases me after going back to it again and again over a period of time, I'm sold.

 

I'm going to parrot what others have said and say that "company" is highly subjective, especially in a hobby that's quite niche and where companies are still usually one or two people working. In general, however, the reason I tend to like "artists" sculpts more is because of their variety. There seems to be more of a focus on diverse facial features, fantasy sculpts, etc. The downside to this, however, is that they are usually very expensive, extremely limited, hard to hybrid, and sometimes made at dimensions that make them impossible to clothe.

 

Basically, it comes down to whether I like the doll enough to pay the price (and can I afford the price, of course). Whether it's from an artist or a big get company isn't part of the the process

Teddy

 

My artists doll i picked was because i am friends with the sculptor, and i got to watch them sculpt her for YEARS and watch all the hard work that went into her and it made her that much more special to get her in my hands in resin

 

I fall for things that fit my asthetic so company or artist hardly matters I just got a Lost Chronicles Shima head and she is PERFECT for my Triton Paladin.

 

Yep. That's the thing for me, too. It's just a question of how much I like and want the doll, not what the creator's web site is like or how many people there are in the workshop.

 

I like a lot of the small artists bc of their sculpts. Some of the larger companies have dolls that look too similar.

 

For me it doesn't really matter if it's an individual artist or a bigger company, I mainly decide to buy a doll if I fall in love with the sculpt/body

 

I'd happily buy from a single-artist company (like Miyadoll), but I probably wouldn't buy a doll from someone off social media. The thing I like to see when looking at a potential purchase is a professional online store, with well-photographed dolls. I want to see something that tells me that this artist knows what they're doing, that they're experienced and reputable, and that I can trust them with my money.

I'd want there to be a safe, secure method of checking out (whether through Paypal or Credit). I like to see things like a FAQ page to address things like refunds of damaged products and shipping times, or a page to view order status so I don't have to email the artist to ask for a tracking number. I know these seem silly, but it really does build confidence for potential customers thinking about spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a doll.

 

I don't choose one over the other when it comes to company or artist sculpts. I go with what draws me to them, which is mainly the likeness to an OC I'm developing. I have been getting into artist sculpts more recently, as there has been more uniqueness and variation in them that appeals more to me in regards to developing certain characters of mine.

I actually have broken up the different variations when it concerns artist vs. company. While there are the small independent artist sculpts, there's also what I tend think of as the intermediary artist sculpts. I'll give a breakdown of it here:

Independent art doll: a doll created by an independent artist, often done as singular sculpt batches at a time. Final sculpt design is often sent to an external casting service to be made. Independent artist doll sculptors often work on them part time, and often as a personal passion project they want to share with others.

Intermediary artist dolls: Independent artists with a more established base. They produce sculpts on a more frequent schedule, and might have a secondary option (Etsy, personal website with email mail-in request forms) which they sell through outside social media. Tend to either have the casting work sent out to external services, or have their own personal casting studio. Often, those who do their own casting services will be more likely to have unique imperfections that company dolls will not (difference in texture, sanding marks, small discolored spots in the resin, etc. [note: company dolls can still have these, but they are less likely to than somebody who has their own personal casting service])

Company dolls: a single artist or a team of artists that have a more professional setup for the dolls they create—an established website or dealers to purchase through, several different dolls available for production all the time (or during a consistent monthly ordering period), different individuals working on various aspects of their available line (costume designers, faceup artists, etc.), and a professional casting service in-house (or shared between two or more different companies). Company dolls often tend to have an established base and style as well.

I feel like there's this nebulous in-between area of artist dolls that go beyond the original meaning of independent artist sculpts. Little Rebel, for example, is an artist doll, but the sculptor has a semi-consistent schedule for sculpt releases, and also has an established website dedicated to their creations (to my knowledge anyways). Rosen Garden, on the other hand, does sculpt different dolls regularly, but mainly does preorders with a set time limit on Instagram (or via email), and mainly focuses on one preorder at a time. Rosen Garden also tends to be more infrequent with preorders versus Little Rebel.

It's a wordy explanation, but I always felt like there was more nuance to the situation outside of it just being artist vs. company dolls.

 

For me I feel like it's 1/4 exclusivity, 3/4 the sculpt. I'm super drawn to unique sculpts or ones that are just a little abnormal or just very beautiful! I think I saw the other day, an artist on etsy that made a head sculpt with multiple eyes, thats absolutely something I would love to have!

 

When I went to LDoll in 2018 I saw the range and diversity of BJDs created by individual artists and by companies. (One of the artist dolls came home withe me!) But I love both and it is the legitimate sculpt that appeals to me whether by a company or an independent artist.

 

So far, I have only bought from independent artists, mostly over Instagram or on eBay, and I also have two dolls on layaway from an ‘intermediary doll artist’ with an Etsy shop. For whatever reason the sculpts that appeal to me most don’t ever seem to be from big companies.