When the doll comes before the character....

I tend to just go for sculpts I really like, I don't have characters that I want to use a doll to portray so I just buy the dolls I like and then wait for them to tell me who they are. With both of my girls I had a vague idea of their personality after I ordered them but when they arrived their personalities were both different to how I first pictured them to be. I find it fun waiting to see how they will turn out

 

My boy and the one I'm planning to get, both already have a character. However, my best friend bough a very large, nice and pricey doll with the intention of having him be one character...then was so disappointed because he just didn't fit at ALL! I was so sad for her! But almost immediately she realized what would be PERFECT for him, and now he's her favorite!

 

I always plan on the dolls first, to make sure I like them, then find suiting characters for them. I don't want to just look around to find one to 'match' the character but I may not like as much.

 

When Liam arrived I had no idea what his character was. All I really knew about him was his first name, and that was pretty much it. I had bought him because he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and I had been eager to get into the hobby. Over time I got a feel for him and his character and he turned out to be more of the silent, broody type. Over the next couple of months I started to also get a feel for his likes and dislikes, but it still took about a year (actually, probably even longer than that...) before I could even figure out what his actual story was. Now I know his entire back story and almost everything about him. It took a while to fully develop his character and story for me, but I'm very happy with the way everything turned out.
As for Rose (who still hasn't shipped yet!), I got a feel for her character and story before I even ordered her. I knew right away that the next doll I got was going to be Liam's sister, and as soon as I stumbled across Rose I knew I had found the one. Just looking at her, I could tell that she would be more sweet, innocent and playful. I developed her backstory to match Liam's and BAM! thats how I made my characters for my dolls.
I even have I third doll in mind as a character as Liam's girlfriend but thats a whole other story...

 

I buy dolls based on their faces (and/or bodies), and then work out their characters as they are on their way to me, or after they get home. This... usually takes awhile. And tons of eyes and wigs and clothes, which I am partly glad I have amassed over the years.

The first thing I do in creating a doll character after the doll arrives is to gather a few personality traits based on the 'feel' of the sculpt, and whatever quirks the doll may have. For example, my first doll would jerk his hand back when people try to touch him (because of tight elastic and locking joints that need to be put in the right position), so I took it as, oh, his personality is shy and he's uncomfortable around strangers. Then I asked myself, why would he be like that? And then I slowly work out the story.

Then there are wigs and eyes, depending on what they like (what suits the doll better). Some dolls like short hair, some long, some natural and some purple, and then I ask myself, ok, why? Same for clothes.

So I guess the gist it, through playing with the doll, I settle on some visuals and some personality traits, and then work backwards to come up with some backstory, if I feel so inclined. I also change up the faceups when I hit a mental block to see if I can come up with something. :3

 

I'm still waiting on my first doll, and while I don't exactly have her personality down, I do have a bit of a story working for her so I imagine that will influence her personality.

 

***How do you create your characters and their style?***

Well, for me it could work either way. I've got a plethora of character that I could use the models for- and when I say a plethora, I'm not exaggerating. I've got over 150+ characters that I could use from one story line alone.

Most of the time, though, if I really fall in love with a doll, I'll make a character for him/her. It's just that simple. In my opinion, something with a very definitive face comes with their own personality. It's up to you to dig down and find who that is, and not try to shape them around something you've already got. If you can find someone you've already got, that's great!

 

Well - why does a doll always have to have a character? I mean, it's nice but it's not strictly necessary to enjoy a doll. Yes, true, so far, I've named every one of my dolls but - not every one of them got a character with a detailed background history etc. I like them just as much as my other dolls. (Actually, thinking about it, I'm not really thinking of my dolls as certain characters. Some of them are just, like, 3D-pics of a few characters from some of my stories. I'm not really good at drawing but I like to know what my characters look like, so I guess that's why I got those dolls ... Others I just got due to heavy case of "ooooooh - WANNA!" - thus, no character for them.)

 

Wow I never thought to get a doll with no character for it yet. Not that I didn't think it was possible but I hadn't thought about it for myself because with the two dolls I have, their characters have been fleshed out years before hand and when I went to find a sculpt that fit them, liking the sculpt personally wasn't a deciding factor. It just needed to fit the character perfectly.

I'd think if I had to do it the other way around though, I think the most important part of deciding the character of the doll would be the mouth and the eyes. Face ups can be changed but say for this Kien head I have right now. He has a sculpted smirk, narrowed eyes, and his face up implies a certain amount of cocky-ness. His smile is teasing. Now say his face up was done to make him look angry. He looks rather challenging because he is still smiling. He is a hybrid doll and his head on this neck gives him a lot of movement. It has a tendency to slip so that his head is tilted to the side often. Had he gotten an angry face up, this would imply arrogance; like a "think you can beat me?" kind of look. If he weren't angry, he's teasing and waiting for your reaction. Just these few things would really help to flesh out a character, I think. I'm not sure how easy this would actually be, having to start from this direction, but for this character, it is just like him. xD Maybe that's the only reason why I found it easy. Both of my dolls ended up being perfect for the intended characters without complications.

 

I'm definitely a "doll before character" type of collector. Mostly because they seem to have personalities of their own and if you try to force them into things they tend to not work out the way you planned.

For me, trying on different wigs and eyes and clothes is part of the process, but I also like to find character building memes etc to fill out to try to figure out their personality. I also tend to keep the doll by my side constantly (at home anyway). Eventually, inspiration comes and they'll start to tell you who they are

 

The only time the doll has come before the character has been when I see a sculpt I have to have (for aesthetics like my Elfdoll Rainy Rita, or OMG breathlessness like Soom Chalco). I then immediately WRITE his/her character into my little dollie town population. Way before I even order the doll let alone receive it.
I did choose my dolls based on their resemblance to certain anime characters, THEN wrote my backstory. But the characters are well-established by the time the dolls come.

 

I've had a couple of different experience with dolls and characters. My first doll, Cerise, is a pipos charlotte and she's absolutely gorgeous and I knew I had to have her the moment I saw her! but when she arrived, i had no character plans for her at all. i felt really bad because up until about a week ago, after 7 months of owning her she never had a name ;A; i had solidified a pretty good personality for her, but her name just wouldn't come to me.

also, i'm fairly new to BJDs, and i developed a character before even getting into the hobby, and one day after i had gotten Cerise, I saw this doll that was absolutely PERFECT for my character. It's one of my dream dolls, but it was a limited edition and it's pretty hard to find any for sale. it's breaking my heart right now though because there's one for sale in the marketplace, but i don't have the kind of money needed to buy him //sob

i've also for a while been looking at getting a larger doll based off a real life person whom i admire, and i found a really perfect one recently. so i guess that's a few different examples of how i get ideas for my dolls ^^;

 

Well, I write. A lot. I develop several, several charaters on my own in my spare time and create a story for each one, or tie several into one huge one. Which is what I did with my friend. SO I usually develope the character first whether I have help or just come up with something on my own. Then if i decide I want a doll for that character, I'll look for one I only own two dolls which I wrote the story for first. All of the dolls on my wish list I have different stories for too. Some tied into the same one as my first two dolls.

 

In my case the dolls arrived, before I could find them a character. I did purchase some wigs, eyes and clothing mostly because I thought that it would look good on them or that it was cute, without giving much thought if it would fit with their character. But after passing a few days looking at them and posing them I was able to find them a personnality that fitted their looks and names.

 

I bought my dolls before developing their characters. All I had planned was for my three to be a sibling group. The girls were obviously sisters right from the start, but when my boy arrived he had such chemistry with one of the girls that he could not be her brother (I'm not casting Game of Thrones!).

I'm still playing around with them and trying to discover more about them. I've found that the way their bodies move has had the greatest influenced on their characters. My first girl is super mobile and poses so naturally; she's the most lighthearted and joyful of the three. My other girls is a very solid stander but not a good sitter so she's developing as a stable character that is always getting things done. My boy is super stiff and a terrible poser. On his own he is very expressionless but develops a personality when posed with either or both of the girls. This trait has greatly influenced his character.

 

Depends, some dolls inspire characters and other are based off of pre-existing ones. Zarek, my first boy, was the only one that I have where I developed his character later. I think I had him for around 4 or 5 months before I knew exactly what I wanted to do with him actually.
As for the other two, while they did inspire the characters that they are (rather then be based off of a character in my extensive cast) I had them both planned out before they arrived.
I personally enjoy making new characters, so I will go extensively into their past and character, even figuring out the smallest details of their quirks and pet peeves to a T. The only problem I faced is that my dolls seem to have their own personality (like Aletta, ugg), perhaps separate of the one I want for them, so I can't develop their personalities completely before they arrive but I can figure out aspects of them.

 

too many dolls are smirky or expressionless so cant do that. But I think... I care more about the doll than a character but that could change.

 

I sort of already have a character in mind for the doll I intend to get, but if she inspires me into creating something new, all the better!