Where do you draw inspiration from when creating a dolls character

There is a little of me in all my dolls' characters, but for the most part, the physical characteristics of the dolls themselves inspire me in creating their characters. And once I have created their backstories in my head, things take off from there.

Some of my dolls have MUCH more developed characters and backstories than others. A few I have purchased just because I loved how they looked, but I haven't done much with their characters yet. My earlier dolls tend to have more detailed indepth characters than a lot of my newer ones. And I have just started collecting Dollfie Dreams, and I am STILL not sure how to make them much more than superficial! But it seems to fit them for right now. They're more like my action figures than my resin BJDs.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Before I got my first doll I draw a lot and participate in a lot of role-playing communities (on DA/Twitter) so most of my dolls are from my already existing characters. I try to find sculpts that is closest to my characters and meet my aesthetic preferences however, sometimes some dolls just don't really work out after I get them in real life. Sometimes they fit the character really well while other times the sculpt seem to have their own personalities that match better (for sculpts that don't match my characters I play around changing their wigs/eyes/clothing a lot until I feel like it is perfect for that sculpt). Personally I feel like everyone puts parts of themselves into the characters they create such as who they want to be or their preferences however, I feel that there is no need to stop yourself from creating a too "generic" character if you really like it. ^ ^

 

I think there's a little bit of me in every doll... even characters that are dangerously removed from me. Thing is, most of my dolls are characters that have existed before receiving a doll form, the dolls I buy are meant to shell the character in them so obviously I am drawn to sculpts that fit the bill. For example, Ushiwakamaru is a creeper onmyouji/assassin with a huge idea about himself so I needed a doll to reflect his personality. The Minifee Juri 11 with its grin was definitely fitting, so I assigned it to him. Likewise, Calvaethor is a rather timid, clumsy centaur despite being a black knight at the same time which is why I selected SCDoll Yabi to be him and just substituted his head on my centaur body since the previous one didn't fit his character as well.

On the odd occasion that I'm buying a doll because I mainly like the doll, its appearance might help or urge the character I assign to it to change and grow in that direction despite my initial idea of them. It's a really strange yet beautiful thing.

That aside; I often draw inspiration from nature and animals when I'm making my characters so even if they don't look the part their behavior, name or specific traits may be related to what inspired them.

 

I've got more characters in my head than there are minutes in an hour.

Lately I've been more interested in making dolls for these characters, so when I look at a sculpt I see how well it matches the character in my mind.

 

For me it's most often a gradual process - the doll's character emerges as I get to know the doll and they interact with my other dolls, the more they do it, the more their character emerges.

Occasionally details arrive faster. Nesta, for example, was snarky almost from the start, but it wasn't until Hannah (the tomboy among my girls) arrived that Nesta's character and role within the family really solidified as the snarky, fashion-conscious, "older-sister", and quiet Cressida was the obvious as the peacemaker among them, as well as being Nesta's best-friend within the family. It was the interaction that made their characters slot into place properly

Some of them are still a bit of a blank canvas, as they mostly only have the basics of their character - the eldest boy who wants to be the leader in any "adventure", the entitled "Princess" etc, but it's all they need until some other aspect of their personality emerges while interacting with the others, or situations arise that it's obvious they are the ones involved with.

It all makes sense to me, but I don't know how many others would understand how it works among my resin family.

Teddy

 

My dolls are a combination of celebrities I admire, traits I admire in other people, thoughts the sculpt brings to mind, and bits of myself. I also role play my dolls, so sometimes little things randomly pop up in RP that require me to think quickly about how my character would react on the spot. Sometimes I even surprise myself! Once I get "in character", things usually just tend to flow without me thinking too hard.