Which came first, the Doll or the Art?

I was an artist before getting the dolls, although owning them has helped me branch out in to sewing, which is something I was really interested in, but never felt comfortable spending the amounts of money you need to spend to get enough fabric to make human sized clothes, just to practice with it.
I can follow a pattern just fine, but my doll has allowed me to really practice and experiment with pattern drafting and making new things.

Also, in general, my dolls are shelled characters from books I write. If they weren't, I don't think I would have had more than a passing interest in the hobby.

 

i've always drew, even before i got into dolls, but i never draw with characters in mind then.

then the dolls came, and suddenly i got into sewing, photography, and well, more drawing, only this time on specific characters. i don't like writing for them, though i like thinking about their story. so doll first, then art. i think.

 

Some of both. I discovered abjds because I was looking at an on-line art site where someone had posted a pic of their doll, and I wouldn't have been on that site if it wasn't for the fact that I was working on a web comic at the time. However, when I got my first dolls there was no real connection to anything I was working on -- it wasn't until my third that I began to buy bodies for characters from a story that I had been working on in college. I hadn't written in a long time, but felt very drawn to the idea of turning the characters into dolls. This now defines how I approach the hobby.

Getting into dolls in the end got me back into writing for fun, and I sometimes find having a doll body helps me develop that character. Likewise, the more I develop a character on paper, the more I want to get a body for it. I've had it happen both ways -- my Uni Limited boy was for a character that I felt very stuck with, but when I got his body I found a lot of that block gone. On the other hand I finally broke down and bought a body for Cait, because I had begun exploring her character more and it seemed fitting. But however it happens, there's no doubt that my dolls really do encourage me to continue with creative activities.

 

It was the art. I was never good at sketching certain parts of the human body and I hated the wooden model in the art store. So I jumped on ebay looking for something more articulate and bam... I found a barbie-sized obitsu with no face. Perfect. I bought it. I had the parts that mattered without the face impressing on my images. Then I looked to see if they came bigger. Woot! They did So before long I had three more in a beautiful 60cm. My art improved. I could not only see the parts needing improvement, now I could incorporate movement. Curiosity had me clicking on a forum and a whole new world opened up. I had a story I had been writing forever and stopped due to someone else's plagerism . I didn't want to give them more. It came alive again with in this forum with a new twist. Suddenly, my dolls could be my characters. I saw faceups for the first time, and went gaga trying to do it myself. Like everything else, it takes practice. I am never pleased but definitely the art came first for me. Since my story never stops...playing with my dolls never stops. Whether I take pictures or not, they are constantly touched, shifted, changed and planned for. Currently I am saviing for once, not for a new doll, but for a new camera.