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Why the huge irises?!

May 16, 2010

?
  1. Smaller irises with more white are preferable to me.

  2. I like the iris big, and the white doesn't matter so much.

  3. It depends on the doll.

Multiple votes are allowed.
Results are only viewable after voting.
    1. Is it just me, or do most doll eyes have massive irises? I have a Dollmore boy, and I have been trying to find eyes for him that show more white rather than having the iris eat his entire eye-socket. He has 14mm eyes, but that still hasn't helped. I have been trying to find someone who has tried 12mm eyes in a MSD sized doll, just to see what it looks like.

      So I guess what I am asking is 1) does the huge iris problem bother you? and 2) Have you found any really good eyes that have a more natural look and show more white?

      Feel free to post pics in your feedback, I know everyone has a different eye-aesthetic and I'd like to know what other people think. :)
       
    2. Many people use 12mm eyes for their MSD or Yo size dolls

      You should try photo request to ask people to post their pic

      Ichigo has 12mm eyes

      [​IMG]

      he is the smaller one here in the pic, the big dude has 14mm
       
    3. every doll is different...
      Dolls have different head sizes (even within the same size family), different eye shapes and sizes, every doll is going to need different eyes. You can't say "X size dolls needs X size eye"
      I had an MSD who wears 12s and an MSD who CAME with 18s but I put her in 16s.

      So I don't see there being a "huge iris problem"
      it's just that companies send their dolls with big eyes, which is fine, that's what they preferred for the doll THEY created... you can easily buy smaller ones anyway.

      Eyeco would be a great company if you want a smaller iris. Check out their silicone eyes. They'll have a larger white with a smaller iris, and they're flexible so they can fill out the contours of your dolls specific eye-wells better.
       
    4. I love Anavel's 2 Ichigos!

      It really depends on the doll. Some dolls with huge eye openings look better with big irises so they don't look terrified all the time. Other dolls, with more horizontally-wide eye openings, could benefit by smaller irises so you don't have to cut off half the pupil all the time (which doesn't make real eyesight sense--). Then there are always "softeyes" to press against the socket if you have to go to a smaller-than-recommended eye size.

      The real problem is finding eyes with very tiny iris/pupils, like Renji's from Bleach, or some of the Naruto series' eyes.
       
    5. I love your dolls anavel! I think the eye size looks a lot better for both of them.

      I will definetly look into getting my boy some 12mm, thanks for the recomendation on company Knibitz I'm off to go look Eyeco up.
       
    6. As others have said it depends a lot on the doll, what kind of look you want, and the size and shape of the eye sockets. I tend to get eyes down a size -- usually 16mm for a typical SD rather than 18mm. My MNM heads take size 10mm however, because they have realistic proportions. I'm sure on a lot of my dolls the irises are still larger than a typical human, however they are dolls and not typical humans so being a little large isn't always a bad thing. Often with eyes it takes some trial and error to figure out what eyes work the best for you and your dolls. I think most of my minis have 14 mms in and one maybe has 16, if I'm remembering correctly. Though, a couple of them need new eyes, and when I get to the point of replacing them I may drop some of them down a size.

      One thing that you might want to check out is some eyes that Dollmore is carrying -- they're advertised as having smaller more realistic sized irises. I can't remember then name of brand off the top of my head, but if you poke through the site you'll find them.
       
    7. It depends on the doll. For me, the bigger issue for me is how much of the pupil is showing I hate that "deer in the headlights" look you get from perfectly centered pupils so, I always position eyes so part of the pupil is obscured. It makes them look les traumatized. Also, that way more of the white part of the eye shows, which is also something I like.

      As for iris size, if it doesn't look bizarre in the doll, I don't mind how large or small it is. I have a doll where 16 mm is perfect, one where 18 mm is perfect and one that.... I think he's just a weird size because 18 is too big and 16 almost too small.
       
    8. I prefer my dolls to have no eye white at all actually. I find small irisses kind of freaky, just like when humans have too much eyewhite. Most dolls are too anime styled (or at least not realistic) to work the realistic eye thing anyhow.
      With Anavel's dolls, it works perfectly, because the molds, especially the larger one, are realistic, so they can handle the eyes to look realistically proportional.
       
    9. I'm having a slight dilemma with eyes... I had a pair of eyeco silicone eyes in my girl and I like the smaller iris but she never looked quite 'right' to me, so I've swapped them out for glass and now due to the high dome I can't get them positioned right so she doesn't look like she is staring, haha. I think it depends on the doll and can take some trial and error.
       
    10. I will probably not be of much help since I love the big irises on dolls. The less white the better. I do, however, like small pupils. I just want as much color as possible.
       
    11. It really depends, but I sort of like big irises. You know when people smile and their eyes get all dark? I like that effect. And I like when the eye blends with the shadow or makeup around it. A bigger iris can also give a doll a more animalish personality, which is nice.

      Some dolls do look really good with the small iris though. I understand why many people prefer it. To make smaller irises look natural (if I was having trouble) I might try out dark eyes, cuz even on real people light eyes can look a little shocking. Or maybe I'd try medium/light eyes with non-black pupils.

      PS here's a site that shows Minifees with different eye-sizes in.. MNFs have a variety of different eye-shapes so it might help in visualizing what it would look like on other MSD dolls: http://hushed.org/mnf/
       
    12. I really appreciate all the input. I think that if you are going for a more fantasy type doll the big iris makes sense, but I do like my doll to have a more 'human' look. I like anime, but I don't want my dolls to look like anime characters, I'd rater have them look like people. It's just a personal preference. I'd like to see what a doll with NO eye white looks like. It sound interesting.

      I'll check around Dollmore Taco. I had been planning on getting some stuff from them anyway, so I can chuck a couple of eyes on the order.
       
    13. The Dollmore 'realistic' eyes are quite extreme I think. The irises are realllyyy tiny, far smaller than Eyeco by the looks of them.
       
    14. It totally depends on the doll and the look. Companies almost always go a size too big, in my opinion, so I size everyone down a size and sometimes TWO sizes. I find it convenient to have some inexpensive eyes around in various sizes to try out in new dolls.
       
    15. Agreed...every doll is different. I have a soom mecha angel and he has such tiny eye sockets, I put some soom eyes in, small eyes too and the iris seems to be rather large. At the same time I have a DIM Marianne and her eye sockets are a little on the large side for being a mini I think she either has 14 or 16 mm eyes and theres still a nice amount of white and the iris. It just depends on the doll and their eye sockets as well as the look you want. I try to go more human looking than anime though
       
    16. with eyecos you sometimes even have to go a size or two up than your doll wears to make the irises a decent size.
      16mm eyecos in my DOI boy who normal wears 16mm glass eyes looked ridiculous. He'd probably be better with 18's or possibly even 20s.
       
    17. I think that as many have said, it is a matter of taste and the type of doll.
      An anime-based sculpt for example would probably look weird with small irises
      (scared mostly). But it is also an issue with eye-manufacturers in general.
      I think most eyes are made for dolls that look like dolls (cute with giant-eye wells,
      that need giant irises and pupils or else they look scared), so there are not that many
      eyes made that have small irises. Going with smaller eye-sizes doesn’t always help,
      because of the shape of the eye – sometimes going with smaller eyes will get you smaller
      looking irises, but will leave huge gaps.

      To me large irises is an issue and it has always bothered me, but there are that many solutions –
      other than Masterpiece and Eyeco, all other eyes seem to have giant irises (and pupils). Even
      those brands could have smaller irises It think. Dollmore also has some very nice glass eyes with
      small irises, but they are only available in 16mm, which would only work for dolls with giant eye-holes
      (or equally giant eye-wells) and not for any other sculpt.


      - Enzyme
       
    18. Hmm, yeah, I actually like the big irises because they are the pretty part of the eye. It's not realistic, but I don't expect my dolls to look realistic; I expect them to look pretty. ^_^
       
    19. I'm the same. I have more issues trying to find eyes with smaller pupils. Large pupils make my dolls look either startled or just too young for what I want.
       
    20. Overly large irises with very little or no whites showing freak me out! They look way to much like the classic portrayal of aliens to me.