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Would you ever pay a LOT of money for a face up?

Nov 2, 2010

    1. I think it depends on the situation. I've done faceups on a number of my own dolls and I have a few with defaults and a few customs that I got off the marketplace. Though I enjoy doing my own faceups, sometimes it's fun to get one done by someone better at it than I am. However, it's also true that by spending a lot on a faceup, I'm making more of a commitment to keep it rather than change it later if I feel I need to. One of my customs had her faceup wiped and I redid it after having her for a few years, because I needed to change her to a different character. If I was going to spend say $75 and up for a faceup, it would need to be for one of my main storyline dolls whose basic look I know won't change. However, they're also the ones I tend to like doing myself.
       
    2. Yes, I would be willing to pay up to $150 on a face-up, but only for very particular artists (ex: Poppy, Rabiruna, bread17, Ladious). The only reason I haven't done this yet is because I haven't really committed to any of my dolls. I'm planning on replacing them eventually, and if I buy a $200 (including shipping) face-up, I wouldn't want to sell them. It would have to be for a doll that I wouldn't replace.
       
    3. Yes, I would.
      If I'm spending a lot of money on these dolls why not go all the way and perfect their aesthetics?
      I feel it's a waste when I look at a doll I own and don't feel completely happy with their look. What I find in many of the expensive [100+] face-up artists that I like is that they work very professionally and achieve results I never could unless I had years of practice. That amount of effort and quality is definitely worth it.

      ETA:
      Just wanted to mention, I completely agree with this. I'd never take the time to try and perfect a doll I wasn't confident with in the first place.
       
    4. I would pay upwards to $100-ish for a faceup and there are two faceup artists that I really admire. Problem is that they're queue is almost always full and I'm too impatient to wait or I forget to check back often.
       
    5. $50 is too much for me. I don't know how much face-ups cost, but I feel the most comfortable around $30. I have no artist that I'd set out to do the face, so when the time comes, I'm probably going to check out a few people who do decent work.

      And most likely, it'd just to do the same one she was given by the company.

      Do companies redo their own face-ups for you? If that's the case, I'd feel best to have them do it over.
       
    6. No, because I would rather do it myself. I'm not the best, but it's decent enough. I like drawing and painting anyway.
       
    7. The most I've spent on a single faceup was $100- it was the company's premium faceup and I realized that after paying for the faceup and shipping both ways (possibly overseas) I probably would end up spending about the same amount to get another faceup I liked, plus I'd have all that extra waiting and I'd have to send her head away just after getting her. The default company faceup was cheaper but not as pretty... in general I'd rather pay a little more for something like a faceup since I don't plan on changing them anytime soon and it makes such a big difference to the doll's appearance. These dolls pretty much have no other purpose in my life aside from being pretty to look at and fun to play around with from time to time, so I'm definitely not unwilling to shell out a bit for a faceup if I really like the artist's work. Of course I do have dolls with default faceups and there are some artists doing beautiful work for lower prices, it really depends what you're after I suppose. :)
       
    8. When I consider the cost of the doll and it's value to me than it isn't too far of a stretch to want to pay $100+ for a face-up. If there was ever a doll that you wanted to be your ideal it can definately be worth it.
       
    9. I have paid, and will pay again, $150+ for a face-up not including international shipping back and forth. The artist's work is truly worth every penny - she even goes in and puts the little eyelashes in, one-by-one. My Yo has teeny tiny little lip lines that you seriously need a microscope to see, but they're there. It's incredible, and pretty much everyone I show my dolls painted by this artist to agree.

      I'm sure I can manage a half-decent face-up myself, but "half-decent" just doesn't cut it for me, and I'll gladly shell out a lot of money for the skill that some of the people out there have. It might mean I'd have to get fewer dolls, but it's quality above quantity for me.

      For the record, it's actually quite a nice investment to get your dolls painted by amazing artists. I had no problems whatsoever finding interested buyers for a doll with a $150 face-up, even though it was $150 more than a new doll from a store. He sold in a matter of days.
       
    10. I do all my own face-ups because I really enjoy it, but if I were pay for one? It's hard to say. As a fellow artist I can certainly understand a higher pricetag for an artist with exceptional style, but I think something I would be reluctant to pay $80+ for any face-up, no matter how good, that was just a basic natural face-up with simple eyeshadow, eyebrows, eyelashes, and lips. If I were going to pay a lot for a face-up, I'd want it to me something unusual like a facial tatoo or unique colors/style.

      But in reality, for myself, I don't think I would ever pay for a face-up just because my dolls go through a lot of changes as their characters are refined or they get new heads and any face-up I bought wouldn't last more than a few months... That, and my dolls get a lot of playtime and I wouldn't want to worry about chipping something I couldn't touch-up or redo myself.
       
    11. I paid (round trip) about $150 for a faceup, granted the face up only cost around $105 and I can't say I was totally satisfied. I've had other artists do better/more to my specifications for under half of what I paid that time. The quality was good, but the photos I was shown didn't really show the faceup how it was. Not that it was the artists fault, but air bubbles appeared under the lip gloss once the head was back in my hands. So yeah, I've paid a "lot" of money for a faceup, I don't think i'd do it again. And over $50 for an SD head is still a lot in my opinion.
       
    12. I like to do my own but, if I didn't I think it's worth at least $50 and up. That's for the time effort and MSC involved. It takes a lo-ong time to do a good faceup, at least for me. You also have to have a lot of art supplies on hand.
       
    13. Seems like a stupid question, but would you?
      Yes. I haven't yet, but there are a few artists who would be worth paying quite a lot for... Years ago I was on Evenstar's commission list, but emails got lost, so I never did arrange for it. She was charging $150. I adored Satoko Ohno faceups. Currently I really like SDink's work. But I just haven't had a blank head that I felt was right for artists who are currently available.

      Or does it depend on how the face up looks?
      Well, of course. More like: it depends on who is doing the work.

      Would you ever attempt to do a face up yourself?
      I have.

      What's your price limit for face ups?
      Depends on the artist. And on what I wanted. If I really had the right head and the right artist, I'd pay several hundred, perhaps. So far, I haven't... I will either buy faceups from the company-- from $50 to $100, or do it myself, usually.
       
    14. One of the reasons why I started doing faceups because I was trying to be cheap and not have to pay for faceups i could possibly do myself at a lesser cost. It wasnt ever really about my ability to paint or not to paint. LOL
       
    15. In some ways I completely understand why some artists charge in the 150 dollars range. I've done face-ups and it requires time, effort, appropriate weather (i.e waiting), skill etc. However with quite a few really expensive artists it really seems more to be about paying for the name. There are a couple expensive artists where I really can't see how their job is any better than most 30-60 dollar artists. Most of the time the difference between 70 dollars and 150 dollars seems to be about name. Then of course there are exceptions to this, I'd gladly pay 150dollars for SDink, there's a russian face-up artist (who doesn't commission on DOA I think) who does perfect eyebrows and I wouldn't mind paying a lot to get a commission from her.

      I think though that for me to solicit an expensive commission it would have to be for a character that required a very special face-up in order to be him/her-self. I have a ghost child that I'm having real trouble painting and I'm definitely considering sending her away for a face-up whereas her sister who only requires a natural face-up with dramatic elements I don't feel the need to send away.

      ETA: Face-ups are art which means it's not really possible to say that "this person makes good face-ups and that person doesn't". I look for face-up artists that I feel give soul to what they paint. I would guess that what I feel is soul in a face-up has to do with my own soul and so we're back to face-ups being something personal. There are many skilled artists, I can look at their work and marvel at the blushing and the brush strokes but at the end of the day if the soul of their painting style doesn't match my soul (I sound like a hippie but I really can't explain it better) I'm going to find their face-ups cold and clinical... that doesn't however mean that the artist isn't good. The thing that would make me pay 150dollars instead of 70dollars is not better brush strokes and better blushing but the difference in the soul of the face-up.
       
    16. I would, have, and will again in the future. (Though using a qualifier such as "a lot" is not very specific, and open to interpretation in many different ways. As a baseline for comparison, I personally don't consider faceups truly expensive until they break the $100 mark - and that's not including shipping fees and the like. However, that doesn't mean that I look for expensive artists, or that I won't commission less expensive ones. I enjoy sending my dolls to brand new artists that are just starting out and getting a feel for their own style just as much as I do sending them to well-known artists. I'd say the average price of the faceups in my collection is probably around $50. Some cost only $10, some cost well over $100. It evens out.)

      An artist's skill determines the cost of their work - if they're charging more than what people think their work is worth, no one will commission them, and they'll drop their prices eventually. If they're charging less than what people think their work is worth, their commission queue will be constantly overfilled and they'll eventually either limit their intake of commissions and/or raise their prices.

      Take Avvelenato for example. Although she appears to have dropped out of the hobby some time ago, when she was still around she would purchase a School A head ($165 from Volks, or around $200-$250 on secondary market) or an F-17/Old F-29 head (around $350 on the secondary market at the time), paint it, and put it up on Yahoo! Japan Auctions with a starting price of around what she paid for it. And yet I never saw one of her heads sell for LESS than $600. Usually they went even higher. The people who purchased those heads were paying for her work, not for the head itself, and the bidding was FIERCE! I'd say that her faceups probably averaged a around $500 or more, and they weren't even custom-requests/commissions, they were just whatever she felt like painting!
       
    17. I won't pay for a faceup, mostly because I have no fixed idea of how I want my dolls to look, so there's no point trying to commission someone, since I won't be able to offer any descriptions. I like changing the looks of my dolls often too, and paying for a faceup just makes it feel so permanent.
       
    18. well, it depends on particular face-up and artist.
      So i am ready to pay for smh special arond $100
       
    19. It really depends on the artist. If I fall in love with their work, I suppose I would be willing to splurge on a Face-Up.
       
    20. I do my own faceups because to me the customisation aspect of this hobby is the most important part. I'll admit that my faceups aren't professional quality, but I really do enjoy playing with my paints and pastels and seeing what comes out.

      How much would I spend on a faceup? I don't really know. I'd spend more if it was for a doll that I knew I wouldn't play with much - It'd last longer - But in general my dolls get dragged around and photographed and faffed with. If I had to put a dollar value on it... Maybe two hundred dollars? Maybe more? If I was going to treat the doll as a work of art, I'd almost certainly pay more than that.