Would you rather commission a faceup, or do it yourself?

I bought my doll blank so that I could attempt his faceup myself, since it looks kind of fun (if not a lot of hard work and patience, but still) and I really want to try my hand at it! I want to try and see if I can do a faceup in a similar style to how I draw, since my doll (and any future dolls) will be based on characters I already have so it would fit my mental image of them better. I'm sure my first few attempts wont be great, but I'll just have to keep at it until I en up with something I like!

 

I do it myself! It's part of my bonding experience with my dolls. I know what I like and usually can get the desired result or close, and anyway I love the practice and the sense of improvement over time. If I try several faceups and I can't get my doll done properly, maybe it's not the doll for me. That said, I would like to send a head off at least once for the experience. I am a little worried though that I'll end up paying a lot of money for something I won't like.

 

I prefer doing it myself^^ I'm far from being a pro, I'm still beginning and ain't very talented but it's so much fun ! It's really one of the things I enjoy doing the most with BJD, the customization aspect !

 

I do my own. Not because I'm worried someone else won't get it right, but because usually I can't stand to part with a doll for a while after they've arrived. So that would mean I'd either have to leave them blank until I was willing to let them go to someone else for a face up or I'd just have to do it myself. Years ago when I first got into bjds and had no experience, I decided I would rather have a horrible face up and not have to part with my doll. But I feel like I've gotten better with practice so it's not as big a sacrifice now.

 

I ordered my first head with the company faceup and I left it for a few months before I decided to try a faceup myself. Naturally the first few were awful, but learning how to do it was really the fun part. Now I order all my heads blank and just do my own, which works for me because I can just do it over again until I've got something I'm happy with C:

 

I'd much rather do them myself, but I'd have to learn.... and I'm lazy. I've spent ten years learning to draw. I don't care to put that much effort into faceups. So. I'd rather pay for someone else to do it for me. xD I can draw for them what I want at least.

 

I usually send out my dolls to more experienced artists because I really like their work, but the most recent dolls I've acquired, I've been trying to do it on my own to get better at it.

 

I only did one face up by myself till now. It was really fun and didn't look that bad for the first time. So I decided to do the next one(s) also by myself to get more practice.

 

There is part of me that really loves doing my own face ups because it's fun. I'm pretty terrible at it though especially when I compare what I do with some of the better artists here. If I could get past my worry about not getting my doll back I would would probably commission a face up. I don't think I'm allowed to though since I've not been on here long enough.

 

I prefer to do it myself. Since I have the basic materials to do the faceup, I think it would be fun to paint the faceup. Another reason I think is because I don't want to send my doll's head far away and have to wait months before the head is send back to me.

 

I will try myself and if im not good at it i will send in commission and buy a practice head and keep practicing and when im satisfied then i will do it myself

 

For the time being I get the company to do the faceup as the dolls are so expensive to start with. I would love to try a faceup though, I've been thinking about just getting a head to practice on, but then I have to get the materials to paint it also.

 

Definitely do it myself! I really like taking the time to bond with the doll - often little decisions I make in the faceup process helps inform their character for me!

That being said, I am an artist outside the hobby too. Although my field is printmaking I've had a lot of study to help me. I'm not the best faceup artist for sure and I'm definitely still learning (eyebrows are so hard ugh) but I also like seeing my improvement over time! I think a lot of people are afraid to start because they know their first faceup will likely be bad but... you can't get better if you don't try!

I'd say if it's something you'd like to try - maybe see if you have a friend who has some supplies you could use! Meetups are great for this and there are a lot of facebook groups for local people in the hobby so that's another way to meet people! You can also ask people there to help you learn if you're super nervous!

 

If I don't have a specific look in mind, then I prefer to commission an artist that may come up with a face better than I would have imagined. When I envision a specific look, I like to tackle the job myself . . . at least the first time. If I can't get it right, I clean it up quickly and then find an artist whose work I like. It's important to relate specifics as they provide progress photos and before the artist reaches that point of no return. Some artists can be a bit temperamental, though, and may prefer to put their own little twist on the finished look. Once you establish a good working relationship with an artist, that shouldn't be a problem. Try to find one that will work with you.

 

I prefer doing it myself. I'm an artist after all.

 

Commission. I have next to no artistic talent.

 

I have one that I did myself and it made me really bond with her. My friends have now started asking for me to do theirs. So be aware that if you do good you will be asked by friends. Also realize you can get more than one face up out of the supplies. So in the future you can redo some of your other dolls.

It may seem intimating at first but I watched a ton of videos on youtube of others doing it. It really gave me the confidence to give it a go myself. I found it rather relaxing to do and the process of seeing it take shape is awesome. (Like I said it really made me bond to her)

I have seen some great commission work though. If you have an artist that you really like then maybe you may want to go down that route.

Either way make sure you do your research and pick the supplies or artist that best suites you.

 

I'm scared I will mess up big time so I'd rather have someone who knows what they are doing to do my face-up, but since I got a lot of the same dolls I would like their face-up to be different from each other. So I would try my first face-up on one of them one day.

 

Oh gosh, since I'm trying to get my first, I would be a nervous wreck if I tried to do myself- definitely send to someone else so that I know that I'll love her (and won't damage!)

 

I will do it myself soon but not now.

Because I dont have airbrush it is pricy here in my country

But do have talent in painting so that I am really want to paint them on my own