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

I sometimes think about commissioning an artist faceup, but like… I like doing faceups. Even when it’s frustrating, it’s part of bonding with the doll for me. I worry that commissioning someone else would interfere with growing to love my new doll. On top of that, the artist would have to be better than me, like enough that spending money to do something I can do for myself for basically free is worth it. The artists that meet that bar (in my opinion) tend to book up really fast and ALSO be out of the price range I’m willing to spend and ALSO they’re outside the country and ALSO usually they only allow for artist’s choice with a couple of inspo words and colors. Like at that point why bother? I can do it myself.

although this weather lately really is testing me >

 

I love the idea of learning how to do faceups (only done one so far, and it was a lot of fun!). The only thing that gives me pause is how toxic some of the materials (like MSC) can be. I'm currently researching non-toxic sealants, but one reason I might lean toward commissioning is letting someone knows how to protect themselves properly deal with the toxic stuff.

 

I always wanted to commission a faceup but never wanted to put the money into it. My first two bjds had company faceups, which I loved, but I also began to wish that I could redo them because my tastes started to change. So finally I started getting blank heads on the second-hand market and decided to go for it. I got all the supplies I needed for under $40 at Hobby Lobby, and after studying on YouTube and learning basic techniques, it wasn't long before I was doing faceups that I wanted to keep.

Now I only ever buy blank dolls, even though my faceup skills aren't even close to what I'd like them to be someday, because I really enjoy being able to completely customize my own doll. Also, the stress of ruining a $100+ faceup just isn't there. I've scuffed professional faceups and cried about it, so the stress is real for me. Also I could never managed to get up the courage to ship my precious doll to a faceup artist, so that motivated me a lot too haha.

 

I’ve tried to do faceups myself a few times but I’m never able to execute the vision I have in my head and then it’s harder to bond with the doll so I’ve been investing in Ari’s faceups and I have no regrets. I know with more practice I would get better at faceups but I’m too impatient and I’m happy to support the wonderful artists in this community. If I could do my own beautiful faceups though I definitely would as I imagine it’s a wonderful bonding experience.

 

I paint my dolls myself! I never commissioned a faceup, but I have a doll I bought already painted, and I feel so nervous handling her compared to the dolls I've painted. I think the process makes me feel more attached to the dolls as well!

 

If I had the right materials and knew what I was doing, I’d do it myself. Never too late to start tho!

 

Since my last response on here, I’ve actually now done a faceup! :3 so my thoughts have changed a bit.

If I buy the doll blank, I’ll definitely at least try to give it a faceup first. If I don’t like my results after a few tries maybe I’ll send it off, but it’s so much easier doing it myself now that I’ve taken the plunge.

If I’m ordering it though and there’s a faceup option and they are halfway decent, I’ll just get that. It’s more exciting to me to open a doll with a face already there

 

I have been practising faceups on and off for a year now and never looked back. Yes it is extremely frustrating at the beginning and there is always that lingering fear of doing irreversible damage to the doll, but sooner or later one finds out that resin is tougher than it seems.

IMO doing your face up (after a bit of practice) is the best way to give your doll the character you want them to have. Language isn't a very effective tool especially when I have to use online translation to communicate with the artist. While I truly admire the style and technique of many artists out there, there is always something 'incomplete' about a faceup that I commissioned. I thought it was just the communication went wrong but later recognised it was also probably missing a sense of accomplishment on my part. Personally BJDs as a hobby has to be as much a creative outlet as possible, but I can definitely appreciating the stunning professional works on here as well

 

I'd rather commission a faceup. . . . BJDs are too expensive for me to try and potentially ruin them. I know I can practice on cheaper dolls, but I already am trying to learn several different skills and don't think I should add anymore to that list. Also, there are artists I'd feel honored to have commissioned to work on my dolls.

 

I enjoy doing my own faceups, but part of the reason is I know I won’t feel guilty wiping it later on. There’s also the stress in letting my dolls go anywhere without me. And not knowing if I’ll even be able to remove the faceup when I decide to.

There’s just too much stress with sending them out, but If I could find someone local it wouldn’t be as bad I think. Still prefer to do them myself though, as im an artist.

 

I agree with this 100%, that's me when it comes to faceups and why I started doing my own although I don't think I'm too good at it and I would prefer to send my dolls to someone so they would look amazing. It was just too stressful to be worried about a faceup, when it wasn't because of the cost it had it was because I had faceups by artists that didn't do faceups anymore, if it was ruined that was it. One of my dolls fell once and chipped her faceup, I cried for days. Not worth it.
I don't particularly like the process of doing faceups compared with other aspects of the hobby and a big part of the reason I don't enjoy it is mostly because of the sealant and the weather, I find it a very tedious ordeal. But it's still worth it for the peace of mind that I will enjoy more my dolls, have less stress and be able to redo it at any time I choose.

Sometimes I've thought about sending the heads to someone again, especially when the weather is continuously looking like I'm living in Mordor and there is no chance in the foreseable future to spray, but then I remind myself of the cost and the stress and I just patiently wait.

 

I DREAM of doing them for myself. But I got spooked about the dangers of the products used, or breathing any resin dust if you sand the faces at all. I bought an expensive mask contraption. But my mom died of a super rare gene mutation lung cancer. Her father died of lung cancer at a time they didn't know how to identify the genes involved like they can now. My mother had 5 different cancers before the lung went into her spine and ribs before killing her. I've already had one very aggressive breast cancer, and then years later they have discovered one of the chemo drugs when used in high doses is linked to bladder cancer, which I just had surgery for on Valentines Day this year. I will be going back regularly to be watched for the return of that one.

So, even though I adore the idea of making them my own in this way, I've been putting it off for a long time. I have many blank dolls because I believed I would get over this fear. It is also very humid where I live, and I have wondered if my faceup spray will work properly. I have big plans... ok, big HOPES/DREAMS that before the end of this year {2023) I will put some life into my wonderful blank dolls waiting for me.

 

My first doll came with company faceup and I loved him. Then I had another doll that I bought already with faceup and I immediately bonded with him. Only on my third doll head, I bought it blank. I tried giving him a faceup, but my skill just couldn't bring out the vision I had for my doll. I ended up sending him to a faceup artist. Even now I am sending one my dolls to a faceup artist abroad.

Of course, I also had the thought to just practice doing faceup myself and take the time to get better. I love art and I actually enjoyed the process. But then I got asthma so I will just save money and send my dolls for faceup.

 

In the past I have considered doing my own faceups on my dolls. For some context I am an artist. I used to specialize in drawing and painting as that is my favorite way to express myself. However due to my diagnosis of a neurological condition, my hands shake too much to effectively do a face up and my biggest fear is that I will not be able to create the aesthetic that I want. At the moment, I do not have any plans to redo the faceups on my current collection. However, if I do going forward I believe that I will commission someone from the forum to do so. This way I can get the aesthetic I want without worry of messing up the work I am trying to achieve.

 

I preferred to practice and become able to do my own faceups. I guess it helps that I had experience with model painting and regular illustration in various mediums, but honestly... faceups are more like makeup application, to me, which I had never done and have still not done.

I'm not always happy with the results, but that's why you prep the head. Sometimes you just have to strip it and start over. As a long time suffering artist, I've gotten used to disappointment and frustration, and starting over from scratch. It's like part of the process heh.

Either way, I enjoy creating things myself and having control over the outcome. The only face up I've commissioned was part of a massive doll mod I was completely incapable of doing myself, and it was by someone who was a master of the craft. I knew I'd never be able to do what she did.

It might be scary and frustrating at the start, but practice is how you become good at anything, face ups included.

I bought several cheap 1/3 obitsu doll heads to practice on and went to town. They're made of vinyl but the process is basically the same as painting a resin head. Obitsu doesn't make realistic 1/3 heads anymore, but parabox sells more realistic vinyl doll heads (meant to be used with obitsu bodies) that are only a few dollars more than obitsu heads. I think they'd be perfect to practice on.

No shade to those who commission face ups. Not everyone has the time to grind away at learning something like that, nor the money to spend on practice materials. Also, heck, not everyone enjoys it either.

Even now, if I had a vision for a doll that was significantly out of my skill range, I'd commission someone I trusted.

 

I would rather do it myself. I'm not the best doll artist in the world. Some of my repaints and face ups have gone better than others, for sure, but I'm not ashamed to try and if it suits me that's all that matters. It doesn't have to be perfect all the time.

 

I don't think I'd ever do a faceup myself, simply because I don't want to buy all the materials I would need to do it!

 

Ideally, I'd rather do it myself, but I'm still learning. I'm doing better than I expected—I'm already an experienced artist, it's just the whole learning to work with completely new media thing that's a challenge! I'm just not yet at the point where I'd trust myself to do a faceup for an important/expensive doll.
But the reason I'm learning is because I'd definitely prefer to be able to just do it myself in the future!

I'm only a little over a year into the hobby, and I haven't actually commissioned a faceup just yet. I'm SO paranoid about sending my dolls off for faceups, especially the ones that were really difficult to find. With my bad luck, I'm convinced they'll get lost in the mail or something else ridiculous will happen. Plus I'm admittedly super impatient and I know getting commissioned faceups done tends to take a WHILE (worth the wait of course, I'm just . . . yeah . . . impatient ahaha).

 

Tried to do my own faceup once.
Got all the nice supplies for it and everything.
Couldnt get those fine lines very good and it turned out terribly.

So I got her face commissioned instead.

 

I tried myself and my results are meh for some sculpts that I want to have them almost bare and very simplistic I do this but for anything that needs real effort definatelly I'll comission , it just takes time because I have to find the money and theartist etc to do the work