Hi all, I started sculpting a BJD a couple of weeks ago and I've gotten to the point where I've started adding some of the details to her, still need to sculpt hands and feet and smooth out the ball joints, but I'm getting there and I wanted some feedback;
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I can see the photos now - so hopefully they are visible for everyone else, too! It looks like you are making progress! What kind of feedback are you looking for? It might help others to know so they can provide more useful information. My general advice is to consider checking out references for anatomy and proportions. It depends on how stylized you want your doll to look, but in general you can't go wrong with studying the proportions of the face/body. For example, you can use photos or artistic guides (Andrew Loomis has some good ones) to judge how low on the face the eyes show go, etc. And also very importantly - have fun! Experiment, and don't be afraid to redo parts even if you've already spent time on them. Time building up skill is never wasted.
I think the type of feedback I'm looking for is; Is she symmetrical? How can I improve her head more, to make it more person-like, what are the details that stick out the most on the sanded upper torso that should be fixed? That sort of thing
I think the torso looks pretty good! For her face, her mouth is a bit too the left. You might want to try centering it under the nose Good luck!
Thanks for clarifying what you are looking for! In that case, I would still recommend looking at reference photos or diagrams while working on the head and body. You can also look at images of bjds you admire (just keep an eye out for copying accidentally!). Focusing on the head, right now the forehead seems a bit short to me and you may want to add some length/bulk to the chin (or shorten the nose and move the mouth up). The left eye also looks a little higher (or it might just be a little smaller than the other eye). Also, it can be very helpful to keep checking the profile while working on the front of the face. This will help you define the chin, nose, lips, etc. I think you may want to continue with the body and other details and then post more photos of all the parts laid out flat. It will be easier to assess how symmetrical they are at that point. Adding the joints may change the body structure as well. Good luck!
I think @StellaMarigold is spot on about the head. The same-ish problems seems to be continuing down towards her upper torso as well with the left shoulder a bit lower than the right and the neck leaning a little to the right. This is actually a very common thing. Many, if not most people have a slight "lean" to their vision. Normally we compensate for it without ever thinking about it so it's not a problem, but when we draw or sculpt something from scratch it often shows up. The good news is that this can be trained away. Even more good news is that there are a couple of pretty useful tricks for getting around it. *The most low tech one is to simply turn the piece in all directon and look at it critically. Turn it upside down, look at it from the top of the head and so on. *Drawing a center gudeline can help too. This gives something for your eyes to compare shapes and angles to. *Another one that I am frequently using myself is to always have a small hand mirror within reach when sculpting. Seeing the piece mirrored is a great way to counter any wierdness our eyes do and a very good way to get some mental distance from the sculpt as well. The later is important because it lets us get away from seeing what we expect to see and instead see what is actually there. *On the same note, basically anything that allows you to see what you are making in a new way is great. Take a picture and view it on a screen. Enlarge the image. Shrink it down. Turn it sideways, turn it upside down, mirror it. Step away from the screen and look at it from far away. Sleep on it and come back to the images the day after without looking at the actual sculpt IRL first. The list goes on, but you get the idea. Best of luck with the project! You've made a good start.