66cm+ Dolls My second bjd, a 3D sculpted Male Bjd called Max

Hello everyone, I've been working on this doll for a few months now. So I wanna share all of my progress, the mistakes I learned from and some of the advices I can give from the good things I've done with this doll, I hope it can be useful for someone.
His name is Max, so this is my blueprint and I honestly think it's horrible!


My advice here would be to really make an effort on the blueprint cuz it does help a lot when you start working on your doll, I ended up changing a lot of things because I didn't like the proportions when I printed a test.

The basic model took me around 3 weeks to make, I used Blender and I had just started learning how to use the software, I had some previous 3D experience in the past with Maya and Zbrush but I like Blender more now.



(Ugh it's not working for me, here's the link: Imgur )
This is how he looked, it's still kinda low poly in the body and I would recommend to keep it that way till you're sure about the proportions and sizes of every part, I did not do that and I regret that.

So as you can see I really love rendering my models even if they're not finished yet, and a really good advice I can give you is that you should always keep backups of EVERYTHING! I have back up files of every step of the process, of every part of the body before I applied the modifiers (booleans, subdivisions) (ignore my lack of ability with uv mapping and texturing)



Another advice, even though I know it's a mistake for me, I keep making but I'm too anxious to see progress, I don't recommend to start cutting every part of the body if the sculpture is not finished, you'll make a mess that is not always easy to fix, I did that with my 3D modeled doll and my clay sculpted doll and it just doesn't work.

This was his first render and at the time I really liked him.



Then my boyfriend (now husband) proposed to me and we started planning the wedding who ultimately got cancelled because of COVID-19 (we had a covid wedding with 10 guests far from us who weren't able to hug us, wearing face masks and everything), so I stopped working on my doll. Now that I finished moving out and finally have some peace of mind and a lot of free time I started working on him again!! Around 6 months passed and I stopped liking the head and completely changed his face, this is his face now.



I was loving him so much so I decided to print him, one thing I do recommend is to invest in a 3d printer if you're serious about making 3D printed dolls, specially if you're like me and work this way cuz I've had to print a lot of tests and I've had to change a lot of things I own a Monoprice Select Mini V2 but I think i might upgrade to a bigger one in the future. It's price was around 200 usd when I bought it.
So this is the first prototype, I scaled it down so I wouldn't waste PLA if something didn't work.



Right now i'm at this stage, where I realized my doll need a joint locking system cuz I can't get him to stand that easily, but hey! He can do it!


I ended up changing his whole body!! He has new legs in this picture and I'm working on his arms again
I've printed so many parts by now that I was getting really frustrated, so final advice for now, take some time off from your projects to calm down and you'll get back to it whenever you're ready and make it better and/or solve any issues.

I'd really love any feedback or advice you can give me! I keep learning every day

 

Thank you very much! I actually changed them! They were playing a big part on him not being stable enough, they were not flat on the floor, this is how they look right now but i'll give them more detail, i already made a mess so I'm testing it first then i'll finish sculpting

 

Thanks for the feedback! I agree with you hehehe gonna work on those things!

 

Here's an update, I've modified his body a lot, I recently realized he needs a locking system on his legs and arms joints, I'll try to fix the proportions, they just looked weird, would love to know what you think about his torso now!

 

Thank you so much!

 

A little update, I changed so many things, I'm still working and struggling a lot with the legs and arms!

 

I think the proportions I wanted are good now...



I'm gonna add more detail to his muscles, then make his joints again and he'll be ready for printing...

 

Thank you so much!! It's been a struggle for sure

 

A little update, the legs are almost ready and I'm working on the arms now! I think he looks much better now

 

These are the parts that are officially finished!! I think he'll be ready for printing next week, except for the hands, I've decided to make them jointed so they'll take a little longer. I can print the rest of him in the meantime.

 

Thank you so much!!! I'm excited as well, can't wait to see him with a faceup, clothes, wig and eyes!!

 

I finished the prototype it only took me almost all of my filament



So I printed the head and neck!! they turned out great!!! I'm so happy and pleased



And I'm silly so as soon as it got out of the printer I started playing with all my wigs, turns out I have many wigs that fit him!



Then after all that fun and play my printer started acting up and I had to take it to get repaired, it's ok now and i already printed the ankles and i'm printing his left arm I sent all the files to .gcode, it says it'll take 75 hours to print I still need to work on his hands and feet!

 

Thanks!!! It was my way of hiding the cut haha I'm using solutech's PLA filament, I really liked it!

 

I printed his head and couldn't stop myself from drawing on his face, I'm so excited!! New filament will be here next week

 

Thank you so much!! Sorry I just saw your post!

 

All my photos stopped working I haven't updated in a long time, I finished printing him, changed his face one last time and now i'm in the never ending sanding & priming process, he's almost ready though, this is him now!

(in case it crashes)

His measurements:



(in case this one crashes too)