Realistic or Anime Eyes?

I do like the look of anime style dolls but I don't know if I'd ever own one.
I like my dolls to have a good balance between not looking cartoony but also not looking hyper realistic to the point they freak me out haha

If it's the eyes itself inside definitly realistic.

 

Considering I prefer narrower eyed and more realistic sculpts....realistic eyes all the way for me. Anime style is reserved for my collection of Pullip/Taeyang/etc.

 

Are we talking sculpt/eyeholes or the eyes themselves?

Dolls that look too realistic seriously creep me out. Even if the sculpt itself has relatively realistic proportions, I make my faceups and eye choices purposefully cartoony so all my doll will have an unrealistic look. I guess I don't mind how big the eyeholes are, just that they're pleasing aesthetically.

Having said that, I don't like "animetic" eyes, even in my anime-style obitsu.

 

I like to use eyes in my dolls that fit their character, face structure and aesthetics. I love both realistic and anime eyes, but haven't had much luck with realistic eyes that I like, so far. I have anime-ish eyes in my anime-esque head sculpts. I have semi-realistic eyes in my realistic-ish head sculpts, and prefer smaller irises for them, because larger irises in realistic faces are a bit creepy to me. I have a tiny SoulDoll that takes 20mm eyes with giant irises, I think he would look weird if I gave him tiny irises, but I think it would look weird the other way around as well (for me, at least). (:

 

I tend to prefer realistic dolls with more-or-less realistic eyes. The downside, of course, is that it's harder to see the eyes, so I go for very brightly colored eyes or eyes that catch the light. So while the eyes themselves may be more realistically proportioned, in color and sometimes style, they very much are not.

I love looking at anime-style dolls - and I have an Obitsu Gretel head that I have plans for - but I don't have any of that type yet, not as full dolls.

 

I like a mix, I adore eyes that have anime esqe elements to them like glitters and stars or gems, but I dont like too much of that. Too realistic and I personally dont like it much either. Its hard to find eyes that I fancy, so I tend to make them myself

 

I've taken a lot of inspiration from the unusual eyes on the market - like there's someone on Etsy who's making nebula print eyes and I'm like :O this is brilliant! But then, all my dolls start as more concepts than people, and only develop personality later on.

 

I like realistically sized and textured eyes on the smaller side. But like @bewaretheshort1 the color won't necessarily be realistic, and it's mostly bright colors because they are easier to see.

I don't have any anime style dolls, but if I did, I would look into anime and unrealistic eyes for them. It would finally give me the chance to try out all of those glittery, colourful, impossible eyes I like to look at, but don't want to put in my dolls.

 

It depends on the doll. I have an OT Culture Japan and Volks DD vinyl dolls, intentionally sculpted in the anime style - so anything other than big eyes would look weird on them. I also have some fantasy tinies - fairies, dragons, zebrataurs and the like - and while their eyes aren't huge, they are somewhat larger than a normal human eye in proportion to the rest of the face, which gives them a charming look of innocence and otherworldliness. Those usually sport Oscar Doll eyes with varying degrees of bling, so yeah, it's nice that they're large enough to really see.

The aesthetic of disproportionately large eye holes on anything else doesn't really appeal to me, though - I tend to go for either full fantasy or full realism, and I don't want giant eyes on my realistic dolls. I also always go with small irises on those, to complete the lifelike look (thus ensuring that they will utterly and completely creep out anyone who isn't initiated into the world of BJDs).

 

I love the nice, detailed, sparkly eyes...but prefer more realistic heads overall
So most of my dolls are unfortunately forced to wear tiny eyes that never get the chance to really pop, and I have a couple bigger sized eyes I love very much that are never being used.

 

I don't know if I would describe the dolls I tend to be drawn towards as exactly anime-like in that Very Anime Way, but they're definitely closer to anime than realistic. I like slightly exaggeratedly big eye sockets, and I tend to be drawn towards eyes that are in unrealistic colours, and are the kind that are glittery with no pupils.

 

My collection is 90% anime with some anthros and a couple realistic sculpts. I just like anime, a lot.

 

Realistic for me. If I ever bought an anime style doll then I’d probably buy anime eyes for it, but as yet I don’t have any so I just get normal style eyes.

 

It depends on the doll for me. I like eyes with glitters, or slit (cat or dragon) pupils.

The only thing I can not get used to is eyes that don't have some kind of black pupil. I know it's strange, but it just weirds me out...

 

Whatever fits the character, but I have preference for fantasy eyes. There is quite a variety on market.

Both large and small eyes are fine. It really depands on kind of doll...I prefer semi-realistic animals and anthros to have large eyes, realistic animals to have realisticly sized eyes. If it comes to elves/humans I have no particular preference. It depands on each sculpt.

 

i feel like it really depends on the sculpt for me, more anime looking heads like dollfie and smart doll i prefer anime eyes but when its a more realistic sculpt like a ringdoll or dika i prefer regular eyes

 

I don't really like anime style dolls but I dont like them too realistic either. I love Fairyland's full set eyes most.

 

Only realistic. Even to dolls as realfee.

 

To me, it depends on the doll who will wear the eyes, but I like to have different styles and colors to choose from.

 

I love realistic eyes. They look so mesmerizing, I could stare at them for hours~

 

My doll crew is all resin and I dont own any Dollfie, so realistic eyes for me please! The smaller the iris, the better!

 

Assuming you mean the animetic-style eyes - neither? Realism isn't what I'm looking for in my dolls, but neither is anime. Anime-inspired, I suppose? Sort of a classic doll aesthetic?

 

I skew more realistic..... which leads to having to buy so many dang small iris eyeballs....

My first doll is much more stylized who I consider very anime-esque without being full anime and I have one super anime doll, but he just wears glitter eyes. I tried the animetic eyes and despite liking them in photos, they feel very uncanny valley to me in person.

 

I like realistic eyes. I kind of really dislike the anime eyes.

 

I am more for realistic eyes, and I am learning to make them as well. They look amazing in picture. I wish I could have such beautiful eyes.

 

I prefer realistic eyes. Anime eyes are good for more younger characters.

 

I prefer realistic eyes cause I have only 70+ dolls but nothing speaks against fantasy realistic for me^^
I really like the anime eyes too but they would not fit in my collection so I did not buy them.

 

I prefer realistic in my dolls, but that’s only because I prefer a semi realistic aesthetic in my crew. If I had anime inspired dolls or large eyed fantasy creatures, I think I’d prefer anime eyes.

 

I collect Yosd's so they tend to have more anime sized eye holes. Though my soom alk has tiny little eyes. Her eyes haven't come in yet. I think I prefer the larger eyes though. I want to see the eyes I dropped money on
edit: sorry pushed post halfway through typeing

 

When I was picking out eyes for my dolls I tended to like the more realistic ones more, but in brighter colors than real eyes. I also thought the glittery ones were really pretty. That being said, if I were to get a more anime style doll in the future I might prefer more anime style eyes.

 

I like somewhat realistic eyes in one of my boys, the rest don't really have anime eyes they're just sparkly and pretty. I think it depends on what you're going for for the character. I still think they all look cohesive as a group so that's really all the matters to me

 

I prefer a more realistic eye. Though that being said, I have a few "fantasy" colored ones. I don't I'd get anime eyes unless I got an anime style doll. And I have no plans for getting one.

 

Realistic, for sure! I think eyes are one of a BJD's most important features. With a couple of mine that meant waiting 1 year+ for custom Mystic urethane eyes but totally worth it.

 

I prefer more realistic dolls to super anime looking ones so more realistic style eyes. A few of my dolls have slightly bigger eyes, but that makes them look child like and cute. In terms of color though, they're not all realistic. One has Oscar Doll eyes that are silver, and one has either solid glitter or vibrant blue.

 

Both! I have Volks animetic and tianba0830's eyes - on extreme ends of the spectrum hehe. It just depends on the doll, really. Also, I'll pretty much try anything once so I've got a pretty good aesthetic range.

 

I prefer realistic eyes, even if they are the more unrealistic colors sometimes. But I would go with the anime style eyes if I had a sculpt that looked like an anime character.

 

I prefer realistic sculpt, and so I like realistic eyes. It can be unusual color or even fantasy, but I like complex naturally looking iris colors, realistic size of iris.
Now I have only one doll and small-sized iris don't fit him, unfortunately :c But I try to find beautiful eyes of different colors for him.

 

I like realistic eyes and fantasy eyes (dragons, cats...)

 

realistic all the way! I do like anime eyes on other dolls though!

 

I tend to prefer the realistic eyes for my dolls as well.

 

Realistic eyes are more preferable for my dolls, even if they have fantasy design overall.

 

I like realistic eyes in anime styled heads. Has almost a creepy cute vibe sometimes and seems so full of life. I do like anime eyes though but a bit picky with the design in them.

 

I'm all about the realistic eyes. Even with my fantasy characters I want the eyes to be more on the realistic side. I like trying to get my dolls as close to realistic as possible in every way I can, it's just the look that appeals to me most. I'm personally not a fan of the anime style dolls or their eyes so I don't even really consider those when looking at eyes for dolls.

 

If we're talking about the sculpt/eyeholes, here's a fun fact: most "realistically" proportioned eyesculpts are not truly realistic because eyes in normal size in either artwork or sculpture aren't all that appealing. Even in two-dimensional artwork, eyes are usually drawn anywhere from ten to twenty percent larger than life, because 100 percent accurate scale usually makes eyes look too "squinty" unless you're going for hyperrealism (in which case, why not just take a photo?).

Now, if we're talking just the eyes themselves, I vastly prefer realistically-textured eyes, with natural highlights and realistic iris shading...but I also like headsculpts with anime proportions (as shown in my avatar). This hobby has spoiled me forever against having painted eyes of any sort, but even with inset eyes, the action-figure kind of realistic headsculpt just doesn't really appeal to me. If you like that sort of thing, cool, but give me them big ol' peepers.

 

Realistic eyes all the way, but I prefer the more realistic sculpts as well.
I think I'm probably in the minority tho, I'd expect there to be more people who prefer a fantasy look in various styles.

 

It might seem boring to some, but realism is a challenging subject to recreate in any medium (other than photography), because just about anyone can tell something is off if you don't get exactly right. So hyperrealism is even more challenging to accomplish, and one of the reason why only a few chose to go that route. Have you ever seen the works of Kei Mieno or Leng Jun? Both works are mind-blowing; as an artist who doesn't love to do portraiture myself, I can't begin to imagine just how much patience it took for them to get to that level of hyperrealism. I've been painting for a bit longer than Kei Mieno has, and I still fail when doing portraits (which I rarely do, most of the time they just don't resemble the person close enough for me to get any enjoyment out of it), let alone hyper-realistic ones. Having said that, when doing portraits of a living being, you do want to get the exact proportions of the person, otherwise you won't get the portrait to look like the subject. So even if the end results are eyes that are too small to be attractive or interesting to some, proportions have to be accurate to the subject when doing portraiture of an existing subject with a face. I don't mean to be an annoying a-hole, just thought your last words on that sentence were pretty interesting to read, so I thought I would comment on your "why not just take a photo?" (:

 

I do apologize for seeming glib; I know fully well the incredible talent required to do a hyperrealistic painting, and I applaud anyone who has that level of skill--I certainly don't. I wasn't intending to sound dismissive, but I seem to have come off that way. I was speaking purely from a personal point of view. I don't care for hyperrealism in art, but that doesn't mean I don't consider it a valid art form. It is, and it requires a level of talent I could never hope to aspire to. To be frank, my "why not just take a photo" comment was meant to convey my personal view that art is supposed to be representational--not "this is how X looked at a given moment" but "this is how X looked to me". A perfectly reproduced photo-like image tells us nothing of the artist's perceptions, and that's a big part of the aesthetic to me. YMMV, of course.

But back to the business of "exact proportion" in art; I took art classes waaaaaay back in the day, and we were always told that precise, exact reproduction of every line and proportion of a photograph (like a "tracing") would not result in a truly pleasing reproduction. There were tips on how to slightly enlarge the eyes, slim down the neck, not draw every individual tooth in a smile...that sort of thing. But this was back in the 1970s, and everything was fake back then. Heh.

 

You didn't sound dismissive to me at all, it sounded like a sincerely curious observation to me, and that is why I replied. (: I know that hyper-realistic art is not a popular subject, for many reasons besides the amount of skill and talent, etc.. I guess some find it dull and uncreative as well. I think most assume hyperrealism is uncreative because of the believe a person is simply trying to copy a photo onto canvas, but from what I understand Kei Mieno works from subjects in his mind, and not actual people or photos, to me that's an insane amount of creativity and talent. I took art courses in the mid-eighties all the way to college (in 2004-2008). I always had teachers with varying opinions on how to approach art. The few courses I took on portraiture (very few of them, I'm really not into portraiture), were always about getting the facial proportions of the subject as close as possible, to get an accurate looking portrait. I feel like graphic design courses for me were more about making things look appealing to the eye, and "pretty from all angles," even if it meant editing an image to death. Most of my later courses were in 3D art however, which focused (back then) on mimicking real life. So maybe my more vivid memories are from those courses, and I'm mixing things up now in my head.



I do apologize to the other people on this thread, for "hijacking" the thread to discuss art and realism. It still has to do a lot with the subject in a way, but not all to do with doll eyes. As I originally commented a few pages back I still believe that for me, as long as the eyes fit the style of the doll or the character they are based on, then I don't care if they are anime-ish or realistic in style. I don't take good photos anyway, but I like the eyes to work for the doll they are intended for. Sadly, I've never been able to find the perfect pair of eyes for any of my dolls (yet!).

 

I love both, depending on the sculpt I plan to use them in. If the dolls have a more anime-esque face, I'm likely to go with anime style eyes, but if the sculpt carries a lot of realism, I'll go for realistic eyes (or, subtly fantasy).

 

I personally like realistic to own but I admire anime eyes owned by others.

 

I love both. I just think of it as two different families, anime style dolls and more realistic dolls.

 

Anime styled eyes in anime sculpted faces, and "realistic" in the same. My narrow eyed Granado would look pretty damn strange with anime styled eyes, and my DollZone KeAi would look pretty weird with realistic eyes. I kind of want a few more styles of anime for my little DollZone, but I haven't seen any "Oh God I Need Those Now" eyes yet.

 

I think somewhere in the middle for me! Not too realistic but not too anime-ish and I think that suits my doll the best.

 

Large eyes all the way I do need there to be definition in the face, like clearly visible lips and nose that actually resembles a nose and not a slight piramid -shiver-

 

Very cool, interesting fact!

For me, it depends on the doll. I understand that realistic eyes are generally more popular but sometimes anime eyes look great; I own and love both.

 

I fell in love with realistic eyes lately! Especially since the artisans create such unbelievably believable eyes - they are just gorgeous!

 

I like anime eyes way more than the “real” ones

 

I think BJDs look better w realistic eyes, unless they have an anime face then I wouldn't mind anime eyes but even dolls like Soom or Dream of doll that are not realistic looking look better w realistic eyes

 

I personally prefer realistic eyes.