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

I only have one doll that has a faceup by anyone else, and it's a vinyl dollfie dream with a factory faceup. And I only settled for that because I had to!

NGL, even if the faceup process wasn't fun and a creative outlet for me I'd be way too nervous to send one of my precious heads to some rando. This hobby doesn't exactly have the best reputation for upstanding, trustworthy individuals.

 

I have one doll that has no faceup. I have been debating trying to do her faceup myself, but I'm so worried I'll ruin her somehow. With the cost of products to do it, and then with my shaky hands, I just feel like it's more worth it for me to get someone else to do it.

 

I have always liked to do the faceups myself. Learning them was a process but I enjoyed it and made faceups I was happy with pretty soon out of the gate. It was not a big investment for me. I am a portrait painter and had pastels left over from art school at the time.
But that being said I'm not rigid about it anymore. I can also enjoy having company faceups or I would think I would enjoy good work by someone else or another artist friend. But I cannot afford to commission anyone and it's very low cost to just replace what I need as I go (mostly respirator things and sealant, everything else lasts me basically forever). So I'm happy to keep doing it myself. I really enjoyed it as well. It's a specific art!

 

Designing faceups is one of my favorite aspects of this hobby. I'm not very skilled at it, but I do enjoy the process. I also worry that I wouldn't be completely satisfied with a commission. I'd feel bad if I had to ask for revisions.

 

At this point in time, it would have to be commision. There are so many talented face-up artists that I would like to support. At one point, I would like to learn how to do face-ups and body blushings.

 

Commission. I can do a lot of creative things but faceups isn’t one of them.

 

I would rather commission someone. I don’t have the skills to do it myself, even if I did, I think I would be horrible at actually getting it done, lol!

 

I've been team commission someone for a long time! Almost all of my dolls were painted by someone else. Although, I do have a small stable of floating heads I like to paint. I can see myself moving toward painting my own once I improve to the level of quality I want.

 

I prefer doing my own because I already have a lot of the necessary materials from other art projects and there are not a lot of opportunities to casually paint on such a 3D surface otherwise - I've found it to be a really good way to develop a steady hand for any kind of brushwork so it's been also useful when looping back into 2D artwork. I never fully enjoyed commissioning custom artwork and find it much easier to make decisions as I go along so in the end I'd probably only truly be happy DIYing it anyway. I do really enjoy looking at other faceup artists' work and I think I'd consider buying an already-painted head, though!

 

Commission, always. I'm not artistic in any sense and I know if I tried and it didn't turn out how it did in my head, I'd be so dejected. Plus, I love seeing true artists bringing my dolls to life with their own style and expression. It just makes even more special than it already is.

 

I bought everything I need for makeup, but I continue to order makeup from professionals. Probably over time I will do makeup for my dolls myself, but so far I'm not ready)))

 

I totally understand how you feel! I've heard horror stories about resin getting permanently damaged when someone removed a faceup, and that's the biggest inhibitor to me giving it a shot...

 

I’d love to try my hand at a faceup someday! The entire process looks relaxing, in a way.

 

I do it myself, but I get angry when the result doesn't match my idea.
The reason for this is that I am too afraid to separate from my dolls. The second reason is that every thing I do for my dolls strengthens the bonding. Really.
But the frustration is all the more when I can't get the face out of my mind into the world.

 

I prefer to do the faceup myself since I find it comforting that if I don't like it, I can always redo it since I'm the one that originally painted it. Also, I'm not the greatest at expressing what I want in a commission since my ideas change very quickly and I prefer to be able to adjust the face multiple times. I feel like this would be too big of a hassle for a commissioner.

 

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I'm going to have to learn myself, because I doubt there are many faceup artists in my country (Australia) and I've heard too many artists stealing heads horror stories.
Though I do have a close friend with a background in special effects makeup, so I have someone to help me learn how to shade parts of a face!

 

Making my own dolls face up got me interested in this hobby. So yes i do all my dolls face up‘s myself

 

I absolutely want to start doing my own face-ups. I paint 28-32mm gaming miniatures, and I think some of those skills might translate over ok.

 

I would absolutely be down to commission a faceup if I didn't have to mail my doll out to someone else and have the possibility of it getting lost in post. I'm no really worried about being scammed, moreso about my horrible luck with postage!

 

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

 

It really depends on what look I'm going for with a doll and what I plan on doing with them. I primarily collect vinyl dolls like Dollfie Dream, whose factory faceups are borderline bulletproof and don't use MSC at all, so for most of my character concepts all I need to do is find a factory faceup that's similar enough to what I want, and then I can wipe what I don't want, then add a layer of MSC and add the blush or extra details it's missing before sealing once more as a topcoat. Anime faceups require some really fine brushwork to look good, and I just don't have that skill, so this is a great shortcut.

I HAVE done a couple of faceups all the way through from blank to complete, but these were special cases that didn't need fine brushwork...a cartoony face done entirely in acrylic for my Obitsu 40 for example, and a faceup/body blush combo for my Whale Tower Rafayeh that really just required me to dab a few different colors of acrylic on with a dry brush to highlight the sculpt details and give her a weathered look. Simple stuff, I can do no problem, and if this is a doll I plan on taking with me for photos or companionship, a simple paint job is a must so I can touch it up again if something happens.

If I want a more intricate artistic look for a doll's face that I can't achieve myself, though, or really like a specific artist's style, I'll spring for a commission instead. But I really don't go for that unless I've vetted the artist carefully and really considered it, since if something happens it's not usually something I can fix. I usually only want fancy faces on harder to find sculpts, too, so I have to make sure the artist won't take too long and that they're reliable. But I've had good experiences so far, so I'll continue to do this.

 

I'm extremely paranoid, even when I have no right to be. An increasing number of my dolls have turned up broken, and I had to go to war with a 'trustworthy' vendor via my bank over an outfit that never left China after being marked 'shipped' for half a year. In the same year that we all figured out we were being scammed by JPopDolls.

Part of me fears that the doll I send out for a faceup will be the one that gets lost for good in the post. So... I've commissioned one faceup in fifteen years, and the rest either come with the dolls, or I do them myself. I've never paid for a company faceup on a new doll, save for a Dollfie Dream fullset, where you can't opt out. It adds too much cost, and is rarely what I want. As much as I would like to pay more talented people with expensive materials to paint them for me, it takes all of my budget just to get the dolls themselves.

That said, now that I have vinyl dolls, I will need to sleuth out some good-and-affordable faceup artists who also mod, because I can't seem to sand eyesockets smooth on my own, or open them without problems. Not to mention how easily vinyl stains compared with resin. It still makes me nervous. But I'm sure I'll get to painting them too, someday. Budget demands it. Also, when a faceup goes well, it can be satisfying. There's always a sense of accomplishment in bringing them to life yourself.

 

Theoretically I would love to do my own faceups; however, I'm not to the level I want yet and my energy and attention span can be abysmal lol. I have been thinking about faceup commissions and trying to research people's styles to see if I find something I like cause I'm a bit picky since all of my dolls are shells for very personal characters.

 

I used to do my own faceups and enjoyed it well enough. However, sewing is more my thing, and now that I’ve experienced the ease of commissioning a faceup artist- who does a far better job than I could right now! -I’m never going back unless it’s not in my budget! Frees me up to focus on the part I like best.

(The shipping is a bit stressful, but the only artist I’ve worked with so far is very trustworthy, so any hiccups would be USPS’ fault rather than hers.)

 

I personally prefer to do faceups myself - my budget is already very slim, I simply do not have the money to commission someone atm. However, I can certainly see myself commissioning someone in the future! I've seen some very talented artists who can do far more than I could ever hope to do!

 

I prefer to do faceups myself, mostly because I find it to be fun, but also because I'm terrified of shelling out for an artist faceup and having it get scratched up with no way to fix it. I usually redo my dolls' faceups every few years to update them with my improved faceup skills, so I honestly have no fear of scratching a DIY faceup because it's easy enough for me to wipe it and do it all over for fun.

I do own one doll with an artist faceup that I purchased secondhand solely because I loved the faceup, but that will probably be the only non-DIY faceup I will ever own. I just love doing them myself too much to pay someone else to do it for me!

 

I would love to be able to do my own face ups, but honestly, those skills continue to elude me. Commissioning someone would be fantastic, and I would love to be able to do it, but my budget never seems to stretch far enough. Also, to add to that, sometimes when I look at a BJD listing, it is the stock face up provided by the company that helps to make the doll for me.

 

I’m working on one at the moment, so it remains to be seen! Now the eyebrows are ok I need to redo the blusher and hope I can get the lashes in

 

I usually face-up my dolls myself, it s really fun for me and I like it a lot. But I would love, in future, to order one or two face-ups from professional, like PaulianeDolls or Rakeru Sensei, to have couple perfect dolls

 

As of right now, it’s commission for me. I do plan on buying some second hand heads to practice on, as I would love to do my own eventually. Once I get to a point where I feel like I could do the dolls justice, I will start doing my own!

 

I always love the art other people do over my own, and faceups are no exception. That said, because I can do mediocre faceups myself, I find it hard to justify spending the money to commission a faceup. But if I had the money, I would LOVE to commission more faceups. I always love the results and it's so much less stressful on me for whatever reason. Also, in trying to do my own, I suffer from shaky hands, fatigue, and other things that mean I rarely can do them so it takes a long time to get anything completed.

 

I would love to be able to do my own face ups, but I would never be happy with my own abilities and the kind of skill I am after is something that would take years to hone. I’m also really bad about losing motivation really quickly if I feel like it’s not going well. I came across a face up artist whose style I really like. They can be pricey, and it takes a few months from sending off the head to getting it back, but in the end at least it’s done and done well. I don’t have a massive collection of dolls so my hope is that I can save up and get the ones who need painting all done in the next year or two.

 

Definitely commission. i'm such a perfectionist it's painful.

 

I paint my own dolls. It began with saving money -- at first I didn't know any faceup artists in my country (the BJD community is quite small) and I didn't like the idea of shipping my dolls overseas every time I wanted a faceup. So I decided to invest in learning first.

Now the main reason is creative control. A faceup artist can't read my mind, no matter how good they are or what rapport we have. I prefer to have a doll with my amateur faceup that resembles my inner vision of the doll, instead of a gorgeous professional faceup that I'm disappointed with because I spent all this money/time getting it done but it doesn't resemble my vision.

And I discovered that painting faceups is fun! I enjoy improving my skills and then repainting my dolls - it's been great to see my dolls's faces look more like how I imagine them.

That said, I'm open to ordering company faceups, or keeping a faceup that came with a secondhand doll -- and I've done both. If it's beautiful and suits the character, it stays, no matter who painted it.

 

Commission! I could do, and have done my own faceups in the past but I always end up hating them and I'm never satisfied with my own work so commissioning an artist I like keeps me happier I would like to practice though so in the future maybe I could do them on my own. Commissioning artists is always stressful especially when you have a really specific thing in mind

 

I prefer to commission faceups, since I wouldn’t be able to do as good of a job myself. I’ve never done a faceup myself yet. It seems like fun, but I’m a perfectionist, so I think I’d be stressed if a faceup didn’t turn out the way I want it to.

 

I wish really badly I could do Face-Ups on my own. It's not a matter of skill or resources that is the issue for me, for I have heaps of artist's supplies and could easily nab a can of MSC. But the issue is that I have a cat, an allergic family member and no well-ventilated rooms where I can safely seal my dolls. It seems like so much fun to make your creative vision come true instead of having to rely on someone else.

 

I'm not an artist in any way so I always ask to the same artist to make the face ups of my dolls since she alreay know my taste and what I like so the character comes alive perfectly.

 

I am an artist and my fingers are itching to try and learn faceups properly! So I definitely want to do it myself. I am a little scared I won't like it, but I will have a practice head and sealant to protect me from making the worst mistakes..and I hope that everything else just comes down to practice, same with my regular art!

 

I mostly do my dolls make-up myself but I'm not close minded on commissioning another artist! I'm just really picky and anxious so it's harder for me to let my dolls into someone else hands