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

I like to do it myself, even if it isn't perfect, even if my eyebrows are wonky, there's a sense of satisfaction in doing it yourself that is what really appeals to me. Looking at their faces and being able to say "i made that" is one of the biggest draws personally. I love it. Helps me bond with a doll too if i'm painting their face.

 

I want to do my own face up, but I'm very intimidated by the process. When I bought him, he had a rather messy face up from his previous owner, so I feel he can't get worse. (He had superglue built up on the bridge of his nose) As much as I want to do it myself, I feel it would be easier to commission someone

 

I can sew, but I don't know how to paint. I would like to make my own make ups, but it's to hard to me, so I need to use proffesional make-upists skills

 

I would love to do a faceup myself but I have no artistic talent and I would just mess the face up lol

 

Commission! My talents lie in sewing so that's my creative outlet. Face-ups are definitely a skill you have to practice and right now I'd rather pay someone to do what I want than learn to do it myself. It also means I get to support artists I like!

 

I would prefer to learn myself, especially if it's a natural face. However, if I really like someone's work I would probably commission them.

 

I`m going to be getting a cheap "practice" head to work with, so for right now I`ll stick with commissions for when I get one until I get better. I`m scared of ruining the doll..

 

Even though it wont look nearly as good, I prefer to do it myself. I feel more connected to the doll, and the teason i got a bjd was because it was another medium of art to try out.

 

I'd like to commission one day, but for now I do my own. I love doing faceups, even if I'm not as good as other people.

 

Commission! I've mentioned it around here before, but commissioning faceups is one of my very favorite things about this hobby. It's always my goal to never enlist the same artist twice (unless I desperately need two dolls to resemble each other) because I just really love the variety. BJDs are surely pieces of art themselves, but when you also have a skilled artist painting them, it takes it to a whole new level. Very fun, and I've ended up with a pretty diverse collection of dolls in the end. Always looking for more people to add to my master commission list!

 

I commission faceups as I like to leave it up to the "pros" to work their magic.

 

I do it. It can turn out really bad sometimes, but it's my work. My first face up was good enough for me, but my actual doll is waiting for his face up since 2018 october, and I still can't feel I want to paint him... But I never send him to anybody. No way.

 

At this point, Id rather just pay someone else to do it. I like crafting for my dolls, so most of their stuff is made by me. Because of this I don't feel bad paying someone else to do just the face. If I did it, they would look absolutely awful. id rather have their face be gorgeous. Id rather spend my time getting better at sewing, or making props.

 

I wish I could do it myself! But I’m really bad at it... So I commissioned an artist. Sadly I’ve a kinda style I like and is hard to find artists with those skills.

 

I commission at the moment.
I would love to try my hand at doing them though.
But I havent got the space / time at the moment to get started but maybe one day

 

I usually just find dolls with company faceups I like and get those. Although I do have a blank DD head right now that I might try doing a simple faceup on, since I don't have the spare cash or energy to send her off for a commission. If there was someone in my area who could do it I might reconsider...but I already brought all the stuff so...

 

I've done two minimal face ups myself, mainly because the artists I love have either stopped doing them or are extremely difficult to slot. I'm fortunate that, thanks to past art classes, I had most of the supplies (brushes, pastels, acrylics). I just don't have the skills! I can shade eyes, blush cheeks and paint lips - but the eyeliner and eyebrows are definitely pro territory. All those tiny hairs! My first doll only had two soft smudges for her eyebrows. And forget eyelashes - BCD is re-glue a loose one. I did commission an artist, though, for a special doll and was so pleased and impressed - I wish I was half that good.

 

I mostly buy these particular kinds of dolls so I can draw on them.

I admire and appreciate other artists' work, but I prefer to customize my dolls in my own personal style.

 

I'd prefer to do it myself...but I suck.

 

My first 3 dolls years ago, I had ordered with company faceup. So far the rest have been blank and i've taken on the tasks of blushing and adding faceups to them. Its a bit daunting but very rewarding for me.

 

Making a faceup is a magic ritual of appropriating a doll. I can't paint well, but it's important to me. During the process, I recognize that person. Most of my dolls have something of mine.

 

Commission is the way to do for me atm. I have neither the supplies nor the skills to currently pull off a faceup of my own. It is one of my dolly goals that I'm working towards to be able to do my own faceups one day however! I will need A LOT of practice to feel comfortable painting a beloved head, that's for sure though ^^;

But I'm lucky to have found a wonderful faceup artist whose style is right up my alley for now ♡

 

Definitely myself! I've never owned a doll with a company or commissioned faceup before. Part of what makes this hobby enjoyable for me is the faceups!

 

I’ve comissioned faceups in the past but now I want to start trying my own again. I did my first ever faceup on my first Dollshe Bernard but then i bought dolls already with faceups or commissioned them since then. But something happened in a last commission that made me want to try making them my self again.

 

Too scared to ruin the beautiful original face of hers! I fell in love with the way she is, but I definitely wanna try to do it myself one day, on another doll though. I agree that it can be really important, specially if I'm trying to create a certain type of face that I just can't explain to someone else... I'd like that kind of control of doing it myself.

 

Right now I would want to commission someone since I’ve never done a face up, but eventually I want to be able do them myself. There’s also something really cool about having something from an artist you admire. That’s another reason why I might commission someone.

 

Send one of my babies out of my home...NEVER!!! I just can’t do it! Fortunately I’m fairly proficient at artistic things, so I do their face-ups myself. That being said however, I won’t hesitate to buy a doll with a pre-existing face-up I like, whether from a company or an individual. It’s just the sending them away part I can’t deal with. I’m too much like an overly anxious mother to do that!

 

While I suck at face ups, I'd rather do it myself. And they may not look good but as I get better, I can always redo them myself. Its practice and honestly I always feel so happy when I complete one.

 

I would like to learn how to do faceups, but, for now, I wouldn't trust myself with something as valuable as my doll's face. I'd definitely prefer to commission an artist.

 

I haven't been active in the hobby for years now, but I realised a few things having found my way back. I've also probably posted in this thread before, and so it'll be interesting to see how my own opinion has changed!

1) I love doing faceups myself and have always done so. I've never commissioned one.
2) I used to offer commissions years ago, and I found that I actually strongly prefer working on my own dolls. I might be one of the few people who doesn't want to take commissions for faceups ever again lol.
3) I do my best work on my own dolls, because I see their characters come to life so strongly. I've done faceups that I honestly thought were quite beautiful (LOOOL!) on my own dolls, especially when I know what I'm going for!

I've got to re-purchase a lot of the materials again because the ones I'd had are very old and very worn, and now quite difficult to store properly, but it was looking at my dolls - especially my beautiful Deon that really made me want to get back into the hobby.

 

From what I can tell I will be bit of an outlier here. I have dome my own face ups and am reasonably happy with a couple of them. But I also like to commission face ups for some of my dolls.
Money is a factor I cannot deny. It'll always be cheaper to do myself.
But for some of my dolls I just am not happy enough with my skills to do a faceup I'll be satisfied with. Main example of that is Sir Thomas because he's a likeness doll. He has to look like someone from a existing movie I wanted to put him in the hands of a good artist so he could look his best.
Also I want to commission face ups from certain artists I love like Sugar Stars and Angel Toast. Same way I collect prints from other artists I want a doll done by each of them.

 

For me it would be both. There are a few artists I certainly would not mind painting a doll for me. Seeing some of their work is absolutely stunning. That said, however, I just purchased my first blank doll and a bunch of art supplies to do my first full faceup by my self. I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to replace the lip stick on one of my gals first for practice, but then do the full face up. Looking forward to sharing how it goes.

 

I do them myself because I'm terrified of losing the head/faceplate. That and because it's already an expensive hobby. Doing myself makes that cost less.
If I have an old face up I like but needs refreshing I'll usually just add a little tinting to brighten the old face up and seal if needed.

 

My current plan is to do the faceups myself, figuring I can always improve and redo them. Even though what I want is relatively simple, I'm afraid someone else might not have the same vision I do and I'm relatively picky. That being said, if I get frustrated enough with my own skills, and am impressed enough with a commissioner's skills, I will pay to have it done right... or at least better.

 

I’m new, but the reason I got into this is because I wanted to create my own characters, so I’m planning on doing them myself on the blank dolls I get. I’ve done one so far and am really happy with the way she came out, and I just started another one. That being said, If I see a full set I love, I would get it With the face up the original artist intended, like I did with my girl Hawk.

 

If I had the tools and some time- I do not- I would absolutely.
The thought of sending a head in the mail and to wait on it scares me. If I found a local artist I could drive to, then maybe.

Now company faceups? If they're nice and reasonably priced- you bet I'll go with that! I don't have to ship anywhere which saves me some!

Also I agree with @NikkiB -- No plans to shell my characters, buuuut if I do it'd have to be me.

 

Commission,
I suppose there are the two sides of the coin here in that if you can do it yourself you are free to have the flexibility to change the faceup as you wish. However, as a person who has bought tons of doll faceup art supplies and attempted faceups myself, I'm really not that arty and don't have the patience or skill to create faceups on dolls I'm happy with. Thus I ended up selling all my art supplies (that overall, cost the price + more of a very good faceup on a doll that I would much rather have then my many poor attempts :P ).

So I would recommend a commission if you're like me and am very fussy and not very arty, then doing it yourself (as decent art supplies themselves add up more pricey then of a faceup you could get commissioned!) Of course if your an arty person and can do it youself, doing faceups yourself will help you in the long run

 

I've looked at a lot of "career faceup artists" and while I love their work, I dont connect with it and feel that if I send my doll to one, I wouldnt be happy with it.

I am an artist. I've been drawing for a long time before I got into the hobby and so the idea of putting my skills to the test for a 3d form is pretty exciting. Plus, if you seal it well, you can keep practicing until you're blue in the face.

I'm still undecided on the final faceup on my dolls, thus why their profiles still have them blank, but I much rather say I put the effort into my own dolls than just sent them off. No offense to anyone who does.

 

So far, I like doing them myself! On top of being afraid of sending part of a doll out and possibly losing it, I would be afraid of not being 100% satisfied with someone else's work, and being afraid to speak up about it. That would probably never happen, because most of the time when I buy dolls that happen to already have a faceup, I am enamored with the artists' work. But just in case, I would rather be upset with something I did myself, because then I wouldn't mind fixing it. If I was upset with a faceup that I paid for, I would regret wanting to wipe it and start again.

 

I would commission a face-up if I had the perfect artist in mind! I wouldn't want to do it myself because I don't think I can, and also don't really want to. Actually, the idea of wiping the doll's face clean and redrawing it over and over when you grow tired of how it looks bothers me for some reason. I'd rather just commission one face-up and be done with it!

 

I have 0 trust in myself when it comes to makeup, so I'd personally get a commission instead (I usually get company faceups). I'm too afraid I'd ruin them haha

 

I prefer commissioning someone to do the face up of my dolls since they were so expensive and I want them to look beautiful. But I own one very old doll (from 2001) and I'd never commission someone to do her face up. She's my "practice" doll for face ups so having someone else do this would defeat her purpose

 

I would rather do it myself so I have full control over what I'm doing. Plus I'm pretty hands on with most of my projects so I think I would be pretty anxious about handing them off to someone else

 

I commission people to do the faceups, mainly just because I don't know how to properly do one myself. I'd really like to do my own faceups, though, so I'm doing my best to learn through tutorials for the future ^^

 

I am far, far, far from the most skilled faceup artist on the planet. The most basic factory faceup is likely better than I could ever do. That having been said, I am proud of the fact that I did Chaeri's faceup myself. It's my best work by a long chalk. I can honestly say that everything she wears, including her makeup, was made by me. Could others do better? Undoubtedly. But nothing, nothing could replace the pride of knowing I did that, I did my best, and it's good enough for me.

 

It's easier for me to order dolls with default faceups or have them commissioned. I would like to do my own faceups but sadly I lack the patients and skill required to do them.

 

I try to do them myself. I'm not great and make lots of mistakes. They come out hideous and then I wipe them and do it all over again, then fall on love with them. It's really fun and I'm getting better with each one I do. Though, I have commissioned faceups before and my friends and family can tell you I'm horrible at waiting. And waiting for the dolls to arrive from the company is enough of a wait for me. Sending them back out to an artist (even though I do want some of my dolls to be done byvother people!) is really hard for me to commit to. Plus, I want to see their character finished sooner rather than later.

 

im very split on this tbh, im learning how to do face ups right now but i dont have the confidence in myself to do one on anything other than a monster high or a practice head so currently its commission, but i'd love to be confident enough to do my own eventually c:

 

I got my first three BJD with custom face ups from their respective companies, but since I got my first blank doll (which was my fourth BJD), I have always preferred doing the face ups myself. I suck at them; I struggle painting decent hair strokes at any scale smaller than life-sized, so I am aware that my face ups are crap. However, I enjoy painting -- I'm a classically trained artist and I love painting more than any other art-form, so I enjoy doing all the customizing work myself. I could probably search for someone to do a much cleaner job for me, but I just rather do it myself. I don't think it would be as fun as painting my dolls myself; looking for someone to do the face up for me, would be a huge pain in the gut, I think. It's much easier to just wipe the faces and start again, if I really want to, whenever I want to. (:

 

I really would rather do it myself than have to send it away and wait. But after numerous attempts over the years i have to admitt im terrible at faceups and am not improving. Everything else in the hobby ive done my self and improved the more i practice, sewing, modding, wigs, props, furniture... But not faceups. So i really need to just commision someone, and work up the nerve to actually send my dolls away. I have some that i bought secondhand that came with custom faceups that are so pretty they make mine look awful. But the thought of trusting the post office with my beloved dolls that ive had 10+ years terrifies me

 

I am going to be attempting my own face-up. For me, it was a big part of the draw.

 

Do it myself. Each doll is a new challenge for me to get better and giving them faceups. I am slowly starting to get better. I've even wiped off company faceups to have a go at them. I don't worry if they are not perfect, because I am just learning.

I feel like a get to know my doll a bit more when I am working on them. If I don't like the way it turned out, I just erase and try again.

 

As for me Id Happily do it for myself my first doll i did her face up and it made us bond alot

 

I usually do both. I usually try to do my own faceup first, and if I feel like I can't quite get it the way I want it to, I turn to commissions

 

DEFINITELY commission or company faceup! I can't even do human size makeup well, so I know if I try to do doll faceups it would be a disaster. Maybe some day I'll have the courage to attempt it myself, though!

 

im very 50/50 im someone where when i want something i want it done exactly the way i plan so i like doing it myself that way if i mess up or something goes wrong its all on me but i also know theres some face up i just cant pull off cus im not as skilled to which then i send them off to a commissioner

 

I'm definitely doing faceups by myself! Painting the features is part of what I love in the process of bringing the character "alive" and the way I picture them. Also if I need to tweak the faceup, it's not a bid deal to redo something I've made, but I'd feel a bit bad for touching a faceup someone else has done for me.

 

I'd rather do it myself, and I do! I've always been into drawing and painting, plus I'm fairly decent at makeup so it's not outside of my wheelhouse. I may not be terribly good at it yet but I get better with each one. I also feel like it's a pretty important part of bringing the character out of the doll and really bonding. I'm also a little less sad if something gets damaged as I didn't spend a lot of money to ship it off and can simply patch it up myself haha.

 

I'd rather do it myself, because that way I learn how and improve my artistic skills. Also if the faceup somehow gets ruined I can redo it myself rather than ship it off someplace.

That being said, I've not done a BJD faceup yet. I do, however, have some experience painting tabletop gaming scale miniatures, and I figure if I can paint the teeny tiny eyes and faces on those, then a BJD should be okay, lol.

 

If I can do it myself, then I would. Maybe in the future... but for now, I am enjoying other people's talents. :P