Kate asked this question the other day. Again, another GREAT question Kate!
Please keep in mind that this is my opinion as I work with sculpts and that my view could be different than anothers. For instance, Kate says that bad ears kill a sculpt for her. I don't pay much attention to ears so for me, it's no big deal.
So here it is.
I believe that most sculpting artists do an excellent job on the sculpting. Many times what kills the sculpt for me happens in production.
PINK vinyl is at the top of my list for the murder of the sculpt. I hate pink vinyl. There is nothing harder to work on, at least for me.
Webbed fingers and toes are another real frustrating side effect of production. Thankfully, most of the companies are hearing our complaints these days and solving that issue. Webbed fingers and toes simply do not and cannot look real.
Creases and details not defined is another biggie. I even think that sometimes the companies forget to add the creases as I've seen kits that have great creases on one leg/foot but not the other. Details such as a defined brow line, defined eye lids, nose and lip fullness and visible nail beds are important too.
I love a head that is "bumpy". I mean, a smooth round head is hard to make look real, even with hair. If the head has some natural divots and sculpted features, it really helps make the doll ultra realistic. This is true of the face and limbs as well. A head that is flat on top is ugh...hard to root!
I am not sure if this next problem is from the production of the sculpt of from the original sculpt itself but one thing that really kills a sculpt for me are eyes that are very inset with lot's of room from the back of the socket to the front of the eye. You can almost bet that it will be hard to find an eye to fit flush leaving no gaps and the sunken eye look is just plain hard to overcome.
Good sculpts are symmetrical~meaning the head and limbs are of proper size in relation to each other. Now I totally understand that real babies are not symmetrical, I see it all the time but for we artists to tune into reality, the sculpt really needs to be symmetrical because when humans look at a doll their vision tends to be perfection. That is just human nature. Yes EVEN IF real babies are not perfect.
I don't like straight limbs. I am sure this is a personal preference. For me they are hard to pose and posing is a huge part of promoting the baby for sale.
So in closing, who do I think is the "BEST" sculpt so far? Jayden by Natalie Scholl. He is just perfection in all ways.
Please keep in mind that this is my opinion as I work with sculpts and that my view could be different than anothers. For instance, Kate says that bad ears kill a sculpt for her. I don't pay much attention to ears so for me, it's no big deal.
So here it is.
I believe that most sculpting artists do an excellent job on the sculpting. Many times what kills the sculpt for me happens in production.
PINK vinyl is at the top of my list for the murder of the sculpt. I hate pink vinyl. There is nothing harder to work on, at least for me.
Webbed fingers and toes are another real frustrating side effect of production. Thankfully, most of the companies are hearing our complaints these days and solving that issue. Webbed fingers and toes simply do not and cannot look real.
Creases and details not defined is another biggie. I even think that sometimes the companies forget to add the creases as I've seen kits that have great creases on one leg/foot but not the other. Details such as a defined brow line, defined eye lids, nose and lip fullness and visible nail beds are important too.
I love a head that is "bumpy". I mean, a smooth round head is hard to make look real, even with hair. If the head has some natural divots and sculpted features, it really helps make the doll ultra realistic. This is true of the face and limbs as well. A head that is flat on top is ugh...hard to root!
I am not sure if this next problem is from the production of the sculpt of from the original sculpt itself but one thing that really kills a sculpt for me are eyes that are very inset with lot's of room from the back of the socket to the front of the eye. You can almost bet that it will be hard to find an eye to fit flush leaving no gaps and the sunken eye look is just plain hard to overcome.
Good sculpts are symmetrical~meaning the head and limbs are of proper size in relation to each other. Now I totally understand that real babies are not symmetrical, I see it all the time but for we artists to tune into reality, the sculpt really needs to be symmetrical because when humans look at a doll their vision tends to be perfection. That is just human nature. Yes EVEN IF real babies are not perfect.
I don't like straight limbs. I am sure this is a personal preference. For me they are hard to pose and posing is a huge part of promoting the baby for sale.
So in closing, who do I think is the "BEST" sculpt so far? Jayden by Natalie Scholl. He is just perfection in all ways.
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That's good to know since mine will be finished next week by Wanda Monroe. (Bushel and a Peck nursery) I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it. I agree about your assessment of sculpts; one of the biggest things I notice as a collector and not a reborner is that often times the proportions are very inaccurate. The head size will be way too small for the body,(a 13 inch head for a 21 inch doll) or the hands will be too small. Babies actually have bigger feet than what most sculpts have making the legs look out of proportion as well. It's all about the details I think.
ReplyDeleteI got an Elisa Marx Lilith kit reborn a couple of years ago and the vinyl in the eye area was so thick, the eye sunk back in the socket too far. It looked weird.
I always have to re-weight the dolls I get because I like them to feel a certain way. I also really like those baby fat inserts for the tushy; it feels so real if they have a soft bum. ;-) You can put them in the diaper or actually insert them inside the body cavity if you remove the head and other weighting material first. But that's another topic all together.
Thanks for your input on good and bad sculpts, it was very interesting.
Hugs,
Janene