On Respecting Chinese BJD Artists
Originally a reply to a truebjdconfessions post but it needs everyone’s support.
I wonder why there are so many Chinese companies with this very generic, unrefined aesthetic, yet Korean ones pretty much always have defined style and solid design. Dollzone started out pretty clunky and unappealing too, yet they managed to eventually birth Doll Chateau - but they are among the oldest and best known companies out there. Is it just that other artists don’t have enough resources and opportunities for development in China?
DISCLAIMER: I’m Chinese-American and a sculptor-wannabe. Due to no reason in particular most sculptors I know personally are Chinese. Some of them have applied for company jobs or had dealings where companies tried to buy their sculpt. I believe what I say below to be accurate.
It looks like you don’t know very many Chinese companies but I know the thing you’re talking about.
The problem isn’t the artists. The problem is with the companies’ art directors.
Many of the earlier companies were not founded by doll artists but by entrepreneurs or creative people in adjacent hobbies, and in fact one BJD company is simply a department in a mass-market toy factory (this company’s resin quality is superb, though). Without an artist at the helm with a clear vision for a “look”, the sculptors for hire had to take orders from management, some of whom, it must be said, aren’t in it for the right reasons.
Worse, there is an expectation in China and the West that Chinese BJDs aught to be cheap. This price ceiling, along with stiff competition from recasters for down-market consumers, means that there’s a very narrow niche in which legitimate Chinese companies must then try and compete with all their many colleagues for a livelihood.
The cost of living in Chinese cities, where artists congregate to develop professionally, is as high as Seoul and Tokyo. Yet people expect to pay less for Chinese dolls.
Profit margins are so thin that companies cannot afford to pay very well or take too many artistic risk. It has driven many independent artists underground, since even accounting for faceup, clothing commission, wig, eye, accessories, photography props, publicity, and casting costs that the artist has to now pay themselves, it is still more likely for the artist to break even selling a much smaller number than it is to sell the copyright to a company.
At least independent and freelance company artists have the freedom to work at their own pace (and earn sporadically). In-house sculptors usually work under a quota system, with only a few heads making it to the final product.
I can name at least two companies that were founded by sculptors dissatisfied with company work and decided to strike out on their own. I would say that their style is recognizably theirs, but once they founded a company, they’re immediately faced with the same market pressures as their former employers, squeezed between recasters and the price ceiling.
China doesn’t lack for artists with rigorous training and mature, unique sensibilities.
Granado is a Chinese artist.
La Legende de Temps is a Chinese artist.
Nabarro is Chinese artists.
And here are some more. Some of whom are my friends and mentors. Please support them and treat them well.
Harlan (gore version) by Ada Dan
3D-printed prototype from Dynamesh （the OP is not the sculptor)
New doll by Enana’s BJD / huona
In some ways it’s a good thing the slew of interchangeable sculpts have not gone unnoticed. If only you can see that you are part of the cause!
stormborns
yousharknotpass
ellievsbear
jacobvanloon
pixelskylines
areudirty
origamiaround
germansingergirl
