Hello, apologies if I am bothering you. I would like to ask for some doll base recommendations, please.
If you were to make a custom doll of a gelfling character from The Dark Crystal franchise, which doll would you use as a base? I am mostly asking in terms of face sculpts since the bodies are easier to modify.
Hey there! No worries, you're not bothering me at all. XD I wouldn't keep my askbox open if I didn't want questions! Everyone is welcome here, anytime. <3
This is a delightful question! Admittedly I am not super familiar with The Dark Crystal, so I had to look this up. And WOW! What fun character designs, I can totally see why you'd want to make a doll custom like this!
From what I've experienced, I get a sense a gelfling custom would definitely require some body modifications, to the doll body and the face sculpt. There's no doll I can think of that has quite the perfect face shape right out of the box. Part of it is that the positioning of the eyes is a lot higher on a gelfling than your typical fashion doll, and part of it is the size and slope of the nose.
There are a couple of dolls that come to mind as a good starting point.
Generation 3 Draculaura and Cleo DeNile from Monster High feel like they have a nice round face shape that will suit your needs. I think they're the closest to the general face structure of what you're going for (Twyla is also a fairly good option, but she's a little harder to come by for a good price). The one downside is that their eye molding is pretty big, probably bigger than you need, but that can be solved with a little willpower and technique I think. Both of these dolls also have ears that stick out a little, which gives you a solid base to sculpt over. And, in the case of G3 Monster High, their heads are a little harder, which makes them easier to work with if you choose to do any sculpting. Cleo does have some molded on bandages on her body, which may be tricky to sculpt over or sand down, just a heads up.
If you wanted a doll with no eye molding, I might recommend the Hasbro version of the Disney Descendants dolls (Evie might suit this better than most), or a majority of the Ever After High dolls. Most of them don't have a lot of eye molding, which means you can place the eys virtually wherever you want (which makes it a little harder to draw their eyes symmetrically). Ever After High has a rounder face shape, which I think will suit your characters well, but some people find them a little too round and flat. Hasbro's Descendants dolls may not be quite round enough, they could probably use some apoxie sculpt to the cheeks, but the rest of the face would probably be alright. The other downside for Descendants is that their hands are a little rubbery, and they often had molded on gloves, which may prove difficult to sculpt and paint over. Both of these lines also have very small noses, which is something to be mindful of.
Actually- I think this last one might be close to the perfect fit for your needs. The first series of DC Superhero Girls dolls. They have no eye molding, it doesn't matter which one you pick because they all have the same face sculpt, it's nice and rounded, and they're very well articulated. The one downside here is, they're tall (I don't know how tall gelflings are compared to other species, they read as being kinda short to me at first glance). As in, these dolls tower over most of my Monster Highs and even Barbie dolls. But seeing as you sound like you're chill with body mods, that may not be as big of an issue for you. I used to see Starfire and Frost for sale all the time as deadstock, and it looks like they still sell for somewhat reasonable prices secondhand, which is the only way to get them now. Heads up, there are some DC Superhero Girls dolls that came out after these that go with the reboot show, and there are some from the original line that lack the same articulation. It's something to be aware of when searching. But a plus side is that you may not have to use a doll stand if you can find one with shoes. These girls are pretty good at standing up all on their own.
Overall, I think there's potential for lots of different bases out there. It all depends on what you feel comfortable playing with as a customizer. I hope we've given you something helpful today. Thanks for coming over and asking! And for your patience, I totally missed the notification when it first came in due to traveling. ^^''' Hope you have a lovely day, and happy customizing!
