Is it just me or do you ever see a couple babies painted in a way that… isn’t appealing (trying to be sensitive, art is subjective) and it puts you off the sculpt?
Props to good prototype artists, they make you see the possibilities but damn sometimes I can’t unsee a poorly painted kit.
Sharpie is not your friend.
Don’t root dog hair
Craft paint is for kids and Christmas decorations
Purple lips are scary
Cutting vinyl is scary
A baby stuffed with beans will spoil
Put your meds, bills, ashtray, left over pizza, and Untrimmed toenails away before you Take a baby photo you are planning to post anywhere
Sometimes I just wanna share all the weird reborn pictures I come across, but I don’t want to be mean.
I’ll add: use proper lighting. A regular baby isn’t supposed to look blue or green…
Yes! Lol. I feel so horrible thinking that way but quite honestly it’s the truth. The absolute worst is a photo of the doll seemingly just thrown down a blanket and behind it you see nothing but clutter and filth.
So true. It’s not appealing when it feels like you can almost smell how disgusting a place is and it burns your nostrils and eyes. Like watching episodes of Hoarders.
And yes, some reborns are done so poorly they are laughable or unintentionally terrifying.
On the other hand, wip pix are fine with a messy workstation background!
I’ve seen some dolls that I’ve definitely wanted to share as well. You really can’t unsee them, and a burden shared is a burden lightened. I stop myself because I really don’t want to hurt the feelings of the person who painted them should they ever make their way to the forums to try and learn how to reborn properly.
On the other hand, I have been guilty of snapping WIP pics that contain a bit of clutter. I find that when I’m painting, it helps to have things to hand. I always have at least two bottles of medication and a drink within arms reach. One OTC and one rx, since I never know when my pain will pop up and how severe it will be.
That’s just a progress photos thing though. For listing pictures, I try to keep any clutter out so that the focus can be solely on the doll.
I wish there were a way to do this without risking the feelings of the " artists". I saw a photo last night of a vintage doll restored with thick Apple barrel type craft paint. I wanted to cry. And laugh. And then cry again.
Not to mention a newborn with:
Thick eyebrows
Adults thick eyelashes,
Rooted hair,that’s looks like a 3 year old rooted it.
Painting done by Stevie Wonder(no disrespect to my favorite singer)
Don’t forget,then try selling for over $300.00
I’m so insecure about my work because I’m not “prototype” artist good… it makes me fear selling the dolls ever, or until doll is perfect. I don’t know my works worth… With that being said… I don’t know how the people who do horrible jobs on reborn dolls have the confidence to sell them.
I am sure your babies are beautiful❣,but I have seen reborns that with both and with bad painting it makes the reborn looking more like a adult,than the softness of baby. Some reborn artist have that talent to achieve that reallism,but some do not.Also seen reborn dolls without eyelashes and no eyebrows.To me that also makes the reborn unrealistic,especially with a bad paint job.
I think what you need to do (and I am not the boss, just an opinion) before you decide to sell babies is to make a few babies for yourself, run them by your peers here or where ever you feel a connection and support and say “here I am, what can I do better, what am I missing”. Not everyone will like your style, that’s cool but what you are looking for is for some pattern in feedback like, “I like how you are working on painting hair, it is really difficult, you are almost there, maybe bring that hairline back a little and work on some baby hairs”. Little by little the feedback should get better and better and you will know its time to put a baby out there in the world.
We all have an inner critic that tells us “this isn’t good enough, what are you thinking”. Honestly that is not a terrible thing, it’s what keeps you honest about things you need to improve or work on, but you can’t let it paralyze you and it should be balanced with feedback. Trust your people.
There is no “Perfect” baby but there are perfectly wonderful and precious babies. No shame in making a boo-boo baby but shame on you if you toss it out there and expect to get top shelf money.
Go slowly, build, improve, learn, get inspired, get feedback than leap.
Not everyone will have the resources to photograph with great light, props, a good camera but you make up for it by being aware, being tidy, and sometimes less is more.
Now I’ve seen some scary stuff BUT when a reborner said “I’m rooting my doll with my dog’s hair”…that topped the cake!! I guess, animal hair is animal hair Mohair or Dog hair.
I’m not new to this world of reborning, but I also try to continue to improve all the time. With a past of 2 reborn returns on ebay, it messed me up bad. so now I critic my work even more… this is exactly what I say… “this isn’t good enough, what are you thinking”… I read through all the “don’t do’s” to try to improve my work.
I try to improve also. I have been creating babies for a little over a year. I still question myself a lot. We are our worst critics in my opinion. I still try but I love looking at all the babies that are created. I just like to do this for the fun of it. My babies are far from perfect but I keep trying.
Mohair or Dog hair.
