BJD Faceup Artists: Masterful Techniques and Inspiring Creations

Have you ever thought about commissioning someone to do a faceup for your BJD? Do you know what a faceup is? Are you hoping to be a faceup artist yourself one day? Well today’s article will hopefully answer some of these questions you may have about faceup artists.

Key Takeaway	Summary
What is a faceup?	Faceup is the process of applying makeup to a blank BJD doll head, and faceup artists offer various services to create unique looks.
Things to consider when hiring an artist	Research the artist’s location, prices, turnaround time, materials used, shipping policy, feedback, and offered services before making a decision.
Red flags when considering an artist	Beware of artists requesting payment as friends and family, looking for specific heads to work on, or lacking portfolios and feedback.
Start looking!	Explore Facebook groups and forums dedicated to BJDs to find reputable faceup artists and make inquiries about their services.

Related/Helpful Articles:
https://bjdlife.com/faceups-for-beginners/
https://bjdlife.com/bjd-faceup-tips-and-tricks/

What is a faceup?

BJDs can come blank or with the “makeup” on them already.  When you order them blank, you can either put the face or “faceup” on yourself OR hire a faceup artist. Faceup artists can offer many different services and come from different parts of the world. They can be found on DOA, Facebook, Instagram, or their personal websites!

Things to Consider When Hiring an Artist

• Where is the faceup artist located?
• What are the prices?
• What is the turn around time?
• what material do they use?
• Do they include shipping/insurance?
• Do they have good feedback?
• What services do they offer?
• What is the breakdown for the faceup?/What goes into the total?

There should be a lot of research that goes into hiring a faceup artist. First and foremost, looking at prices and shipping should be a priority. Have a good idea of what your budget is like and see if you can find an artist in your price range. Also, know where they are located because that could play into shipping costs and turn around times. Know what kinds of materials they will be using on your doll so you can ensure your head will have safe materials used on it that won’t cause any damage.

A very important thing to do is to check on their feedback. Feedback tells you how other people felt about the artist and you can see their experiences with them. Obviously go for artists with positive feedbacks that can boast about the artist having good communication and ability. This can take some time and research but most artists link their own feedback from various sites. If they don’t have it listed there, check places like BJD Addicts Feedback and Community Alert Page for info. DOA (Den of Angels) also offers a feedback space as well, but you will need to have access/account.

Red Flags When Considering an Artist

• If the artist requests payment as friends and family on Paypal
• When the artist looks for specific heads to work on
• Artists that don’t have portfolios set up or any feedback at all

When artists ask for payment through friends and family on Paypal you no longer have the ability to file a dispute if something goes wrong. Paying as a goods or service does have a small fee but think of it as your protection in case things go south.

If the artist is looking for specific sculpts it can be a red flag because they may be looking for high priced/rare heads that they could sell. You risk not getting your head back if they are scammers that just want specific molds. Honestly it just seems weird that they would ask for certain heads and not all. If they are an artist, and are looking to expand their business then they should be willing to work on any head.

If the artist you find has no portfolio, this also can be a problem. Even if they are brand new artists they should have something. I wouldn’t trust someone with my doll head if I can’t even see what their work looks like. If they don’t have any feedback set up then that’s another thing that could be worrisome. It could be that they are totally new to faceups and are building their rep, but you still have to be careful since you may be their first customer.

Start looking!

Now that you have some basic info on faceup artists it is time to start looking! You can find people by looking on facebook groups like BJD Addicts Sales/Commissions and can even put out a request for something specific on the BJD Addicts WTB/LF/ISO page!

Faceup Artists

I hope that this article was helpful if you were thinking about hiring a faceup artist! I also did a Dolly Talk Tue episode about faceup artists on my Youtube page! Feel free to check it out!

Do you hire people to do faceups or do you like to do them yourself? Tell us in the comments below!