Inspiration: Nicolle's Dreams
When I adopted Caro, she already had a beautiful face-up by Mingyi, and I wouldn't dare touch it or remove it. This isn't the case with the rest of my girls, however. I've been adopting BJDs like a madwoman lately (yes, I plan to have a big dollie family), and the brand new ones are coming bare-faced, the secondhand ones with "disposable" faceups. I've been searching for inspiration among face-up artists who have online portfolios, and I stumbled upon Nicolle's Dreams.
Nicolle's Dreams is a face-up shop run by Andreja (she isn't accepting ccommissions at the moment, though). She's worked with a lot of different faces, and she has a knack for making an already beautiful sculpt even more beautiful.
Warning: This post will feel like photo spam.
Of course, Andreja's girls are among my favorites. On the left is Tara (renamed from Arisu), her Feeple60 Mirwen. On the right is Jess, her MiniFee Chloe. They're both so gorgeous, very natural-looking. It was only when I went through Andreja's portfolio that I realized just how much the "natural" look appeals to me.
She's also worked with one of my favorite sculpts, the SD13 Elena. A very soft, but still very alive expression on her face.
I love how she's also done matching face-ups for open-eyed and dreaming/sleeping versions of sculpts. It's one of my dollie dreams to adopt a BJD with both sleeping/open-eyed sculpts, and I'm a sucker for getting to see both versions side-by-side.
I think that what I love the most about Andreja's work is that she's very versatile. Her work varies from realistically natural to colorful fantasy characters, and the face-ups never look "forced" onto a sculpt. According to her Q&A video, the faceup depends on what the customer wants. Some of her clients provide instructions, but there are times that she's given free rein. All of the work she's posted looks fantastic to me.
She's done the "natural" look on a lot of the sculpts, but she's also done some that are more colorful.
Top, L-R: Feeple65 Chloe, Soom Hati
Bottom, L-R: unknown, Lati Yellow Kuroo
And I love that rainbow effect. <3
She's worked on some curious characters...
... and she's worked with different resin colors beyond the "normal", "tan", and "white" skintones.
Sculpts, L-R: unknown, ResinSoul Lian
She's even done a Monster High mod. This used to be a Draculaura "Dead Tired" doll. :)
AND she's worked on an entire centaur BJD.
But out of all her work, my favoritest(? Yes, that counts as a word. :P) would be the Lati Yellows! She's worked with a good number of them, and I adore how each of them turned out. <3 She's done some very detailed work on them, and those heads are small!
Another thing I love about Andreja is that she's not selfish about her craft! She shares "Faceup Stories" on her YouTube channel. These videos (there are currently 6) show her work process, and it's amazing to watch a sculpt slowly come to life. I watch the stories over and over again when I'm feeling uninspired and just want to see something beautiful.
I've pretty much gone through her portfolio and found so much inspiration for my own girls' face-ups. I take her work as encouragement - perhaps, a challenge? - to really work on my skills. I will definitely keep practicing on my girls. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the photos posted here. All photos are property of Andreja and I have asked her for permission to use them in this blog post.
Nicolle's Dreams is a face-up shop run by Andreja (she isn't accepting ccommissions at the moment, though). She's worked with a lot of different faces, and she has a knack for making an already beautiful sculpt even more beautiful.
Warning: This post will feel like photo spam.
Of course, Andreja's girls are among my favorites. On the left is Tara (renamed from Arisu), her Feeple60 Mirwen. On the right is Jess, her MiniFee Chloe. They're both so gorgeous, very natural-looking. It was only when I went through Andreja's portfolio that I realized just how much the "natural" look appeals to me.
She's also worked with one of my favorite sculpts, the SD13 Elena. A very soft, but still very alive expression on her face.
I love how she's also done matching face-ups for open-eyed and dreaming/sleeping versions of sculpts. It's one of my dollie dreams to adopt a BJD with both sleeping/open-eyed sculpts, and I'm a sucker for getting to see both versions side-by-side.
I think that what I love the most about Andreja's work is that she's very versatile. Her work varies from realistically natural to colorful fantasy characters, and the face-ups never look "forced" onto a sculpt. According to her Q&A video, the faceup depends on what the customer wants. Some of her clients provide instructions, but there are times that she's given free rein. All of the work she's posted looks fantastic to me.
She's done the "natural" look on a lot of the sculpts, but she's also done some that are more colorful.
Top, L-R: Feeple65 Chloe, Soom Hati
Bottom, L-R: unknown, Lati Yellow Kuroo
And I love that rainbow effect. <3
She's worked on some curious characters...
... and she's worked with different resin colors beyond the "normal", "tan", and "white" skintones.
Sculpts, L-R: unknown, ResinSoul Lian
She's even done a Monster High mod. This used to be a Draculaura "Dead Tired" doll. :)
AND she's worked on an entire centaur BJD.
But out of all her work, my favoritest(? Yes, that counts as a word. :P) would be the Lati Yellows! She's worked with a good number of them, and I adore how each of them turned out. <3 She's done some very detailed work on them, and those heads are small!
Another thing I love about Andreja is that she's not selfish about her craft! She shares "Faceup Stories" on her YouTube channel. These videos (there are currently 6) show her work process, and it's amazing to watch a sculpt slowly come to life. I watch the stories over and over again when I'm feeling uninspired and just want to see something beautiful.
I've pretty much gone through her portfolio and found so much inspiration for my own girls' face-ups. I take her work as encouragement - perhaps, a challenge? - to really work on my skills. I will definitely keep practicing on my girls. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the photos posted here. All photos are property of Andreja and I have asked her for permission to use them in this blog post.