Doll Poll

[pkmays]

I've got no problems with the Doll communities social structure or willingness to share. Also, although the general level of quality is lower than I like, the quality seems persistant. Whereas on Pixelation you'll end up seeing everything from professional quality to absolute crap quality, Doll sites tend to have a pretty consistant middle ground in quality.

[Akira]

i don't mind it. as long as people are arting the way that they want to, then i'm happy. peace and love and all that. you can't really get mad at people who do stuff that isn't your idea of good and then get praise for it. well you can... but don't. cause its silly. and you'll just end up bitter.

[Cow]

I'm indifferent towards it.

I just hope people use it as a stepping stone to get into pixel art. 

[Player1]

Doll sites tend to have a pretty consistant middle ground in quality.

Whay is that a good thing?

[Wayuki]

Quake in your boots! I'm a DOLLERRRR! 

There are different groups of people within the dolling community. Some of them are actually serious pixel artists. They use proper pixel techniques, they make their own bases to doll on, or they make "baseless dolls" (IE scratch-made pixel characters). Most of them are also competent artists in other areas. Occasionally they will use another doller's base to doll on, often as a gift to said doller. And there's nothing wrong with that, as long as it's very clear who made what. Really, it's not that different from coloring someone else's line-art.

Within the dolling community, "simple edits" are also very much frowned upon. A doll is only considered good if it's severely (and competently) edited from it's base.

Unfortunately there's also a group of dollers that ONLY uses other people's bases and pre-made props, because they can't draw them on their own. They fool themselves into believing that they are artists by leaching off the work of someone else. The fact that there are bases for everyone to use, has attracted a lot of annoying little kiddies and uncreative people. Some of the more serious dollers are turned off by this, so they move on to the "general" pixel art community.

Usually though, they also keep posting in the doll forums, and by doing so they expose the less serious dollers to better pixel techniques (who do actually pick up on it eventually). As a result, the average skill level in the dolling community has increased significantly over the years.

If I have to be honest, I think the average doller is better at shading hair and elaborate cloth folds. I guess that's because "pretty hair" and "pretty clothes" are big themes in the dolling world. Overall though, the skill level is a lot lower in the dolling community. Still, the bright colors and cute themes appeal to the little girl in me.

I hope to incorporate the best of both worlds in my work. 

[Lawrence]

Helm took the words right out of my mouth.

I think the average doller is better at shading hair and elaborate cloth folds.

Better than whom?

[Wayuki]

Helm took the words right out of my mouth.

Better than whom?

Than the average person in the non-dolling pixel community.

[Peppermint Pig]

Doll sites tend to have a pretty consistant middle ground in quality.

I think the average doller is better at shading hair and elaborate cloth folds.

pkmays and Wayuki are correct. This proves to be true in my experience: Consistency can partly be chalked up as having the benefit of good parts: A good template can carry a work to an extent. But Dollers that are trying to develop their skill really do seem to have a faster learning curve than your average pixel artist: You can't really avoid learning to shade clothing due to the subject matter. That said, it's not as open-ended as pixeling in general and only the leaders of the medium are genuinely learning anatomy and proportion like a regular pixel artist by doing all of the work. I wish more pixel artists here who found themselves in a rut would do some doll work. It would seriously help you, rather than hatin' because some people in doll and edits communities spoil it for the others! I hope more Doll artists show up considering the trends.

[junkboy]

Can't wait for the Edit Poll...

[Keops]

I like them.

I've made a few dolls myself, I also once started a mini fad with the anime chibis (I think that even inspired the Wee! little pixel people to some extend) and those are doll like in the sense they use a standard template. What I don't like about much of the dolls community is that they sometimes don't try their hand at creating their own templates and just edit the others, and while this is not forbidden it thwarts creativity and make them all look the same. Also, some dollers don't use true pixel art, they use blur effects, anti aliased brushes and all that. This is not bad at all, because dolling and pixelling are two different activities.

My 2 pixels.