Articles

2008: The Good, the Bad and the Trendy

With the new year already under way, let’s take a look back at the trends of the year before from the good ones, the bad and the oh so trendy that come back again and again.

The Good:
Merging With dA - Bringing Out Dolling Into the Art World:
While many have said that the merge from individual dollsites to the ever growing DeviantArt site isn’t the best for the average doller, there are a few key points that the site offers which can help the community as a whole. It wasn’t until last year that dA had recognized dolling as a seperate art from from the traditional pixel art and created a seperate category for them. In due time, the current gallery director and well known doller, Pyrochan, had acquired the directing position and help straightened out the dA community and bring it more into the spotlight. With the features such as Daily Deviations, dollers now have the chance to have one of their works featured on the front page along with other featured artists from various art style galleries and thus bring our gallery out into the world as a recognized art form. Another great feature is the live chat room specifically set up for dollers which enhances the communication between those who participate in it.

Project Originality - More Than the Average Base/Doll:
It has been noted that from the previous year that more and more dolls are becoming baseless and that bases are becoming more original than traced or your usual static standing poses. If anything that can be said from this, it is hopeful that this trend will not die away in the upcoming years.
Project Originality

Male Dolls - Really, They’re Male!:
More attention has been given to the finer details of the masculine counterparts of dolling and thus making them more and more masculine than feminine.

Baseless or Heavily Edited - Uniqueness FTW:
Dolls with no bases or those that have been edited to almost beyond recognition are certainly a bigger hit than to those with minimal editing. It shows that the doller will go the extra mile, or pixel, to achieve their desired doll. The jaw dropping styles are certainly head turners for those not used to such changes and even more so with those that had no base to begin with.

Shading Styles - Going Out of Your Norm:
Experimenting can be quite an adventure and a hit/miss opportunity but from those who have done it, whether not being successful, they would surely tell you that everyone should at least try. From different shading styles to base forms, a change can be a good thing!

Big Head Challenge - Big and Bold:
If you have yet to hear about the Big Head Challenge, then you’ll need to seriously catch up in the news. It can be quite a project of building a massive doll head and adding a certain theme to it while using as many colors as possible to complete the artwork. Most of them are done by pixel shading, making the challenge even harder but even strict toolers are welcomed to give it a whirl.
Big Head Challenge

The Bad:
Merging With dA - The Fall of Individual Sites and Forums:
With dA being as broad and expansive as any art site is, it’s no wonder that some dollers are reluctant to join. The individuality of one’s page is mostly stripped to a uniformed layout unless you purchase a subscription and even then, you can only do so much. Viewing dolls one by one is also not a favorite feature that most will agree to and the impersonal favoriting feature is a step down from the traditional adopting process that has been around since the beginnings of dolling. The ease of updating the site can also be viewed as lazy compared to the traditional updating for one’s own site.

Excessive Emo/Gore - Yum… Even More Blood:
Emo and gore have been around for a while, but the excessive rise in such styles has some dollers wondering what the point of it all was. The angst attitude from emo dolls from the punk to Gothic look is usually a favorite for those who try it once and while but when the line crosses to scenes of rap and blood letting, suicidal angst with no apparent meaning, then it’s gone a bit too far for many dollers.

Too Many Pageants - Copy-Cats and ‘Spur-of-the-Moment’ Pageants:
It was very apparent that the trend of last year was to be the one hosting a pageant but the failure of so many newer ones that were ’spur of the moment’ types made many hanging within the first round. The copy cat allegations of those with pageants similar to others and the same entries entered into the similar pageants made the situation even worse. We can only hope that the lessons of last year reflect onto this year’s pageantry.

Steampunk - Getting Too cliche’?:
There’s steampunk and then there’s SteamPunk but when it comes to the same thing over and over again, it does get pretty boring. Unless the style and design is so innovating and one of a kind that it can wow anyone who has seen every steampunk doll created, then it’s just part of the fad. Victorian outfit + shiny gold clocks and ooh, add a metallic hand = steampunk? It’s almost becoming a ‘been there, done that’ kind of deal.

Traced Bases - The Impermissible Ones:
We all know that tracing bases isn’t the best way to make a base but for those who have seen the recent waves of bases mostly traced from popular animes, it makes us shake our heads and say “Did we ever do that?” Truthfully dolling did start from tracing. An explicit picture of Marylin Monroe first started the bases that we now know as Preps. But that was then, this is now and dolling has indeed grown up from it’s infamous roots.

Base Elitism - DHF/Fainelloth = Unoriginal?:
Seeing the same face over and over again can get annoying and aggravating, especially when it involves pageantry and a popular base set is widely used. The main annoyance is when a doller focuses most of their attention to the outfit and accessories design but none to the skin and face. What makes a person unique? Their body shape and facial structure, not just their clothing or hair style. So why the base elitism? Why should the choice of a base set be ridiculed to the point that some are afraid that if they enter with a particular base that they will be judged as lazy and unoriginal? The prejudice must stop but so must the disregard of base editing. Making the character more ‘real’ than just another ‘dolled up’ base would certainly help.

The Trendy:
OCs- The Story Behind Them:
Original Characters from an actual story are always a great thing compared to those that are spur of the moment types. Those who do them tend to add the extra details that make them more unique and real to their story. Even those from fandom universes such as Star Wars, LotR, PotC and the like are still quite popular.

Pageants - A Classic Competition:
Pageants will always be a fun and competing activity for everyone in the community. It is a way for a friendly challenge between a large group of dollers, dwindling down the the head to head rounds in the end. Hopefully the good sportsmanship will still be retained even after the upcoming years.

Steampunk - Oldie but a Goodie:
Though it has a few repetitive qualities, the Steampunk style will hardly be rejected by those who love the art. With a bit of imagination, anyone can create something that is totally unique from the others.

© 2009 Dolling Magazine. Cover doll by Sumi, base her own