What a doll is

What do I mean when I say “doll”?

Part 01

A word I had never explained

My project is called The ai.doll lab, and I call my characters dolls. I had never needed to explain it. Then I wrote “doll” in a text and the model gave me a jointed toy doll, with the joints showing. That was not it. To find out what it was, I looked at one chosen image from each of 26 of my series.

Close-up of a woman with short white hair falling over one eye. The other eye is amber. She wears heavy gold and ruby jewellery, and the light breaks into rainbow reflections over her face. — The one I pickedAlmost only a face, and it is still a whole character.`Krea 2 · Prismatic Anime series · seed 52003`

4 attempts

What it is not

These four come from the same image, the giant mug from “The wrong scale”. I only changed how I described her. The first two show what a doll is not. The last two start to show what it is.

Contact sheet with four versions of a woman next to a large coral mug: a plain illustrated woman, a jointed toy doll, a stylized character, and the same character with more attitude. — Each frame is an attempt. ✕ it didn't work · ✓ it worked · ★ my pick · – no strong verdict.

V1It didn't work
Just any illustrated woman. It is well made and has nothing that makes her mine.
Character not described
V2It didn't work
I wrote “doll” and got a resin doll with joints. That is a toy.
With the word “doll” in the text
V3Test
I described the person: face, hair and clothes. Now she is a character. She lacks attitude.
Character described, without the word
V4It worked
I gave her a look, a pose and presence. Now I recognize her as one of mine.
With the look, pose and silhouette described

6 attempts

Six dolls, six looks

Six images I had already chosen, each from a different series. Almost nothing repeats: ink, neon, flat color, a street, a poster. What does repeat is that each one is a character you recognize at once, with a stylized face that still has volume.

Contact sheet with six portraits in six different styles: a jewelled white-haired face, a woman in sunglasses drawn in ink, a blonde girl seen from above in a neon street, an astronaut with headphones, a turquoise-haired woman aiming a gun in a pop poster, and a close-up face with blue eyes and flat graphic shapes.

01My pick
Almost only a face: volume, jewellery and reflections of color.
Prismatic Anime series · seed 52003
02My pick
Ink and blocks of color. Pure graphic line, and nothing of a physical doll.
Retro Japanese Ink series · seed 62007
03My pick
Attitude and street clothes, with the lens bending everything.
Fisheye Street Girl series · seed 76807
04My pick
The mechanical parts belong to her. They are not a costume.
Detail Core Cyborg series · seed 83005
05My pick
Action and a poster composition, with flatter shading.
Turquoise Action Poster series · seed 77301
06My pick
Flat shapes all around, and the face still keeps its volume.
Flat Color Mask series · seed 78001

What I learned

“Doll” is not a material. It is not resin, joints or glass eyes. If I write the word, the model gives me the toy.
Attempts: V2
A doll is a main character designed for one image. You recognize her by her face, hair, expression, clothes, accessories and pose.
Attempts: V3, 01, 04
She has an adult, sensual presence. It lives in the look, the posture and the silhouette, not in showing more.
Attempts: V3, V4
The look changes with every series: ink, neon, flat color, action. What stays is the stylized face, with volume.
Attempts: 02, 03, 05, 06
So I no longer write “doll” in my texts. I describe the person.
Attempts: V2, V3

The next question

Can I write that description once and use it for every series?

Experiments

The next experiment

010

From 69 to 10

Can a scoring table pick my best images for me?

Open

Follow the lab

Every experiment goes up as it happens: the picked images, the clips in motion and the batches that didn't work.

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