Aubrey Meeks, the artist behind Meeksdoll, is known for her distinctive character heads. Over the last few years, she has been working on creating the perfect male body to match them. The completed design, the Labellas body, is finally here. It may be ordered with a choice of head.
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Q: I looked over your previous interview, and back then you had started several bodies. Is this the final version of one of those, or a new one?
A: Yes and No! This body is a project I feel I’ve been working on since 2017 when I started trying to sculpt bodies. Technically I’ve scrapped all of the bodies I’ve worked on in those early attempts but I find that some themes have carried through to the Labellas Body; like that belly!
Q: How long has this body been “in development”?
A: In 2019 I set out officially on the Labellas Body and held onto my interest in sculpting more natural-looking bodies.
Q: What does the name Labellas represent?
A: Labellas is actually a funny story. I was affectionately calling the project “The Pizza Body” because it was intended for a character of mine called Joey who loves his pizza. When I mentioned to some friends that I couldn’t officially release it as “The Pizza Body” my one friend suggested I name it after Joey’s favorite pizza place, La Bella. So it became The Labellas Body.
Q: Were all of the heads that you will have available during the pre-order designed along with the body?
A: The heads were designed as most of my heads are, with characters in mind. I still make dolls so I can bring my characters to life. I chose to scale my Curtis head to fit the Labellas Body because I had some interest in him before the body. He fits it perfectly now so he can be released with it.
I sculpt my characters in zbrush over and over, sketch, print, repeat for practice mostly. So I went through some of my most recent works and kept working on some of my favorites to release with the body. I chose 5 heads to start with for variety.
Q: Will any of your older heads fit your new body?
A: The older heads seem to me to be a tad too small to fit the body. Lucien and Faust may be suitable but the others probably aren’t that great of a match. I think also in terms of Murphy, Vano, and Lazlo, my sculpting has evolved a bit into a new style so I’m not sure how the aesthetic of those heads would fit this body.
Q: Now that you have completed your first body, are you tempted to make bodies with different “personalities” like you do the heads?
A: I would love to make more bodies with character of their own. I feel like bodies are just as important as faces to truly capture a character. I love trying to create bodies and faces that might not be supermodels, but illustrate the beauty of everyday people. That being said, I am also fascinated by the idea of creating some fantasy bodies.
Q: In re-reading the earlier article, I saw that we had touched on the idea of other size dolls. Now that there are numerous 50-ish cm boys (and even smaller!) sizes available, would you consider making a smaller size?
A: Smaller-sized dolls are definitely on the table and in my project queue! I’ve had a few requests already to scale the Labellas body down. The great thing is I have my own resin printer now, so it makes prototyping easy. I’d love to design some mature minis in both human and fantasy forms.
Q: You worked on a few girls’ heads before. Do you still plan to make a female eventually?
A: I do have some basics started on my female body, the Arden Body. Finishing the Labellas body has helped me learn a lot about doll engineering over the past few years and how to manage my time more wisely. I hope the Labellas body will mark the beginning of many new Meeksdolls to come.
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~Meeksdoll~ Previous BJDcollectasy interview
Meeksdoll – Website
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