Everything TianBa creates, including face-ups, resin eyes, and now doll heads, shows amazing skill and beauty. She recently released her first doll heads, Polly and Iris, and is in the process of creating her own doll body.
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Q: Can you tell me about yourself and how you became interested in BJDs?
A: I’m a Chinese BJD artist, currently based in Chengdu, where the pandas live. I majored in traditional Chinese painting in college and started to practice applying face-up on dolls during my junior year. 8 years passed; I can say I’m very good at applying face-ups and making eyes for BJDs now. Last month I released my own BJD head.
The reason I became interested in BJDs is very simple. The first time I saw their pictures in a digital magazine, I immediately thought they were the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, and I just fell in love with them.
Q: Did your training in Chinese painting influence your approach to face-ups?
A: My training in traditional Chinese painting gave me confidence that I could master a doll’s face-up, meticulous painting in particular. This kind of traditional Chinese painting is all about fine brushwork and close attention to the details, and that basically is the cornerstone of all my work so far.
Q: What are your preferred materials for face-up painting?
A: Schmincke and SENNELIER’s pastel, high flow acrylic paint, solid watercolor, GOLDEN self-leveling gel. Actually, I wrote a tutorial book on how to paint faces and make resin eyes, from no experience to mastery. It includes all the tools and materials I use and all my painting skill. This book is very affordable. Although it’s written in Chinese, there are a lot of illustrations so it’s quite easy to understand. The book’s name is 《BJD娃娃化妆术全解析》.
Q: Where can people go to request face-up services? Where can they purchase your doll eyes?
A: I am so sorry to say that I don’t open face-up commissions publicly now. There’s too much other work to do. But I will always offer faceup service when I release my own BJD head. Also, I will take commercial orders that I’m interested in. From time to time, there will be some customers who are too nice and generous to turn down.
About eyes, I open an international eyes commission twice a year on my Instagram【tianba0830】. When the commission is open, all it takes is to email me to place an order.
Q: I have seen your beautiful face-ups offered occasionally at different doll companies. What companies have you worked with?
A: Almost all Chinese BJD companies early on. For example Dollzone, Asdoll, Long Soul, MYou, Dikadoll, Huajingdoll, Ringdoll, and some Korean companies like Little Monica, Luts Doll, Freedomteller, and Rosenlied. And a lot of independent artists.
Q: Most important, tell me about how you became a doll maker. Do you sculpt the heads by hand or with software? Tell me about your ideas for Polly Iris.
A: At the time I only did faceup, I liked to try various styles of BJD on the same head to explore every possibility of that BJD head. Gentle, rugged, crying, crazy, fantasy, albinistic, antique, young, old, female, male, …
At some point, I felt like I’d tried everything there wasn’t enough novelty in just painting faceup anymore. I have to create something new. That’s how I knew I needed to be a BJD maker. But It was not easy at first. Anatomy and perspective are very important to a sculptor except they’re a bit lacking in traditional Chinese painting. My training couldn’t help me anymore. So I started teaching myself anatomy and Zbrush 3 years ago. Up until now, I have already sculpted over 30 heads, 6 bodies, and some fantasy creatures. Among all those heads, Polly and Iris are my favorite, so I released them first.
Q: Are you planning to make more doll heads after this? If so, what ideas do you have for the next doll?
A: I will definitely release more doll heads. I prefer my dolls to have some specific human facial features, It makes them look more like a real human but in an idealistic way.
Q: Will you go beyond heads to design bodies?
A: I have sculpted and 3D printed 4 bodies in different versions. The result isn’t quite perfect, so I’m still in the process of redesigning the joint.
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TianBa’s Instagram site may be found HERE.
Iris (left) and Polly:
Face-ups by the artist:
Body Prototypes:
