Adrian Wright of Faces by Adrian

By Lisa A. Lawrence

Augustine

Born in the small town of Potter’s Bar, just outside of London, Adrian Wright was raised in the rural village of Brookmans Park, where he developed a passion for nature that he’s never lost.  After high school, Adrian went to Art College where he lasted a year before having his continued studies “stymied.” “Ok.” Adrian confessed, “I was thrown out for being too rebellious!”  Figures.  When I asked Adrian if his last name is “Balvennie” (his eBay id), he responded, “Actually, my last name is Wright - Balvennie (well, Balvenie) is my favourite whisky!”

Admiring Adrian’s repaints, I contacted him in June 2002 to inquire if he was interested in being featured in Doll Show Magazine's Spring 2003 issue.  “It’s always nice to know that people are aware of my work, and of course, even better to know that they like it!” Adrian responded, “I’d be delighted and flattered to be interviewed for [the] magazine – I await your questions with intrigue.”   Three months later, I posted some dolls for sale, noting that I would only ship overseas to “people I know.”  I received an email from Adrian, inquiring about some of these dolls.  In his email he stated, “However, I’m in England and I don’t know if you know me! My eBay ID is Balvennie, I’m kind of known for doing repaints.”  Not known for my tact, I responded, “Adrian, you're an idiot!  Not only do I know you, I'm INTERVIEWING you for Doll Show Magazine!!!!  Yes, I'll mail stuff to you.”  With that, Adrian, barely embarrassed, proceeded to negotiate me down in price on various dolls, even offering to do a repaint in trade.  In trade?  Obviously, my fantasies of doll artists offering me free repaints, outfits and accessories in exchange for being interviewed went down the drain.  What ever happened to good old fashioned bribery? 

Belgravia

Cumbria

Adrian’s first job was working in his parent’s ad agency.  He started at the reception desk, which he claims was the only vacancy.  Family business?  Receptionist?  Maybe Adrian’s parents wanted to make sure he wasn’t “stymied” by too much responsibility!  Still, Adrian proved himself and moved into the art studio as a junior.  Five years later, he left the family business as its Creative Director.  The next ten years included a string of positions with various ad agencies until Adrian decided to start his own commercial web design business.

Elena

Katya

In November 2001, Adrian bought his first doll; a “Whispering Wind” Barbie®.  Soon afterward, he bought his first Gene® “with the express intention of repainting her.” He states, “At that time, I had no intention of collecting [dolls] and would have looked cynically [at anyone who even suggested it.]” His collection now includes about 50 dolls, with the majority being Ashton-Drake® dolls (Gene, Violet® and Madra®) and a growing collection of Tonner dolls (Tyler ® and Sydney®), as well as Alex ®, Paris®, Jadde®, Brenda Starr® and a few others!

Svetlana

Britanny

He set to work immediately and completed his Gene repaint before November ended.  Although he had no idea of how she was going to turn out or if he’d be able to sell her, he placed her on eBay.  “Thankfully, Adrian recalls, “she sold for $200 and I haven’t put my brush down since.”

When he first decided to try his hand at repainting, Adrian found tons of helpful information on the internet.  He also wrote to Terri Norcia and Noel Cruz, who were both helpful and encouraging.  Beyond that, it was all trial and error!  Adrian prefers using Gene for his repaints as “her face is large, her sculpt is shallow, and she seems to lend herself to a variety of different looks.”  Lately, however, he’s been doing a number of Tyler repaints and finds that he’s “getting into it!” 

Rosetta

Scirocco

As a commercial designer, Adrian has an immense collection of clip art and stock images, including many photographs of women’s faces.  He uses these for inspiration, taking the eyebrows from one picture, the eyes from another, lips from still another, etc.   Unless he is doing a celebrity repaint, Adrian has no preconceived idea of how each repaint will look.  Repaints can take anywhere from a few hours, when going well, to several days for celebrity look-alikes.   After using acetone to wipe away the factory paint, Adrian starts with the white of the eyes followed by the first wash of eyeliner to give the eye its shape.  Then, he does the iris, making sure both eyes are looking in the same direction.  He follows this by painting in the eyebrows, which he finds to be “particularly tricky,” then the lips.  Once all the features are in place, Adrian works in the detail.  When finished painting, he hand trims and applies eyelashes – his favorite part!  “Eyelashes” Adrian states, “are what make the repaint look ‘real!’”  Adrian’s wife, Inna, does each doll’s hairdo.

Caledonia

Valentina

Most of Adrian’s repaints are sold nude. Occasionally, however, Inna makes an outfit for one of them.  When she does, Adrian repaints the doll to match the colors and look of the outfit.  He’s also had costumes produced for two of his repaints: a sari, made by Superdoll, and a Queen Elizabeth II Coronation gown made by Gary Alston.

Adrian takes commissions through his website, Faces by Adrian, at http://www.lto.co.uk/balvennie/dollstuff.html.  His customer base is well balanced between people who buy his repaints off of eBay and the people who commission him to do OOAKS.  He gets a lot of great feedback from his customers and has several who are regular buyers of his work! Adrian doesn’t really advertise beyond posting his latest repaints on Vicky’s Board.  He does feel that his success is somewhat affected by his UK location.  “Just as there are some people who won't sell to anyone outside the US,” Adrian notes, “there are also people who won't buy from them either. It also costs me more to buy the dolls than if I lived in the US and I don't recoup the difference when I sell them.”  While Adrian doesn’t know if he can expand his repaint business, since there are only so many hours in a day, he has given more than casual thought to designing and producing his own dolls.  He currently spends about 20 hours a week doing repaints, finding himself a “lazy-starter” who needs to be well into the repaint process before his creative energy hits him!  For now, Adrian plans to continue repainting for however long his dolls sell.  But he also notes that his current lack of advertising and website business may change.  If so, he may have to put aside repainting as his “professional” job opportunities open up.

Cordoba

Leena

Adrian does his repainting from home, which until recently was a 4-bedroom house. In September 2002, he and Inna temporarily moved into an 8 meter motor home in a caravan park where they expect to live for about a year.  What prompted this downsizing?  They bought an old church which they are renovating and converting into their new home!  Adrian’s thrilled that “we will have a huge amount of living space, within which I’ll continue my repainting.”  Adrian, the rebellious whisky drinker, living in a church?  This should be good!

Cary Grant