First Micro Mini!

I have been working away in my little studio lately, and I completed my first micro mini - EVER! It was a lot of fun, a huge challenge, and I cannot wait to do it again!

The eyes were the hardest part for me, it was hard to get all the layers on nicely, but after about 2 hours, I got it! Eye whites, pupil, iris, all there. Whew!

I will be getting some more micro minis to paint and eventually sell in February (for my birthday). I'm excited, I have some really cool references to try out.

Until my camera is working again, I only have an "eh" cell phone pictures.

I will post some better, up close, pictures as soon as my computer and camera are compatible again.

 I know that I have a lot of room for improvement, but I am confident that each mini will be better and better. :)

A Couple Finished Customs

I took a break for a long time (3+ years) from doing customs, I think the last one I did was in 2010, which won a reserve champ in the BreyerFest Youth Show. I only worked on customs for about a year in 2009-2010 and then stopped due to school. Well, fast forward to December, 2014 - I started up the studio again! Hopefully for longer than a year this time.

The latest customs out of the studio are a custom Breyer Gilen and a Breyer Totals resin.

I hope to continue to improve and have fun doing it!

More pictures can be found on my website, or by clicking HERE.

Arcane By Seunta Arrived!

I haven't posted in a little while, and this post is a bit late!

This pretty gal arrived much sooner than expected, she shipped out before Seunta's holiday shipping break was over, and on top of that the P.O. was quick too! Not to mention that I got her for a GREAT price because of Seunta's holiday sale. Seunta is the only place I have ever seen do a holiday sale that starts at 70%+ off, for great (not even seconds!) traditional scale resins. The original prices are even a steal!

 

Arcane's face is absolutely fantastic! I love how narrow but strong it is, it really gives the sculpture a unique look. The mane is also really cute, it almost looks like a short mane from the off side, and then when you see the other side, it's a full luxurious mane! 

Overall, I am quite pleased with this girl, she will be a star among my show string, once she gets some color.

The casting is nice and strong, there are no weak areas (and I only mention this because there was a resin at BF a few years back that had a gaping hole in its side where the resin was paper thin, scary!). The detail is great, and the casting is pretty darn clean. I am no expert, but I don't see all that much prepping needed other than cleaning up a few areas, some sanding, and prepping a seam here and there. I actually didn't notice any pin holes after a quick-ish look either, not that there aren't any, they are just so small or few and far between (yay!). The model stands perfectly too. Truly one of the cleaner casts I've come across. If I were going to send her to a professional painter, I wouldn't pay an arm and a leg to have her prepped, which is a great money saver! 

One of the great benefits of purchasing models from Seunta is the Loyalty Program, which you can read about HERE.  

Details! A+++

Seunta currently has a lot of great resins available, be sure to check them out at Seunta.com!

I'm definitely going to look for "Dynasty" at BreyerFest 2015, I will be saving money until BF and not buying any models, at least until I can go crazy at BF where I hope to purchase more than just one Seunta resin! 

I look forward to doing business with Seunta in the future, and highly recommend them. You will find friendly customer service, quick shipping, nicely packed models, and a great transaction.

Mapping & White Markings Tutorial by Christina Riley

I made it my goal to try and help model horse hobbyists that are getting into customizing by creating my own customizing tutorials, and also by spreading the word about other artists wonderful tutorials.  

Today will be a short post, but a really helpful one, made possible by Christina Riley. Her work is beautiful, winning in the show ring and really standing out! Be sure to check out her website showcasing her customs (I have linked her website to her name, just click on it!).

She recently posted a tutorial on painting white markings and mapping to her YouTube account, PozziToons.

I will be putting her tutorial to work when I get back into customizing! Thanks Christina!

She also has some other awesome tutorials on her YouTube channel, like painting an Appaloosa, her review of Earth Pigments, painting eyes, and so on, definitely worth checking out.

I saw this little mini painted by her at The Region X Championships 2014. I took these pictures, but the little guy is just so small and I was so rushed I didn't capture all the fabulous details at all! You can see many more detailed pictures of this guy on her website under the Winner's Circle tab, or click HERE to view Lester's gallery. Her pictures are much better!

Lester is owned by Sharon Mossy, sculpted by Maggie Bennett, and painted by Christina Riley.

"Lester" painted by Christina Riley, and owned by Sharon Mossy. Picture taken by me at TRXC 2014.

"Lester", although super tiny, holds his own against the big guys!

Christina Riley - Equine Artistry & Other Artistic Endeavors on Facebook

FAQ: How Much Do Commissions Cost?

While on Instagram, I have been asked many times how much it costs to commission a professional artist. 

Morgen Kilbourne's "Dinky Duke" resin painted by Katrina Michaels and owned by me.

I simply cannot answer that, well, simply. No matter how many times I explain that it depends on the artist, color, and size - people still ask me for a "general estimate". However, I honestly don't know due to all the factors. Any estimate I give could be wrong and deter someone from considering a commission, or exclude a good artist who falls out of that price range. Both of which I don't want to do.

While searching around hobby sites, I discovered some links on Rio Rondo (which is an amazing site for just about everything from tutorials, supplies, and resins plus a whole lot more) , which led me to Morgen Kilbourne's page listing various finish work artists, their specialties, and prices.

In my opinion, this was a great discovery, and probably took a bit of time for Morgen to put together - thanks, Morgen!

Link: http://www.artbymorgen.com/painters.htm

Now, for everyone asking me, just check there for a good sampling of artists, prices, and information. 

While you are there, you can also check out Morgen's AMAZING sculptures and finish work! 

Here is another page of artists by Rio Rondo. 

Seunta also has some great artist and hobby links to check out.

And, for a seriously comprehensive list of hobby links, visit The Unicorn Woman.

With all this information, I have no doubt that there is an artist out there for everyone! 

Painting Supplies - Part 1

After my 4 year absence in the hobby and demolition of my studio, I have decided to get back into it any try again. However, this time I want to be better, more detailed, more realistic, and competitive. With this comes a whole new set of supplies rather than just painting for fun. I can honestly say I was not prepared for the actual cost of this kind of studio, and there for am reassembling my studio over a course of months, not days. In my mind I figured about $250 for all my acrylic paints for details and airbrushing, a new set of brushes, a new airbrush, a hood, and any other little things required. Realistically, I have ended up paying quite a bit more for everything, almost double. I really should have done more research on materials and costs for the correct stuff before starting to purchase items. Well, now I know!

I first bought some fluid acrylic paints by Tamiya after asking around for a good brand. A very kind hobbyist gave me a list of colors to get in order to paint most horse colors. In total, I bought 14 23 ml jars of paint at $3.40 each. I bought mine from Tamiya America.

Browns and metallics.

White, Greys, and Black.

Mixing colors of red, orange, and yellow.

The colors I bought are:

Flat Black, Flat White, Flat Yellow, Copper, Flat Red, Flat Brown, Flat Flesh, Dark Sea Grey, Flat Earth, German Grey, Red Brown, Gold Leaf, Dark Copper, and Orange.

Next I got some materials from Dick Blick Art Materials, and spent about $50 for the pigments and pencils.

Pearl-Ex pigments

Pastel Pencils

Then, I purchased some marking and detail brushes from Dick Blick and from my local Michaels. The brushes were about $6 each from Dick Blick, and a set of 10 brushes was $12 from Michaels. I got doubles of the same brushes I got from Dick Blick as back ups.

I got some good all-round brushes and then some small detail brushes. These are a mix of brands including Blick Masterstroke Golden Taklon, Royal Taklon, and Daler Rowney. I got sizes ranging from 3/0 to 5/8. I got round and chisel blenders.

I also got some gloss, and a basecoat spray paint (which I DON'T recommend, the nozzle gets clogged REALLY easily and sprays tacky globs all over). It's also expensive ($12.77 a can including MA tax), and in my opinion definitely not worth it. The Weathered Wood is for an experiment, which I might post about later, depending on how it goes. To replace this basecoat spray paint I got a brown primer. It's not as good of a color, but it's better than having to strip a primed model and start over - not to mention the extra hours of sanding!

I will share more supplies as they come!