Harecroft customs : Animal figures - Schleich cat

Maybe a photo from a calendar and some sand underneath? Balancing on some coral or rocks or aquarium decor? Photoshopping might be best!

Love the idea of the barnacles, and funny how much the throatlatch work has already changed it.

You've chosen great models to repaint that do your painting skills justice

And it's cool to see you are tackling such a big whale project now
Regarding taking pictures: I've seen people use drinking glasses as a base for displaying or taking pictures, maybe that can be useful? Or you could maybe try hanging it from it's tail, taking the pictures sideways and turning it 90 degrees when you are editing the photo? You would have to take extra attention to the lighting when doing that I could imagine Just thinking out loud here, I've haven't tried to photograph swimming figures myself. I'm curious to see what your solution will be!

Ooh, the sideways photo trick sounds promising. Lighting wouldn't be too much of an issue as I'd want the shadier diffused light indoors (with no overhead lights on, and not too near a window) for an underwaterish look, anyway, not outdoor direct sunlight like I always use for my horses (and other, uh, land-animals )

This will be interesting to see finished, a shame that Papo figures seem to break so relatively often compared to other toy brands, but you did a great job with the repair and at least it was at the seam.
A good idea too, to smoothen the throat, on one side it is nice for playability but that jaw articulation really doesn't do mammal figures much of a favour, at least on most reptiles it is somewhat easy to hide, but even there you got some where it won't work too well, also a good idea to keep the mouth slightly open so the baleen hairs can still be seen.
I'm curious what your plans for the tail fluke are, since you removed the stamp, I suppose you have some cool photoshoots in mind where this will come in handy, at least that surface there is smooth, I remember how tricky it was for me to remove the stamp on the Schleich quokka without removing too much of the existing fur detail.

Wow, that Fox looks wonderful!! The OF paint of the figure isn't bad but you really hit the spot of realism in this difficult color! And nice to learn about you way to paint too! Will keep this in mind because I have a tiny unpainted fox in my storage.

The cormorant and your photos are amazing!! Wonderful work!

The other week, I went searching though some older storage boxes for something in particular (I can't even remember what, now! ), and happened to find a few long-forgotten model horse bodies, as well as a Schleich hare I knew I had, but with no idea where I'd left it!

I remember having two at the time, one to keep and one to repaint, but of course with the lonnnnng delays in my creativity the painting got put off, and put off...it's now about fifteen years later and I've finally put a new coat of paint on my poor neglected hare!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Here he is, doing a sort of before-and-after comparison, with my original finish hare standing in for his 'before' shot because I didn't think of taking one

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Hares vary a little between their summer and winter coats; the sleeker, smoother coat is also a richer more chestnutty shade, where the fluffy winter coat has more contrast, with long guard hairs dark at the roots and greyish toward the tip. Because the Schleich sculpt is quite chunky in the legs compared to a real one, I decided it looked best as a winter-coated animal, and used this reference rather than any of my own photos which show the summer colour!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I'm really pleased with how he turned out, painting something with a fluffier texture made a change for me, used to horse colour where I aim to get everything as smoothly blended and brushstroke-free as possible. But as with some of my horse customs, I had a famous artwork at the back of my mind while painting : Albrecht Dürer's wonderful watercolour 'Feldhase', known in English as 'Young Hare'. And if loose individual brushstrokes are good enough for a master like him, they're good enough for me and my little plastic toy hare, too

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The sculpt has got really good eyes, they're very 3d and rounded, so painting them with more detail really brings out the beady-eyed glowing look of a hare's eyes, the bright golden-hazel colour ringed with pale fur, which looks so distinctive when you see them in real life.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I've always liked this hare anyway, the expression is so serene and calm, and a more detailed paintjob just gives it more life and character.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

One more shot with his 'before' counterpart

And to finish, one of my favourite wildlife encounters - a young hare, right by my feet

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I hadn't gone looking for him - on my way across a field I glanced down and there he was. I told him 'Hello, I've found you, I won't hurt you', stayed still just long enough to take one photo, then retraced my steps and took a different route to give him space, while he stayed still and silent. Half an hour later when I came back through the field, I looked at the spot, and he'd gone.

A superb repaint! I have always liked that model, but you made even more subtle detail of the real thing come alive.

Very nicely done !

I must be fair and I like a lot the original model. I meanSchleich used often the same formula in this era and it was quite successful. Chunky legs, relatively large heads and very good faces. It ruined a few figures like the jackal or the old puma, not they're not pretty, they're just not realistic but it worked perfectly with this model. With your perfect repaint, you were able of enhancing the most positive points of this figure, namely the wonderful face. The work with the fur is also fantastic. What a great way to tribute your encounter.

a very good repaint George, and nice eyes.

How special to come across the beautiful leveret in the grass! I have always loved hares and my business is based all around them and named after them in fact
and funny - I act exactly the same respectful way you do too when I come across a friend on my travels - I retreat from them to give them space and privacy!
all interactions with them are on their terms and not mine

I just recently got this Schleich model and I really loved it. You made it even better! I really love the eyes the most, it looks so lifelike and calm. I also love that photo of the real hare you found! I'm surprised it stayed still for you, I can never get anywhere near one

Very good repaint on that model! You made him far more realistic!

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

A superb repaint! I have always liked that model, but you made even more subtle detail of the real thing come alive.

Thanks! I think I'm always most tempted to repaint figures I like anyway, where they're fine as they are but can be made better.

thebritfarmer wrote:

Very nicely done !

Thank you!

Roger wrote:

I must be fair and I like a lot the original model. I meanSchleich used often the same formula in this era and it was quite successful. Chunky legs, relatively large heads and very good faces. It ruined a few figures like the jackal or the old puma, not they're not pretty, they're just not realistic but it worked perfectly with this model. With your perfect repaint, you were able of enhancing the most positive points of this figure, namely the wonderful face. The work with the fur is also fantastic. What a great way to tribute your encounter.

Yeah, if you can work with the chunkiness with some sort of excuse (like 'It's just winter coat fluffiness' here) it can be customised into less of a negative! I think the face is the most hare-like from all the mainstream brands, I've got the Safari running hare as well and I do like him a lot but I think this one just captures the character of the animal better.

sunny wrote:

a very good repaint George, and nice eyes.

How special to come across the beautiful leveret in the grass! I have always loved hares and my business is based all around them and named after them in fact
and funny - I act exactly the same respectful way you do too when I come across a friend on my travels - I retreat from them to give them space and privacy!
all interactions with them are on their terms and not mine

The eyes were really nerve-wracking to do, getting those tiny dots of colour in the right place without my hand shaking - another time to hold my breath and wedge my elbow against my hip for stability, just like dorsal stripes on dun ponies

How lovely that your business is hare-themed! My collection itself is named around hares, in a roundabout way - I use the name Harecroft Horses, with Harecroft as the name prefix for all the individual models I've bought or painted, and the three hare logo in my avatar here is also on my website, and blog. They're all over my collection hobby, even though the actual models themselves are mostly horses not hares

I once found myself being interacted with a hare very much on his terms - I was out picking up frozen solid horse poo in the middle of a winter field full of frost, that time of year when the sun's so low it hardly clears the trees and the grass has long shadows. I looked up cos something caught my eye, and the hare came across the field at a steady run, more or less a straight line. But once he got level with where I stood, he veered off and ran a perfect circle all the way around me, still steady and slow, then when he'd done the full 360 degree loop he carried on in a straight line til he reached the hedgerow and vanished. To this day I have no idea what the reason could have been, but it was a beautiful moment to experience!

Joliezac wrote:

I just recently got this Schleich model and I really loved it. You made it even better! I really love the eyes the most, it looks so lifelike and calm. I also love that photo of the real hare you found! I'm surprised it stayed still for you, I can never get anywhere near one

It's a pity they retired this one, I don't think they have a hare at all at the moment. But if they do a new one it'll probably be a smiley bunny type sculpt, I just don't trust them to do anything noble and elegant any more!

Adult hares are usually long gone before you get anywhere near them, but leverets left alone have the instinct to sit still and not be noticed. This one must have been just young enough to stick to the stillness defence, even though he looks big enough to have run!

Caracal wrote:

Very good repaint on that model! You made him far more realistic!

Thanks! I enjoyed working on him, all my wildlife repaints have been real favourite species for me so there's extra satisfaction in creating them.

George wrote:

The eyes were really nerve-wracking to do, getting those tiny dots of colour in the right place without my hand shaking - another time to hold my breath and wedge my elbow against my hip for stability, just like dorsal stripes on dun ponies

I don't know if this may help an experienced painter like you, perhaps you already do it - but when I paint watercolours (maybe I can adapt it to model animals too), I use a ruler to lean off the paper on one side, and rest my painting arm over a length/part of it as I do detailed bits that need a steady hand. I am holding the higher up end of the ruler with my other hand thereby creating a leaning platform that is very steady.
This keeps my forearm very steady as it's resting on something that is not moving and I find I have more control over my brush. That way I am not relying on my body to support my hand (as my breathing can make my arm/hand move too much).

oh! I just googled this and it's called a mahl stick ha ha

What a super encounter with the hare, who must have been rather very curious about you

Thanks for the suggestion, but it wouldn't work for me - I don't have a table or desk to sit at so there'd be nothing to rest it against, except the soft cushion of the sofa next to me and I think that would be too mobile to brace my hand any steadier than concentration and breath-holding

Beautiful work, you really caught the 'look' of a hare's eye, as you said. There is something quite wild and unsettling about them, but beautiful and elegant! I too thought of Dürer, so a great success there.

Thanks! I put two colours into the eye, as well as the black pupil and a little bit of pink in the corner, I think that highlight of brighter gold helps it looks a bit more deep and 'glowing' than if it was just a flat shade of brown? I have got some metallic gold but it's very sticky and annoying to use, so I didn't want to risk messing up the face entirely!

I think the mythology and significance of the hare makes them feel a bit more special, and they're somehow just more wild than a native rabbit, which is just the outdoor version of an animal we know so well as a pet. A hare is sharp and strong and clever, where a rabbit's a bunny

How wonderful to have discovered this model now that you are back to repainting models again! I love your style, you always manage to turn any model into an animal that is so much more realistic, whilst still looking natural and not overly altered! There is an amazing range of browns in this hare's coat and I also loved reading about your encounters, frosty mornings out in nature always bring lovely surprises like that!
This is a little off topic too but I still haven't worked out how to multi-quote and see you use this quite often, so I would be so grateful if you have a moment to explain!

Thank you so much! I'm always really pleased to hear other people like seeing these as much as I like making them, some sculpts just cry out for a more detailed paintjob than the factory can give.

I have a lot of brown paints, I've bought every shade the company makes

For the quotes, just hit the Multi-Quote button on everyone you want to reply to as you scroll down the thread, then when you reach the very bottom hit Post Reply (off to the left, outside the blue frame) and it'll put all the quotes into a blank message for you, and you just type in between them to answer each person.

Wonderful work again! This is surely one of the nicest hares Schleich ever made! I also love the older sculpt from 1991 from them too. Do you have it also?

Beautiful paintwork, you made the fur look so soft and the eyes so lively

Thank you so much George, great to finally know how to do this!

Beautiful repaint!!!!

Ana wrote:

Wonderful work again! This is surely one of the nicest hares Schleich ever made! I also love the older sculpt from 1991 from them too. Do you have it also?

Beautiful paintwork, you made the fur look so soft and the eyes so lively

Taos wrote:

Beautiful repaint!!!!

Thanks, both of you! Sorry I missed the replies earlier

No, I don't have the other Schleich hare, I wasn't collecting when that one came out and it hasn't come my way since. It's a lovely style, reminds me of some old illustrations of hares, though I can't think what era typically gave them that pose and expression!

Today's update is another small animal, but a tame one this time - I've painted my cat

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

When I bought some Ebay horses to repaint, the seller included a little gift, this Schleich cat. With a few paint rubs and marks, he wasn't good enough to keep as he was, but ideal for turning into a portrait!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

He was a tricky colour to match, nowhere near as bright orange as I thought he was - more like a pastel orange with a lot of white and cream mixed in.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Here's the real one. His name was originally Tigger, but he ends up called by nicknames - I usually go for The Ginger, sometimes shortened to Ginge, The Orange, or Pumpkin when he's curled up rounded in a ball. I don't think I've ever called him Tigger, either to his face or when calling him, he's probably forgotten he was ever named that

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

In the typical way of all cats, right when I wanted him he was off doing cat things elsewhere, so I had to copy his face stripes from a photo instead of from his actual face

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I think it's quite a good match, considering I only got the model as an unexpected gift and didn't choose the one which most resembled him - with all the fluffy or snub-nosed or distinctive-breed cats which have been made, it was lucky I got one which worked for his average-cat looks!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

And finally, both of them together. This was the only useable of many shots in which the model was mostly under his paws or being rescued on the brink of going in his mouth, he kept attacking his mini self and thought it was great fun

What a nice portrait of your kitty!