LeeAnn's Customs Thread *Updated Feb 28

I combined all of my custom topics into one, so I'll use this topic for all of my customs.

The second I saw a photo of this figure (I think it was Paige's photo, thanks Paige!), I immediately saw a picture in my head of a custom German Wirehaired Pointer! So I bought one online and started chopping him up   

Before
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(Hind leg at weird angle)

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(Looking at that front leg, I knew that was going to take a lot of work. To me, it looked like the leg was broken and the dog was holding it up)








After
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Overall, this guy had many changes. First thing I did was chop off that weird leg.   I took a small screwdriver and made a tiny hole in the leg piece that was cut off, and another in the body where the leg was cut off from. I had to cut a little off the leg, as it was too long. Then I stuck a wire through the leg and into the body and filled the gap with clay. That fixed up the weird "broken leg" angle of that hind leg. Next piece to get chopped off was the long tail. Then the broken front leg. That entire leg was resculpted, with a wire skeleton under the clay. Pieces of the ears were cut off and remade as well. His belly was sanded off and markings from PAPO removed. All of the paws were lengthened, to make him stand easier (he was very tipsy after I moved the leg!). Then I added the hair on his face and redid the tail (which cracked off countless times!), okay I redid the tail a lot. I also had to fill in the belly quite a bit (if you look at the last "before" photo, you can see how strange the belly looks. You can see the big difference in the after photos!). Finally I added clay to the entire dog and retextured to give him a wirehaired appearance.

He is painted in an acrylic basecoat and many, many layers of pastels. The nose, eyes, and white on the face are done in acrylics. His eyes are glossed and his nose slightly glossed. Then I made the tiny collar hardware with wire and created the orange collar with thin ribbon. The clay I used was a craft store (Michael's) version of "Creative Paperclay."

I made him as a replica of a friend's real German Wirehaired Pointer. I tricked her into send me photos of her dog, Fin, actually.   I told her I was making an "art project" on the breed, if she could provide photos of her dogs for my references. Hey, it's not that far off!   When I gave it to her, she was so emotional, and started crying she loved it so much! It was hilarious when she realized what she sent all the photos for.    Ah, that was good! I guess I did a good replication then!    


I hope you enjoyed viewing photos of "Mini Fin," my first custom!  

 Holy cow, that transformation is incredible. Fantastic job!  

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

 Holy cow, that transformation is incredible.  Fantastic job!  

Thank you very much Paige!    

Excellent work! So happy to see some doggie customs!
        

What did you use for blending the colours when painting?

What a beautiful way to surprise a friend!

Wow, you'd hardly believe it was the same model, he's absolutely wonderful!

Quite a transformation indeed, beautiful work! Congratulations!

That is AWESOME   
It doesn't look like a re-make at all, but is a perfect Roughhair  

What a fantastic transformation !!!! The new dog is wonderful ! 
Not surprising that your friend was so happy she cried   

Thankyou for the great pictures, and for describing how you did , it is very, very interesting    

Great work     

Thank you all very much!     

Miss Jane wrote:

What did you use for blending the colours when painting?

Basically I just "scrub" the powder into the texture of the figure with a brush... it's hard to explain   With the powder pastels it's very simple IMHO to blend the colors.   

I am very interested. What did you use for fixative?
Did you have to do repeated layers?

Miss Jane wrote:

I am very interested. What did you use for fixative?
Did you have to do repeated layers?

I use "Tree House Studio Clear Acrylic Matte Spray" for fixative. Pastels are done in many layers, in one spot at a time, as they are only "stuck" on the figure after you spray it with the fixative. If you do the whole thing at once, your pastels will come off all over your fingers and your workspace, and all of the colors will blend together into one. So the process is "paint" a layer, spray a layer, let dry, "paint" a layer, spray a layer, let dry... It's very time consuming but the result is beautiful. I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me I did 30-40 layers of just pastels.

And the great thing with powder pastels is they're fairly inexpensive and last forever. In fact, the set I use now is from my neighbor's mother who lived a long while back   

Some people use gloves with powder pastels, but I prefer not to. It just doesn't feel right with plasticy clear blobs on your fingers.

  

I love it    

Thanks Jonas

4U, congratulations for performing such a great transformation with so fantastic results.
Sometimes, we, not artists, watch your works without having any idea about the work behind it. So, it was extremely interesting to read your descritive comments about your work. :)
The result is splendid and it was great to know that you surprised a friend with your Art!

Thank you very much Roger!

He is wonderful!! Love the changes, great job! And I like the matching collar as well!    

Thank you Shanti!

Yes 4U,   you made a Wonderful Job     

Thanks Alvaro!

A few weeks ago I purchased a custom work in progress on MH$P. Probably everyone knows by now that the Breyer Bouncer is my favorite mold, and the fjord is my favorite breed. Well, this custom was a bouncer being turned into a fjord! How perfect!

When I saw the ad, the horse was already on hold. I thought there was no chance I would own him, but I emailed the seller anyway and asked her to keep me in mind in case the sale fell through.

Well, it did! The first person that contacted her didn't understand or didn't read the seller's payment policy, so the horse was up for grabs again! The bouncer-fjord was mine!   

I got him for a heck of a deal, he's already had extensive custom work done to him, and he's been filled too! So he's very heavy. The seller told me she did him years ago, but never got around to finishing him. So she wanted him to be loved by someone else that will be able to get him completed.

I had to wait a little while until I could get started working on him, however. He will be my first extensive custom project, a "drastic custom" we call it. I needed to order some Magic Sculpt.

The MS came today, so now it's time to start a progress thread. Hopefully I can start on him soon!


For those not familiar with the Bouncer mold, this is how this fjordie started:
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And this is how I purchased him:
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More angles:
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I will dremel off the mane and create a new one, I don't like the mane he has right now. I also want to make him as correct as possible, since the Bouncer mold has many issues with his ABCs.

Once he's done, I don't plan on painting him myself. I hope to save up enough money to commission a hobby painter to do his finishwork for me. There are few people I would love to have him finished by, but I'm pretty sure I can't afford them.

Anyway, any suggestions are appreciated! Obviously he needs another ear...

He needs a new neck, this one looks painfully short :/
Other than that - brave choice! I'd never have thought of changing Bouncer into a Fjord :)

I agree, the neck is definitely very short, even for a fjord.

Thanks! I was actually thinking about a Bouncer to fjord CM a few days before I saw the ad, what a coincidence that I was able to buy it already in progress!

What a great project   

I love the head, - the one who started surely has talent !

Well, the neck is actually not too short, if the body had been the old kind of Fjord, - but he has a modern body shape.
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Perhaps you should make his body deeper and back shorter ( Rump larger) ?
Well, I am no artist, don't listen too much to me   

Ps, - what is ABC in "..Bouncer mold has many issues with his ABCs." ?  

Thank you for your input Susanne I think maybe his barrel needs to be built out more? And possibly the legs are too long. I think his skinniness is making his back look long.

ABCs are Anatomy, Biomechanics, and Conformation. Funny how it works out with ABC, when they're not as easy to learn as the letters ABC

The neck looks too short for me in this pose anyway, despite the conformation of the breed :/