I'm Getting Commissions & I'm Not A Customizer - HELP!

[FarDreamer]

Ok, so here's the story.  One of my students (the human, I'm a dog trainer) found out that I collect MLP and thought my website is neat.  She gave me a bunch of her old toys including MLP and FSF.  She didn't understand the difference between a restoration and a custom and asked me if I'd make her custom versions of her horses.  I told her I'd be happy to give it a try and I let her know I don't consider myself a customizer.  I really prefer to do restorations on G1's, but she's really into 80's toys and I had a yucky condition Blossom so I figured it wouldn't hurt anything.

She has two ponies and two horses.  I'm doing her a custom with a G1 base, G3, and G4, and she wants one of her horses done using a Grand Champion.  The G1 and the G4 are finished.  She likes them so much that she posted them on facebook for her horse world friends to see and now some of them have messaged me asking if I can do similar ones for them.  She thinks I could make some side money off this and wants me to make them and sell them at the horse shows she goes to (she does jumping competitions, it's really a universe I don't know anything about).

Are these good enough for that?  I don't want to get into customizing a lot of G1's, but I really enjoyed making them.  She thinks most of these folks won't know the difference between a G1 and a G3 and that most of them will want Grand Champion customs.

Here's some photos:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[NovelNerd]

Well customization is always subjective.  I would say if you find it fun and maybe think of a price you think is reasonable of your time and that people would want to pay why not?

[Leave a Whisper]

Those are cute! Lemme guess, Smooth Moves and Mr. Chips?

As far as customizing, that's up to you. You had a good time, but I understand that you'd much rather restore. My opinion is, don't let anyone push you into something you don't wanna. You made these for a friend, despite your own personal ethics out of the kindness of your heart. And there's plenty of model horses that can be customized ranging from dollar store, to Breyer, to Schleich to Safari Ltd. that would bring out the beauty of a horse much better if they want realistic looking customs.

Whatever you decide to do I wish you fun, luck and happiness.

[FarDreamer]

Those are cute! Lemme guess, Smooth Moves and Mr. Chips?

LOL, it's her pony Sandman and her horse Moo.  I'm guessing much less famous than whoever those horses are. 

[Leave a Whisper]

Those are cute! Lemme guess, Smooth Moves and Mr. Chips?

LOL, it's her pony Sandman and her horse Moo.  I'm guessing much less famous than whoever those horses are. 

My bad! I thought you said she'd asked you to commission mlps into Grand champions.

Post Merge: December 26, 2016, 05:47:43 PM

http://littlekunai.deviantart.com/art/One-of-My-Grails-X3-478963719

http://littlekunai.deviantart.com/art/Grand-Champion-Mares-Pt-Two-567758066

Here's pictures of my lovely Smooth Moves. There is a resemblance.

[LunaMoonCustoms1212]

Nice customs FarDreamer! But did you use a first release Applejack for the G4 custom or did you make the bangs yourself?

[FarDreamer]

Nice customs FarDreamer! But did you use a first release Applejack for the G4 custom or did you make the bangs yourself?

She's an Applejack I've had for sale for awhile now and no one bought her.  No clue what release.  Don't go telling me she's hard to find or something.  I used her because the pony she's based on has bangs and the hair matched.  With my luck she'll be the only mane 6 that's rare in existence.   

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[LunaMoonCustoms1212]

Nice customs FarDreamer! But did you use a first release Applejack for the G4 custom or did you make the bangs yourself?

She's an Applejack I've had for sale for awhile now and no one bought her.  No clue what release.  Don't go telling me she's hard to find or something.  I used her because the pony she's based on has bangs and the hair matched.  With my luck she'll be the only mane 6 that's rare in existence.   

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Yeah she's actually probably one of the rarest versions of the mane 6  sorry about that. And also it looks like that you didn't reroot her hair, but did you cover it up before you started to paint? It looked like that there was a brownish color near the roots, not sure if you were going for that, but looks like you got paint in the hair, that's just my opinion tho.

[piinkypiie]

Wow those look amazing!

just out of curiosity, is there a way to remove paint from the hair if it ends up like shown above?

[FarDreamer]

And also it looks like that you didn't reroot her hair, but did you cover it up before you started to paint? It looked like that there was a brownish color near the roots, not sure if you were going for that, but looks like you got paint in the hair, that's just my opinion tho.

It's deliberate.    The real pony's mane fades from dark brown to blond.  It's actually a mix of dye and paint.  I'm not sure the paint was the best way to do it, but it made it match just so and the lady I made him for likes it, which I guess is what counts.  It's just water based acrylic paint, so I'm sure I could remove it if needed.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


The grey blotch on the side of the black horse is deliberate too, she has grey markings.  But it's driving me nuts how it doesn't blend so I might see if I can fix it when I'm at her house again.

[Uninu]

They look wonderful! I love the effect of different shades on the pony's hair.

[LunaMoonCustoms1212]

(I know I sound like that I'm tearing your customs down, but I'm just trying to give you some tips  )

And also, with the g1's mane, you could also just give it tiny curls at the the end of her mane. I know that the horse that you are working from probably has strait hair, but overall it will look better. If you look at the g4 custom, she has just little curves at the end of her hair, which makes it look better. Most customs don't look as good of you keep the perfectly strait hair and don't do anything to it.

[Epona]

They look great.
Does the black horse have white hooves in real life? and does the brown horse have black hooves IRL? Usually if a horse has white socks the hooves are tan/white. Usually black horses have black hooves, unless they are "coronet" socks?
(Not trying to criticise, just wondering)

[ChocolateStarfire]

As far as customizing, that's up to you. You had a good time, but I understand that you'd much rather restore. My opinion is, don't let anyone push you into something you don't wanna. You made these for a friend, despite your own personal ethics out of the kindness of your heart. And there's plenty of model horses that can be customized ranging from dollar store, to Breyer, to Schleich to Safari Ltd. that would bring out the beauty of a horse much better if they want realistic looking customs.

Whatever you decide to do I wish you fun, luck and happiness.

I second this! These are nice customs, but if restoration is your thing, stick with it.

[FarDreamer]

(I know I sound like that I'm tearing your customs down, but I'm just trying to give you some tips  )

Not at all!  Any tips to improve any future ones are appreciated.  I'll at least do the ones for the people who have contacted me asking. 

Post Merge: December 27, 2016, 07:01:10 PM

They look great.
Does the black horse have white hooves in real life? and does the brown horse have black hooves IRL? Usually if a horse has white socks the hooves are tan/white. Usually black horses have black hooves, unless they are "coronet" socks?
(Not trying to criticise, just wondering)

There are photos of the pony in one of my previous replies.  The hooves look dark grey to me.  Here's a photo of the horse.  Her human said they're called "pink".

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Oh and she was VERY specific that this is a black horse and she wanted her painted black, despite all the brown in the photo, lol.