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Author Topic: Feelings about your first custom attempt & encouragement for new starters :)  (Read 998 times)

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Offline glitterball

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I thought this might be a nice topic to discuss the excitement / frustrations / joy / learning curve when you attempted you first ever pony custom!

I am sure that those new to customising would appreciate reading about your experiences and give them encouragement to go for it  ;)

For me - it was a restoration of a Gusty G1 - the hair had been cut etc so she needed a re-root. As I already had a little army of Gustys I felt that it would be OK to choose a slight variation to her usual colouring - I chose a shade of green that matched the eye iris colour and added a stripe of pinky red (instead of orange red) to give more of a watermelon effect - this became my "Watermelon Gusty"  :lol:

I had done re-hairs before on Pippa (Dawn) and Sindy/Barbie Dolls, but I went through similar emotions!

Emotions I went through:

1) deciding Gusty looked bad needed some love! Agonising over the right colours to choose...
2) being brave enough to take the plunge - CUTTING AWAY THE HAIR - yikes!  :shocked:
3) thinking OMG what have I done I have killed my pony!!!!
4) spending a LOOONG time slowly attempting to remove the head & then using a craft knife to cut the stuck bits
5) looking at the decapitated head & thinking again: OMG I have really killed my pony!!!!
6) boiling the pony body parts on the stove in Oxi solution like some kind of Grimms Fairytale witch
7) thinking how odd this all looks!!
8) The joy felt at observing a much cleaner-looking pony
9) rolling my eyes at the amount of hair plugs I needed to prepare... I do find this bit tedious
10) rooting my first 5 plugs, feeling pleased with the progress
11) looking at the millions of empty plug holes still waiting to be filled and nearly losing hope
12) finding my mojo & completing the rooting
13) excitement at finally getting a chance to style the hair
14) eagerness to share photos to the pony community
15) thinking - yes, that was fun but hard work, I won't be doing this again in a hurry...
16) five minutes later finding another bait pony & wanting to do it again  :P

How did you feel the first time you restored or customised a pony?

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Offline BlackCurtains

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Honestly, I was just really excited. I came to the Arena because of customs, so I felt like I was finally in the right place. It felt good being able to share.

My first custom was a baby fakie that I sculpted dragon wings for, painted and rehaired with embroidery floss. I still have him :) I was used to sculpting already and his wings turned out great. I wasn't confident enough to attempt a proper symbol for him though, it's just a kind of wavy flames design. I don't think I repainted his eyes either? Can't remember.

He was well received on the forum :)
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Offline tailrustedtealeaf

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My first custom...never got finished. When I was 10 I found Aikarin's customizing site, took out a childhood Sweet Breeze, and absolutely mangled her. I cut her neck with a butter knife, found some (normal) Rit dye in the stairwell, was able to convince my mom to get me cheap green hair extensions from the dollar store, and then never finished her. I still have her body somewhere, I'll have to make her up properly, probably with a FBR.

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Offline lovelauraland

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My first custom was a punk style hello Kitty pony and I loved her, sold her on eBay then made a Cadbury’s pony, painted a G1 with purple acrylic and used white for the C but it bled through, terrible mistake! I also remember my hubby finding a long stand of nylon hair on his head when taking a shower… he had no hair so it definitely wasn’t his 🤣
Now we find multi coloured hair everywhere in our house 😂

Offline SunPony

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My first one, I did a full body repaint but NOT a rehair.  She turned out okay, although I was never really happy with her eyes and I tried repainting them over and over so they ended up a bit...thick.  My main purpose with her was to try learning to do a full body repaint. I felt good about how that turned out but the eyes were disappointing, and I felt that her symbols were uninspired.  Definitely made me want to try again and be more careful on the details and planning.  And I started practicing painting eyes on paper before tackling pony eyes again.

I feel a little bad about her because she ended up being a somewhat rare G4 (Feathermay), but I had no way of knowing that at the time when I bought her at the store specifically to customize back in 2011 or 2012.  :huh:  So I encourage those starting out to pick a pony that is already established as being bait-able, when possible, to avoid later feelings of guilt!

Sadly my overall feelings about her are now negative, but I do really love my second ever custom who I felt had a much better design.  So if you are starting out and your first custom is unsatisfactory, don't worry, you will improve if you work at it!
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Offline Ponybookworm

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The first time I ever Customised was done with some marker pen to dye some of the hair. That was not a good idea, & when I got into rehairing I did that where I could
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Offline Roogna

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my first custom was in the 1990s when it was still brand new. one of the best parts was all the experimenting. we didn't have access to dollyhair, or apoxie sculpt, or any of the things people take for granted now. I remember using fabric fringe to make hairy hooves and painting over it. I remember a couple of us painting original hair with acrylic paint for a 3d effect that defied gravity. I have one where someone's dad filled in a missing leg with silicone, and I customized it from there. I tried using gel pens...which smeared, but I found a way to seal them anyway.
so the takeaway is - experiment!

but also, if it's g1, please make sure it's actually bait. I still cringe at the memory of customizing a glitter shs that could easily have been loved by someone as she was....and I cringe when I see people take g1s with absolutely nothing wrong with them and customize them
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Offline Snapdragon

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My first custom pony was also probably inspired by Aikarin's website! She was a fakie (I knew I didn't want to risk destroying a real MLP!), and I used nail polish... :lmao: Poor angel, I still have her!! She should get some proper photos now, even with her 'skin' peeling...
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Offline Artemesia's Garden

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I tend to tweak still rather than customize fully, e.g. Peachy is now standing Ladybird. I'm not into the look of FBR and not clever enough for dyeing. Or committed enough for airbrushing. I'm very careful with what I will bait and what I will do. Mostly my stuff is actually reversible. It's very satisfying so my advice is be gentle and enjoy the results!
« Last Edit: September 12, 2021, 01:17:49 PM by Artemesia's Garden »
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My first full custom was a Baby Fizzy made from my extremely ratty childhood Baby Moondancer. I was proud of her at the time, but right now she is on my to redo list :lol:
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Offline Marshie

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Re: Feelings about your first custom attempt & encouragement for new starters :)
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2021, 05:40:19 AM »
My first restoration was G1 Firefly. I was able to do the basic cleaning of the body and cutting the hair just fine, but when I went to do to rehair, it completely went south.

First issue was I used a shade too dark for this model of Firefly. Next, I did all of it WITHOUT a rehair tool…I don’t know how I managed to do that but I did. Instead of using a glue to keep the hair in…I used thread and tied knots in the strands to keep it in…

Needless to say, it was a horrible job! She is now properly restored and I apologize to her often for my horrible first attempt!

As for customs, I have two that I will be starting shortly! I’m making my ponysona with a G1 base and G4.5 base! Wish me luck!!
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Offline Eluluu

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Re: Feelings about your first custom attempt & encouragement for new starters :)
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2021, 05:52:03 AM »
Oof... my FIRST ever custom... if it can be called that... was a bbe bait... I "sculpted" Pegasus style wings and a terrible horn for it out of Greenstuff... which shouldn't stick properly... painted over the whole mess with white paint... and did symbols out of ?I think? Gel pen...

I still have the monstrosity... buried in the back of my "shame shelf" of customs I could do better and the general B Team of my collection. One of these days (when I get the customs bug again, I can feel it maybe stirring... so that's a good sign ill jump back in the game in the near future) I'll do a proper remake of poor Princess Frozen Dreams...

Or not. XD

She's *technically* my first ever custom but I consider baby Fizzy my first, and F.D. more of a misguided protocustom.

Offline Heelys

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Re: Feelings about your first custom attempt & encouragement for new starters :)
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2021, 08:23:49 AM »
Technically, my first custom was a Pony Bride I purchased at a car boot sale when I was 9. It was like 2006 and I was fixated on pony fan websites, so when I got a G1 that didn't have much character (or much of a name) I decided to create my own custom pony, just like the websites told me about. Puffy paint, nail polish, ugly grayed glow in the dark paint... she was a hot mess.

My first custom as an adult was Galarian Ponyta. While she looks nice, there were a lot of mistakes in the process, and she's sticky from painting her over in white many times. So uh, don't lay it on too thick. But mostly just keep practicing and moving forward.
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