For the 20th anniversary of the Arena, we are bringing back the Custom Spotlight on a monthly basis! We want to showcase the talent and creativity of our custom community. Each month a new customizer will be chosen.
For our first Spotlight we have Pandabear_chan!How did you get started customizing ponies? In 2002 I found my childhood ponies in the attic and started researching about them on the internet. I discovered the German pony forum and later mlparena. It was impressive what members did with the ponies to restore or completely change them. Because I was always interested in art, I tried it myself - first very simple - by rehairing a fakie with cheap hair extensions from a 1€ store. After that, it was not far to the first acrylic paints, brushes, etc..
How long have you been customizing ponies?I unfortunately do not remember the exact date but guess between 2002 or 2003, so about 20 years in 2023.
Where do you get the ideas for your custom ponies? What inspires you?Really tough question. It changed over the years a lot, which also influenced my personal development process. I started with ideas that I came across on the internet: pictures, other custom ponies, colors, etc. But I relatively early stepped into the field of Hasbro-inspired ponies. Ponies that were too expensive to own as originals (my Rapunzel ponies speak for themselves), ponies that needed babies or babies that needed parents, variants of released ponies, etc.
These Hasbro-inspired ponies quickly got a lot of people interested and they commissioned me for their own pony. I did this for the majority of my artistic life as a customizer. During this time - most of my personal projects had to step back multiple times because I had committed to do another commission, and so on. I stopped taking them ultimately in 2022 when I finished the last projects I had been asked for in autumn 2019.
I feel very relieved since then and simply do what I like and what feels good. I got into resin casting and use this knowledge for creating unique stands for the G1 rearing ponies. Or repro guitars for the Rockin’ Beat ponies.
My personal passion is the realization of prototype ponies that have never been released by Hasbro as figure - only in catalogues, backcard designs, etc. I simply love giving these ponies a life as they’re often very beautiful and it is a shame that they have not been given a chance. As I’m an engineer, I usually try to think like a Hasbro designer - like “how they would have realized it”.
Additionally I found Instagram and am truly impressed by all the talented people out there. Their work sometimes influences my ideas as well.
Has your style or process changed from when you started?Of course – because you never stop learning - believe me. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to everything art relevant so I always look for products and techniques that support my abilities.
One example is hair. When I started, I used cheap hair extensions. It was a long way from these extensions, through discovering jumbo braid hair (kanekalon) which led to massive orders in the US. The next step was the use of Saran hair and I finally found Nylon hair which is the hair I use today. But also in this section there’s good and great quality, so even there was still a learning effect.
As for the body colors on my customs - I started with full body repaints by hand incl. a paint brush and acrylic colors. It took a long time and a lot of training over the years to reduce and later eliminate brush strokes with this technique. Nowadays I use an airbrush but had to save money for a high quality brush as well as a compressor, the right colors and further materials to achieve smooth spray results.
I could continue this for a couple more techniques but I guess the examples above indicate that I have changed over the years.
What's the hardest part of customizing?Customizing in general has great frustration potential. Personal experiences showed that it always depends on the project. It can be a commissioner who’s just over picky with his wishes. It can be the glue, which ruins your otherwise perfect paint job just by being too liquid. It can be split mane plugs that drive you crazy through rehairing. In general, the hobby teaches you a good lot of lessons that you may have never encountered before.
What do you like most about customizing?I like the endless options of being creative. Customizing is like a drug in a positive way - you can become addicted very quickly and tend to judge things for being suitable for your next project. I’ve become a hoarder for all kinds of custom materials and it’s most satisfying when you have an idea in mind and the right materials in hand - or need to order them first.
The best thing about customizing is the final step from the idea to the realization of the project.
Do you have a favorite custom you've made? (please include a pic or link if you can)I do not have one custom that I love the most but my prototype pony category in my deviantart account has all my most favorite ponies included.
https://www.deviantart.com/customsbypandabear/gallery/68179982/hasbro-prototype-ponies What was your first custom? Do you still have it? (include a pic or link here too if you can)My very first complete custom was a white/ red marbled sitting (Bubbles base) angel pony with real feathers glued on plastic sheets (inspired by the Victoria’s Secret Fashion shows). I was sure to have considered all the necessary components like good quality (ironed kanekalon) hair, good acrylic colors incl. sealers and brushes. Well it turned out that the sealer was not good and it became super sticky. So I had to throw it away at a certain point. I don’t have a picture of her and she’s not online anywhere as well.
What supply can't you live without?Honestly everything - because where would I be today if I did not have these supplies I work with currently? Seriously - I cannot pick one of my custom supplies. If I had to think very far outside the box, it would be my little tape measure to accurately measure the packages I send to the US.
Do you do other types of art?Yes, customizing for me doesn‘t include bait prepping, painting and rehairing only anymore.
It includes sculpting, sewing, de- / reflocking, airbrushing, digital art design, work with resin, and much more - depending on the project. Therefore- yes I do other types of art. It comes automatically when you dive deep into the hobby.
If you ask about non-pony involved are, I occasionally love to build paper theaters from Japan (mostly Studio Ghibli themed)
What tips can you offer customizers just starting out?As much as I like to say things like: “Just get started somewhere- you‘ll see where your imagination will guide you…“ , “All it needs is a brave start…“ or “Simply go and check out the amazing tutorials online…“ I have to say:
“Think very carefully about what you want to achieve with this hobby.”
This is neither encouraging nor positive, but it is the truth. Why?
1. Customizing is not automatically a suitable hobby for everybody who likes to collect My little ponies- especially if you‘re not into artistic things at all. A general interest in the necessarily involved techniques is a prerequisite in order to understand and use them.
2. Don’t underestimate the costs involved. Customizing is expensive if you want to achieve high quality results. If you buy cheap you‘ll buy double or triple later. Additionally you can become frustrated easily if you use cheap stuff “just to try it out”.
3. You should encourage people to judge your work in a constructive way including potential criticism, because only these comments will let you improve. This is not a thing everybody can accept and want to understand as we all want to feel comfortable with this hobby. You need to deal with it in a way that people, who’re into it for a long time, usually want to help and protect you from getting discouraged by faults that could have been avoidable.
4. Accept boundaries. As sweet and helpful most people are - some won’t share their secrets with you - simply because they may have developed it over months or even years. This usually involves tons of research, a lot of trial and error as well as frustration and often money too.
That being said - if you really want to start, improve quickly over time and avoid frustration from the beginning - invest in a good teacher, like you would invest in an education. Most of the “older” customizers are bursting with knowledge about techniques, materials, sources etc. If you invest, you can learn incredible things from incredible people. Of course the internet is helpful with tons of tutorials but not every technique works for everyone.
For all the people that simply want to try, if the hobby is suitable for them without the hassle of buying all the necessary stuff, I can suggest asking a customizer if he/she’d offer a class you could attend. Then you can learn in a short time (i.e. a weekend) what it means to customize and can decide afterwards if you want to continue.
I for myself was happy to book an airbrush course back in 2006 before investing like a fortune for the wrong airbrush gun, colors, compressor, etc.
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