The MLP Arena
Creativity => Customs => Topic started by: BlackCurtains on April 18, 2022, 11:21:02 PM
-
Prepping bait. G1s are the easiest for me. I think because the glue is so old, it gives away easier. Of course, the size of G1s helps. I never have to struggle getting my pliers in a head. G2s are hard but not as bad as G3. I think G3 are the worst (note: I've never worked with G4 or G5 or any .5 gen). The glue! SO MUCH GLUE. I hate cutting off the neck ring, so it's always a fight with the glue.
Making armature. Not everyone sculpts, so not everyone has to make armature. I hate it. Working with metal? It's dangerous! :lol: I always end up poking myself and getting my hands all scraped up. I tend to use card stock a lot, like for wings, instead of wire mesh because I hate working with it so much.
Pulling the tail in. The last custom I made, I had a hell of a time pulling the tail through. My thumb is still sore! I had to angle it down towards the legs to get it in so I had my thumb pressed down on the string. Ouch! I do make tail holes bigger and put more hair in, but I don't want gaps. So that means some pretty thick hair to pull through.
Painting eyes. I dislike having to paint eyes because it's so hard for me now :( I have a natural tremor that is exacerbated by some of my medicine and it's pretty bad. My last custom I left the original eyelashes because I knew I wouldn't be able to paint them. I need to practice more with toothpicks for fine lines.
Being a perfectionist. Ahh, I am my own worst critic. I can see every flaw, every mistake, every teeny tiny detail - and I usually hate the outcome. There are only a few of my own customs that I can say I'm proud of. Most of them were swap ponies and live with other people. I'm glad I put so much effort into customs for others and I try to do that for myself. But I get that voice in my head "it's going to suck anyway so why bother?" and sometimes I slack a little on stuff I'm keeping. That's not a good work ethic. It's something I need to improve.
Even though these things drive me crazy, I still love customizing. I need to take breaks more often so I don't get frustrated. Even after 12 years, I'm still learning.
What are your top dislikes?
-
The prep can be soooo frustrating! On one hand, satisfying to pull all that hair out. On the other, it’s just such a pain when you want to just dive into a project.
drying times I have no idea if it’s just me, but drying/curing times just get to me. I’m normally a patient person, but having to wait to see if my work is good enough to move onto the next step is just something I cannot do. I want to get onto the next step of customizing now! I want to know if I have any mistakes to correct now! And I swear time moves slower on purpose when I’m waiting on things to dry.
-
Getting the hair out... and getting it in :P I'm not a fan of rehairing G1/ G4 styling size ponies, takes too long. Haven't rehaired many G3 yet. G2 and regular G4 are fine ;)
Edit to add: G4 neck plugs!
-
Glue removal!!!!!!!! Hate hate hate, especially with G3s!!!
Waiting. For. Everything. To. Dry!!! Especially paint!!!
Tiny details. I wear spectacles so it's harder for me to get the tiny stuff just right.
When you make a small mistake but it's the WRONG mistake & have to start all over again!!!
Otherwise I love giving new life to a Pony & adding a unique character to my herd
-
The mess it makes. I have 3 small children who like to get into EVERYTHING, especially if it's something I'm working on. So I only have very small snippets of time to do hobby stuff and projects, and some customizing projects, like rehairs, just aren't things that can be accomplished here and there; I just need to get it all out and have it out for an hour or 2 or more. I don't have an area in my home where I can set up a desk or table with it where I can just drop in and do a few plugs here and there, and leave it set up unmolested. Therefore, most of my projects are just on hold indefinitely until we move and I have my own space, or all 3 kids are in school...whichever comes first.
Also...removing heads on G3s. I don't even bother with them anymore. I might as well just get rid of all the G3s in my bait box because removing their heads is impossible.
-
Getting the wrong colour of acrylic paint I thought I got the exact brown for one of my custom doll bodies, painted the body but the colour doesn’t match the head.
Having the head break when trying to get the hair out (this is what happened to Baby Night Song the head broke in my hands in to tiny pieces), having the forceps or hair removal tool breaking on you.
Having the hair plug holes break on you because they are too fragile.
And getting blisters from the forceps.
-
Removing heads and manes from G3 and G4, especially G4. And painting tiny details - I have a scar in one eye so I literally have zero depth perception which makes it hard to see where the brush is in relation to the pony. >_<
-
Getting started is hard!
Tails. I hate tails for some reason.
-
I have a generic dislike of rehairing--mainly because I can't seem to do it without poking myself in the cuticle at the edge of my index finger when I pick up the hair. ^^;
-
I hate trying to find a good sealant and I actually feel bad for people who bought my first batches of customs because I used Mod Podge to seal at the time, since that's what was recommended back in the day. I have a few customs that never sold that I think I want to strip down and redo so that I can seal them better. I found some Mr. Superclear at Hobby Lobby and I've read good things about it for sealing customs so I'm going to try it on my next one, assuming I get a chance to actually do it.
My current space is very limited so I basically spend most of my time moving things from one place to another just to get to my supplies and then after a small amount of time to work on things, I have to start moving everything back so that I can go to sleep at night. Once I can find a bigger place (bigger than a single bedroom within a shared house, that is) I hope it won't be a problem anymore but for now it makes doing customs (any hobby really) a pain.
-
Sanding. Every time I think I'm finally done sanding, I'm not. LOL
Cleaning my airbrush. Same as above. Airbrushing is sooo fun when it goes right and pretty finicky and heartbreaking if it spits or spatters and destroys the details. Right now I think my needle is one size and my tip is slightly bigger. Additionally, I bought new paint to reduce clogging but the white is still a tad thick so getting it thin enough to not clog but thick enough to be opaque is maddening. And my compressor gets to pressure but doesn't hold it long enough.
Airbrushing is so satisfying if I have the technical patience. I hope to get it dialed in again and create gradient baits to use and sell the extras.
Now you can see why my warming back up customs haven't been sculpted or airbrushed. I'm working up to it.
-
Painting!! I'm not fantastic at painting which is probably why I tend to stick to sculpting. Can't avoid painting eyes though. I dread it and always end up with one eye much better than the other. Eyelashes are a nightmare!!
Love putting in new tails though - such a quick thing which completely transforms the look of a pony.
-
always end up with one eye much better than the other
FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT :lol:
-
Cleaning my airbrush. Same as above. Airbrushing is sooo fun when it goes right and pretty finicky and heartbreaking if it spits or spatters and destroys the details.
Airbrushing is so satisfying if I have the technical patience.
THIS! I love the look of nicely done airbrushing but it can be soooo darn frustrating at times!! I too am learning the right thinning of paint so that it goes on opaque but doesn't glob. :argh:
Another thing for me is getting the heads off when prepping baits...especially some of those G3s! G3s are my favorite molds to work with but by gosh some of those heads are almost impossible to get off! And then getting all the hair out too! I get some really strange looks from my family when they see pony heads boiling in pots on the stove. :rofl:
-
It's so funny, because my go-to answer has always been 'rehairing'; but I've finally found a comfortable groove where I can kinda turn my brain off, and just knot, stab, pull, repeat while I watch a TV show. It's almost zen, it's so brainless and repetitive. (Rough on the fingers, though!) And I love how a bald, sad pony gradually shifts into a beautiful, soft, gorgeous rehair in my hands! It's one of the easiest ways to see tangible progress, custom-wise.
Meanwhile, painting continues to be a 5+ hour slog of 'this is perfect! no! it's awful! Ugh! I hate it! Wipe and start over again! Okay I only hate THIS eyelash, if I can get off just this one - aaaaand they're all gone. Time to start over - AGAIN!' of perfectionism. I almost wish I could just give myself permission to do impressionism-themed dots, or something, and just let that be enough. But then - eyes! Aaaaaa! It's gotten to the point where I've been stuck on one pony from almost the start of the pandemic, because I'm so afraid to 'mess her up.' But it's my paint! If I mess her up, can't I just repaint her? But then I might get stuck in that endless paint feedback loop due to my perfectionism.... aaaaaaa!!
So, like: rehairing. Dislike: painting, but only via perfectionism!! When I get to do galaxy paint with tiny sponges or edges of paper towels, it's a lot of fun! I just have to figure out how to make the rest of it fun, too. :/
-
being a Perfectionist & Painting Details such as eyes and Symbols.
-
Sanding. Every time I think I'm finally done sanding, I'm not. LOL
Oh yes this! And often it looks fine until you paint over it and realise you were not done sanding after all. >_< I try to avoid sanding as much as possible, meaning I'll try to smooth out everything as much as possible before the clay is cured / has been baked. And when working with cured clay, my preferred method is carving.
Bait prepping is also one of my least favourite things. I've been lucky to buy a lot of baits that have come already prepped, such a luxury!
Rehairing is not my favourite part, no matter what method I use. It's actually fine once I get going but it's something I really tend to procrastinate on, it's difficult to get motivated! It's also why alt rehairs aren't really my thing although I admire the work of others. :lol: Plus some of the ponies in my own herd have been waiting for new hair for *years*. Rehairing customs is enough for me, haha.
Cleaning up - I try to be more careful about responsible handling of waste. Years back when I didn't know better I just tossed bits of dried acrylic paint into the bin, before I learned that even non-toxic craft paints aren't something you can just dispose of with normal household waste (where I live it gets burned for energy). Nowadays I collect dried paint into a jar and try to be careful when cleaning my brushes, making sure I get almost all the paint off the brushes before rinsing them. I mean, all of this is important but I'm a person who's overly anxious about stuff like this and I don't like the stress it causes me... and I absolutely hate cleaning my palette. :P Which is why I do it maybe once a year, haha.
Trying to avoid cat hair and dust particles! I'm pretty confident with my painting and sealing work, but those pesky particles...! Well, it's an old joke that cat hair is the secret ingredient in our kitchen, and likewise I suppose you just can't get a Griffin custom without some small particles trapped under the paint or sealant. :blush:
And of course it's always annoying when things don't go the way I planned or I end up making a mistake that's difficult to fix... But I've also had a lot of happy accidents, and sometimes things turn out better the second time or when I need to get creative to fix a mistake, so it's not all bad. ;)
-
Trying to avoid cat hair and dust particles! I'm pretty confident with my painting and sealing work, but those pesky particles...! Well, it's an old joke that cat hair is the secret ingredient in our kitchen, and likewise I suppose you just can't get a Griffin custom without some small particles trapped under the paint or sealant. :blush:
I can relate to this so much XD Yes, cat hair gets everywhere I don't care if you have a short haired cat or long haired. If it's got fur, you are going to find it in the weirdest places. I once found a cat hair in the dishwasher! ????
-
Waiting for ANYTHING to dry/cure. I'm so impatient, and nothing makes that more apparent than having to wait for something to dry before I can get to the next step. Paint, sealant, glue, sculpting medium-- so frustrating.