This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Topics - Griffin
31
« on: September 02, 2021, 11:00:08 AM »
Who's up for another food thread?  Come and chat about food! Cooking, baking... what have you've been up to lately? I'm starting this so that I can grumble because I'm hungry and my dinner is taking forever.  Got this brilliant idea of making cabbage rolls. I only rarely make them and even though I know they're labour intensive, I always forget just how much time goes into making them.  But now they're finally in the oven! I came up with a vegan recipe the last time I made them and wanted to try it again, with ground soy, quinoa and grated carrot. Those of you who're into baking may remember my experiments with sourdough earlier this year. Unfortunately I let my starter die in the summer as it was too hot for baking and I had some of it in the freezer. If only I'd known how difficult it is to revive the frozen piece... I've made two batches of dough and ended up tossing both because they simply didn't rise. Apparently I didn't let it ferment for long enough, so I've got a third batch going... I hope something will come out of it this time! It smells different than the original starter. Not bad exactly, but different. 
32
« on: August 07, 2021, 02:14:13 PM »
Time for a new thread, it's been a while! None of these are exactly new, the pony art were all made for swaps earlier this spring/summer and their recipients have posted pics but I'm not sure if they tend to get lost in the Swap forum brag threads. So, here goes! visitors can't see pics , please register or login visitors can't see pics , please register or loginATC made for Heart of Midnight in the spring ATC swap. Her list of favourite ponies included Sunspot, and I couldn't resist trying to add some sparkle with glitter glue! Tools: Copic markers, coloured and/or watercolour pencils, Sakura Pigma Micron. Probably Sennelier calligraphy paper? visitors can't see pics , please register or loginvisitors can't see pics , please register or loginThese two pieces were part of the Spring & Summer Happy Mail swap I hosted, they were made for Pandabear_chan. The first is a sort of box I made to contain all the goodies. The drawing was made with watercolour and India ink on Sennelier calligraphy paper. Pandabear mentioned cherry blossoms, fireworks and Japan in some of her likes, and I tried to incorporate those themes. The idea of a summer festival featuring fireworks feels very odd to someone who has grown up in the north and is used to light summer nights! (And I live in southern Finland where the sun actually does set... even if rather late.  ) Anyway, I googled some images for inspiration and had fun with the bookmark, I don't use colours this vibrant or dark often. Tools: Copic markers, Sakura Pigma Micron on marker paper, some details in gel pens and coloured pencils. visitors can't see pics , please register or loginSome non-pony art; these cherry blossom themed ATCs were made for a swap in a Facebook group for papercrafts. visitors can't see pics , please register or loginSome more ATCs, I've recently been interested in this kind of collage style again, after years of making handdrawn cards only. ATCs are a great way to put some tiny paper scraps into good use! I do papercrafts a lot and my desk is always covered in these small leftover scraps. I hope you like them!
33
« on: July 18, 2021, 07:03:02 AM »
It's been pretty quiet here lately! How about a little game to spice things up?  Here's how it works: Give the next poster a pony themed drawing challenge. You can simply name a pony for them to draw, or offer a different kind of prompt (activity, colour scheme, theme, etc.), or both! As long as it's somehow related to ponies. Someone takes up the challenge, posts a drawing and then gets to name the new challenge. The drawings can be anything from quick sketches to polished pieces and all media are accepted, even crafts if you like (unless the previous poster requests a specific technique/medium). I'll refer to drawings/drawing here for simplicity. To avoid accidental doubles, you can claim a spot when you accept the challenge and edit your post later to add the picture and the new challenge. Please don't hold a spot for longer than 12 hours, however! If you claim a spot but don't post your pic within 12 hours, someone else is free to claim it. Reserving a spot is not mandatory, especially if the game is slow-moving, or if you don't mind taking the risk that someone else is working on the same thing. In that case it'll be first come first served: whoever first posts the pic gets to name the next challenge. Any questions? Q & A: Spoiler Q: Can I post an old picture?
A: This is a drawing challenge so in principle all artwork should be new. However, if a week goes by and no one has taken up the challenge, it's fine to post an older piece if you happen to have something suitable, just to keep the thread going.
Q: Is this thread still active? What happens if no one has posted for a long time?
A: The thread can go on for as long as there is interest, and die off naturally at some point. If the thread is not locked it's still going!
If the last prompt is yours, feel free to change it to something else if no one has taken up on it within a week or so.
Let's get started!  I challenge the next person to draw... an earth pony going for a swim!  (Can you tell it's been hot here lately, haha!) Any generation will do!
34
« on: May 08, 2021, 09:18:37 AM »
Finished something!  visitors can't see pics , please register or loginPretty Poppy by Haawan, on Flickr visitors can't see pics , please register or loginPretty Poppy, 2021 by Haawan, on Flickr This custom started out as a personal challenge. The Rainbow Game and other showcase threads made me realise I'd never done a red pony before. I came pretty close last year with my swap pony for Roogna, but a deep burgundy was the best I could produce at that time. So I wanted to try again, this time making proper plans around a red scheme. The colour is still rather dark but at least it's undoubtedly red this time. Since there was no need to stick to a monochrome theme, I gave her dark brown points and green eyes. Her symbols came out a bit too dark but I didn't feel like adding a white outline and couldn't think of another way to make them pop. They look fine in daylight but are difficult to photograph. Next time around I'll have to try something bolder. Oh yeah, and her hair is wild. Note to self, don't mix different types of synthetic hair... The green is polypropylene, the rest is nylon. I wanted her to have loose curls so I didn't boil the hair, simply wrapped it when it was wet. Which would be fine with nylon, but the poly doesn't hold the curl at all... Thanks for looking! Questions, comments, constructive criticism welcome 
35
« on: April 10, 2021, 10:14:40 AM »
I've always loved seeing side by side comparisons, art improvement memes, etc. We've probably done this before on the Customs forum but not very recently! So please show me... 1. Your FIRST custom and your LATEST one(or an early one and a recent one, if you don't have pics of these exact ones) and/or 2. Your BEST custom (or personal FAVOURITE) and your LEAST FAVOURITE --> please also specify why!You can do both comparisons or just one of them, but please mark clearly which one it is! If you've done a lot of customs and it's too difficult to choose, you can do #2 several times sorted by categories (for example, your best and "worst" sculptjob / paintjob / Hasbro replica etc). As long as you tell me what it is that you're comparing, and what you consider successful or unsuccessful about them. I'd also love to read some reflections about your improvement and journey as a customiser! (I'll add my own answers to the questions soon!)
36
« on: January 19, 2021, 04:07:00 AM »
It's been a while since we had one of these, right?  So, what are you reading rn? I just finished a book last night, a memoir by the Chinese author Hong Ying. (The original title is 好儿女花, apparently it hasn't been published in English yet? Mine was a Finnish translation, of course.) I think I've read something from the same author before, Daughter of the River rings some bells... not sure about that, though. It was actually refreshing to read in Finnish for a change, I don't do that a lot anymore... I guess I should branch out a little and also read Finnish authors. And books translated from languages other than English. Next up is The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie, recommended by a friend.
37
« on: January 04, 2021, 10:03:58 AM »
Finished in September/October last year but never posted, I had troubles taking pics of this one. Meet Endurance, a creature who started out (in 2010!) as a baity Pony Bride and is now... well, something other than a pony! I've shown some WIP pics along the way and I'm so happy to finally call this project finished. I'll be keeping this one in my own collection. visitors can't see pics , please register or loginEndurance 1 by Haawan, on Flickr visitors can't see pics , please register or loginEndurance 2 by Haawan, on Flickr visitors can't see pics , please register or login' Endurance 3 by Haawan, on Flickr All sculpting done with Apoxie Sculpt, with wire armature for tail and horns. Painted in acrylics, sealed with polyurethane varnish (matte for body, gloss for eyes and nostrils). Sculpting all that hair was rather tedious... I kept adding to the mane little by little, usually whenever I was working on some other sculpting project and had leftover bits of Apoxie. Enjoy!
38
« on: January 01, 2021, 02:13:33 PM »
SunPony made me an amazing pony in the Monochrome swap some months back, so when I learned she was my partner for the holiday swap I was eager to return the favour! Winter birds and snowy sceneries mentioned in SunPony's swap form immediately resonated with me. I wanted to do something reminiscent of vintage Christmas postcards and I thought a classic pose would fit very well with that. I realised I haven't made a collector pose custom since my early years!  visitors can't see pics , please register or loginHolyNightDS by Haawan, on Flickr visitors can't see pics , please register or loginHolyNightNDS by Haawan, on Flickr Some more pics on my DA: https://www.deviantart.com/haawan/art/Holy-Night-865781179 The bait was a hairless Bluebelle with several other faults, including discolouration and some minor damage to the plastic. She was fully handpainted in acrylics, sealed with polyurethane matte varnish and rehaired with nylon hair (white and several different shades of blue). The FBR and gradients were a struggle but I had fun with all the details! Hope you like her 
39
« on: January 01, 2021, 01:49:25 PM »
I still have some art pieces I haven't shared yet! I updated my DA gallery and thought I'd post some of them here as well. First up, some pony ATCs! Sorry, I should've posted these in the Halloween thread but never got round to it... visitors can't see pics , please register or login Night of the Living Dead - I went to a small pony meet in August and made this card for an ATC swap, our chosen theme was zombies, apocalypse, afterlife/resurrection etc. (Sakura Pigma Micron pens, watercolour, white gesso) visitors can't see pics , please register or loginThese cards were made for the runners-up in the Halloween Coloring Contest (Ink & watercolour) Here are two pieces I made for a private swap with Rosierjay, they were both made in the memory of her dog  visitors can't see pics , please register or loginATC (ink & watercolour) visitors can't see pics , please register or loginOrnament (acrylic) That's it, thanks for looking! May the new year be full of inspiration for us all
40
« on: December 15, 2020, 09:24:05 AM »
There's still time to make some purchases and perhaps packages are arriving or waiting under the Christmas tree, but I think it's a good time to make a "year in review" thread! What were the highlights of the year? Did you find your grail pony? Complete any sets? Set up new exciting displays? Or perhaps you downsized your collection? Did the pandemic affect your collecting hobby in any way?
What about 2021 - do you have any goals in mind?*** I was finally able to achieve some of the goals I set for 2019.  1. My collecting had been on a hiatus ever since our move in 2015 and some of the ponies as well as my MH dolls and other miscellanious stuff were still in two big cardboard boxes. Last summer I got a second curio cabinet and was finally able to clear away the boxes! I also made a new collection checklist after displacing my previous one. 2. I've been buying some new ponies, yay! Not many - I counted around 15 G1 ponies and some G3s - but I've tried to focus on quality over quantity. The list includes at least one "grail"/army pony, FF Butterscotch! Baby Meadowsweet is also one of the highlights, and once my latest purchases arrive I should have a complete set of Rockin' Beats! Well, my Pretty Beat still needs an upgrade, I rescued her from a bait box and she's... pretty beat. My G3 purchases include Whistle Wishes who's also been on my wantlist for ages. 3. I've been reactivating my customising hobby! After several years of slow pace (about 1 custom/year) I've made no less than 8 customs in 2020! Half of these were swap customs (2 private swaps and 2 group swaps) which means I also got some wonderful new additions to my custom collection. And they look so great in my new cabinet.  What's more, I was able to complete a WIP from 10 years ago! That was a true accomplishment  Goals for 2021 1. Add new shelves to my old cabinet. This has been on my to do list since the move but... 2. Buy at least one army pony! Butterscotch or Gusty. Baby Gusty (NBBE) still eludes me, that would be a good place to start! Or the Basic Fun repros. 3. Complete some more sets! I'd very much like to complete my Newborn Twin sets, and I'm only missing two of the single NB babies. I'm missing some common early US ponies, and the Happy Tails set should be easy enough to complete, just to mention a few. 4. Do some more custom swaps! Perhaps host a swap? I think that's it! Nothing too ambitious, but I prefer small and attainable goals. What about you?
41
« on: November 03, 2020, 02:02:37 AM »
While we're waiting for the results of the Halloween Colouring Contest, please feel free to colour the lineart and share your work here, just for fun! This is for all who may have missed out on the contest, or were not eligible to enter, or had too many ideas and could only submit one. We'd also love to see your kids' work if they wanted to give it a go! Here's a link to the colouring page if anyone feels inspired to start now. Original drawings are more than welcome, too! And while the thread title says Halloween ponies, there are absolutely no rules (except those that apply to all content shared on the Arena, of course). Go wild! 
42
« on: October 14, 2020, 07:33:43 AM »
This mischievous little demoness made it safely to her new home visitors can't see pics , please register or loginCapricious Carmine by Haawan, on Flickr visitors can't see pics , please register or login(Click to view full size) Roogna and I agreed to do a private custom swap with a dark/gothic theme. My original plans of making a vampire fell through but I came up with this instead. Skulls are always fun! And Roogna's list of preferences included all kinds of wings so I decided to try out leather/dragon wings for a change. Her head and wings are supposed to be a brighter red colour but the effect is perhaps a bit subtler than I would've liked. I gave her black leg gradients and also drybrushed the wings in black for depth. Her symbol is a ram skull - no specific meaning behind that, I just happen to find horned skulls pretty. Her eyes are my favourite part, though. The diva mould has expressive eyes to begin with, and I wanted to make the eyes elegant yet give them this slightly mischievous spark. That look also inspired her name. The hair is mostly nylon from Dollyhair but the green is something different, possibly polypropylene? (The colour is named Guacamole.) It's much stiffer and doesn't style as easily as nylon but with a plain, sleek style like this it shouldn't matter much. I very much enjoyed making this pony and hope you like her, too Thanks for looking!
43
« on: October 10, 2020, 02:23:41 AM »
After several years of barely having any time or inspiration for customs, this year has turned out to be pretty productive! I wanted to give back to my lovely pony community and make a couple of customs to be offered as prizes in the Halloween Colouring Contest First up is Pumpkin Pie: visitors can't see pics , please register or loginPumpkin Pie by Haawan, on Flickr visitors can't see pics , please register or login(Click to view full size) She's a fairly simple custom made using an older Applejack base. Since both ponies had clean bodies, I wanted to avoid full body repaints. Instead I designed the colour schemes with the original body colours as my starting point. AJ had a slight head-body mismatch but as that's not uncommon in G4s, I tried to ignore it and hope it's not too distracting. Little Witch & Gremlin the Catvisitors can't see pics , please register or loginLittle Witch & Gremlin the Cat by Haawan, on Flickr visitors can't see pics , please register or login(Click to view full size) This was meant to be another "quick" custom but turned out to be anything but  (lol I'll never paint striped socks again...) She started out as alicorn Twilight Sparkle. I cut off the wings and gave her a sculpted saddle to cover the stubs. I had planned to give her a traditional symbol (a cauldron and a broom) but after sculpting I realised there wasn't enough room. So I painted one of her socks black, put the cauldron there, and gave the broom to her cat, Gremlin. All sculpting was done with Apoxie Sculpt, including the cat (although polymer clay would've been a wiser choice...) Gremlin's whiskers were made with small pieces of fishing line, painted in acrylics and glossed. Thanks for looking!  The contest is running until Nov 1, enter now to win one of these customs or some gorgeous artwork from Shaiyeh
44
« on: September 26, 2020, 03:22:55 AM »
I had so much fun working on this custom! I love how OTT she is  My partner was gemini_pony whose colour choices included pink and theme choices included desserts/sweets and kawaii aesthetic. visitors can't see pics , please register or loginCandy Rain II by Haawan, on Flickr visitors can't see pics , please register or loginCandy Rain by Haawan, on Flickr visitors can't see pics , please register or login(Click to view full size) The bait was a Reboot/Movie style Rarity; the pose was perfect for holding an umbrella. Gemini_pony loves wings so I gave her a pair of wings using Apoxie Sculpt. She was painted in acrylics and rehaired in three shades of pink nylon (Pussycat, Old Bubblegum, Sugarberry). She had to have candy cane curls obviously. The miniature candy and the umbrella handle were made with Fimo. The umbrella was definitely the most challenging part! I tried a couple of different Youtube tutorials, first using paper (my origami skills are apparently non-existent ), then resorting to craft foam since I couldn't find any suitable fabrics. When I finally managed to complete the umbrella, I realised it was quite top heavy and had to be attached to a base. However, I didn't want to glue it on the base permanently so I added a loop of satin ribbon to anchor it in place. I wish I'd been clever enough to use a magnet! Oh well. I very much enjoyed facing some new challenges and learning some new techniques in the process of making this custom! I hope you like her~
45
« on: September 04, 2020, 09:24:10 AM »
Anyone done the Draw This Again meme before? Or any other art-related improvement memes? I'd love to see! Both pony art and non-pony art welcome. The concept is simple: take an old drawing of yours, make a new version, and display both side by side to show how you've improved and how your style has changed over the years. Ready - steady - go!(This is meant as a simple and fun discussion topic, no competition and there's no time limit, you can do this anytime or post an old meme if you've done this before. )
|
Show Posts