Critique on a newbies customs please...Kinda pic heavy

[Tyrsalc]

Hello everyone. I am new here and this is my first "showing off" for some of my customs. Yes, I realize they are no where near the quality that some of you amazing artists are. I'm looking for a little critique on how to achieve the actual look I wanted versus the look I got on some of these guys. I'd appreciate any and all friendly criticism. Thanks for looking!

Cow Fish
My very first custom. She was a day too late for a contest that was being run on another site, but she made me realize how much fun/annoying making customs are. I was reaching a bit beyond my skills on this one, as I often do when I try something new, but overall I'm happy with her. I had a bit of a problem getting the sculpy smooth as I was afraid sanding would ruin the plastic pony. The membranes are actual pop/soda bottle plastic that I cut and somehow shaped to fit. Superglue makes pop bottle plastic go cloudy so I will not be using that again. If anyone knows of something that can be used to make transparent or translucent membranes for fins or wings I'd love to hear it.
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And in her new home.
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Echwas
He was originally supposed to be Sleipnir, Odin's 8 legged horse. After painting him white I saw how bad the sculpy job was. He was created from butchering two baits and fitting the legs together. He does have 8 legs, 4 in front and 4 in back. Add in a horrible black Halloween wig, hair was good for this but not for a "nice" looking pony, and some deeper mythology research and Echwas was born. He was actually a 6th century horse god of nightmares which in later myths basically became Sleipnir.
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Snow Cloud
The whole inspiration for her came from her hair. It was a type of yarn my mom had that was very...stringy? It was two very thin pieces wrapped with a silver strand to create the yarn. After the new paint job I discovered my knack for shoving way too much "hair" into a pony. Her tail and mane are both very full, partially due to the amount I put in her as well as the crimped strands of yarn stuff. Sadly, her hair is slowly becoming flat. If anyone has any ideas how to fluff it back up I'd love to hear them.
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And her nuzzling with my 4 yr olds "custom"
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Any advice on how to help with anything is much appreciated. Sorry about the pics being a bit blurry.

Thanks for looking.

Tyr

[Sarahlacewing]

Generally I think you've got a great start.  As far as Cow Fish is concerned, don't be afraid to sand! Sanding and buffing is a sculpting customs best friend.  Even if you nic the plastic a bit you are sanding with a fine grained paper to get a smooth seemless edge.  Once the paint is on it's no problem!

[Prismatic]

When I saw Echwas the first thing I thought of was Sleipnir.  I think he looks really awesome!  Actually, I like all of them, especially the one done by your 4 year old <3   So cute!

A good material to use for fins is fantasy film, you can find it on ebay.  I've used it for wings.  You can use glue with it, and heat melts it, so you can shape it with heat, and make holes in it. 

[True]

I think these are fantastic! I would work on smoothing the sculpting, dont be afraid to sand ^^ it shouldnt harm the plastic if you take it easy on those parts.

i LOVE Sleipnir and im calling him that just because that is the first thing i thought of when I saw it! then scrolled up and realized he was originaly meant to be him xD Odin is one of my favorites, and I think this looks fantastic.

[Tiella]

Oh you are headed in the right direction! As others have said try and smooth your sculpting as much as possible, keep practicing and make sure you invest in some super tiny brushes and practice making small lines for eyes and such.

[Stormpony6]

these are fantastic for first customs i really love dnow cloud she looks so soft! the others are awesome as well, really the only thing is the slight bumpiness on cow fish's tail but the above comments have already offered on how to fix them . These are great cant wait to see more of your customs

[Tyrsalc]

Thank you for all the tips everyone. Now I know what to buy on my next trip to the craft stores. I'm so glad to see that I'm not the only Norse myth nut here. They tend to get lost with how popular the Greek ones are. Thanks again everyone.

*big hugs*

[Nebu]

Hey Tyrsalc,

I agree with the orthers - your customs are great!
I like the idea of giving a custom eight legs and I never saw this mane like snow clouds before.

I started customizing ponies myself only a short time before so I can't give you any advice on techniques, but in my opinion it is much more important to have creative ideas and imaginations, like you had.
Everything else could be exercised!

[Em_L._Pea_Customs]

I think you are off to a fabulous start!  You seem to be taking chances, trying new materials and techniques, and asking for advice...all things that will make you successful. 

My only bit of advice is this:  spend the time to blend your sculpting better BEFORE it dries.  Sanding is time consuming and messy.  Blending while your clay is still wet is so much faster and easier than trying to sand things smooth afterwards.  I sculpt with Apoxie Sculpt and use either hand lotion or Aves Apoxie Sculpt Safety Solvent to smooth/blend.  I am not sure what to use with Sculpey, so maybe someone can give advice on that?

Other than that, I think you will find that any other areas you might need improvement in are the things that come naturally just from practice.  Good luck and I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

[Tyrsalc]

Thanks you guys. I never thought of using hand lotion. Will that possibly cut down on the fingerprints that I tend to leave in the clay as well? I read somewhere that using acetone on a brush can help with sculpy. After trying it it's not a technique that I think I can really use. It smoothed out the clay to a point, but left brush marks. Not to mention if you use a tad too much it makes your clay turn to mush.

[jupiternwndrlnd]

for a beginner they all look awesome! I would have never attempted all that sculpting ( i still fear sculpting - lol)
your paint work looks nice and smooth ^_^ and your concepts are so cool! the only advice I can give has already been delivered....sanding and smoothing for your sculpt work. But you are off to a brilliant start

[deeleelambbaa]

I always think it's so ironic when the newbies off to are a brilliant start are self-critical, assuming that very small problems are large ones, and the overconfident newbies unaccepting of critiques are those that need it.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is: You're doing GREAT! It's so admirable that from the get-go you ask for advice I'm a newbie too, but from what I've seen around, you're pretty close to the top dogs already 

[Tribble79]

I think they all look awesome! I adore the Cowfish... Beautiful

[mana-maiden]

Looks like your sculpting could use some more sanding, other than that, practice practice practice! Your photo quality is kind of blurry, you might upgrade your camera but I started out my first years with poor quality photos so it's understandable that people use the resources they have at the time, but it's something to keep in mind if you ever look to upgrade.