After such a long time of having just the G2 moulds in production, the G3s were a welcome introduction of variety in breed and pose, the G4s added even more choice, and since then we've had occasional new moulds making their way through to the regular run division one or two at a time - I can't afford any of the exclusive specials as OFs, let alone as bodies, so it really is a case of waiting til they do a cheap run before I can get customising!
This year, the deluxe collection set included three moulds I'd never had before, so after getting one pack to keep OF, I bought a spare boxful to paint, and of course couldn't resist the temptation of going for some of those new moulds first!
First of all, Neapolitano Furiosa, the brilliant new lipizzaner mould done in grey. As I said in my post about the deluxe set before, I'm a bit baffled why they didn't make him a grey to start with, and can only assume they're saving that colour for a single release later? But I knew that my first custom just had to be the iconic colour the breed is known for.
I used him as a chance to make grey a little more detailed to paint and realistic to look at, rather than plain pure white with just face and feet filled in. He's got some level of shading all over, his dark skin showing through his coat in places, then a tint of blond to mane and tail where he's not shampooed to absolute brilliant white perfection, and just enough fleabite speckling to be noticeable without darkening his coat colour.
I'm really happy with him, and think I like him even more than the OF black. It'll be fun to try some other colours in future, too, a younger darker dappled grey maybe, and there's the possibility of historical customs in pinto or spotted, famously seem in the 18th century art of Johann Georg Hamilton.
My second pick from the new, exciting corner of the body box was the Darley mould, and he's another transformation I'm really delighted with, a pretty little national show horse stallion. Although the sculpt was intended as a pure arabian, with his long, lean, high-action American type I think he makes a better NSH (arab x saddlebred), so I've decided that my customs will all be this particular kind of partbred, too.
This means I get to play with all kinds of flashy colours, pinto being especially popular in the breed - rather than yet another bay one, this time I went for a flaxen liver chestnut within the patches. He was painted on Indepence Day, so I named him Fourth Of July, and gave him a little red, white & blue thread braid in his mane - this custom couldn't get more American if he tried!
His markings are made up, I don't even really plan them when I start painting, only a rough idea of the white/colour ratio I'm after, and in this case that I wanted some white to come round the front of the neck cos it's been a while since I did one like that. I find copying a reference to be far more difficult than just making something happen as I go along, so unless they're portraits I just trust in some sort of tobiano instinct which invents plausible patterns as I go along, trained up by all the horses and horse photos I've seen over the years!
I was never a fan of that Arab mould but jeezo, that's a phenomenally good paint job on it! The smudgey mapping in particular is fantastic, and I can definitely see myself liking the mould more now as a result, lol
ReplyDeleteJust do what I do, and don't think of it as an arab mould - it's the National Show Horse mould to me, now, and I'll never think of it as a purebred one again!
DeleteAnd thanks for liking him so much, probably one of my best pinto paintjobs yet, this model's still in the selection left on the mantelpiece instead of put away where I won't see it properly, I've left out a few good ones I'm really pleased with, to help motivate me to keep painting!