WIA Arabians

Here's the next bit of the parcel I received earlier this month - a new WIA model released last year, an Arabian mare in a choice of two colours, chestnut and bloody-shouldered grey. I gave them a post of their own, thanks to the way my blog is organised by tagging brands, types, and scales - for reasons of tidiness, the WIA models are best kept separate from the Breyer ones!

This is the first time I've seen any work by the sculpting artist, who goes by HorRaw Studios. As with the Erren sculpt from earlier this year, I can see the difference in art style and detailing from the initial four WIA models by Eberl, but as a whole they work well together, these mares don't stand out as a bad fit with the older models - even though you could pick out which ones are by someone else, they still look like they belong.

I admit I'm surprised the company have gone for another Arabian horse, so soon! With such a small range, you'd think they'd be more keen on developing a good spread of breed types, so having ticked off Draft, Arabian, Andalusian, Warmblood and Criollo, I was predicting the next choice would an American stock or gaited horse, or a native pony, not a repeat on one of the few breeds they've got already!

The grey is interesting, because her shoulder patch is created with a stencilled solid outline, speckled over the top with random spatters for more detail. This means all the individuals of this model will be slightly different, depending on how the paint spots spread out as it's flicked on. The softer speckling over the rest of the body is unique to each model, too, but stands out less - I think it's under the sprayed white coat, so it's very nicely blended in - a really lovely effect!

Oh what a face! Everyone who's known a mare has probably been on the receiving end of those ears a time or two!

The chestnut's paintwork is less complex but still effective, with a nice rich brown base and just enough shading to avoid it looking flat. And her white markings are flashy and realistically designed.

The beautiful flowing mane on the other side. As with the Erren release from last year, the different sculptor doesn't mean the WIA models don't match well as an entire range, the style is slightly different but the general feel is the same, lean elegant models with great proportions and slim legs, detail without over-crisp texturing, and plenty of expression and character in the face and the pose.