ZOMBIE: FANTASY CUSTOM CHAMPION!?

Back in November I finished my first zombie custom, "Victim of Science."

He sold the week following his completion.

The woman who bought him kept in contact with me on deviantART and told me she planned on taking him to a live show in May. Today, she got back with me to tell me the results, and here's what she said:

"Me again! Just wanted to let you know I took this guy to his first model horse show yesterday and he did AWESOME! He won champion in a pretty good sized fantasy custom section and then went on to win a Top 5 overall in the VERY competitive custom division, against some gorgeous (and "real") horses! :D" 

[UNPROFESSIONAL SCREAMING OF HAPPY]

I expected him to place decently - maybe a third at most. I never expected him to take home a champion ribbon!! Ah I'm beside myself!!

This is definitely motivation to work on my next one!

Be right back, I'm just gonna go die of happiness now!

This is seriously a huge moment for me. It's one thing to create a custom and take it to a show, but it's a whole other thing for someone to buy your custom, take it to its first show AND COME BACK A CHAMPION IN THEIR DIVISION.

Just-

May I have a moment?

</most unprofessional post thus far>

The Outbreak is Spreading: New Zombie!?

I've had so many people ask me when I'm making a new zombie, it's crazy! I really did not expect this much positive reaction to something otherwise appalling - it's really amazing! 

I decided they're right though - It's about time I make a new zombie, and I have just the victim for it - Shasta Moon! 



I chose this model, because of all the bodies I have available at the moment (about 14) she's the one I instantly saw as a zombie. I think it's her pose - her relaxed head carriage, and mopey walk. I could take her in any direction, but I think I'm going to keep her fairly simple - little reposing, if at all. Most of my dremel work will be to make her more anatomically correct and to cut her in areas that'll allow me to "emaciate" her (mainly in the barrel). The rest will be done with heat and a wooden handle ;)

I have started the concept sketch and am still in the very basics of it - no gore design has been done yet, because I'm hung up on her neck. I can't decide if I want to lower her head or leave it as it is. 

Part of the problem is that I'm still trying to decide what rules I want to follow. With Victim of Science (VoS), my first zombie, I reposed him in a way that suggested he was having a hard time standing, which coincided with the fact that he had a lot of muscles missing, and of course rigor-mortise. Those follow the general rules of the movement of a zombie, if they existed in that form. 

I think I want this one to be more of a riding zombie. She'll still have the typical zombie designs, but I'm not going to follow the physical rules as closely. I am grateful that she has stiff legs, though (short, contracted stride) which will still - hopefully - say "hey I'm stiff because I'm dead...ish."

The problem also is that I don't know how I want to do the face. Do I want to make it a skull with a little more flesh, or keep the head and gore it up? Deciding this will help me decide what to do with the neck, since I like to sculpt the head and neck completely so they flow better.

Your inputs are very much appreciated - whichever way I decide to go with her head, I do have an idea of how I want to do them! 

 
I know how much you all loved watching VoS progress, so hopefully you'll stick around for this one, too!

Colour References!

I am so sorry I haven't been posting lately, I went to Rolex last week and have just now gotten back into the swing of things. I have a few customs in progrss (both sales pieces!) and so many commissions I'm working on, that unfortunately this blog is an afterthought. I'm trying to get better though, I promise!! I'll be posting more tutorials later, as well, so look out for that!

Today, however, I have something different!

Before any custom is started, a reference is good to have on hand. Sometimes (although not recommended) you can go without, but to get a really realistic finish, it's good to have an image you can reference.

Well, I found just the source for anyone's arsenal!

Here's a thread on Horse Grooming Supplies forum where people are sharing photos of horses with unique colours and markings!

It's very handy for expanding your colour glossary, so-to-speak.

That's it for today's post! Sorry it's so short, but you'll have hours of sifting through pages of photos to occupy your time!

Next time, I'll try to post a tutorial!
Have something you want me to cover in a blog post? Comment below or shoot me an email! I'll do my best to do everyone's requests!

Over and Out!

Rolex 2015!

Okay so I've been home for almost a week now, but it took me that long to get back to work and start sifting through the 2-photos-shy-of-4,000 photos I took while I was there. 

I have TONS of photos for stock, and only chose the clearest or most interesting ones for this post. The rest will be gone through later to be posted on Nigav-Stock for everyone to use. 

Unfortunately, since my new lens doesn't interact digitally with my camera (as in, I can't use the optimized settings) some of the photos came out noisy or blurry. I fiddled with my camera throughout the duration of my trip, but still, bear with me as some (a lot) of the photos are sub par. 

So! 

Thursday we visited the trade faire, where they have little tack shops set up (Dublin, Dubarry, SmartPak, etc)  and you can buy clothes, saddles, equipment, even jumps! (I was drooling over all of the jumps!!) 

I replaced my dressage whip I lost at the last barn I boarded at, as well as bought a new lunge whip for a total of $17! That's the price of one dressage whip if bought online or at TSC. (I got mine for $5!!) 





Then we went over to another tent and I found Secretariat! They also had Frankel, and Sam, but I saw those AFTER I bought my Secretariat. Figures! Still, I don't regret it, because he is so beautiful. This is the first horse I've gotten on that mould, and ugh I'm in love! I don't know if this is only on the recent models of him, but he's painted with the metallic base coat and ugh it's perfect! He's next to my other new model, Jubilation!

(excuse the dirty saddle.... I need to dust them off from when they were at the barn still....)





I was so pleased to open the box and have him be LSQ!! I remember opening my Little Tahoma when I had her, and she had a huge rub on her barrel. Like, there was no saving that.

He's got one little flaw in his blaze, but I think I'm going to try showing him anyway. Maybe in a performance class? Make him a little fly bonnet to cover the flaw haha!

Then we went into the indoor arena (where they hold the events and vendor's stalls for Breyerfest) and Finish Line gave me a free tub (sample) of EZ-Willow linament. Which I was tempted to use on myself come Saturday.



It's basically a ton of essential oils in a gel base. I don't ride my aunt's horses hard enough for them to get sore, but that's because I'm re/training them with short sessions. Once we get to going on 6-8 hour trail rides or gallops, that might be a different story! ;)

I also got a whole bunch of magazines and books and brochures for medical supplies, equipment, tack, feed, etc. Tracy, the woman I went with, is a dealer of Cavalor and Tribute feeds, so I got a catalog and such for that, which I'm thinking about ordering from her if duMOR (or anything else we can get at the local TSC) doesn't work for us. Since she joked that it would be her excuse to come see me! (She can get them directly shipped to us though.) 

There is a dealer in my area, but like John Marston, I prefer to work with people I know. 
That- that's a quote from the game...if you.... didn't catch that.


They had awesome art there, too, which Tracy encouraged me to make some of. I might do a few busts and abstract equine sculptures, but I'm going to stick to models and resins. 



So then we headed back to camp for lunch and passed these two chunky police horses <3




And this thing:



So then Helena took on the Cross Country course! ;)



She cracks me up.

Friday was Dressage. The horses had a lot of spunk!!













There were some nice lead changes,



and beautiful gaits all-around!







Saturday was Cross-Country, and man was that awesome to watch!!

Flawless jumps,
















And brave, powerful horses!













This jump is an illusion. When you're approaching it, all you see is what looks like the next jump. However, there's actually a ditch at the base (you can see the hill drop in front of his hooves) so if you don't set your horse up right, he'll get caught off guard and won't have enough time to recalculate his approach. This rider took the easy way, but if you look behind the horse's shoulder, most riders go the shortcut. 

I watched one rider take the jump too fast. Her horse was caught off guard by the ditch, jumped it awkwardly, and then refused the third jump, spooking away and unseating her. She was thrown right into the jump, and slammed her ribs into the wooden frame. She landed on her feet, but after a fall like that, I'd almost be glad I was disqualified because I'd be sore the next few days from that hit! She was alright, but her pride wasn't. 

Oh, and we cant forget - SAM!



It was raining all day saturday, so some photos have a different type of "grain" to them. That's just the raindrops.

So sunday was, naturally, showjumping. It was phenomenal! 84 horses entered Rolex, and only 24 remained for the final day. No horses were severely injured, but some that did complete the cross country course had to scratch because they were lame the next day. They did hit the fences pretty hard, so it's understandable. 

Even in the show jumping, there were TONS of fallen rails,



refusals,



and obliterated fences!





There were fantastic jumps, too!





and, of course, Sam!




And I met Tim Price's (below) parents on a wagon. We were going to the camp site, and they were going to a cross country jump, so we were on the same transporter. Tracy started up a conversation with them (not knowing who they were) and they mentioned that their son was riding. They said they were from New Zealand when Tracy complimented on their accent and asked where they were from (which is also when they mentioned their son, after Tracy asked if they were enjoying Rolex so far) 

Well, Tim was the only New Zealander male competing.

So that was cool XD They were really nice, and it was awesome of them to come to America to watch their son ride. 



He was in first place up through Sunday, when Michael Jung (Sam's owner and rider) stole First right out from under his nose. 


Too bad I didn't have a better lens, this would've been a perfect picture!

The riders were just so charismatic, though!




And they love their horses so much!


(She's not falling, I promise, she's legit hugging her horse.)

She left the dressage arena Friday, crying and hugging her horse. 
I cried, too.

I have SO MANY more to sift through. Like I mentioned before, I took two photos shy of 4,000 photos, so I'll go through them over the next few months and post them on my stock account. I think the clear ones will have a small price (like 10 points or so) and the not-so-good ones will be free since they can still be used, but aren't very good quality. I took so many photos I have a good arsenal of stock for myself as well!
That's it for this post!

Do you have a tutorial you want me to cover? Comment below or drop me an email and I'll do my best to fulfill it!

Over and Out!