One of my childhood favorite series has always been Ginga Nagareboshi Gin (Hopeanuoli <3). And I am ashamed to say that I fail to own any actual merchandise (besides the manga volumes and anime boxes) of the series or it's follower Ginga Densetsu Weed, no figurines, not even a sticker, nothing. So now is the time to fix it. But what to do if your favorite characters don't even exist as a figurine (or are really rare and cost a sh*tload of money)? The answer I came to would be customizing, I've always wanted to try it out. After checking out other people's custom jobs I finally decided that now is the time for me to try my skills at it. It seemed simple enough to buy a Schleich dog figure and repaint it, other people have done it with good results. I should've known I couldn't do it.
For whatever reasons I don't have the heart to repaint a new mint condition hand painted figure, even if I know I wouldn't destroy anything irreplaceable. What to do? My answer for everything: go to a flea market. I found this plastic bag full of toy dogs for 2,50€. Inside the bag was 15 dogs whereof 7 of them were titled as German Shepherds, 2 Collies, 1 Doberman Pinscher, 1 Rottweiler, 2 Bull Terrier, 2 Shar Peis.
There are a plenty of Shepherds and Dobermans to choose from in the series, and then there is Wilson! Still gotta figure out what the heck I'm gonna do with those Bull Terriers, Shar Peis and a Rottweiler.....
Those brown twins to the left creep me out.
I choose these four dogs to start with. I'll remind you that this is my first attempt ever at customizing, mistakes are going to happen. Right at the starting line. I used acrylic colors for all the painting I did, its not necessarily bad, but I'm sure now that its not the best option either. It is a little sticky and glossy even when its all dried out (or maybe its just my colors?). Oh well, I'm learning. For the next bunch of dogs I'm going to paint I'll try using spray paint for the white base coloring, to see if it makes a difference.
Alright!!! Let's Get Started!! For My-First-Ever-Custom-Paint-Job! I Choose You!!
I'll admit right away that Ron is in no way my favorite character of the series. He's OK, I have nothing against him. I like his design and how he stands out from the rest of Shepherds with the darker fur coloring. Most importantly, unlike Jerome/John (sometimes), Ron isn't annoying. Wait, maybe he is my favorite after all?
In the lower middle pic he kinda reminds me of Ben.
Note! I did not use the manga image from previous picture as a reference for the fur color. I found a fanart that had more "anime-ish" coloring that I used as a reference. Can't say I nailed the coloring based on the fanart anyway.
This is what the finished result looks like:
I'm really happy how it turned out! Actually better that I expected, despite my unsteady hands and some hiccups along the way. Always room for improvement I guess. n_n'
Lastly, some tips for the future:
1. Make sure your environment where you are painting is as clean as possible! Nothing is more annoying than getting some dirt stuck on wet paint.
2. Get a brush as small as possible! It will be much easier painting the eyes and markings. I used a brush sized 1 it was manageable, but a 0 or 00 would definitely have been better.
3. Handle with care! Acrylic paint, even when dry, can be really easily scratched off! It can be a real pain trying to mix the exact same shade of color twice.
4. If you want to try protecting your paintwork use matte varnish spray (unless you like it glossy). My acrylic colors were already a little glossy, then I made the mistake of using glossy varnish spray. Now Ron is shinier than a shiny Pokémon.
5. .......maybe you shouldn't use acrylic paint?
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