Ginga custom pt. 13

I wish I could say I planned this out, but it was just a coincidence that my Ginga custom part 13 also happens to be the 13th post of this year. Woo, pointless numbers!

This time I chose to paint Benizakura! One of my favorite characters of the series. I don't know where exactly I'd place him on my list of favorite characters, I just know he belongs there somewhere.

I had this dog figure, on the belly side, it say's American bulldog. Yeah, I know it's far from a Tosa Inu Benizakura is supposed to be. The figure's snout isn't too squashed in so I thought it could work out.

The first order of business, I cut the figure's ears off. And then I used "the green stuff" to build some new ear stubs. This was the first time I used green stuff, it was pretty interesting. I was surprised how fast it hardened, so I had to sculpt those chewed off ears in a hurry.

After that little sculpting, while I was base painting the figure white, I accidentally dropped it on the floor. Of course the dog's left ear broke off. Luckily it didn't shatter or anything, so I was able to just glue it back in place. While I was at it, I mixed up some more green stuff and tweaked the shape of the ear a little.

I was using a new set of acrylic paints, and I wasn't really liking the way the paint was behaving. The biggest issue was that it wasn't opaque enough. I was a pain in the butt to have  to mix all those colors over and over again.

Painting those scars was really hard too. I used the smallest brush I had and still  those scars are too wide and blotchy. The dog has a lot of wrinkles in its face so it was a struggle to even get a straight line. I had reached the end of my patience with mixing those brown colors so once I got scars I was semi happy with, I just decided to let it be. 

Same goes for the eyes. I was struggling to get the other eye to look straight. I got it wrong so many times, I was about ready to throw the whole thing out the window. That's when I decided it was for the better to put the figure down and continue working on it the next day.

The collar is again made of folded masking tape and then painted. I'm not sure why my Benizakura turned up so glossy. I used the same matte varnish I've used on all my other dogs. Maybe it's the new paint I used?

Before & after

Benizakura is supposed to be this big and powerful dog, that illusion is broken when I place him next to my other customs.

***

For the heck of it, while working on the figure I became inspired to do some fan art as well. I don't draw Ginga dogs that often so I used a reference picture for this. The red background is supposed to mimic those eyecatchers from the GDW anime. And the other just because I like a simple background.

Moomin Exhibition

Courage, Freedom, Love! The Moomins 75

14.8.2020 - 28.2.2021

"a magical journey into the values and philosophy of the Moomins"

(picture post)

This exhibition had escaped my notice, until my mom brought it to my attention. So, once I learned about it of course I wanted to go! The exhibit is in the National Museum of Finland in Helsinki. 

Both in Finnish and Swedish the title for the exhibition is Courage, Love, Freedom, but in English the last two are switched. I wonder why they changed the word order for the English name? I don't think either one rolls off the tongue any easier than the other.

We went to the museum on the 27th of August. The entrance ticket cost 14€.

The exhibit was divided into five rooms and they were limiting  the amount of people that was allowed inside (the Moomin exhibition, not the whole museum). While we were waiting for our turn, we could hear on the radio of the guy who was guarding the entrance something like "two exited" and then he would let two people enter. I assume this was due to COVID-19, but then again, the way this exhibit was built, global virus or not, having the rooms filled with people would certainly have ruined the experience. (Like it did the Barbie exhibition)

All of the rooms were decorated with different themes, with a bunch of quotes printed on the walls and  cut out characters placed here and there and a few video projections. Aside from that, the were only a few things set on display in these "character boxes" that were inserted into the walls.

Visually, this exhibition is really fun and nice looking, but I thought it was also really shallow. Honestly, it looked like a really expensive Moomin themed children's playground you'd find inside a big shopping center. Alone, I don't think it is worth the price.

Sure, for the 14 € you paid for the entrance, you are free to see the other permanent exhibitions at the museum, but I've been to this museum so many times in my life, I didn't feel like checking it out once again. You would think they could knock a couple euros off the price if you only wanted to see the Moomin exhibition.

Before we left, I took a quick look inside the museum shop.  They had the standard stuff,  posters, postcards and notebooks with the "big wave" image they use for all advertising of this exhibition. The notebook would have been nice, especially because it had blank pages, but I already have too many notebooks, so I didn't get it or anything else Moomin. I only bought two rainbow colored pencils, 2€ each, the cheapest item I could find in the shop!

It was a beautiful day. Here's a picture of the Parliament House we walked past  on our way to the museum. Just because.