a better pic

Here is one more pic of the boy, now that I have his hair under control! Feel free to click on the image to make it bigger. :-)

almost there...

While I continue to work feverishly on painting the Mud Pony, I wanted to share the other half of this story-- the Pawnee boy. The interaction between him and his pony are just awesome in person.

The boy is an original sculpture and is large trad. scale. He still is a little ways from being finished... he needs his moccasins/loincloth, and his hair styled a bit better, but for the most part he is nearing completion. I kept him a bit stylized (he is from a storybook after all!), but wanted to capture that terror/amazement that one would have when they see a clay pony come to life.

NAN Auction horse... progress!

I wanted to share this progress pic of the NAN auction horse, in just his basecoat. He is going to be haired, and I'm trying a new idea (thanks to Jacquee G!) that completely covers any and all glue that might be seen in his mane/tail. It will be invisible! I can't wait to see how it looks all done up.

After all the dremelling (so... much... hair...!!!) and resculpting to get him this far, I am so happy that his painting is officially in progress... and I'll have finished pictures of him next week. As of this posting I have his body color nearly worked out and am really pleased with how things are going!

Tiny people

Before I started doing model horses full time, I worked in a stop-motion animation studio, making puppets. Although I love sculpting horses, sculpting tiny people is what I enjoy most, and its what I think I am best at. I love doing characters with wild expressions!

I've done quite a few for people to use with their model horses, and a high proportion of those have been native americans, or specialty dolls of different ethnicities. If only I could sew, I could make the coolest art dolls! Art Dolls is a collector's hobby all by itself, and perhaps when I get some free time I will do some in a larger scale. I may try my hand at doing larger scale clothes at some point, like for a 18" doll. That would be fun to sculpt!

Here is an old lady I am working on for a client to use with a model horse setup. She still needs ears and the rest of her head, but I thought this image so funny I had to share. I can just hear her yelling... can't you? I'll posts pics of her again when I'm further along.

And he's up for sale

Atlas is now officially up for sale! Find him here:

http://phazestudio.com/MH_whatsnew.html

ATLAS!

A special Saturday sneak peak... this is "Atlas"! This handsome hunk is about 75% finished in these pics. He still needs detailing, especially on his feet, and a bit of tweaking here and there.

A bit about him...
"Atlas" started out as a Miss America. My vision for him was to capture the saddlebred "essence", while keeping him natural and elegant. I also wanted to push him into a gait that isn't often seen in the model horse world: the Rack. Also known as the running walk, single-footing, or tolt (in Icelandics) all gaited horses have this movement. Saddlebreds probably have the most exaggerated gait due to all the crap they put on them to make them pick their feet up higher (not a fan). Here are some pics:



I didn't want him to look all jacked up like some of those show ASBs, so kept his overall look rather relaxed and fairly easy-going.

Although all very subtle, he has had a TON of work done on him... straightened neck, larger belly, reworked throat, crest, and face, reworked legs into a rack, larger (but natural) front feet, stallion parts... and of course a new mane/tail. Never one to re-invent the wheel, I had this lovely Cadence tail here from a former project... and it just worked perfectly for him. He came out exactly how I pictured him.

More pics will be coming soon; I just need to get him finished before I offer him on Monday to my group.

Balling mini morgan

Along with the trad. sized ASB I'm working on (who will debut here tomorrow) I have a few more minis I've been plugging away on that will be for sale. One of those is a Balling mini morgan who is a bit of a collaboration piece.

I got this little guy from Morgen Kilbourn, who had intended him to be haired. She had him started and fairly far along, and I am working on finishing him. I also plan on giving him a sculpted mane/tail, perhaps this weekend if I can get to it. He will be quite a little looker when he's finished! My biggest concern right now is blending out those dapples. I blocked them out, and now have to go back into them and smooth the edges so they aren't painted-on looking.

He will probably be offered at the end of next week. More pics to come as he gets more finished! :-)