Ok, so we here at AFP seem a little obsessed lately with Ashley Wood’s World War Robot from threeA Toys. Can you blame us? And in this obsession, some of us find that simply displaying or playing with our toys is not enough. We need them to come to life. That is where Photoshop comes in…
Continue reading “World War Robot and World War 2 – Photo Manipulation”
Passing on some tips, tricks or minutiae that will help make action figure customizing easier for someone out there.
Howdy all! Buzzy Fret coming at ya with another tutorial from the dark, dank Buzzy Cave.
Paint rub! The bane of customizers that wish to maintain the poseable part of the their poseable action figures! There are a lot of tips and tricks out there to try to keep the oh-so fragile acrylic paint clinging to the plastic of your customs but, in my experience, nothing works like breaking the figure down and attacking those rub points with a Dremel and sandpaper. I know, I know, it’s time consuming, it’s hard, it’s not as much fun as painting and sculpting. Well maybe I’m mental, but I just can’t see why anyone would spend so much time and effort trying to make a beautiful looking custom out of a poseable action figure just to see the paint scrape off when you move a limb on it.
So here we are, stuck in what seems like an abnormally long (especially considering how close together DCUC 10, 11 and 12 shipped) lull between DCUC Waves. Oh how the minutes tick so lowly by… In an attempt to kill some time, I thought I’d take a whack at photographing the 2 DC Universe Classics Glow in the Dark ghosties, the Spectre and Deadman, to try to show off their unique properties. I didn’t really catch the GitD effect, but I did (with a little help from PhotoShop) end up with some very dramatically lit pics.
Continue reading “DC Universe Classics Glow In The Dark Action + Dynamic Lighting = Drama!”
I was chatting with some of the guys about taking pictures of action figures – a hobby near and dear to my heart, in case you hadn’t noticed. We got onto the subject of backgrounds. I’ve used plain dark backgrounds for dramatic lighting and plain light backgrounds to highlight the figures. And there’s guys like Sandman, who build elaborate sets for his photo shoots – see Sandman’s recent pictorial reviews for some mind-blowing shots.
There’s another type of background – the photo backdrop. A simple photo backdrop can provide the effect of a three-dimensional environment without having to build one. That’s the subject of this how-to article.
Welcome to Customizing Tips from the Buzzy Cave! Hopefully I’ll pass on some tips, tricks or minutiae that will help make action figure customizing easier for someone out there.
I’m always getting asked… well a lot of people have asked… um… okay, a couple guys have commented in the past that my paint apps are pretty smooth and they asked; “How does a ham-fisted idiot like you do that?”
Very simply, I use a wet palette.
But Buzzy, what the hell is a wet palette and why would I need one?
According to Wikipedia– a wet palette is especially useful with acrylics that dry quickly on a dry palette. A wet palette is a sealable container with a layer of absorbent material (such as tissue paper) that can be soaked with water and a semi-permeable membrane over that. The paint sits on the membrane and is kept wet by osmosis. Wet palettes can be bought, but are easily made.
Continue reading “Customizing Tips from the Buzzy Cave: Making Your Own Wet Palette”