As most of the longtime fans know, Elena Eden is one of the Original Characters that I created over 10 years ago for the DSNG Sci Fi Series. And this toy was designed to match Elena's voluptuous physique as much as possible. And if you want to see what Elena looks like, just Google "Elena Eden DSNG".In this project that took me almost 3 months, I utilized the "Marvel Legends Captain Marvel toy" [shown over Here] as the base figure. But I had to enhance her curves with putty, before I sprayed on a layer of Tamiya Gray Primer.
And Then...................... I painted the whole toy wrong... -sigh- Well Sh#t happens LOL - so I had to strip the entire paint with rubbing alcohol and hot water, before I painted it right.
The belt, the gun holsters, and other body armor pieces in her gauntlets and her boots were all hand-sculpted, or created with rubber bands, where necessary. And the hair was borrowed from a Marvel Legends Mocking Bird toy, although I had to cut and add some putty to make it to fit my purpose. And then the hair was colored white, along with gray highlights. I actually used a sharpie pink marker to make some slightly darker shadows, over some segments of her cool pink costume. I think it made her design to "pop" more.
Anyway, the point is, you have to be patient when making these toy models. Because they can take a very long time, especially when there are tiny details to add. And as you get more experience, you will realize the difference between a truly good custom job, and one that was rushed.For me, this is a hobby; and I've leaned that a truly dedicated hobby can be a very demanding thing, per the time, energy, money and effort that is demanded, when you want to really "tighten all the bolts" and create something that displays a high level of quality. And practice makes perfect... but before you get to perfection, you may have to learn from your mistakes - just like I had to repaint this entire toy, although you'd never know that fact unless I told you.
I started out doing Custom Transformers last year [2016], and I've definitely come a long way, per the things I've learned.Sometimes I'd just repaint the TFs, which was very therapeutic for me. Or I'd actually break down two toys, one a TF robot and the other a regular car toy, before I'd mix them together to make a new / better good guy. You can see some of those Custom Transformers, like Turbo Blitz, over Here, and Here.
Honestly, in my opinion, customizing Transformers is much easier than customizing action figures, if you are shooting for quality. The faces of these action figure toys are the hardest things to paint, because they are so small... and some people utilize a magnifying glass and even some more acrylic paint / shoe polish / shoe wax to generate matching colored tones & shadows, upon the small faces of the 6 and 7 inch toy models. Honestly, I don't do that, not because I can't; it's just that I'm shooting for creating a "perfect full-body sample" of the character that I see in my mind. Moving an Original Character from the DSNG Sci Fi Series, like Elena Eden, from a design on paper to a tangible toy is very significant, because it literally gives her life. And one day she will be mass produced... oh it's true, it's damn true!!!! :D
Of course, I do other toy customs like Domino from Marvel, Killer Frost from DC Comics, and Ashoka from Star Wars. I even have a cool Deathstroke Custom that I haven't taken pictures of yet. So just Stay Tuned for more!!!!