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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query darth daddy's customizing corner. Sort by date Show all posts

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: HYPERDRIVE

Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured Star Wars artist Hyperdrive in the latest Customizing Corner over at The Star Wars Underworld.


CLICK HERE TO READ



When it comes to customizing, Hyperdrive's signature "weathered and worn" soft goods are unique. He has been honing his craft for many years without a studio; just his wife's sewing room and his kitchen island. He told me it takes about a week to create each figure and the work entails great care and attention to detail. Each piece is sanded down to remove any features that may reveal a bump or bulge from under the custom clothes. The clothes are then custom crafted to the size and shape of each figure for the best possible fit. Hyperdrive strives for maximum articulation underneath the soft goods cloth giving his figures a realistic look. Some of his favorite characters include: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui Gon Jinn, Vader, Yoda, General Veers, Watto, Maul, Greedo, Jawas and Gamorreans.

Hyperdrive's soft goods work is just amazing! Once we saw his figures we knew we had to include his work amongst the other artists I have featured in Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner. Hyperdrive is the guy that should be hired by Hasbro to handle all the soft good clothing design on future figures going forward! 














Hyperdrive is also one of the few Star Wars custom action figure artists that I have had the privilege of collaborating with on a project. When I was creating my Clone Wars General Pong Krell action figure, I came to a point where I  started to think about how I was going to do his clothing.  I really wanted to do soft goods, but I didn't feel like I had the skills to pull it off.

Immediately the amazing custom soft good creations of Star Wars customizer Hyperdrive popped into my head and I thought to himself, "I wish I could do soft good's like Hyperdrive."

My immediate second thought was, "I wonder if I could get Hyperdrive to do the soft goods?"

Followed by, "How should I go about asking him?"

The General Pong Krell action figure collaboration was willed by The Force.  No lie.  True Story.

In "less than a minute after I had that thought of asking Hyperdrive to make the soft goods from my Krell", I got an email from him asking me if he could update the video of his work on our "Customs I Wish I Owned" page. I immediately obliged and while I had Hyperdrive's ear, I asked if he would collaborate with me on Krell. The rest is history.

When I was finished with all the sculpt and paintwork, Krell was shipped off to Hyperdrive who not only created the beautiful looking soft goods tunic that Krell is now sporting, but Hyperdrive also made one awesome diorama stand for Krell when he's on display.

Hyperdrive created Krell's soft goods tunic, tabbards, and wraps with fabric that was hand dyed and then weathered. He also created the leather removable belt held on with a metal clasp located at the back and then inlaid magnets that were set inside for saber hilt connections.  He then fabricated a custom swamp display base with water effects.  And after all that was done, he fixed his busted sewing machine. 



"JEDI GENERAL PONG KRELL"
created by Darth Daddy

(KRELL's TUNIC and DIORAMA STAND created by HYPERDRIVE)




"Hello all. I just had the privilege of contributing to one of the coolest, most beautifully sculpted figures that I have ever worked upon. Darth Daddy's sculpt work on his General Pong Krell figure is top shelf, TOP SHELF! Having seen it in person, I can attest to his craftsmanship and skill. While the entire piece is nicely sculpted, I was blown away by the head sculpt and his feet. Also his paintwork was awesome. Pong Krell is en route back to Darth Daddy as we speak. Looking forward to sharing the finished product with you all.  It was awesome to lend a hand with this figure. It's way more rewarding to collaborate with others, I highly recommend it. When the figure arrived at my door, I wanted to live up to DD's craftsmanship. We emailed constantly once it was on my bench, and after several alterations, arrived at this finished product."  - Hyperdrive





To see more Star Wars custom action figures created by Hyperdrive, click the link below:



Wednesday, March 26, 2014

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: DARTH CRASSUS

Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured Star Wars customizer Darth Crassus in the latest Customizing Corner over at The Star Wars Underworld.


CLICK HERE TO READ




Darth Crassus is an amateur customizer active for just over two and a half years. A few weeks ago, I got an email with some pictures of his customs attached, and I thought that he would be a nice addition to this weeks Customizing Corner.  Darth Crassus enjoys making Star Wars Expanded Universe characters, particularly from Star Wars comics and video games. His next projects include Darth Caedus, Darth Venamis, and an Action Fleet scale Ebon Hawk. You can see more of his work on Facebook at DarthCrassus Customs In real life, he studies politics and also occasionally blogs about politics in science fiction at The Poli-Sci Jedi.




Darth Desolus




Jariah Syn




Nomi Sunrider




Darth Revan


 
Master Zao




 

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: DARTH DUSTY

Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured Star Wars customizer Darth Dusty in the latest Customizing Corner over at The Star Wars Underworld.



Yes, there is another Darth.   In the Star Wars custom action figure community there is no rule of two.

Darth Dusty is an artist that has been drawing, painting, and sculpting for over twenty-five years, and customizing for over ten. He mainly enjoys customizing figures from the Expanded Universe now known as Star Wars Legends, as well as creating characters of his own. His goal is to give people something rare and unique; to challenge himself to make customs of characters that may never see the light of day on a store shelf.

Mostly creating figures for adult collectors, Darth Dusty loves to incorporate soft goods, and hand sculpting new parts. Darth Dusty uses many materials, such as, Apoxie Sculpt, acrylic paints, casting resins, and even puffy paint, as key elements in each creation. Darth Dusty researches many of the figures he plans to build to get as much accuracy as possible without compromising the functionality of the action figure.  

He has made the widest assortment of figures from the video games The Force Unleashed and The Force Unleashed II than any other customizer I've encountered and I'm a big fan of his samurai interpretations of Vader, the Stormtrooper and Boba Fett.  He's a huge talent!  I made a video of his work early last year if anyone wants to see more from this artist after reading this feature.

Fairly retired from doing commissioned figures, he loves hearing ideas on what figures to make. Darth Dusty keeps a list of characters on the back burner, so expect to see plenty more figures to come.



















 This piece is from our personal collection at home.






















Darth Dusty's Facebook page:  


eBay seller page: 



Wednesday, March 12, 2014

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: CHEWIE

Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featuring Star Wars customizer Chewie in the latest Customizing Corner over at The Star Wars Underworld.


CLICK HERE TO READ




I can't tell you how happy I am to present you with this week's artist in my next installment of DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNERJustin Cook, who is also known in the Yakface Forums as Yak_Chewie is by far one of the most talented and creative customizers out there today. Chewie is an administrator over at Yakface Forums and he oversees the custom creations part of the forum where I first received the foundation for my own customizing education.

Anyone who's looking for inspiration to build a custom action figure or needs a kitbashing recipe to follow need not to look any further, Chewie has more recipes than a cookbook.

His great body of work landed him the lead off spot on the Customs for the Kid "Customs I Wish I Owned" archive page.  He was the first artist that I ever featured on the Customs for the Kid blog.  Chewie has made over a hundred action figures over the years and they are all figures I'd love to have in our Star Wars custom action figure collection.  Chewie was my most dominant influence as a customizer when I first started to make action figures of my own.  Chewie's work opened up my imagination and helped me realize that as a customizer, I now had the opportunity to create my own Star Wars stories with Star Wars characters of my own invention.  If you watch the video we posted of his customs you'll immediately see that his body of work is something special.

Chewie is also the creator of "The Enloe Chronicles" photonovel series which is probably known to be one of the most famous Star Wars photonovels ever made.  The Enloe Trials photonovel series is what's driving Chewie to customize more than anything else. The latest chapter in his most recent story is just another awesome Star Wars adventure where a group of heroes race to locate an ancient Sith artifact before it falls into the hands of The Emperor.

This week I'm going to present Chewie's custom action figures the way he does in the forums.  Complete with their recipes so you can all have the opportunity to try and recreate them if you so wish.



Rykrof Enloe - As seen on Dathomir in "The Enloe Chronicles" photonovel series.



head - SAGA Endor Rebel
torso - TVC Kithaba
chest armor - TAC Rahm Kota
scarf - fodder bin
arms - TVC Kithaba
tunic - TVC Kithaba
hands - random Stormtrooper
crotch/things - fodder bin
shins - Legends Bikers Scout



Imperial Infiltrator - Made for the ISY/Yakface Rebels themed customizing challenge that runs through the end of April.



head - SAGA Legends
rest - TVC Captain Fordo



Walrus Man, realistic Clone Wars version



head - TVC Ponda Baba
rest - SAGA2 Death Star Gunner



Talbarr - Wookiee who will show up in "The Enloe Chronicles" photonovel series.



head - Early Bird Chewbacca
cloak - random cloth painted
bandolier - McQuarrie Chewbacca
rest - Black Series Merumeru



Tibanna Gas Miner - For a past Yakfinities, Cloud City Denizens.



helmet - TVC Padawan Anakin x 2, thermal detonator
torso - TVC Admiral Ackbar
arms - McQuarrie Boba Fett
gloves - OTC Cloud Car Pilot
tunic - TVC Admiral Ackbar
legs - McQuarrie Boba Fett



Freelo, Dathomir Assault - This is how he appeared in Chapter 3 of The Enloe Trials


head - Legacy Mon Calamari Warrior
torso - TVC Endor Rebel
chest gear - GI JOE Airtight
arms - TVC Rebel Trooper
hands - Legacy Mon Calamari Warrior
belt - random Darth Vader
legs - TVC Rebel Trooper



Innoril the Slayer - Decades ago, Innoril left the Jedi Order and then slaughtered a group of Jedi Masters, including Rykrof Enloe's mother. Innoril has lied dormant for years and is preparing to reemerge.



head - Captain America Red Skull
scarf - Evolutions Starkiler
tunic - TVC Starkiller
rest - The Hobbit Orc figure



Battle Hardened Stormtrooper Squad - Chewie painted these guys to look like they've been going at it against the Rebels for a while on some distant planet in the Outer Rim. They are showing up in current chapters of his photonovel series.


Everything - TVC Sandtrooper repaints





To see more work from Chewie, visit the links below:



Yakface Forums:
(great place to find action figure recipes)

The Photonovel Alliance:
(for a good read...)

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: ELIAS

Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured our resident Star Wars artist Elias in the latest Customizing Corner over at The Star Wars Underworld.

 





This week I decided to showcase the artwork of one of the youngest Star Wars artists in the action figure customizing community. He is also one of the most active bloggers in the Star Wars community as a whole. For almost four years now, Elias has been hard at work showcasing the art of the biggest players in the Star Wars custom action figure community, all while making some extremely remarkable pieces of his own. He started the "Customs for the Kid" blog when he was just 6 years old, and his blog gets over 12,000 hits a month from over 150 countries throughout the world! Quite an achievement for someone so young!

Already his action figures have graced the front pages of several Star Wars fan sites who were impressed with his artistic skill.  I have collaborated with Elias on numerous projects, more than with any other customizer.  If it weren't for Elias, I would have never become a customizer myself.

You see, Elias is my son.  Back in the summer of 2010, Elias saw a few Star Wars custom action figures for sale on eBay, and asked me if we could make some custom action figures of our own.  Because I never had any experience making action figures, and had only a mild interest in art in my youth, his request seemed like an extremely daunting task.  Had he not talked me into it, you definitely wouldn't be reading this feature right now, and we never would have gotten involved in the fan community at all.  Elias has had a huge impact on the Star Wars custom action figure community and not many people in fandom know the story behind the artist.

His blog features the best Star Wars custom action figure directory with all the information you need to know about the wide assortment of talented artists that make up the customizing community.  His blog features video slide shows of each artist's work, as well as links to where you can find more ways to follow each artist, complete with the contact information that the artist provides.  While at his blog you should also check out the archive page of his Customizer Spotlight showcase that displays custom action figures from his growing custom action figure collection. Elias has many signature pieces from the most talented customizers out there today.  His blog is well known for creating a platform that linked many artists to each other and promoted the art form as a whole.

For all you fans that feel like creating your own action figures is too difficult a task, Elias has a few words for you, "If I can do it, you can too."  I too didn't think I had what it took to make these beautiful little pieces of art.  It was Elias' belief in me that got me started.  When I told him I didn't think I had the skills to get involved in the hobby, he said, "Dad you can do it.  I believe in you.  Just start, and I know you'll finish."  Hundreds of action figures later and a blog with four years of content and counting, Elias couldn't have been any more right in his assumptions.

I can't tell you how cool it is to see the new generation of Star Wars fans aggressively promoting the Star Wars franchise.  Elias has already been interviewed on the Voice of the Republic podcast, Expanded Fandomverse, and Custom Action Figure News, and one day his hope is to be featured in Star Wars Insider for all his efforts.  The coolest part about Elias is that he's not just being featured in Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner because he's my son, it's because he earned his chops in the community.  At 10 years old, he is certainly an artist to keep your eye on.





































Elias' Customs for the Kid blog:


Elias' Custom Action Figure Index:


Elias' Customizer Directory:


Elias' Star Wars Custom Action Figure Collection:


Elias' Clone Wars Custom Action Figure Facebook page: