3-D PRINTED STAR WARS TOYS with DARTH DADDY & THANK THE MAKER

Darth Daddy & Thank The Maker discuss 3-D printed Star Wars custom action figures, dioramas, and vehicles.  We cover what tools you need, potential costs, design timeframes, adding articulation, troubleshooting and more.

SHOW NOTES:

Flashforge 3-D Printers:
http://www.flashforge-usa.com

Caliper

123D Design Software:

http://www.123dapp.com


ZBrush:
https://pixologic.com





More Tutorials:
http://pixologic.com/zclassroom

Thank The Maker on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/thankthemaker77

HEMBLE CREATIONS TUTORIAL SERIES

For those of you who ever wondered about the customizing process of Hemble Creations, the talented artist has been doing some wonderful tutorials on his YouTube channel.  Hemble Creations is one of the best known Star Wars customizers in the community and getting to learn from one of the masters is an opportunity that shouldn't be missed.  The information he shares with his audience is invaluable for beginner and advanced customizers alike.  Customs for the Kid recently added some tutorial playlists to our YouTube page for Star Wars customizing enthusiasts who wish to absorb some of the priceless knowledge that is shared.

Watch his videos at the link below:

HEMBLE CREATIONS TUTORIAL SERIES

"CUSTOMS FOR THE KID" CELEBRATES 5 YEARS OF BLOGGING

Hard to believe it, but Customs for the Kid has been blogging about the Star Wars custom action figure community for 5 years as of today!

All month long, we were trying to come up with an epic custom action figure reveal for this milestone. Then at the last minute, we totally changed course. Instead of focusing on some new action figure that we'll all forget about later in the week, we decided to focus on what is being celebrated today, our best custom of all...this blog.

We never thought that this endeavor would have lasted as long as it has. When Elias decided he wanted to start making his own Star Wars  custom action figures at the early age of six, I thought it was only going to last a few weeks at most.  I still remember sitting at my laptop typing in my newly created moniker, Darth Daddy, as I set up an account to post our first custom action figures over in the Yakface forums, not knowing that one day, this persona would develop into an alter ego that would later receive almost a million views a month on the Darth Daddy Google+ profile.

When we started our journey we were complete amateur custom action figure artists who to our surprise, went on to create one of the most popular resources for Star Wars custom action figure art on the web today!   If someone told me that this little boy's passion and persistence for creating his own toys would have manifested into a blog read in over 120 countries around the world, I wouldn't have believed them.  The blog's success and popularity has been the result of an actively participating community of artists. The people featured on this blog have become some of our closest friends. Customs for the Kid has become a place where artists, collectors, and fans of the artform can find new talent, customizing techniques, action figure parts lists, collector focused fundraising campaigns with unique incentives, video tutorials, photonovels, stop motion videos,  and some your  favorite Star Wars podcasts all in one place.

Customs for the Kid will also take the time to promote issues like the Legion of Leia initiative. Customs for the Kid was championing the demand for an increased female character presence in the Star Wars toy lines that we established on our "Customs for the Fangirls" page. We were really honored when the Fangirls Going Rogue podcast acknowledged our efforts.

Looking at how our blog has grown from its humble beginnings, we are completely amazed by all that we have accomplished since we started on this long adventure. With hundreds of custom action figures created by our own hands, we saw an activity that we engaged in at our kitchen table grow to epic proportions.  All of our dedication paid off earlier this year when our blog caught the attention of Disney and Lucasfilm who featured Customs for the Kid amongst the most talented and respected custom action figure artists in the world today at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in their Star Wars Custom Action Figure Panel hosted by Sillof.  As customizers it was the highest honor we could have ever hoped to achieve. It was even cooler than when Custom Action Figure News mentioned our "Mother Talzin" custom action figure for "Custom Action Figure of the Year" in 2013, or when we won the "Grand Prize" in Yakfinities #50 in a tie with Star Wars customizer, Sjefke last year. And both of those events were pretty overwhelming in their own right!

featuring the Star Wars custom action figure art of Chewie, Customs for the Kid, PeakOB1, Sillof, and Sith_fire30

Even though being acknowledged for one's efforts can be very rewarding, one of the coolest perks of writing this blog has been the relationships in the community that we've developed. About a month ago we had the opportunity to create some of the promotional art for fanrock band High Adventure's upcoming full-length album release "High Five". We were really grateful for getting the opportunity to take a staff position over at The Star Wars Underworld writing the "Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner" column which finally provided the customizing community with a platform to expand the world of Star Wars customs outside of the web forums and alongside other hot Star Wars topics being floated in the newstream. Customs for the Kid had a blast appearing as guests on The Wolfpack Podcast's Clone Wars tribute episode that is still remembered among Star Wars fans for its legendary length.   We haven't had many custom action figure contests on our blog, but the contests with RebelForce Radio have been loads of fun to promote and we still can't believe the list of cool judges for the events.  Our current "Smuggler's Bounty" contest is running now so be sure to enter!

It can't go without saying that Customs for the Kid wishes to express our sincerest gratitude to all the Star Wars fan sites like Yakface.com, The Star Wars Underworld, Jedi News, Jedi Temple Archives, Imperial Shipyards and Jedi Business for featuring our custom action figures over the years.  We'd also like to thank all the podcasts like RebelForce Radio, The Star Wars Underworld podcast, The Wolfpack Podcast, Custom Action Figure News, The Voice of the Republic podcast, SWAG77, and Expanded Fandomverse, for featuring us on their programming.

Thank you to all our fans who take the time write us letters, leave comments on social media, and send us pictures of your action figures. Your communications are inspiring. We are so thankful to the Star Wars community for helping spread the word about Star Wars custom action figures and the artists that create them.

Most of all, we thank the artists we feature for letting us spread your art to all the corners of the world.  Without your contributions no one who visits this blog would have any reason to come. 

If you are new to our blog, here is a brief sample of what we have to offer:

RebelForce Radio and Customs for the Kid: 

"Star Wars Smuggler's Bounty" Custom Action Figure Contest

Enter our current "Star Wars: Smuggler's Bounty" custom action figure contest that we are holding with RebelForce Radio! After the success of the contest we held for "Star Wars: Smuggler's Gambit", we definitely wanted to continue the fun with Kyle Newman and F.J. DeSanto's latest audio adventure.

THE ACTION FIGURE INDEX

This is where you can find a full picture listing of all the action figures we have made here at home over the years. We tried to organize them in a way that you can locate the custom action figure by their associated film and when the figure is not associated with a film, we grouped them into either Expanded Universe or Fan Fiction.

"CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT" ARCHIVES

featuring "Hondo's Pirate Gang" created by PeakOB1 & Customs for the Kid

This is where you can view pieces from our personal collection of Star Wars custom action figures made by other talented members in the custom action figure community. We also provide links to see more of these artist's work than featured here, and best of all, provide you ways to obtain their artwork if they have any for sale.

"CUSTOMS I WISH I OWNED" VIDEO ARCHIVES 

&

STAR WARS CUSTOMIZER DIRECTORY

featuring "Consequences" by Hemble Creations

For the last several years, Customs for the Kid has been slowly creating an action figure artist directory featuring video slideshows of each artist's work and even more importantly, information about where you can follow or purchase their Star Wars custom action figure art. If anybody were to ask what customizers influence us when we create a new action figure, these artists would be a great start. Most of these pieces are not in our collection. This is a great place to find awesome custom action figure artists that we aren't able to showcase in our Customizer's Spotlight archive, because sadly, their work hasn't found their way into our collection yet. Believe me, it isn't because we wouldn't want these incredible action figures. We provide links to see more of these artist's work here too, and yes, we make sure we provide you with contact information to obtain their customs if they have any for sale.  These are the most talented Star Wars custom artists out there today!

OUR STAR WARS COLLECTION

A few times we have been asked if we were only customizers or were we Star Wars toy collectors too. Here are some of the pictures from the Customs for the Kid collection. Only about a third of the collection is on display so far.  We are always documenting more as we go.

"CUSTOMS FOR THE FANGIRLS"

Wish they made more female Star Wars action figures? We feel you. We know there are a lot of fangirls out there just waiting for a stronger female presence in the Star Wars action figure line. We like a more balanced Star Wars action figure collection in our house. Let's be honest, Star Wars is for everyone. Am I right? Check out these custom Star Wars action figures made with all the Fangirls in mind. Female action figures need equal footing when it comes to the Star Wars toy line. 

Make Your Own Admiral Ackbar's Command Chair, Tatooine Hut & Endor Imperial Bunker (4" scale)

We're huge fans of TheBudgetJedi's tutorials and his latest video is another awesome installment that teaches us all how to enhance our Star Wars displays on the cheap!

Here's are two bonus videos that we missed when they came out, but they are equally cool.




I think we're going to try this one.




YouTube page:

TheBudgetJedi

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: LUCASCLONES

 

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

CLICK HERE TO READ

When it comes to Star Wars customs, Chad Hitchcock aka Lucasclones creates some of the best Star Wars clone figures out there today. He's particularly fond of making ARC troopers.

As a commissioned artist, his figures have been some of the best selling I've seen in the community.  Lucasclones is a customizer that dives into everything. He customizes Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Desolation, and several other toy lines. He even created an H.P. Lovecraft inspired custom.

He also has an extremely active Youtube channel complete with figure reviews, tutorials, and custom action figure debuts.

Lucasclone's podcast, Custom Action Figure News, has been gaining traction for a few years now and its creation has been a boon to the custom action figure community. On his show he has interviewed the most famous customizers around. Working with Imperial Shipyards administrator Tamer, his podcast's success has made customizers accessible to their fans, all while providing some great tips on how to make one-of-a-kind toys. His recent addition of "Roundtable" discusssions to his podcast need to be archived for all interested in the artform. These roundtable  discussions feature the experts who have teamed up to provide a free custom action figure education that's worth a fortune to the beginner and advanced customizer alike.

I can't even begin to list the many contributions Lucasclones has brought to the community.  He's definitely an artist to watch.

ARC Trooper "Fives"

Lucasclones on Imperial Shipyards:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=3618.0


Lucasclones on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucasclones/


Lucasclones on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/cha1man2?feature


Lucasclones' blog:

 http://lucasclonecustoms.blogspot.com/







Go here to listen to the Custom Action Figure News podcast:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/CAFN/index.html


If there is anything you would like him to feature on a future podcast be sure to let him know at:
chad.cafnpodcast@yahoo.com

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: Sith_fire30

Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured Star Wars customizer Sith_fire30 in the latest Customizing Corner over at The Star Wars Underworld.


CLICK HERE TO READ

Now Dayton Allen aka Sith_fire30 is always the first name you will hear out of pretty much every customizer's mouth when you ask them who's the best Star Wars customizer out there today, and I will second that statement without any hesitation. Dayton has definitely influenced me more than any other artist I've come across since I became part of the community. If it weren't for Dayton, I don't think I ever would have started sculpting.

His sculpt work and his paint applications are downright phenomenal, and his talents have already earned him some serious recognition. Sith_fire30 is one of the few customizing artists to ever appear within the pages of Star Wars Insider (Issue 121). Sith_fire30 was also chosen as one of the customizers asked to host the first ever Star Wars Custom Action Figure Panel at Star Wars Celebration VI, alongside artists Sillof and Luke Sprywalker.

Sith_fire30 has taken the bar and raised it so high, I just can't see any artist surpassing what he has accomplished. He is constantly adding new techniques to his toolbox enhancing his art.  Just take a look at the image of the Savage Opress below. The entire figure has little magnets inserted into the body at different points throughout the figure, all hidden, drilled into place, and sculpted over. He also sculpted magnets into Savage's armor so the it just clings to the body when it's brought near. 

Genius!

Dayton creates the ultimate editions of our favorite characters complete with alternate head sculpts and armor with battle damage, consistently creating the most ideal figure for every situation. And the best part about Sith_fire30 is that he knows how to keep the action in the figure. He gives all of his action figures super-articulation. His figures have silenced even the harshest of critics. He has taken action figure art beyond where we ever dreamed it could go. It's just amazing how he fits in all the detail and articulation in a 3 3/4" scale action figure.

This talented customizer and diorama builder also writes a super informative blog that takes you step by step through his creative process while also providing great educational bits like his wonderful eye painting tutorial. Sith_fire30 has one of the best custom action figure blogs out there. His video tutorials on Youtube detailing how to do molding and casting were absolutely priceless when I began to teach myself those techniques at home.  He hasn't been posting on his blog quite as often as he used to, but he is always updating his Facebook page with the latest progress on his current projects.

Unfortunately it has been a while since Dayton has created any new Star Wars offerings due to being tied up with his current projects, but if you are a fan of the Alien franchise, head to his Flickr page now. His latest work is even more mind-blowing than his older projects.

Click any of the links below for more from Sith_Fire30: 

Sith_fire30 on Facebook


http://www.flickr.com/photos/sith_fire30/ 


http://sithfire.blogspot.com/

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER @ THE STAR WARS UNDERWORLD

Dad started writing a Star Wars custom action figure column for The Star Wars Underworld.


GIVE IT A READ

"Jedi General Pong Krell" custom action figure created by Darth Daddy 
(KRELL's TUNIC and DIORAMA STAND created by HYPERDRIVE)

With the start of the New Year, The Star Wars Underworld thought it would be fun to offer our readers a new feature here at the site. Star Wars action figures have always been a HUGE part of the Star Wars fandom experience. Well, we thought it would be cool to introduce you to a side of the Star Wars artist community that rarely gets its due. Usually buried in the dark corners of Star Wars fan forums, Star Wars custom action figure artists have been creating some of the most amazing toy art that you could ever imagine. Their creations range from simple repaints to 100% sculpted pieces. The creations we've seen could fit within the folk art context as easily as it could within the fine art community. Like with any artistic expression there's a lot of variation in the manifestations that come about. Bottom line Star Wars custom action figures need some time in the spotlight!

Many of these artists started to create these toys when they decided to correct the color on an existing action figure they bought from Hasbro, or add articulation where there wasn't any, but before they knew it, they started to create characters that Hasbro didn't make to try to fill holes in their collections.  Other artists created several Star Wars fan fiction characters so they could just play inside the Star Wars universe and create their own stories.  Kit bashing different figure parts worked great for diorama fillers.  Artists like, Sith_fire30 and Sillof took it to the next level and brought their art backgrounds to task earning them featured articles in Star Wars Insider.

 CVI: Star Wars Custom Action Figure Panel audience. 

It was a really good day for Star Wars custom action figure artists on the very last day of Celebration VI.  The customizing community was finally asked by Lucasfilm to present for the FIRST TIME EVER a Star Wars Custom Action Figure Panel to the Celebration attendees who attended on Sunday, August 26th. The room had filled to maximum capacity and staff had to turn more than half the line of people away without getting to see the Panel discussion.  Demand was way higher than expected and the room wasn't big enough to hold all who were interested in attending.

Customizing is a movement that is growing and The Star Wars Underworld asked me to take all of you on a tour this year through the world of Star Wars custom action figure art.

"Mother Talzin" created by Darth Daddy

In the Star Wars customizing community I'm known as Darth Daddy.  Back in summer of 2010, my then 6 year old son received three Star Wars custom action figures as a gift.  Within 3 minutes of opening his gift, he was asking me to make Star Wars custom action figures with him. 

I was quick to tell him that I wasn't sure I had the skills to do it.  I'll never forget what he said to me.

He said, "Dad, you can do it.  I know you can.  Just start and I know that you'll finish.  I believe in you."

It was hard to say "no" to him after that.  I figured at the very least I could was set a good example and try to do it.

I did some research about how it was done, and found an entire custom action figure community hidden in the indexes of Star Wars fan forums.  I was amazed with what I found.  It was an entire world that I never knew existed... and it was beautiful!  So many toys I would have loved to add to my son's Star Wars collection.  Full of tribute pieces made to honor the films we all love!  Many of the artists shared their techniques and even gave the recipes for making their figures.  Everything I needed to learn was there.

"Bo Katan" created by Darth Daddy & CloneCommanderJay

I think I had made only about two figures when my son, Elias asked me to start a blog about Star Wars custom action figures.  I remember it made me giggle, because I couldn't believe I had this little 6 year old boy telling me that he wanted to start a blog.  I didn't even really know what a blog was at the time.  It was a very funny moment as a parent.  It was definitely a question you wouldn't have heard a child ask when I was a kid.

 Blog logo features my first custom action figure.

Well I had some more research to do and when my work was completed, we launched Customs for the Kid, a blog devoted to covering the ins-and-outs of the Star Wars custom action figure community.  The blog is full of images featuring thousands of Star Wars custom action figures created by artists from all over the world.
  

I've been personally working with the artists, archiving their Star Wars custom action figure art in video slide shows featured on our "Customs I Wish I Owned" page.  The page is a directory that provides you with contact information for the artists, access to their Facebook, eBay pages, and other places where you can see their work.  It's a great place to look around if you are ever looking to commission an artist.

 "Nightsister Assaj Ventress" created by Darth Daddy

  

The blog also provides educational tutorials that pass valuable customizing knowledge onto beginners and masters alike who want to make figures of their own.  We share custom action figure contest announcements like the Smuggler's Gambit custom action figure contest we promoted with RebelForce Radio last year, photo novel chapter updates, and sometimes, we just share pictures of the custom Star Wars action figures from our own personal collection and the contact information for the artists that created those figures as well.

 "Master Zao" created by Darth Daddy

I used my anthropology background to document it all, and somewhere along the way, "I went native." Since the blog started my son and I have created over 200 Star Wars custom action figures of our own. I'm probably best known for my Clone Wars custom action figures, but I've ended up making figures from all the various forms of Star Wars media out there. So not only am I a fan of the art form, but I'm an artist too. While working on Customs for the Kid with my little guy, I try to be the best ambassador I can for the Star Wars customizing community, constantly striving to provide all the exposure possible, and open up the art form to a larger audience.

  "Star Wars Cantina Aliens" created by Darth Daddy & Elias of "Customs for the Kid"

That's why when The Star Wars Underworld asked me to do a Star Wars custom action figure post every week, I was happy to oblige.  So stay tuned, every week I'll post a few pictures of Star Wars custom action figures created by a new artist and give you the same information you can find about the artist that we provide on the blog.   It will give you a chance to see something fun and unique and maybe give you the itch to make an action figure of your own one day.

  

 "Death Trooper" created by Darth Daddy

If waiting a whole week for another one of my posts to appear is too long for you, I post new Star Wars custom action figures almost every day on the Customs for the Kid Facebook page and we have all of our videos available on Youtube too!  For those who want to know right away when something new goes up you can also find me on Tumblr, Twitter and Pinterest.   There's plenty of content to satiate your appetite, there are four years worth of it on the blog itself.  We post about every three days.

Otherwise, you can find me here where you'll discover some super cool Star Wars custom action figure art.

-Darth Daddy

"Ziro the Hutt" created by Darth Daddy

"99" created by Darth Daddy

"Hondo's Pirate Gang" created by the collaborative efforts of Darth Daddy & Elias of "Customs for the Kid" and PeakOB1 Custom Creations

"Chancellor Palpatine" created by Darth Daddy

ARC Trooper "Fives" created by Darth Daddy

"Agent Kallus" created by Darth Daddy

"Agent Kallus" created by Darth Daddy

"C1-10P aka Chopper" created by Darth Daddy

 "Lando Calrissian" created by Darth Daddy

"Kaink & Chukha Trok" created by Darth Daddy

  "Jedi General Pong Krell" custom action figure created by Darth Daddy 
(KRELL's TUNIC and DIORAMA STAND created by HYPERDRIVE)

www.customsforthekid.blogspot.com