AGE APPROPRIATE WARNING

*ADULT SUPERVISION & PROPER SAFETY EQUIPMENT ARE REQUIRED WHEN UTILIZING THE TOOLS, PRODUCTS & TECHNIQUES DESCRIBED HERE ON OUR BLOG TO CREATE STAR WARS CUSTOMS.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

YAKFACE SECRET SANTA 2014 featuring DAN of the DEAD & DARTH DADDY

For the last 4 years, I have been creating custom action figures for Yakface.com's Secret Santa event.  It's my favorite way to celebrate the holidays since I joined the Star Wars customizing community.  The Yakface forums are where I started posting my artwork when I first started making action figures, and where I made my first friendships with my peers.  Dan of the Dead was also an artist who frequently posted there and I loved his work a great deal.

I wasn't sure what characters he had or didn't have in his collection so I figured I'd do a creative build for his gift.  Ever since Hasbro cheapened their production standards in their 3 3/4" line, I have been using whatever remaining fodder I had to create characters that were considered cannon, or at least had "Legends" status.  It had been ages since I made a character from my own imagination. Dan of the Dead had a real talent for creative builds himself. and I remember that he admired some of my previous builds.  I knew that this was the perfect opportunity for a return to form and make a figure that I had bouncing around my head for a while now.

I knew I wanted to make a Whipid custom, and that Whipids were known for being successful big game hunters.  I had a mold of PeakOB1's narglatch headdress and I knew a cast from it would be the perfect accessory for the build. I also sculpted onto a K'Kruhk head to make some unique facial hair, and created my own hands and feet for the figure.  I used the Merumeru figure for my base torso, and by the time I was done,  I really loves how the figure turned out.




"WHIPID BIG GAME HUNTER"
created by DARTH DADDY


























Elias hasn't been able to keep his hands off the gift we received from Dan of the Dead since we got it in the mail on Monday.  I kept noticing him taking breaks every five minutes, picking up the box and gazing at the swoop within as he worked hard at translating the Aurebesh note we received with our gift.

I was extremely excited when I found out the Dan of the Dead was our Secret Santa this year.  I was always a huge fan of his work, and I've always wanted one of his customs in Elias' collection.   Dan was such a huge influence in my development as an artist.  He was one of the more active customizers in the Yakface forums when I was just a beginner, and I definitely looked to him as one of the artists I hoped to emulate as I dove deeper into the practice of making my own action figures.



AUREBESH NOTE


The note we received from Dan of the Dead written in Aurebesh.


TRANSLATION


Greetings Sentient,

And congratulations on your acquisition on your Die Industries Scatterblast Class Swoop. As you know, Die Industries patented dual intake engine gives your swoop unparalleled power, and the Scatterblast's unique over/under engine configuration is certain to turn heads!

Regrettably, recent Imperial regulations prevent us from installing the full advanced weapons upgrade you requested!  We have credited your account for the cost of the package and hope you enjoy the complimentary, personal defense weapons upgrade installed in its place! Imperial regulations for the require us clarify that the requested detail paint scheme is to no longer be known as "Rebel Red"! The Imperial Security Bureau has suggested "Compliance Crimeon" as a replacement!

At Die Industries, we understand you have a choice when it comes to purchasing swoops and other high-end performance speeders, and we appreciate the chance to serve your repulsorcraft needs! We'd also like to wish you a Happy Life Day (barring any local Imperial sanctions regulating the observation of said holiday in your particular sector.)

Sincerely,

Faded Datheon (Dan of the Dead)
Chief Engineer





"Die Industries Scatterblast Class Swoop"
created by Faded Datheon aka Dan of the Dead



















Click the links below for more of Dan the Dead:

and:


Be sure to check out his blog:







STAR WARS CUSTOMS 
FROM PREVIOUS 
SECRET SANTA EVENTS


2013


 VINTAGE DROID
created by Hyperdrive




2012


YAKFACE.COM SECRET SANTA 
CUSTOM ACTION FIGURES
created by CHEWIE



"Abyssin & Vurk Zombies"
 created by Darth Daddy



"XEVEN"
created by Darth Optimus



"SECRET SANTA MANDO"
created by Darth Daddy



"Darth Zannah"
created by Darksider80



"RODIAN SNOWSPEEDER PILOT"
created by Darth Daddy



"Mandalorian"
by Luke Spryalker




2011


SECRET SANTA CUSTOMS
by Darth Phantom




SECRET SANTA CUSTOMS
by Darth Daddy






2010


SECRET SANTA CUSTOMS
by Chewie





"Zombie Jedi"
by Darth Daddy





MERRY CHRISTMAS 

HAPPY LIFE DAY!




Monday, December 22, 2014

Rykrof Enloe Returns…



The Enloe Trials Photonovel Series by Chewie returns with an all-new installment in the series – Veils of Deceit!  Check out this new chapter in the Yakface.com forums, filled with all kinds of new custom figures and dioramas after here!




Friday, December 19, 2014

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: BRANDON JACKSON

Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured Star Wars custom action figure artist Brandon Jackson in his latest post over at The Star Wars Underworld.





Although Brandon Jackson will tell you that he still considers himself to be a noob when it comes to customizing, everyone else will tell you that he's way too hard on himself. Truth is Brandon is super talented.  

Brandon Jackson hails from Los Angeles California, and has been serving in the military for 18 and a half years.  He has loved Star Wars as long as he can remember and he has collected Star Wars throughout most of his childhood. Although he stopped collecting for many years, he got back into collecting in 2012. He now has a pretty large Star Wars collection and 1:6 Scale figures are his main focus. At the point when he started customizing he pretty much owned almost every Sideshow Collectible 1:6 scale figure that they made. He got into 1:6 costumizing because there were so many characters from Star Wars he loved, but no company made in 1:6 scale. 

He joined a group on Facebook called One Sixth Republic ran by the creator Mark OSR. There he saw so many people from all over the country, kitbashing and customizing figures, that it made him want to create some of his own figures. He had never done anything artistic before, but Brandon wanted to give it a try. So earlier this year he did his first custom, a 1:6 scale figure he called Agent 47 - Mandalorian Bounty Hunter. He used the Agent 47 headsculpt from the awesome videogame series Hitman and custom painted a 12 inch Hasbro Jango Fett. At the time, he felt like he had no idea what he was doing until he posted it up on Facebook, and everyone loved it. 

Shortly after that he got into painting head sculpts. Brandon uses brushes to paint his figures, but he hopes to start airbrushing in the near future. As far as supplies go, he uses a variety of different paints, mainly acrylic paints, but he stresses the importance of using the right brushes. He'll admit that he was a little cheap when he first started painting, but he later invested in better equipment and supplies. 

He also recommends using a head set magnifier with a light. It really helps when doing the eyes.  Brandon says his two biggest challenges are painting the eyes and sewing. All customizing artists will tell you that the eyes are the most important and also the most challenging. 

When it comes to sewing the soft goods, Brandon's lucky to have a wonderful and supportive wife that not only supports his hobby but she also sews very well and has been showing him how to make some really killer threads for his custom figures.

































Sunday, December 14, 2014

STAR WARS REBELS: THE INQUISITOR LIGHTSABER MODIFICATIONS

We are in the process of making a super-articulated version of the Inquisitor here at home.  The villain of Star Wars Rebels has a really interesting lightsaber whose look provides several variations. We tried to recreate two alternate looks for his lightsaber to go with the lightsaber that was included with the original release of the figure.  We used an X-acto knife to create the half ignited saber, and we used a magnet to attach the hilt to the Inquisitor's back.  These are quick and easy modifications you can do at home in just a few short minutes.


"STAR WARS REBELS -
THE INQUISITOR's
LIGHTSABER MODIFICATIONS"
by Darth Daddy










Hilt attached magnetically.


















SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER


"STAR WARS REBELS -
THE INQUISITOR
SPINNING LIGHTSABER MODIFICATION"
by Darth Daddy



ADULT SUPERVISION REQUIRED!
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
EXPERIENCE NEEDED!


SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED