So, when you're making customs, where do you think you kick ass and where your ass gets kicked? Perhaps we can learn from finding a diff between how we see our own skills and how others see them.

Myself, I think I'm pretty good at parts selection. I can see the parts that will work well together to give a nicely proportioned figure with the proper personality for that character. I can see new ways of using old items, and using completely foreign items totally unrelated to toys.

I suck at painting. My skills of putting paint down are generally okay, but it's really a manifestation of having too little patience. By the time I'm to the painting stage, I've 'worked' the fig so much in my mind I'm usually bored by it, and have started 'working' on other stuff in my head. I rarely do any paint mixing, saying 'Meh, close enough' to whatever's handy when I need it.

Is this what y'all see in my stuff, too?

_________________

AV I'd agree that you have an eye for parts and fitting in odd ball things that work great. I disagree that your painting is bad in any way whatsoever.

I can't count this as a problem area but some of your character choices have been on the obscure side so I kind of lose interest in them. Still great craftsmenship, but any time you pick someone nobody knows it is hard because you don't have a frame of reference to compare it to.

For me. I have decent painting skills. More on that ina second. I see the picture of the character in my mind and excute it fairly close to that design. I push my skills and I'm always trying something new or seeing a character or custom differently.

Weaknesses. My painting skills have peaked. They aren't getting better and I'm certainly not looking to do any more complicated camo patterns. I have a hard time going back to fix things. You know that point when you've applied your last drop of paint or whatever and you think it is done. Then you take a picture or something and realize it could be better if you just [fill in the blank]. If someone else points it out I'll fix it but if it is just a little thing that bugs me I'll consider 99% done and leave. I'm an ok sculpter but not nearly as good as I want to be. I can't capture that perfect likeness no matter how hard or how many times I try. Oh and I hardly ever finish a custom because I'd rather work on the new exciting project then finish stuff that I'm stuck on.

_________________

Hmm. I'd say my paint aps are near flawless, and end up looking like production figures.

Where I suck donkey nuts at is camoflauge. Aside from Desert Storm era camo, I really need to improve in this area.

_________________

Details...I suck at details. and finishing customs, I suck at that too. Of the 5 36 drawer units I have for customs One unit is probably still empty, one unit has completed but "unincorporated" customs, the other 3 have WIPS and ideas that I've peiced together, but are waiting for mods, paint, certain parts, or inspiration.

I think both of those weaknesses go together because to really finish a figure I think you've got to get the details done...and then write a bio and really figure out where a custom belongs....

That's why so many of my customs are Crystal Ball related...I can just assign them a name and call them part of the Crystal Army.

I think I'm pretty good with physical modification, swapping arms, necks, whatever is needed to get a figure to fit right.

I know I'm better at the "out of the box" type customs...the ones that really just aren't realistic but are still quite fun... Like if you asked me to make a Pros from Dover SEAL I'll get the thing peiced together...and then it'll sit in a drawer for 5-6 years...sorta like my "Preadator Team" customs have.

_________________

For my strengths, I'd go with part selection and paint applications. I will rummage around my parts bin until I find that perfect combunation I've been searching for, and will then probably tweak it a little. I'm pretty confident in painting, to me it's all in the right size brush. On some details I have to wear reading glasses so I can get as close to what I'm painting as possible.

As for weaknesses, with the detail comes time, something I don't have a lot of to begin with. And as a result, it can take me months to finish one figure. Right now I have five figures in vaious stages of completion , I'm hoping to have them ready for the convention. Knowing me, I'll be finishing up the night before I fly out!

_________________

My painting's continually improving & I'm exceptionally good at tiny details. (Nimble fingers ladies...) Not too bad at parts selection if I do say so myself.

My biggest weakness is I'm not willing to go as far for my customs as others have. I've seen some people hack up some rare & pricey stuff for a custom & it usually gets me balking. Most of the time it's because I could never afford to get said item for customizing or just plain don't have one for my collection to begin with. I do think I'm getting more daring bit by bit though.

Strengths: Part choice. I like to think that all of my customs feel 'right' for their character (or at least my take on them). I also like to think I'm pretty decent at bios and back stories.

Weakness: Sculpting. I'm really not great a sculpting. That and skin-tone painting, which I've never been able to make work.

_________________

I suppose if I had to say I had strengths (such things are fleeting and, as they say, pride goeth before the fall):

Paint mathching. I can usually match or come close to matching existing paint using nothing but my eyes and brain. Not that I'm perfect at it (I can go through a dozen batches just trying to get the right mix.)

Parts choices. I'm big about proportions, things have to mesh well. I'll occasionally vary if the custom demands but I always try to get my parts to look right before I do anything.

Thinking outside the box. Like with my demons and Shannara customs, I like to step outside the mainstream. I like to do what nobody else thinks is worth doing.

Weaknesses:

Patience. I lack this these days and a lot of customs have suffered for it in bad paint apps.

Eyes, eyebrows: I can do eyebrows if I force myself to slow down, but eyes continue to elude me.

Sculpting: I can do hair, and not that well. That's about it.

Painting: Sometimes, it works. Most times it doesn't, and I end up with clumpy areas, thin spots or spots that just don't look right. I'll never get as good as any of the Masters simply because the skills and patience needed aren't in me.

Replication: Trying to re-create an existing figure or person is very hard for me--there's little wiggle room and the audience for such things is usually unforgiving.

_________________

Weaknesses: How much time do you have? On a technical level, the main weakness I've got is sculpting. I can do hair, and that's about it. A more troubling issue is not following through on projects and completing them. AV had the best explanation, where I've customized the piece so many times in my mind that I get bored with the real thing, or, if I encounter something stupid like, if I can't find the exact fodder I need for a figure, I'll abandon the project for a while. I tried to curtail this by just working on one custom at a time, but that didn't work at all. Now I've got a bunch of half-finished figures with nothing to show for the work...

Strength: Like with my regular creative ventures, it's all about concept. I'm an idea guy, and see tons of potential in my fodder bin, but not enough time to get around to completing all the customs! I also think I've got a decent eye for parts, but not as good as a lot of you guys and gals here.

Strengths:

Parts selection/integration, painting, ingenuity/imagination, detail work, vehicle design/execution, realistic weathering, keeping everything I make believable and able to fit into the Star Wars Universe without looking out of place.

Weakness:

Sculpting- I cannot sculpt worth a damn I can fill in air bubbles and gaps so that they look flawless and can even make simple things like wrinkles in uniforms or straps/belts, but cannot do anything more complex like faces or hair

Painting camoflague- it's annoying and it never looks very good when it's done. Good thing you don't see alot of it in the Star Wars Universe

And time, I never seem to have enough of it anymore

_________________

Strength: Coming up with ideas.

Weakness: Finishing anything I start.

_________________

My big weakness most of the time is sculpting hair onto bald heads. I get it right most of the time, but smetimes it coms off looking like a really bad wig. That is why I haven't displayed my Punisher figure yet. Got to redo the hair. Another thing I have not got right yet is painting eyes.

I think that my sculpting in general has improved greatly over the last couple of years to the point where I am happy with it.

_________________

I'm kind of middle of the road on most things. My paint apps have improved over time, but I'm still not where I want to be. Parts selection, sometimes they turn out great, sometimes not. Camo painting, getting better but still not where I want it to be.

Weaknesses
Sculpting: (without leaving fingerprints).
Casting: getting a cast w/o airbubbles.
Lack of patience/interest: I've got about 6 WIP's that have been hanging around in my parts box for about a year that I haven't gotten motivated to finish.
Lack of inspiration: in a Joe world with a vast range of characters, sometimes it's hard to come up with an orignal combination on a character without borrowing others ideas or the figure just looking like a parts swap.

_________________

hm. tough question.

i know my greatest weakness is impatience. i start with [what i think] is a great idea or take on a character, and go through the opening stages rather carefully, but by the time i'm painting, i start to get impatient, and the last few stages get rushed, and i think the quality of my customs suffer for it.

i wind up with a lot of 'good enough' customs, which isn't the reason i started in this hobby.

another con is that i think i get too many going at once, and start to feel an internal overwhelming pressure, and wind up not working on any for long stretches of time...

i think if i have a strength, it would be my '1 in 10' ability to pull off an outta left field custom.

_________________

I feel exactly the same way.

I think my skills across the board are mediocre at best, except I'm good with a backstory or idea. After having discovered Dying, I just don't like painted customs anymore. My customs are looking a lot more production, and I'm taking on ambitious projects (usually 9 figures or more) but I'm getting lazier and less experimental with the actual work.

If anything, I'm going backwards, working with head swaps and such rather than painting.

I can't sculpt worth a damn, but I can carve like a champ. I've also got a network of customizers, casters and technical specialists that can pretty much provide me with anything I need to get done. Why learn casting when I can pay one of the best casters on the planet to help me out? Why paint eyes, when I can have a friend do it for me and pay him in backpacks?

But even though I'm doing less work than ever before, and not pushing the envelope with my stuff, I'm liking the end product a lot better. I've plateaued, but I kind of like where I ended up...

- R

_________________