Posted: 04 September 2008 at 4:11pm | IP Logged

Welcome to our Kitbash, Art and Customs Workshop, where you have the chance to showcase your skills as an artist and kitbasher.

In this part of the forum, you will get to see many of our members pictures, sprites, kitbashes, and other artistic creations of all types, styles and levels of imagination.

I myself am not a very good artist, and in no way can i make sprites, however, my area is kitbashing, and i will go through some details of what inspires me, and the tools that i use. For a definition of a kitbash, please read Dreadwings post, found here.

Now, inspiration for a kitbash can come from anywhere, and characters that you wish to make do not have to exist, there is nothing stopping you from making your own character. This gives you total freedom of how you want your toy to look...the world is your oyster. General kitbashes are updates on older characters which never had a toy, or you may want to build a new toy for a character that hasnt had an official toy released. The decision is yours!

My inspiration comes from the UK/US comics, the cartoons and the toy lines which have been released over the years. I first started kitbashing 2 years ago, and have recently set myself a challenge, which you can read about here.

Now, for any kitbash, you will need a variety of tools. Most of the tools that i use can be found in most art shops, model stores, and gaming stores like Games Workshop. As an ex GW staff member, i know what the tools are like, and how they can help me with kitbashing, so i always buy mine from my local store.

If you wish to simply redeco a toy that you have, i do recommend GW paints. These are acryllic paints, fairly decently priced and have a large colour range to choose from. I personally do not recommend Umbrol paints. GW paints are easy to use, easy to mix, and nice and easy to apply.

My main advice when painting is to water down your colours, and apply a couple of coats, giving plenty of time for each coat to dry. This will help to avoid blotchy painting, and also paint cloggin up detail on your toy. GW also sell a variety of different sized brushes, i recommend buying a set for helping you achieve your goals. Remember, you do not want to use a basecoat brush to paint the eyes, or any other focal point of your toy, you will lose the detail, and lose any distinctive features.

Below are some examples of tools which i use. Have a look through, and see what you think.

Clippers:

Clippers are great at making those small cuts to remove or modify parts of your toys which are no longer needed, or need to be reshaped. I have 3 types, 1 with a long thin point to it, to reach into those tight spots, one ordinary pair, and a pair shaped like a star destroyer ( imagine the cutting side pointing downwards at an angle ). For those of you who are just starting out, i would recommend that you buy a normal pair of clippers, but make sure that they have a flat bottom, to get the best clean cut.

Files:

Files are need to clean up any cuts or alterations that you would make to your kitbashes. There are plenty of styles, sizes and shapes to choose from. They do not have to be the best files in the world, as long as they do the job. I picked up a file set from Hobbycraft for £5, and theyre great.

Hand Drill:

Now, when cutting off parts, or wishing to add parts to an existing toy, its best, in my opinion, to pin them. This process is fairly easy, and will help keep your toy together.

Green Stuff:

When you have the hang of cutting, drilling and modifying your toys, you may want to sculpt some extra detail on, or may need to fill in some gaps. I highly recommend using green stuff. Its easy to use, durable, and dries fairly fast.

Brushes:

Of course, you will need these to paint your toy! I use GW brushes, as you can get a variety of sizes, and they last a long time. Remember to always put the brushes covers back on to make them last that bit longer!

With the above information, you can go ahead and start your first kitbash. All of the tools i mentioned are what i am happy using, so do not feel that you have to buy and use what i do, these are just examples.

If anyone requires a tutorial on how to use these tools, or any general help kitbashing, please feel free to ask Dreadwing and myself.

The most important thing to remeber is, to have fun! Dont stress yorself out if you make a kitbash, and it doesnt look right, or it doesnt work out, remember, making your own toy isnt easy at first, so keep at it, and your skills will improve over time.

Thats all from me, below you will find a few rules from our own Duh_Prez, please adhere to them.

The Workshop is now open!

1. Any types of Kitbashes, Customs, Scratchbuilds or Repaints are welcome. We just ask that you do not take credit for another artist's work.

2. Please Upload your pictures directly to our server; it's not nice to leech somebody else's bandwidth.

3. Please try and give each piece of work an appropriate title to aid fellow kitbashers use of our search feature.