White Out

When I was 13, I attempted my first pinto: a medicine hat Lady Phase. This was my second custom and my first traditional scale paint job. It was an extreme challenge for me as I had 1) no idea what I was doing and 2) limited supplies. I was painting with cheapy acrylics and those brushes you buy by the dozen in plastic bags. The model was a disaster of epic proportions. It was my single worst custom and the runner up wasn’t even close.

The evidence was quickly destroyed, but the learning experience has stayed with me. Lesson #1: I sucked as a handpainter and needed to find a new medium immediately. I cobbled to together my life savings (approximately $21 and change), bought my first airbrush, and never looked back.

WIP: New Formulas

Over the years, I've tried to perfect my color formulas. My only reference as a pony-crazed kid and an aspiring painter was old black and white issues of JAH, so it's mostly been a process of trial and error.

I rarely bother to write anything down as I've committed them all to memory, but until recently I haven't bothered to hold on to my mixes. Leftover mixed paint went down the drain to make way for the next layer. I don't even want to think about the money spent on paint I poured out, but the plus side is that I feel the constant remixing improved my formulas. I certainly haven't stopped tweaking, but I'm happy enough with my mixes to start holding on to a few. That meant more jars:


These jars represent three colors: bay, palomino, and "burnt orange" (more on this color's purpose in a later post.) To add insult to injury, I hope to buy several more this weekend. One of the resulting ponies:


Yes, after 12 years of airbrushing, I think I'm starting to get the hang of bay! I'm a little lost on this guy. I started out with good intentions to make him rabicano, but lost my momentum halfway through. I'm currently considering tobiano or minimal sabino, but I'm completely open to suggestions. He'll eventually end up a sales piece.




I'm hoping to complete this gal this weekend. I'm going to add a few white markings, but I was hoping to keep her simple so I could offer her at a budget friendly price.