DIY POP question

[BigM]

For those that got one one of the DIY pop (do it yourself) and have decorated it, how did you do it? Did you use a sharpie, marker, paint, crayon, pencil etc? I want to pick up one and play around with it but wasn't sure what looked/went on the best.

[ahaubert80]

I've been wondering the same. I have seen some great customs on this board and some really awful ones on Ebay. I want to make sure I know what the best use before I ever try spending my money to do one of my own.

[Tigger]

Customizing any type of figure or toy is generally all the same. Using crappy materials will yield crappy results. Use acrylic paints and don't go for the cheap craft store brands like Apple Barrel, FolkArt, or Americana. Go for the hobby store ones such as Model Master Acryl, Citadel, and Reaper paints. A matte spray finish may be good to prevent damage to the paint job. For sculpting, avoid crap you have to heat to cure such as Sculpy/Super Sculpey and go for Aves Apoxie/Aves Fixit. MUCH better, air drying, extremely durable, and is easily painted, sanded, or drilled.

[perfectgame34]

If you don't wanna go "full custom" with paints and clay, Sharpies work great on the DIY Pops! That's what the Funko artists were drawing on them with all during ECCC.

[Queen of Marvel]

Customizing any type of figure or toy is generally all the same. Using crappy materials will yield crappy results. Use acrylic paints and don't go for the cheap craft store brands like Apple Barrel, FolkArt, or Americana. Go for the hobby store ones such as Model Master Acryl, Citadel, and Reaper paints. A matte spray finish may be good to prevent damage to the paint job. For sculpting, avoid crap you have to heat to cure such as Sculpy/Super Sculpey and go for Aves Apoxie/Aves Fixit. MUCH better, air drying, extremely durable, and is easily painted, sanded, or drilled.

I think I've seen lots of people here use some of these "crappy" materials with positive outcomes.

[dustman94]

MAGIC SCULPE AIR DRIES ROCK HARD PLUS IT IS EASY TO WORK WITH WATER. APOXIE AND AVES WANT YOU TO USE A SOLVENT FOR WORKING THE PUTTY, USUALLY DENATURED ALCOHOL. DEPENDS ON YOU BUT WATER IS USUALLY CHEAPER

[Tigger]

Customizing any type of figure or toy is generally all the same. Using crappy materials will yield crappy results. Use acrylic paints and don't go for the cheap craft store brands like Apple Barrel, FolkArt, or Americana. Go for the hobby store ones such as Model Master Acryl, Citadel, and Reaper paints. A matte spray finish may be good to prevent damage to the paint job. For sculpting, avoid crap you have to heat to cure such as Sculpy/Super Sculpey and go for Aves Apoxie/Aves Fixit. MUCH better, air drying, extremely durable, and is easily painted, sanded, or drilled.

I think I've seen lots of people here use some of these "crappy" materials with positive outcomes.

True, I guess it depends on what we all consider positive outcomes. Personally, I like customs to literally look so real that they could be passed off as a production figure. In most cases, it it much easier to achieve that with the better quality materials.

[Pophead]

Customizing any type of figure or toy is generally all the same. Using crappy materials will yield crappy results. Use acrylic paints and don't go for the cheap craft store brands like Apple Barrel, FolkArt, or Americana. Go for the hobby store ones such as Model Master Acryl, Citadel, and Reaper paints. A matte spray finish may be good to prevent damage to the paint job. For sculpting, avoid crap you have to heat to cure such as Sculpy/Super Sculpey and go for Aves Apoxie/Aves Fixit. MUCH better, air drying, extremely durable, and is easily painted, sanded, or drilled.

I think I've seen lots of people here use some of these "crappy" materials with positive outcomes.

True, I guess it depends on what we all consider positive outcomes. Personally, I like customs to literally look so real that they could be passed off as a production figure. In most cases, it it much easier to achieve that with the better quality materials.

I think time is a factor as well. if you rush a job, just splash paint on it, don't spend a good amount of time molding sculpting, then yeah it'll look like crap. It's not a race, just chill and have fun with it.

[jgordini]

Customizing any type of figure or toy is generally all the same. Using crappy materials will yield crappy results. Use acrylic paints and don't go for the cheap craft store brands like Apple Barrel, FolkArt, or Americana. Go for the hobby store ones such as Model Master Acryl, Citadel, and Reaper paints. A matte spray finish may be good to prevent damage to the paint job. For sculpting, avoid crap you have to heat to cure such as Sculpy/Super Sculpey and go for Aves Apoxie/Aves Fixit. MUCH better, air drying, extremely durable, and is easily painted, sanded, or drilled.

I think I've seen lots of people here use some of these "crappy" materials with positive outcomes.

True, I guess it depends on what we all consider positive outcomes. Personally, I like customs to literally look so real that they could be passed off as a production figure. In most cases, it it much easier to achieve that with the better quality materials.

Interesting. I always felt my customs looked like production figures but guess not since I used crappy materials. Back to the drawing boards, hehehe

[JokersWild]

Customizing any type of figure or toy is generally all the same. Using crappy materials will yield crappy results. Use acrylic paints and don't go for the cheap craft store brands like Apple Barrel, FolkArt, or Americana. Go for the hobby store ones such as Model Master Acryl, Citadel, and Reaper paints. A matte spray finish may be good to prevent damage to the paint job. For sculpting, avoid crap you have to heat to cure such as Sculpy/Super Sculpey and go for Aves Apoxie/Aves Fixit. MUCH better, air drying, extremely durable, and is easily painted, sanded, or drilled.

I guess I should stop using all that crappy stuff, totally explains why no one likes or buys my customs, thanks for the insight!!

[hottoys2343]

Were you guys going to give advice, and give reasoning's for why you like the "crappy" stuff...or are you just going to keep berating the person who actually gave some advice...Im sure the OP and others would love to hear what you guys use and why you think its better then the more expensive stuff...I would to

[jgordini]

Were you guys going to give advice, and give reasoning's for why you like the "crappy" stuff...or are you just going to keep berating the person who actually gave some advice...Im sure the OP and others would love to hear what you guys use and why you think its better then the more expensive stuff...I would to

Well, being that there is a whole thread called "All information about customs" under the custom thread I really don't see the point to rehash what is used with customizing. Also I don't see why we need to defend our use of "crappy" materials.

As for the original question, I would say try different things and see what you like. The Funko artists used Sharpies for the quick custom but I highly doubt it's the only type of marker that can be used. I would say experiment and have fun customizing is about having fun

[JokersWild]

Were you guys going to give advice, and give reasoning's for why you like the "crappy" stuff...or are you just going to keep berating the person who actually gave some advice...Im sure the OP and others would love to hear what you guys use and why you think its better then the more expensive stuff...I would to

I just think it was funny how this person, no idea who he is, never saw his name before, comes on to tell people whats good and what is crap, yet nothing to back it up. I have used all the "crappy" material he speaks of and have never had issues. I'm also a photographer and I love when someone will come up to me and be like, oh, nice camera, i bet it takes really good pictures, huh? Yeah...i have nothing to do with the pictures or how they come out, it's completely the camera. Same idea, it's all about you, you can be the worst artist and use the best material and it's always going to look like crap, vise versa. But then again, what do I know.

Back to Mickeys original question..when i first started doing customs on kidrobot toys, i used the sharpie paint markers, which work well for little details, but i moved onto regular acrylic paint, I have really good expensive paints and the really "crappy" cheap paints and to be honest, i use both, both yielding the same results, it's the artist, not the material. I just did a DIY and used just reagular black acrylic paint and the clay you need to heat up. Looks pretty good to me.

[Pophead]

As for the original question, I would say try different things and see what you like. The Funko artists used Sharpies for the quick custom but I highly doubt it's the only type of marker that can be used. I would say experiment and have fun customizing is about having fun

I just think it was funny how this person, no idea who he is, never saw his name before, comes on to tell people whats good and what is crap, yet nothing to back it up. I have used all the "crappy" material he speaks of and have never had issues. I'm also a photographer and I love when someone will come up to me and be like, oh, nice camera, i bet it takes really good pictures, huh? Yeah...i have nothing to do with the pictures or how they come out, it's completely the camera. Same idea, it's all about you, you can be the worst artist and use the best material and it's always going to look like crap, vise versa. But then again, what do I know.

This.

[hottoys2343]

Thanks for the follow up guys! I wasn't suggesting any materials were crappy I have no idea what is and what isn't just trying to get a better idea other then price what makes something crappy or quality

[JokersWild]

Thanks for the follow up guys! I wasn't suggesting any materials were crappy I have no idea what is and what isn't just trying to get a better idea other then price what makes something crappy or quality

the artist and the time/attention to detail they put into it.

[Tigger]

Were you guys going to give advice, and give reasoning's for why you like the "crappy" stuff...or are you just going to keep berating the person who actually gave some advice...Im sure the OP and others would love to hear what you guys use and why you think its better then the more expensive stuff...I would to

I just think it was funny how this person, no idea who he is, never saw his name before, comes on to tell people whats good and what is crap, yet nothing to back it up. I have used all the "crappy" material he speaks of and have never had issues. I'm also a photographer and I love when someone will come up to me and be like, oh, nice camera, i bet it takes really good pictures, huh? Yeah...i have nothing to do with the pictures or how they come out, it's completely the camera. Same idea, it's all about you, you can be the worst artist and use the best material and it's always going to look like crap, vise versa. But then again, what do I know.

Back to Mickeys original question..when i first started doing customs on kidrobot toys, i used the sharpie paint markers, which work well for little details, but i moved onto regular acrylic paint, I have really good expensive paints and the really "crappy" cheap paints and to be honest, i use both, both yielding the same results, it's the artist, not the material. I just did a DIY and used just reagular black acrylic paint and the clay you need to heat up. Looks pretty good to me.

Referring to me? OP asked a question and I gave my opinion. I never attacked anyone personally and Im sorry it sounds like some people who use the materials that I called crappy are offended. I also agree that most of it will come down to just hoe skilled the artist is. Yes, one can use the materials I called crappy (maybe cheap is a much better word) and still have good results but in most cases, I think thats if you know how to properly use those materials. Most beginners would just be better off using the higher quality materials which would yield better looking results IMO.

[Jango_Fresh]

I use high quality stuff and get crappy customs.

[SaberFireTiger]

I use the so called "crappy" materials too. I actually used them on my first DIY pops too.

Just for the record, skill isn't playing a good hand but playing a bad hand very well. There is a distinction.

[deathlycollector]

I use the so called "crappy" materials too.

Ditto, and people seem to like mine. Well at least according to Funko on IG.

[Bernie]

It's about the customizer, their familiarity to the material used, and attention to detail.

I'm a crap artist, no matter what I try it'd look horrible. My sister would use a broken colored pencil, two dried out crayola markers and packet of ketchup and come up with something awesome.

It is what it is.

[sushiguru]

When I get pops customized I give it to my friend who was an art major in college and have him do his thing to it. My artistic skills suck

[BigM]

Thanks for some of the responses. I'm going to get a couple soon and work on them but I'm probably just going to draw on them. I'm not the best customizer out there.

[emily]

Those sharpie ones look sick though