My victim was Amy, who said she likes G2 Thoroughbreds and the color black. I decided to go for a realistic horse with a little costume. Unfortunately, the devil costume didn't work out how I originally wanted, but he got a cape all the same.
I want to add that the horse (deemed "Friend of Mine") was the best primer job I've ever done. I feel much more confident about priming now. But I digress. Anyway, I decided to go for a shaded black on this fella. Considering he was my first shading job, he came out pretty well. I started with a Payne's Grey as a base and worked up from there (his mane, tail, and front two legs were intentionally left bare). From there, it was a thick wash of black, with pure black in the shadowed areas and lightly greyed in the highlights.
So here's where things start to look silly. I wanted his mane and tail to be pure black, but I didn't want the pure black on Friend of Mine himself. So, I used masking tape to cover up. (Don't worry, this didn't stick to the paint, masking tape is great like that). After that, it was on to the leg whites.
Yes, that's a tube of paint he's straddling. In my defense, he needed to dry, and I didn't want him sticking to the desk. Gotta get creative in these situations!
While I was in between working on him, I was also working on a little decoupage coffin box. It was Halloween after all!
I painted the outside with an orange base coat and various spooky things and lined it with red felt. The lining wasn't as great as I'd hoped, but it worked out.
I also invested in some glow in the dark acrylic, so the vampire and the spiderweb (not shown) glow.
After the shading, it was just hooves, a star, and the eyes. Then it was time for sealer.
I used a new sealant for the first time, and while matte, it did give him a pretty, almost semi-gloss finish, and really brought out his shading. His eyes were, as always, glossed over with a small dab of clear nail polish.
After that it was time to pack up! I pack my horses as if they were made of thin glass - I had an incident last year where a horse broke on its way to me, and ever since I've been very paranoid about horses breaking in-transit. Unfortunately, anyone who receives a horse from me probably has to cut it out of the packing with a machete. Once he was wrapped in toilet paper/plastic/bubble wrap (after, of course, putting the little cape I made on his back), I thought to put him in the coffin box. It was a perfect fit! So, with the coffin sealed with a layer of mod podge, I tied it up to close it (I was going to use chain because that would have added to the spoooooky-ness of it, but I didn't have any lying around. Although I still had a ton of red ribbon from his attempted costume.)
I added some candy and a post card, and off he went! Amy received him earlier this month, and told me she was thrilled with him and the goodies I packed. Few things make me quite as happy as someone who enjoys a custom I've done for them.
Now onto the Secret Santa!
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