Custom Pop Figure Tutorial, pt. 2

How I turned the Chosen One into the Multiverse Saving Bad Wolf

Alright, so my last post  was about picking a Pop to mod and getting her prepped.  This is what I started with:

Step 2: Paint!

So, following the advice from Funkmeister I purchased inexpensive acrylic paints at one of my local craft stores. 

I’m pretty sure any of the brands would have worked just fine, but I ended up with a variety of colors in the Folkart Multi-Surface line. I also had a few colors of acrylic paint from my Testor hobby paints, and a sharpie for one tiny detail after it was sealed.

I started with the head. I decided to get a yellow-er blonde for Rose, as the Pop version tends to be a very pale, almost white blonde). The hair was actually the bare vinyl, so it ended up needing at least 4 coats to cover completely. With acrylics, it’s really easy to brush it onto thick and obscure small details, so build up thin layers instead of glopping it on thick. (Pro Tip: acrylic paint can be thinned with water, but add it drop at a time to get the best results.) 

This is where good brushes will save your sanity. Expect the coats to go on with some brush strokes. You can come back and smooth them to a point, but if you’re having too much trouble, brush them in the direction of the strands of hair. I only had visible brushstrokes on the bare vinyl.

Here’s the color difference with just half of my initial coat put on:

After I got the hair finished, I used a detail brush (size 000, I think) to paint the eyebrows darker (Miss Tyler has never been shy about being a bottle blonde), filling in the lighter ones already there (dry cotton swabs or brushes with a little water make for much easier mistake fixes). 

I then watered down a small amount of the brown paint to make a wash and dripped a small line of it along the middle part and hairline, to give Rose some exposed roots. After that dried, I came back with more of the yellow and cleaned up the edges, so only a hint of roots were showing.

Here’s the head (I sealed it with a clear Matte finish top coat):

Now, onto the body. I painted her boots and pants black (which I thinned, it was ridiculously thick to start with) and they ended up only needing one coat. Her jacket is a specific shade of dark blue with plum undertones, and I was able to mix deep maroon and midnight blue to get the right shade.

Remember, paint tends to dry darker, so if you aren’t sure about your color match, let a tiny dot air dry before committing to the whole area. This is also the time to be thrifty when mixing paint. Acrylic paint goes a lot farther than it looks like it will and a small change in color between batches can be really visible once it’s dry.

I also mixed the dark maroon with an off white/ cream to make Rose’s fuchsia shirt. I also repainted the areas of the hand where I had removed the sword (the paint I had was not quite a match for the original skin tone, but this hand is going to hold Rose’s BFG so it won’t be very visible.

Next time . . . Details and Finishing Touches