Overcoming Fear when making custom figures.

Hey My MFF family, lately my friend Rick and others in our hobby have been showing me that helping someone in the hobby that needs advice or a little extra motivation in doing something in the hobby is a gift in itself,Rick Garrison is a perfect example of this Rick has just gotten into are beloved hobby and is already running like a Thuroughbred right out of the gate, i was glad to help him with some tips about chopping up figs and painting, so I decided to give another gift to newbies or guys that have FF.com figs but don't know where to begin in customizing figures.

Tip 1: Learn from the masters- Before I even began to attempt to chop up anything I did some research, Custom figs interested me but I didnt know where to start, So I contacted guys that were doing them ( Reggie, Don & Terry Popham) these guys were gracious enough to share with me and with what they explained and taught to me got me off to a good start.


Tip 2: Don't be afraid to try: Before you even begin to attempt to make a Custom figure, get over the thinking process of " I know Ill mess up" just sit down, relax and say hey im gonna try this and see what I can do.


Tip 3: Study other custom figure makers work- Before I made my first cut I saved, downloaded and hard copied any custom figure I saw, no matter what it was Miggle,BB or FF.com, I studied how Terry Popham used his front to rear balance on his figures on the platform I studied Chris R's and Don Smith's style of the Leg up custom figure, I was lucky to get to see Don give me lessons on figure sculpting at the Brawl, I mos def picked Reggies Brain and learned how to make down lineman, and many other athletes. This info from guys that are in the know will immediately boost your confidence.


Tip 4: Know what you want to make: Once you have your tools, information and confidence in yourself, know exactly what you want to make, Reg uses a term Bulding A team In your own image, well the same goes for custom figures, when you know what you want to make the job is easier and alot more fun, also have good figure creation sources like NFL photos or McFarlene collectible figures (< an excellent resource area for customizers.)


Tip 5: Have the right tools: FFcom figures are pretty much the easiest to do, but having the right tools will make customizing fun and less time consuming, so here is a list of what I think you'll need, Exacto Knives, Single Edge Razor Blades, Crazy Glue, Milliput, Lighters ( flame control ) A Dremmel with as many attacthment bits as you can get for small jobs like smoothing, drilling,sculpting and sanding, If you can get one buy a heat Embossing tool this will help when doing hard plastic figures, this Embossing gun is like a high powered hair dryer and with just a few seconds harder plastic figures can be easily manipulated into different poses.


Tip 6: Write Down what you do: When I first started I would make poses and wasnt able to recreate a pose again because I had no record of what i used to begin with, now I write every detail on a pad so If I want to recreate a successful figure pose I have all the info I need to do it again, ( Hey Bill Porche' the Molds are gonna be great i just know it. Ill Holla at you real soon.)


Tip 7: Understand the Balance of figures: what is the point of makng a custom figure that cannot function on the feild, try to get the figures you create to balance properly, this takes practice but if you remember Tip 3 and you have studied other figure makers work, you can see what they do and mimic it for your own work, then once you have a basic understanding of figure balance you can play around with it to suit your own tatse, hey maybe something you create could be the next great figure.


Tip 8: Base Test , Base Test , Base Test: Ok youve done it all, now your figure is made, get out those bases and depending on what player and position you have created Base Test that figure until you know full well how it perfoms on that base, test the figure on all areas of the feild, Left, Right Middle, Sidelines, near the motor & away from the motor, also put them up against other figures before they make your squad, because you will know if you got it right or wrong once you test it in practice. Also Good tweaking knowledge is a big help.


Tip 9: Have Fun: to me customizing is fun, just like great tweakers, customizing takes practice but with patience , time , and belief in your own ability its alot of enjoyment, and who knows you might just make that figure that blows a game wide open.

Peace:

Biglock.

The Troy P below isa Custom Mcfarlene, I have created the exact figure with FF.com figures (pics up soon)

[Pirate Rick]

thanks biglock....but i am just a beginner, you guys have all the coolest stuff.

[Coach K-LO]

hey big lock...where is the picture??

i thought I would revisit this pose.......

Man, I just saw the Season Premier of your 2nd Season, Rob and BigLock and it was funny as heck!!! Good Luck and I'll see you in Virginia. Is Robb gonna come and check it out too or are you guys filming that weekend? LMK.