My best advice for everyone who wants to have a successful NaMoPaiMo is to start the month with a prepped and primed model. Karin Hullatti did not do that this year. Instead, she treated us to a month long saga of cartoons, customizing and creativity, with a little bit of painting on the side. It was awesome, and I love the finished product!
The Fantabulous Grane
by Karin Hullatti
It started with a facebook message in December. My Evil Genius friend (who might look a little like Wile E Coyote but I am sure that is a coincidence) was planning a birthday surprise for a mutual friend. “It occurs to me that you have a certain set of…skills.” “And you need my help.” This wasn’t a question. Whatever he had in mind, I was totally on board. I did not expect it to lead directly into NaMoPaiMo. He was in need of a horse. But not just any horse. No, he needed a mount suitable for Bunhilda to ride into the heart of one Elmer Fudd.
Looking through my collection, we selected Dreamweaver, the glorious cross-cantering Black Beauty, as my victim. I posted on the NaMoPaiMo facebook page, asking a simple question: “How does one *really* fatten up a horse?” “Spray foam insulation,” suggested Shauna McDaniel. Others postulated more hobby-and-art oriented solutions, but the spray foam insulation idea took hold.
And so it began.
Wear your PPE.
Spray foam is way too much fun.
This is not a sheep.
After drying/hardening, I blocked out the approximate shape of the horse...
and started cutting it down.
Once I had a vaguely horse shaped object, I cleaned up the lines a little and coated the entire thing with masking tape.
I continued carving bits off and building bits back up for what felt like an eternity, until I was happy with the shape. It probably would have been easier to just sculpt the rotundness but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. Spray foam is awesome!
I started adding primer and continued refining.
I used modeling paste to smooth the lines of the tape and add contour and minor detailing.
Many layers and lots of sanding later, I began to notice some stability issues with the horse. The foam seemed squishy in places, and new cracks appeared every other day. I kept going. Was the foam or the horse offgassing and helping break the surface? Did I have a slow-moving chemical reaction on my hands? Was the project going to implode?
I took him to the Circle C Classic model horse show, and entered him in the Unfinished NaMoPaiMo class…. He won a big floofy rosette!
The cracks continued forming, as quickly as I could fill them in. I decided to keep going. I sculpted eyes and a pedestal for one foot to keep the horse from participating in Black Beauty’s favorite pastime, tipping over for no reason at all. At least he’s well padded now. I have no idea how you realistic sculptors do it. I had a hard enough time getting these cartoony eyes to almost match!
And soon enough, it was time to paint.
I looked at the amazing art everyone else was creating, and my simple, brightly colored paint job seemed plain and boring. This is where the doubt starts creeping in. I mean, this was a month for painting, right? This was supposed to be about finish work, and I was planning to use five colors. It was almost embarrassing to post the pink and white start to my paint work amid everyone else’s masterpieces.
But on the other hand, I had a whole bunch of people cheering me on, geeking out over my three dimensional rendering of our childhood. And most importantly, I was having fun!
I did it!
Posts
And so it began. 
Wear your PPE.
Spray foam is way too much fun.
This is not a sheep.
After drying/hardening, I blocked out the approximate shape of the horse...
and started cutting it down.
Once I had a vaguely horse shaped object, I cleaned up the lines a little and coated the entire thing with masking tape. 
I continued carving bits off and building bits back up for what felt like an eternity, until I was happy with the shape. It probably would have been easier to just sculpt the rotundness but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. Spray foam is awesome!
I started adding primer and continued refining. 
I used modeling paste to smooth the lines of the tape and add contour and minor detailing. 
Many layers and lots of sanding later, I began to notice some stability issues with the horse. The foam seemed squishy in places, and new cracks appeared every other day. I kept going. Was the foam or the horse offgassing and helping break the surface? Did I have a slow-moving chemical reaction on my hands? Was the project going to implode?
I took him to the Circle C Classic model horse show, and entered him in the Unfinished NaMoPaiMo class…. He won a big floofy rosette!
The cracks continued forming, as quickly as I could fill them in. I decided to keep going. I sculpted eyes and a pedestal for one foot to keep the horse from participating in Black Beauty’s favorite pastime, tipping over for no reason at all. At least he’s well padded now. I have no idea how you realistic sculptors do it. I had a hard enough time getting these cartoony eyes to almost match! 
And soon enough, it was time to paint.
I looked at the amazing art everyone else was creating, and my simple, brightly colored paint job seemed plain and boring. This is where the doubt starts creeping in. I mean, this was a month for painting, right? This was supposed to be about finish work, and I was planning to use five colors. It was almost embarrassing to post the pink and white start to my paint work amid everyone else’s masterpieces.
But on the other hand, I had a whole bunch of people cheering me on, geeking out over my three dimensional rendering of our childhood. And most importantly, I was having fun!
I did it!
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