Exclusives #7 and #8: Rainbow Dash (Patreon)

Settle in... it's a long one.

Another double exclusive for you and this one was a real, frustrating labour of love. I've been posting a series of My Little Pony characters on Makerworld: Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy. They've been well-received, and when I started, I was getting messages from people saying they hoped I would do all of them. Well, yeah, I wanted to do all of them, but I knew Rainbow Dash was going to be some work. She's got a rainbow of colors, and if you've ever worked in Hueforge, you know that achieving all the colors of the rainbow in one hueforge is tricky. At least to do it well anyway. And we've all seen some hueforges out there that maybe.... aren't done so well.

So! Here's a little story about how these two Rainbow Dashes came to be. And all you really need to understand is seeing how the files in Hueforge were named with each attempt:

Rainbow Dash 1

Rainbow Dash 2

Rainbow Dash 3

RD 4

RD 5

Damn you Rainbow Dash

I hate you Rainbow Dash

(some more versions that may not be appropriately titled for some of you)

Yet another Rainbow Dash

Yet another Rainbow Dash 2

Rainbow Dash WINNER

Rainbow Dash Winner V2

Yet another Rainbow Dash 2 worked out, finally. But let me tell you, I went through many different images trying to get something that worked. I played with the colors, the hues, the shades, the brightness in editing software. It was not easy. But I couldn't NOT get her done. I had all the other ponies done. And that's not me. I don't give up.

So! Up until this point, I had only been using the commercial version of Hueforge and the standard settings for my hueforges. The color match beta version of Hueforge that was released intimidated me. But I knew that I'd probably have to use it if I wanted to get all those Rainbow colors in.

On my very first attempt with it, I created a beautiful image of Rainbow Dash. On the screen, she looked amazing! I was like, "Why was I so worried about using this color match? She looks AWESOME!" So I loaded her into the Bambu slicer, applied the layers, set her to print overnight, and then when I went to take her off the plate in the morning, I learned that color match is a tricky little bugger. The print was full of deep craters in her eyes, with tall skinny stalagmites growing out of the pit of her eyes all the way to the topmost layer, and peaks and valleys of depth were forming between her various layers, and not in a good way.

And that's how I learned that you can use the color match feature, but you have to know HOW to use it right to make effective prints. And Rainbow Dash and all her versions and the hours of playing with the images taught me how to use it right. How to be careful not to have a large jump between layer swaps, how to manipulate images so the lighter colors will appear in the right places. How to throw in complementary shades between layers. How to avoid those ugly craters and pit pockets.

Now listen, I know these two exclusives are big projects when you look at them. One of them actually uses 9 colors and interweaves them multiple times within the image. Yeah, it's a big project. And that's why it's on Patreon and not Makerworld. Patreons are more likely to have 2 AMS units and be willing to do stuff like this.

And I really hope you do. No, not have 2 AMS units (though I do hope you do), but I hope you do print these ponies. You're gonna love how they turn out, whether you're a MLP fan or not. Those of you who are commercial license members of my Patreon can head over to the shop and download them for free.

P.S. Have you been to my Makerworld page this week and checked out what I've uploaded there? In addition to Fluttershy and Applejack, I posted a pretty awesome Hulkbuster and some cute Hello Kitty bookmarks. I've also put up a few seasonal items -- the Gingerbread House and Train, the Poinsettia, and... uh, have you seen my Grinch and Jack Skellington?!? The #brosbeforehohohos are getting ready to do some #holidayhiJacking! I love that print. So much fun and such a clean and bright image. It also comes in 2 versions by the way. I hope you like all these prints as much as I enjoyed making them. Please tag me @busykikibee if you post any of my designs on Instagram and drop me a message here or on Makerworld if you have any suggestions, comments, etc. Have a great weekend!