I found this little snow man Color Blanks figure that seem to fit the bill. Once I got started it was a process of adding some polymer clay to his face and feet and putting him in my oven for a first baking. For your viewing pleasure below are some pics of the original snowman Color Blanks figure and the figure once I started applying clay.

The Start of my Color Blanks Leprechaun – A snow man figure!

Sculpting features of the leprechaun onto the snowman Color Blanks figure.

I was recently asked if it is safe to bake these figures and I don’t recommend baking them in the same oven that you cook food in. I bought a used Nuwave (infrared) oven that I cook my figures in. The Nuwave ovens are small, much cheaper than buying a real second oven and will trap any fumes produced by the figure.

With the leprechaun Color Blanks figure, after the first baking I applied base coats of  acrylic paint to the hat, face and body. After the paint was thoroughly dry I sculpted the leprechaun’s jacket and beard. I then took the Color Blanks figure and put it in the oven for a second baking. It is important to note that I cook my figures with acrylic paint as well. As long as the underlying figure does not warp, the paint will hold up to the temperature.

With a few final paint & marker touch-ups, my Color Blanks Leprechaun figure is all set to go. Have a great St. Patty’s day!

The finished leprechaun Color Blanks figure.

Little Pumkin Girl Color Blanks Figure

Mix and matching color blanks figures

For this Color Blanks figure, I created a pumpkin hat, ghost balloon, pumpkin vine hair, a black dress and a little decorative pumkin out of polymer clay. She is painted with acrylic paints. The grassy stand is made out of a scrub pad.

This little pumpkin girl Color Blanks figure provides quite a cheerful contrast to my other Halloween Color Blanks. If you haven’t seen my Zombie Color Blanks figure check that out too. Thanks for taking a look!

Pirate Color Blanks Figure

It occurred to me that I wanted to make this pirate have a companion parrot as well. When I was looking through my figures I noticed that I had mini Color Blanks figures so I selected one for the main pirate figure and a mini Color Blanks figure to be the parrot.

Color Blanks figure and Color Blanks mini figure

The next thing I did was create a sketch of my pirate and his parrot for Talk like a pirate day. I recommend doing this so that you can plan out some of your ideas for sculpting and painting. This also helps you build a material list.

Color Blanks pirate sketch

In my arts and craft supplies I happened to have this little wooden treasure box that still needs be painted and it worked perfect as an accessory to my pirate figure.

With a sketch and Color Blanks figure selected it was time to start disassembling and modifying my figure. I cut off the hands and one of the legs so that I could give my figure a peg leg and a hook for a hand.

Color Blanks figure disassembled

Next it was time to start working on the face. I love sculpting faces! This is where you really have a chance to give your Color Blanks character. Using polymer clay I started sculpting the face, peg leg, boot, hook and coat cuff.

Color Blanks pirate figure starting to take shape

You’ll note from the pictures that I completely filled in the areas with polymer clay where there was originally a pattern of hair on the Color Blanks figure. I also cut off the little cowlick that was on top. This made it easier for me to add a bandana and hat.

Color Blanks Pirate – coat and bandana details

I used speaker wire and polymer clay for the eye patch and some simple craft wire for the earrings. More polymer clay was used to make the pirate’s coat, shirt ruffles and belt. I also found some little skull charms to use in the belt and one that I would later use on the hat. For the facial details, I painted with acrylics.

For the parrot, I removed the ears and tail from the cat figure. I sculpted on some polymer clay to make a beak and more bird-like features and then painted with various colors of acrylic paint to make it look like a little parrot.

On the finished Color Blanks pirate I’ve added a polymer clay hat along with a little cross bones skull charm. The little parrot mini figure was glued to the top of the head. I finished with various other acrylic paint enhancements and some Color Blanks markers to touch up. The treasure box was filled with little plastic beads and then coated with some gold acrylic paint to solidify the treasure inside.

Pirate Color Blanks figure with treasure chest.

Back-to-school Color Blanks Figure

Step 1: Select the Color Blanks figure

The first thing I did was get a general idea in my head of what I wanted to do the Color Blanks figure. Once inspiration struck I went and looked for a figure that best fit my idea.  In this case I used a Halloween themed Color Blank that resembled Frankenstein.

Step 1 – Select a Color Blanks figure

Step 2: Create a sketch of your Color Blanks figure

The next thing I needed to do was sketch the concept that I had in my head. The idea was to take a little character and turn it into a school bus. Popping out of the school bus / head of the figure were all kinds of school items. I also decided to give him a large backpack. I remember riding the bus when I was in school and it seemed like I was always carrying a backpack around with 30 pounds of books. I wanted to exaggerate this a bit with the idea of the huge backpack.

Sketch of Back-to-school Color Blanks Figure

Step 3: Take apart the figure

As with other Color Blanks figures I’ve done in the past, I disassembled and cut the pieces. I then took the pieces and sanded them down to make sure there were no rough edges and everything was relatively smooth.

Step 3: Take apart the figure

Step 4: Paint base colors on the figure

From this point it was a process of painting base coats on the necessary pieces.  I needed to paint most of the character yellow, much like a school bus, so it was important to get as much of it as possible coated and let it dry.

Step 4: Paint base colors on the figure

Step 5: Create a felt-acrylic paint T-shirt

I wanted to make the character a T-shirt and rather than having to bake something directly on the character I went with a different technique to create one.  I cut little pieces of felt and shaped them into a shirt. I dipped the pieces of felt into white acrylic paint and laid them onto areas of the figure almost in the same manner that you would with paper-mâché.  After I had the coated felt positioned correctly, I reassembled the Color Blanks figure and let it dry.

Step 5: Create a felt-acrylic paint T-shirt

Step 6: Select Eyes and Ink Details

While the main figure was drying I selected various sizes of Wiggly eyes to be used for the character as well as some extra ones that would be painted to create the lights of the school bus. After these were dry I glued them to the figure and starting inking lines using the Color Blanks pens.

Step 6: Select Eyes and Ink Details on the Color Blanks figure

Step 7: Hot glue some school supplies to the figure

Next after some more touch up painting and assembly of the head to the body, I took a variety of small craft letters and school themed buttons and started assembly of them in and on the head.

Step 7: Hot glue some school supplies to the Color Blanks figure

Step 8: Make a backpack for the Color Blanks figure

While some of the hot glue cooled I started to create a backpack and a pencil out of polymer clay. The straps of the backpack were actually made of some left over ground wire that I had.  After baking the backpack I hot glued it along with the straps to the Color Blanks figure. I then did touch ups with paint.

Step 8: Make a backpack for the Color Blanks figure

Step 9: Final touchups and a Color Blanks photo shoot

After a couple more touchups, a photo shoot and some post work in Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, here is the final back-to-school Color Blanks figure below.

Back-to-school Color Blanks Figure

Free PDF download

For your convenience you can download the below Ladybug Color Blanks Tutorial as a printable PDF guide to aid you in creating your own custom Color Blanks. 

 Download – Color Blanks Tutorial (PDF) – 1.68mb 

For this ladybug Color Blanks figure I went with the vehicle set.  It comes with a little car, a figure, some stickers, and four pens. The little white car and the figure offer a great palette to let your imagination go wild. The Color Blanks package suggests ideas such as a racing theme but I had something very different in mind. This is the great thing about these little vinyl figures; that you can create virtually anything you want with them. The sky’s the limit!

Color Blanks Ladybug figure at the beach!

Color Blanks Vehicle Set

Step 1: Plan your Color Blanks Figure

I started by creating a sketch of the figure that I wanted to have.  The figure set comes with a paper that you can sketch your ideas on or you can download printable templates from colorblanks.com and create a plan for your figures with those. I’ve been drawing all my life and prefer to draw my ideas in a sketch book. When I was all done with my sketch I created a little ladybug and a ladybug car. Two very significant changes I made to the figures were changing the car into a convertible and the ladybug had a different shape head than the color blank.

Color Blanks ladybug sketch

Step 2: Disassemble and modify pieces

Once I started working with the figure I disassembled its pieces, which always makes painting, modifying, and adding clay easier. I then needed to make necessary cuts to the figure or in this case to the car. I cut the roof off the car and basically turned the windshield into a small windshield that the Color Blank could see over. This also seemed more functional to me as I could stick my figure in the car. After the rough cuts with an X-Acto knife, I sanded the edges.  The vinyl holds up well to sanding with any desired grain sandpaper.

Disassembling and modifying Color Blanks

Step 3: Base Color Painting

The next thing that I did was paint any items I could with a base coat of the final color that they would have. Even though the head wasn’t properly sculpted yet it was much easier to have a coating of the skin color underneath the sculpted area to save time on detail painting.  Also getting the car and various body parts colored so that they could dry while I sculpted saved me a lot of time!

Starting to paint base coats on the Color Blanks

Step 4: Sculpt Polymer Clay Modifications

I took polymer clay to sculpt modifications to the tires making them round instead of marshmallow shaped. I used craft wire to create antennas for the ladybug and car. The tricky part here is the pieces have to be baked and the vinyl does not hold up to the heat really well. Polymer Clay recommends being baked at 275° but you will end up with severely warped figures if you do that. I usually bake my figures at about 240° or just the necessary pieces for a slightly longer period of time.

Adding Polymer clay to Color Blanks

Step 5: Assemble, Touch-up and Photograph!

After all the pieces were baked and assembled I did some final paint touchups and photographed my ladybug on some colored card stock. I did some post work in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to add in a beach scene. Now this little ladybug Color Blanks figure is ready to cruise by the beach!

Color Blanks Ladybug figure at the beach!

Breath of Fire 4 Ryu Custom Creatology Vinyl Figure

I like working with RoseArt’s Color Blanks but these vinyl figures are a good alternative if you can’t get your hands on any. The Creatology penguin figure that I used from Michael’s has a comparable thickness of material to a Color Blanks vinyl and was easy to modify.

Vinyl Penguin figure from Creatology

I based my custom vinyl figure off of the incarnation of Ryu from Breath of Fire 4.  If you’re familiar with the Breath of Fire series on Nintendo and Playstation, this is the main character and each game has a different variation of him with key similarities but a different back story.

Ryu from Breath of Fire 4 on Playstation – Reference Artwork

To start my custom modification of Ryu I took the Creatology penguin figure and I modified him by removing the beak with an X-acto knife. I then added polymer clay to make a nose and ears. After finishing the resculpt of the head I baked it at a low setting; approximately 245 degrees.

The next step was to paint the base color of the skin and then start sculpting hair, clothing, and his sword. In order to make the sword more stable I inserted a piece of small metal wire into the hand and arm area before sculpting a polymer clay sword around it. After another baking of the custom vinyl Breath of Fire figure I finished it off with more paint details and added some additional touchups with my Micron pens. Check out the finished figure below!

If you have a Michaels store in your area you may consider picking up some Creatology figures there. As an alternative I would definitely consider going and getting some of Rose Art’s color blanks and doing some custom vinyl sculpts yourself!

Breath of Fire 4 Ryu Custom Creatology Vinyl Figure

Breath of Fire 4 Ryu Custom Creatology Vinyl Figure

This Halloween Color Blanks figure had a pumpkin head and I was immediately inspired to see how I could transform it into something different. I took out my plastic clay and started molding pieces to make the face look scary and added spikes to the head. 

To modify the feet I extended some pieces of clay to create sharp toes. The teeth were created by taking some wooden sticks, much like popsicle sticks that you can purchase from a craft store, and cutting them up into little wood squares. I then painted them with acrylics and stuck this directly into the soft, unbaked clay.

I stuck my Halloween Color Blanks figure in the oven at about 250° suspecting that it would need to be baked at a little bit lower temperature because of not knowing how easily the plastic would melt. When I took the figure out of the oven everything looked pretty much intact except the hands got a little bit warped and bubbled from the heat.  In this case it lent itself to the modification and making my figure scarier but I would need to solve this on future custom Color Blanks. From the heat warping of the plastic figure it could also not stand correctly anymore. The solution I found was to mount the figure to a base with glue. I ended up using a base that I had from another figure that had broken a long time ago.

I finish my Color Blanks figure with a mixture of acrylic paints, sharpies and micron pens to achieve the desired look. If you get a chance check out some of my other custom figures too!

Customized Halloween Color Blanks Figure