Amazing spiderman on an amazing budget

Ive always wanted to be spiderman for halloween but could never find just what I wanted. Either I paid 50$ for a suit that looked like striped pajamas, or you paid 400$ for a movie replica and hated myself for wearing it once. I am the kind of person who is limited to what you can buy at basic craft stores, walmart and the cheap side of the internet. After seeing all the amazing work done here on the new Amazing Spiderman suits, ive wondered, can it be done on a low budget? Here are my plans.

I plan on starting out with a simple 30$ blue lycra suit such as this



As ive seen with a lot of recent works, the suit itself is not very red. The honey comb patterns added on using puff paint adds most of the color to the red sections of the suit, and under this pattern is often some red and dark blue or all blue. You can see this in the unreal work done by MCL34N and some reference photos.





So what I plan on doing is making a duct tape dummy of myself to put the suit on and drawing out the basic pattern by hand using chalk. Ill start by separating red from blue parts, then the larger sections separated by long black web streaks, then the smaller honeycomb filled squares. The blue sections will likely be much harder since its all one large pattern, but im confident that with some kind of tracing tool and a lot of time I can make it look good by drawing it in chalk, then sharpie followed by black puff paint.

I can then cut out eye holes and make lenses from a fine steel mesh and paint, then frame them with some kind of modelling clay.

This thread will act as a WIP for myself over the next few months til halloween, but im also looking for feedback from the community.

Is there anything else I can do to make the red sections of the suit appear red? Maybe a thin, brushed on layered of puff paint in certain places, or some kind of marker?

Are there any other tools I could use to draw on the pattern with other than chalk? It was my first idea as ive found pencils like to rip fabric, not be totally erasable or just plain not work.

Is there a perfect blue lycra suit out there for the job, or is this as close as im gonna get?

Thanks RPF!

In regards to the lycra, some of the less expensive ones I have seen do not have fingers, but rather mittens. Just keep an eye peeled for that.

Thanks for the heads up Egon. I would have been quite upset if I had made a simple mistake like that just because of the way they pose their models wearing the suit.

Another problem ive run into is the lack of muscle shading on the suit. Trying to brainstorm a way to add subtle muscle groups to the suit by hand.

milk_man said:

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Another problem ive run into is the lack of muscle shading on the suit. Trying to brainstorm a way to add subtle muscle groups to the suit by hand.

Before the advent of dye sublimation for costume replication, people added shading to their spidey suits via airbrushing. You may want to look into that. if you or a friend are into models and model painting you may already have the tools you need.

-Nick

If you're looking for suits like that, this site should do the trick. Their suits range from $35 to $50. I would go for either Navy Blue or Royal Blue, and DO NOT add the logo on the arm! Spend the extra $5. And, what I'm going to do, is get 2 or 3, in case... when I cut the hood off, the neck sags a little... I dunno. Just what I'm gonna do. OH RIGHT, the website: Royal Blue RootSuit

And to get that fine tiny red line throughout the costume, I've seen people use needles with puff paint.

Also, for the eyes, I'm gonna go the cheap way. I'm going to get these glasses, cut off the parts like the side, then paint the red part black, and somehow attach them to the costume. Would you know how to do that?
Spider-Man Movie Adult Glasses 802715

@TheNickFox Sadly I dont have an airbrush but im sure if I put out an sos a friend might. If not i might just wait and see how the costume looks without it.

@TSG It looks like that one would cost me 64$ with shipping where as the one I showed above is 47$. Im not entirely sure if I trust zentaizone.com just because ive heard places like that misrepresent their colors sometimes. Thanks for the link.

I also plan on using a syringe for the puff paint, for both the thinner lines and the pencil like application instead of the giant bottle.

Here is another, more realistic look at those glasses. The size and clarity look great so if I can get them shipped for cheap from somewhere they look like a solid option. The problem is, being a Canadian, ordering from a place like this site makes my 15$ glasses cost 40$.

Another interesting option has come to light. Ive contacted the people at zentaizone and theyve told me I can order this costume without webbing, emblems or eyes. So simply a red and blue leotard.

The costume itself is not very good quality, but I feel like if I put on custome eyes and webbing that actually lined up using puff paint it could be a solid rendition of classic spiderman.

milk_man said:

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Big update folks. I was fortune enough to contact the people at zentaizone and they told me they were actually in the works of making an amazing spiderman costume, which theyve now finished! Newest Spandex Lycra Amazing Spiderman Costume Zentai Suit [30099] - $59.00 : Buy zentai, spandex

It looks pretty good as is, but knowing these companies the picture is likely deceiving. Ill be ordering this costume without webs or eyes and taking it from there. Stay tuned!

Look on the bright side it might not be as accurate as some prints Ive seen on here but you wont be waiting 3 months for one either :-)

spydrwebz said:

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Look on the bright side it might not be as accurate as some prints Ive seen on here but you wont be waiting 3 months for one either :-)

hear, hear.

to be honest, ive bought one of these before. Seems pretty decent. Quality aint fantastic and you're getting what you paid for. Judging by how it looks. i reckon some air-brushing for the muscles, nice eye lens and adding puff paint to the entire suit will make it look pretty professional.

oh yeah, i do have the previous one you posted. it is surprisingly not bad.

The only tip I can add would be to do the eyes first in case something goes wrong, and then spend countless hours on the puff paint, but I'm sure you probably already knew that.

Your first idea does sound like an amazing idea to do your own print without ordering for one or making your own on a computer, but I'm so glad zentai has a decent-ish one now. Now I just need to lose ALOT of weight...

It is only meant to be a halloween costume, so while it wont be perfectly accurate, if people can look at it and say wow, he's the new spiderman, than im pretty happy. The entire thing should cost just under 100$, so at half the price of most prints alone (without sewing, eyes, paint etc) ill be impressed if it looks anything like them.

@shoujoaifan: Good point. While ill likely be invested enough in the suit to make it work no matter what, its a great idea to start with the eyes, especially since i can draw the webbing and stuff around it once theyre attached.

Ive found a quilters pencil I think will work well for drawing on the designs with the ability to easily correct mistakes. Its a sort of soap stone pencil which can apparently "be erased with ease". It can be seen here. Has anyone worked with a pencil like this before? Some comments seem to suggest its not very good and chalk is just the best way to go.

milk_man, nice find on the zentai suit.

milk_man said:

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Big update folks. I was fortune enough to contact the people at zentaizone and they told me they were actually in the works of making an amazing spiderman costume, which theyve now finished! Newest Spandex Lycra Amazing Spiderman Costume Zentai Suit [30099] - $59.00 : Buy zentai, spandex



It looks pretty good as is, but knowing these companies the picture is likely deceiving. Ill be ordering this costume without webs or eyes and taking it from there. Stay tuned!

Dude! Great set up here, I think if you add the puff paint, shoes, webshooters, and the deluxe lenses from the separate mask, this will look great!

A friend of mine just sent me a link to that same suit. I may be using it aswell. I already made accurate lenses and my shoes are almost done, so if I get this suit I could finish it off pretty quick. You can see how I did my lenses and shoes here:
http://www.therpf.com/f24/spiderspar...s-half-157959/

Good luck on your build mate! Hope everything works out for you!

SpiderSparrow said:

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A friend of mine just sent me a link to that same suit. I may be using it aswell. I already made accurate lenses and my shoes are almost done, so if I get this suit I could finish it off pretty quick. You can see how I did my lenses and shoes here:
http://www.therpf.com/f24/spiderspar...s-half-157959/

Good luck on your build mate! Hope everything works out for you!

If only they made the fingers blue! Well the ones that're supposed to be blue..

BeastLusignan said:

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If only they made the fingers blue! Well the ones that're supposed to be blue..

Im likely just going to draw on the blue pattern with puff paint for those few fingers. Im sure you wont be able to see a big difference.

Right now im just trying to figure out the best way to draw on the design since ive ordered a bare version of the costume.

The body is already broken into the main red and blue sections so that's one big headache down. Ill have to freehand draw on the sections (black webbing lines). The emblems should be easy enough to stencil on.

The main difficulty is getting on the hexagon patterns. Ive tried cutting out stencils but each hexagon is so small that tracing them using chalk (so I can erase mistakes) is super difficult and messy. Im now considering making a sort of half assed stamp, where i can coat the fine hexagon pattern (50+ hexagons in a square the size of a playing card) with chalk then press it against the suit leaving a rough pattern to fix by free hand. Ill post some testing pictures once I resolve this.

milk_man said:

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Im likely just going to draw on the blue pattern with puff paint for those few fingers. Im sure you wont be able to see a big difference.

Right now im just trying to figure out the best way to draw on the design since ive ordered a bare version of the costume.

The body is already broken into the main red and blue sections so that's one big headache down. Ill have to freehand draw on the sections (black webbing lines). The emblems should be easy enough to stencil on.

The main difficulty is getting on the hexagon patterns. Ive tried cutting out stencils but each hexagon is so small that tracing them using chalk (so I can erase mistakes) is super difficult and messy. Im now considering making a sort of half assed stamp, where i can coat the fine hexagon pattern (50+ hexagons in a square the size of a playing card) with chalk then press it against the suit leaving a rough pattern to fix by free hand. Ill post some testing pictures once I resolve this.

You'll get it! Perhaps just use a sharipe and draw then overlay with puff paint
Btw I ordered the same zentai suit just now.. let's hope for the best LOL

How much do they charge for shipping for the suit? I need to know exactly how much money I need.

SpiderSparrow said:

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How much do they charge for shipping for the suit? I need to know exactly how much money I need.

It was $11 for me and that's to the US

When you put the item in your cart or something along the road of purchasing theres a button that says estimate shipping before you give them any information or actually pay. I did this weeks before actually buying the suit, which was 15$ to eastern Canada.

looking forward to pics of this Zentai suit from you brave lads