Tallis - Dragon Age: Redemption - Complete!

That is an awesome costume! If I weren't so focused on my tron costumes for this month I would have loved attempting this build myself. But since I can't I will live vicariously through your build! So far it's looking great!

For a very helpful link, here's how the original creator of the costume did it.

Greg Aronowitz: Felicia Day's TALLIS costume

(Spoilers: it was sculpted on a lifecast and then cast in foam latex.)

Yeah, I've been through his site. I made my Codex staff from his tutorials/writeups. Alas, I don't have the funds/time to sculpt the pieces like he did, so I'll just be making a standard corset (easy) and then craft foam for everything (and on top of the corset). Was tweeting with Greg last night because I was baffled about how they got the bodice on Felicia - apparently the pics if found were of the 'hero' version and the lacing is under the foam latex panel in the back. the other version has the lacing up the sides, like in the game-art. He was much more helpful in solving that mystery than was Shawna Trpcic, who did most of the costume design work for Dragon Age: Redemption. Her reply was "the work of amazing seamstress Antonina!"

Picked up a wood burner today and started working with the thigh guards.

It's kinda fun!





Needs clean-up work, obviously. I'll try to smooth a little more out with my burner then hit it with an emery board. I need to find a 'primer' of sorts that will work on foam to help me out with the major blemishes. It's not supposed to be clean/neat, and is rather weathered as far as armor goes, but it will be nice to clean up some of the bigger bits that didn't go as smoothly.

I've used a heat gun for larger stuff done in the same eva foam. but you might lose detail. Just throwing that out there.

I've seen the wood burner method done before and thought of using it if I ever make an SG-1 Jaffa costume (waaaay in the future). This makes me think it would work very well. It's looking good so far.

Risu said:

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I've seen the wood burner method done before and thought of using it if I ever make an SG-1 Jaffa costume (waaaay in the future). This makes me think it would work very well. It's looking good so far.

I agree. This definitely gives me some ideas on how to achieve the look I want in my costumes. Great build progress. Keep up the good work!

Knee pads and wrist guards engraved!

I used a round-tip to carve out these, versus the chisel tip on the thigh guards. It's actually pretty easy, but if anyone is interested in a video tutorial thing, I could oblige - might have to wait until after halloween/the contest, but I've got lots of engraving to do on the cauldrons and bodice yet, so if I remember.....

Also, picked up some white PlastiDip spray which I'll use to make them lighter colored. I figured making them white would help in the long run as I will be using an airbrush to paint instead of rattlecan, so the layers of paint will be finer and not crack when it bends (using acrylic). I'm probably going to get all my engraving done before i start painting so I'm more consistent with technique... or something.

Looks good so far. Good luck on the contest.

A tutorial would be awesome! These are turning out great!

Progress! But not fast enough! I still have to cut/texture then entire bodice, paint, make the belt, make boot covers and the daggers. PANIC!!!!!

oh, and i'm also making a nightcrawler costume for a friend, too.....

also, not really going to have time to tutorialize the burning while making the costume, but i'll get one made up after the halloween panic is over.

So, here's what's happened:

...don't bump your foam so that it touches the wood burner. *fail*


after the mishap, this one turned out better, anyway.


Finished carving


pattern drafting for the bodice/breastplate's corset understructure


finished understructure (its not my best work, but it will all be covered up anyway)


choker, belt and shoulder ornaments - the two smaller will be cleaned up a bit then cast in resin, the larger is for the belt and will just be sanded then painted. they're made of magic sculpt (epoxy clay) and we'll be cured overnight. the clay on the two larger was placed over a foam base to make them lighter/less clay intensive.

Late night update.... the former architecture student in me is kicking in, and i've come to miss late night work.

EPIC! this looks crazy good so far, nice details

by the way, thanks to everyone for the compliments/encouragement. this has been a crazy sprint-athon of a costume (it doesn't seem like much, but it's very detailed) and i haven't had time to reply to people individually as i'd like.

testing

eep! sooooo sorry i haven't posted the rest of my pics! i'll spare you the excuses and just get on with it:

And the finished product:







to see high-res versions of all my images, check out my picasa album: https://picasaweb.google.com/1017458...eat=directlink

also, while it's 'finished,' it's not, really. there are a number of things i'd like to do: back all the foam with fabric so it's stronger, redo the belt out of leather (it's cloth and foam right now), redo the spike cabochons for the straps (my resin never cured, and i'm blaming a reaction with the mold) and redo the blades in a cleaner, glossier fabric to get the right luster on them - the chrome is too flat.

also, the whole starting point for the costume was for the @dragonage twitter contest. well, i was one of the winners!

This is just wonderful - I love how you went about all this and carved the texture out of the foam.

It all came together beautifully !!!

Congratulations on being one of the winners! Your photoshoot is just lovely and definitely shows off your hard work to a tee

Fantastic build!!! I'm really intrigued about the heat burner technique. I just bought one for Halloween artificial pumpkins, and am looking forward to what I can use it on for costuming.

Any advice on where to get started?

I really am blown away by your pattern skills as well. EXCELLENT!

Hey Congrats on being one of the winners!! The costume looks great! My best friend was the head concept artist for the first Dragon Age game, he'll be thrilled to see these picks... I'll have to send him a link!

AbbyDarkStar said:

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Fantastic build!!! I'm really intrigued about the heat burner technique. I just bought one for Halloween artificial pumpkins, and am looking forward to what I can use it on for costuming.

Any advice on where to get started?

I really am blown away by your pattern skills as well. EXCELLENT!

thanks! i plan on doing a tutorial on burning foam sometime soon - i'm pretty busy at the moment, but i'll get it done asap!

quick tip, though - i used 3 different tips - one chisel tip (for the shoulder and thigh pad detailing), a round tip (for pretty much everything else) and a soldering tip to add some texture to the parts i didn't burn. you won't really get a super smooth finish (at least in my experience) on the parts you burn unless it's just a straight line done with the ball tip. variations in heat and tip will change the finish, though. chisel tip? rather rough (which is what i wanted).

RAGE88 said:

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Hey Congrats on being one of the winners!! The costume looks great! My best friend was the head concept artist for the first Dragon Age game, he'll be thrilled to see these picks... I'll have to send him a link!

sweet, i'd love to see what he has to say about it! and thanks. just last night i did a video chat with felicia and greg aronowitz and asked greg about the abilities to take design liberties in a world that's so fleshed out already - he said it was a relief not being a concept artist on top of being co-producer, set designer, prop designer costume designer and general visual badass. and of course i showed off my bodice to them too, as my tribute to their awesome work. XD