Alpha Proto's 's 2013 Halloween Costume Contest Entry - Ganon from Legnd of Zelda

[Alpha Proto]

I was thinking I only had one more latex monster costume left in me. After seeing all the great responses from my Lizardman costume I am kinda thinking about make a few more and building a small portfolio to send to studios. I really enjoy the process of making these costumes. It keeps my attention focused on things, and keeps me moving. I feel like Tony Stark building in his cave in the Iron man comic. You just get a really good sense of accomplishment wearing a work of inspiration.

Last November I made the upper body of Hakumen from Blaz Blue. I started the build on November 11 and had it done by the 26th. It did not come out to my liking, but I leanred a lot about sculpting foam, managing time, and how to properly paint with latex.

Since A-kon 23 I have been thinking about what I could cosplay as that would top my Aeon/ Lizardman and make a great portfolio piece. Since the Legend of Zelda is never out of style I decided I would make a Ganon costume. To make sure it was something no one had ever seen before I decided to make my own design based on various incarnations of the character.

The build will consist of; Twilight Princes Ganons' head. Some elements of Orcarina of Time Ganon's body/clothing, and some modified Twilight Prince Ganondorf armor.
I have not drawn the back of the design or the side yet. I have not colored it yet either, but I plan to soon.

I want to make this a film-able costume. Something that would look great in a Legend of Zelda movie. The build will consist of several things I have never attempted before.
The head will be made of dragon skin silicon.
Have to learn to airbrush silicon mixed with paint with an air brush.
A good amount of the hair will be punched into the skin with a needle.
Eyes will light up.
Brow will close and open the eyes.
Hands will be arm extensions with working fingers.
Mouth will open with the moments of my jaw.
Nose will move back when mouth opens (maybe the lips too).
Several battery powered fans to blow air in and out of the mask and armor.
Going to also try to have the upper body removable like a tee shirt, and the lower body help up with suspenders. Just so when I have to cool off or wait for a long time I don't have to wear the weight of the entire suit.

All of the things I want to do with this costume I have done, or know how to do. It will just be the first time I have ever put all of those features into one character.

Could sintra work in place of metal? :confused

It would have to be something strong enough to support the weight of a working character head; estimate 10-15 pounds.:confused
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******UPDATE 6/24/2k13******
I am going to post a link to videos of how I made the costume here.

Here is my first video of how I made the costume. I hope to have a new one up every Monday.

Video ONE: Making of Ganon Costume Part One. - YouTube
Video TWO: Making of Ganon Costume Part Two. - YouTube
Video THREE: Making of Ganon Costume Part Three - YouTube
Video FOUR: Making of Ganon Costume Part Four - YouTube
Bonus Video: Bonus Video: Mother Molding Ganon base with Fiber Glass FAIL! - YouTube
Video FIVE Making of Ganon Costume Part Five - YouTube

 

[Diegator]

Re: Puppet / Animatroic Mask Help

I'd say yes. You can make some pretty good structural pieces out of polyester sheets glued together. It all depends on how you build the structure, I guess.
Is this for the underlying frame, I take it?

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: Puppet / Animatroic Mask Help

Yep, it is for the frame. Turned out that they sell strips of metal at Lowes'. I ended up making them shorter just by folding them back and forth until they split . For holes I would hammer in a start point and just drill from there. Working with the metal was not as difficult as I thought.:unsure

At the moment I am making the plastic head shell that I will sculpt over, and apply the silicon skin onto.

I have a picture example below of the head shell used for the boarman from the movie The Island of Doctor Moreau. This is mechanized so when the jaw opens the mouth of the boarman opens.
This motion pulls a string attached to the jaw that also pulls the nose back.

It just so happens I am making Ganon from Legend of Zelda. So this was a great find. I plan on replicating those mechanics,and adding a working brow.

In the Stan Winston School tutorial the teacher vacuum formed the head shell. I don't have have a vacuum form. I am going to carve the head base out of foam. Then mold and cast it in plastic resin. I have been looking for another alternative since resin, and rebound 25 is pricey.

 

[CosBlade]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

If this works, it would be one of the coolest builds ever.

Also, the picture of that mask is terrifying.

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

I hope I can make a mask more frightning than that.
Right now I am getting ready to make my version.
First foam I traced the shape of my profile front and side onto cardboard. Then I drew the Ganon around it. Next I will fill in the space with insulation foam.
I am sure it will work I saw it done on the internet.

 

[Sandman0077]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

I always look forward to new costumes that are something other than Spiderman, Batman, and Iron man. If you finish this it will probably be my favorite costume on the RPF. Good luck!

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

It has been a while with no word on this project. So I feel an update is in order.

I have not posted pictures of progress, because I decided I wanted to document the build on video and post it all on youtube. This has some advantages over picture taking. I dont have to manage pictures.

A few complecations do come to light. I can just point the camera at me building and take breaks to talk to the camera while inspect my progress. I hate when I take hours working on something just to ditch the results.

I look forward to the feed back.

So far I have been working on the foot, and arm extensions.
Sculpted, molded and casted a plastic base for the mechs vacuum forming would have been faster :/). I am going to sculpt over that and mold a skin. Then saw the base head and add mechanics inside.
When the head and mechs get figured out the hard art will be over.

Trying new process for the body.
I am going to attach the hopolstry foam onto open cell foam mats instead of a body suit. This should add mass, and make puting the build on like armor. Should help me get in and out of costume. Or removal of sections during breaks easier.

I plan to sculpt the full head soon in a single setting (8 hours?). If they can do that on that show face/off I can too.

Fear of not finishing is very real, but I will stick with it until the end.

 

[Sandman0077]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

Fear of not finishing is very real, but I will stick with it until the end.

Welcome to my life haha. Just keep in mind that there are people that want to see this finished. You are doing a great job just by taking on such a unique build in itself, don't be discouraged!

 

[Freya Willia]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

I plan to sculpt the full head soon in a single setting (8 hours?). If they can do that on that show face/off I can too.

Fear of not finishing is very real, but I will stick with it until the end.

I love the attitude you're going into this with - and you HAVE to finish it. I saw this thread a long time ago and forgot to post because I was at work but I would love to see an original Pig-Ganon; the reference image you have is gold, and the sketch really reminds me of how he appeared in the older games. The realism you could achieve with that would be spectacularly creepy.

I don't get around to conventions much but I would want pics of this with my Link to the Past Zelda, or maybe Ocarina Zelda when I finish that.

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

Welcome to my life haha. Just keep in mind that there are people that want to see this finished. You are doing a great job just by taking on such a unique build in itself, don't be discouraged!

Thanks for following the build Sandman0077. I get a bit discouraged about this build, because it has so many things in it that I have never done before.

I was nervous about the Lizardman Aeon Calcos, and it turned out good even with it's many flaws. The last build I did was done great, but did not look good when worn. So that was a big let down. The upside was that it was done in half the time of the Lizardman and has a much more durable paint job. So I learned from my mistakes. The time is closing in and the convention starts on May 31st. So I will try to get the head completed by the end the month, and use all of May for the body, clothing, and armor.

I love the attitude you're going into this with - and you HAVE to finish it. I saw this thread a long time ago and forgot to post because I was at work but I would love to see an original Pig-Ganon; the reference image you have is gold, and the sketch really reminds me of how he appeared in the older games. The realism you could achieve with that would be spectacularly creepy.

I don't get around to conventions much but I would want pics of this with my Link to the Past Zelda, or maybe Ocarina Zelda when I finish that.

That is a really great Zelda! I wish I could get some picture of the Ganon costume like that when it is done. If there was any chance I could take a picture with you in costume I would be interested. I think we would look great together.

With the interest I have recently gained in the past 4 days I want to show what I have sculpted.

Base for resin helmet base. The base was made from 2 sheets of cardboard. Then it will filled with insulation foam to broaden it out. After that I carved it to its current shape. Then I covered it with spackle. I used red filler putty to smooth out the gaps. After sanding down I sprayed it with plasti-dip spray to seal it. Then I was ready to sculpt. In the First attempt at sculpting clay teeth. I went with a more human smaller look. I added a ridge to the nose and brow. These were added as registration for the resin headshell for the silicon skin. They should act as good anchor points to help the skin move. That is the plan anyway.


Changed my mind about the human small teeth and went with big teeth. Bigger gaps between them so I can have an easier time looking out of the mouth if I have too.


I went finally got to do a rough sculpt of the Ganons' head over the resin pull.
I have seen in other sculpts how a serrated metal kidney can really help even out the surface of a sculpt. I went ahead and made one of my own out of plastic. It worked surprisingly well.

I used ping pong balls halves for the eyes. I want the ears to be flat and floppy, because that would be difficult to. So I sculpted a slot I will place the ears into when I add them after the head cast is pulled. The big flat area on the side of the mouth is where I will add the tusk. I plan to sculpt mold, and cast them separately in smooth cast resin like the head shell was. If that turns out too heavy or time does not allow it I will just fabricate them out of something lighter.

I added big nostrils to the front all the way to the resin. I plan to look out of those too. The mouth was sculpted slightly open.





I have been thinking about the eye blinking mech. I am starting to think that pushing the dragon skin silicone skin from underneath is not going to be visible from far away. So I am going to lower the brow down , and use a mech like the muppet Sweetums.

Then the mech doubles as eye lids and brows, and sets on the outside of the head. It just seems like it will work better.
I just need to hook a spring to return the brow into place, and a string to pull them. I will attach the string to my thumb, and trigger the eyes that way. The only problem with that is the mech won't have a medium setting. So I have to choose if I want the eyes to open very wide, or close all the way to blink.

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

I decided to go with the outside brow. So I cut the clay brow off. So at the momment the sculpt looks like it is in a constant state of shock.

I smoothed the sculpt out, and added wrinkles,and skin details.




No ears yet. Extra bigear holes, because they will be hidden by the ears. They will also work as ventilation.


I made the deep cuts on the snout to help guide the direction of the nose when it bends back. Also to give room to move.


I cut some slots in for extra vision, and ventilation. They are hidden in wrinkles.


I hope to have this done by theend of the month so I can focus on the body,armor, and clothing.
I plan on molding this later today. So if anyone ses any glaring issues other than what I mentioned please do so.
I will take the suggestions into consideration.

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

I still have not molded yet. I was about to but got masterpiece syndrome when adding pores. So now the sculpts face is covered in pores. I also added an upper lip. I also made sure to fill in the gaps between the base, and the sculpt so the silicon will not run under the mold. I plan to sculpt an ear soon. I will make a box mold for it. I plan to sculpt it universal so it can be flipped and used on either side of the head.

 

[Sandman0077]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

Looks ridiculous man. Awesome skills :thumbsup

 

[faille]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

This is looking great. I might not post on every update you make, but I am subscribed and get a little excited every time I see it come up in my feed So please keep the updates coming!

 

[Clockwise]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

Love the concept you got! As a fan of your Lizardman cosplay I'm pretty psyched to see how this one will come out, definitely subscribing to this thread.

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

I only have 17 more days before A-kon 24. I hope I can get it done in time.
I finished molding the clay sculpt, and got a master resin copy of that. Now I have to make the dragon skin-skin. I have made a dragon skin ear as an experiment. Turned out really good.

 

[Sandman0077]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

I can't imagine how to get all that done in only 17 days. That's crazy. Can't wait to see more pictures!

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

It is going to be difficult making this bigger and better than the Lizardman with all the time restrictions I am under. I am looking towards my future goal of having this done so I have to leave the past behind. So out with the old and in with the new.


Here is the Dragon Skin silicon getting mixed with some oil based paints to add color to them. I started with Dragon Skin 10 medium for the first layer, and used Dragon Skin pro for the rest. Pro sets much master than I thought . Each set of Dagon Skin were 2 pounds, and I used all three.

To see if I could cast Dragon Skin in a Rebound mold I casted this test ear. I was happy with the results.

I have used all the Dragon Skin and I am not sure if the back half of the cast is thick enough to not rip.
Here is the front.

Here is the back.

Would it be a good idea to slosh some FlexFoam-iT X in the back half to suport the cast? Or would that ruine it?
I am short on time so if there is no advice saying not to I will go ahead and give it a shot tomorrow.

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

Success! My smooth on dragonskin-skin worked! It did not fuse with the rebound.

There are some air-holes, but they add character.

The chin area was thin and ripped. I have since patched it and attached the ears with the last remains of dragonskin from a kit.

I adjusted the feet. Made the hoof smaller after watching a test run.

The thighs.

Here is proportions test with the arm extensions.

I am modifying these to be tusks. This way is cheaper, and lighter than making my own.

 

[Sandman0077]

Re: Original Concept Gannon: The Legend of Zelda. Puppet Costume.

This looks crazy. I really can't find the words to describe the awesomeness.