Batman Beyond Build Help

[bobbyj]

Hey All,

I am thinking of making a Batman Beyond suit and I need a lot of help. I have never built a full body suit before (I have built masks and helmets), but it is something that I want to do. I looked around it seems like there a varying ways in which a body suit can be made, and I just want to hear opinions on the subject. I don't mind having a complex built, as long as it looks good in the end. I don't have the world's largest budget, but I wont mind spending on some good material (I am living on a grad student budget!).

Anyways, are there any resources/advice you guys can give on the a good way to go about this?

Thanks in advanced!

 

[gledar]

Are you looking into making an animation faithful suit, or your own take on terry? I only ask because if you go for your own take, it gives you a lot of leeway with materials and the design of the suit/cowl.

If you're going to do it like it appears in the show, i'd say some kind of lycra bodysuit or subdye? I'm interested to see what you do, the batman beyond suit has always been hard to adapt, i can't wait to see what you do!

 

[bobbyj]

Are you looking into making an animation faithful suit, or your own take on terry? I only ask because if you go for your own take, it gives you a lot of leeway with materials and the design of the suit/cowl.

If you're going to do it like it appears in the show, i'd say some kind of lycra bodysuit or subdye? I'm interested to see what you do, the batman beyond suit has always been hard to adapt, i can't wait to see what you do!

Hey! Thanks for the reply.

The suit does not need to be animation accurate, I am more than willing to use other artist interpretations or use my own ideas. I would like the suit to have some structure to it, as opposed to a soft fabric (Lycra) suit.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Vox]

Since you are a fan, there's another fellow building a Batman Beyond costume (found here). His method is probably far more expensive than you want to go, but I figured I would share.

You still could use an all black lycra/spandex suit as an undersuit, and just craft some foam armor pieces to go on top. That would keep it affordable while still giving you some definition. Since the suit is so form-fitting, you will probably want a black suit regardless of whether you use it as a base or the actual costume.

 

[bobbyj]

Since you are a fan, there's another fellow building a Batman Beyond costume (found here). His method is probably far more expensive than you want to go, but I figured I would share.

You still could use an all black lycra/spandex suit as an undersuit, and just craft some foam armor pieces to go on top. That would keep it affordable while still giving you some definition. Since the suit is so form-fitting, you will probably want a black suit regardless of whether you use it as a base or the actual costume.

Nice, thanks for the reference build. AGFRX7's build looks awesome!! Man I would love to do something like that, although I am sure it is really expensive.. Maybe I can do that for the cowl??

I really like the foam idea, are there any examples out there that go into further detain on this, not necessarily for Batman Beyond, just in general?

 

[Vox]

I really like the foam idea, are there any examples out there that go into further detain on this, not necessarily for Batman Beyond, just in general?

Oh yeah, plenty. The popular thing to use is EVA foam, which is commonly found in floor mats that you might use in a yoga studio or a children's play area, and is very affordable. If you search "EVA Foam" on YouTube, you'll pull up tons of tutorials, everything from medieval plate armor to Halo Spartan armor to superhero muscular reinforcement. Start there. You should be able to get an idea of how you'd like to use it. Then if you have any more specific questions on how to achieve whatever look you decide upon, you can always come here and post 'em!

Just for reference, here are some quickly-googled pics of EVA foam, showing its versatility. Obviously, the first two are highly detailed, while the latter two are simpler, but they all provide a nice three dimensionality to the respective costumes:

 

[bobbyj]

Oh yeah, plenty. The popular thing to use is EVA foam, which is commonly found in floor mats that you might use in a yoga studio or a children's play area, and is very affordable. If you search "EVA Foam" on YouTube, you'll pull up tons of tutorials, everything from medieval plate armor to Halo Spartan armor to superhero muscular reinforcement. Start there. You should be able to get an idea of how you'd like to use it. Then if you have any more specific questions on how to achieve whatever look you decide upon, you can always come here and post 'em!

Just for reference, here are some quickly-googled pics of EVA foam, showing its versatility. Obviously, the first two are highly detailed, while the latter two are simpler, but they all provide a nice three dimensionality to the respective costumes:

View attachment 363233 View attachment 363234 View attachment 363235 View attachment 363236

oh wow, this is great, thanks!!

When considering the design of Batman Beyond, the suit is much more form fitting, more fabric orientated, and less armored, at least that's the way it is in the cartoon. Are there any designs out there that I can look at to get an idea of how to implement the foam suit with Batman Beyond's suit and put in some nice armored features?

 

[Vox]

If you are leaning toward a design closer to the cartoon, then at least for the body, you might want to consider a muscle suit (usually made out of foam padding, EVA foam, or urethane) underneath a Batman Beyond style dye sub lycra/spandex suit. Unless you are confident in your own body to just wear the suit, then by all means. But if you want to look as though you stepped right out of the cartoon, I would suggest some kind of undershirt that modifies your torso shape (broadens your shoulders, widens your upper torso, etc.) simply because that is how they animated it. If you picture Terry McGinnis as a real-life person, he does not have a normal shape, which is par for the course with most cartoons.

The outer armor suggestion was more for if you were planning on designing your own concept.

 

[Randy Guhl]

excited how you end up doing this if you need help with the suit shoot me a pm

 

[bobbyj]

If you are leaning toward a design closer to the cartoon, then at least for the body, you might want to consider a muscle suit (usually made out of foam padding, EVA foam, or urethane) underneath a Batman Beyond style dye sub lycra/spandex suit. Unless you are confident in your own body to just wear the suit, then by all means. But if you want to look as though you stepped right out of the cartoon, I would suggest some kind of undershirt that modifies your torso shape (broadens your shoulders, widens your upper torso, etc.) simply because that is how they animated it. If you picture Terry McGinnis as a real-life person, he does not have a normal shape, which is par for the course with most cartoons.

The outer armor suggestion was more for if you were planning on designing your own concept.

Great! Now I got a lot to think about!

Vox, did you mean something like the image below? (I just wanted to make sure I understood the EVA muscle suit and spandex suit idea)



Also, I am curious, how would I attach the EVA to the spandex? Do you recommend a specific glue? Thanks!

 

[Vox]

Yes, that pic is exactly what I was attempting to describe

As for attaching EVA foam to spandex, there's a couple methods out there. I've seen people stitch the corners to the costume, then hide the stitching some way or another. (You'll need small scrap fabric swatches on the underside of the spandex to hold the stitching.) I

've seen people do something similar, just using Velcro to attach all of the pieces. This one and the above allow for less permanent attachment if you have future plans to use the suit for something else.

If you have a mannequin, you can put the costume on it, apply liquid latex to the back of the foam and place it very carefully, then wrap plastic wrap around the mannequin to hold it it in place while drying. This provides a very permanent attachment, but you have to make sure the mannequin is about your size so that when you put the costume on, it still conforms to your desired dimensions.

 

[bobbyj]

Yes, that pic is exactly what I was attempting to describe

As for attaching EVA foam to spandex, there's a couple methods out there. I've seen people stitch the corners to the costume, then hide the stitching some way or another. (You'll need small scrap fabric swatches on the underside of the spandex to hold the stitching.) I

've seen people do something similar, just using Velcro to attach all of the pieces. This one and the above allow for less permanent attachment if you have future plans to use the suit for something else.

If you have a mannequin, you can put the costume on it, apply liquid latex to the back of the foam and place it very carefully, then wrap plastic wrap around the mannequin to hold it it in place while drying. This provides a very permanent attachment, but you have to make sure the mannequin is about your size so that when you put the costume on, it still conforms to your desired dimensions.

Thanks a lot for the help, Vox!

Thinking this over, I think I may try my hand at a design different from the cartoon. Looking online, there are a couple of different designs of Terry's costume that I want to try! For example, wyv1 has a couple of images on DeviantArt that look interesting (shown below). I just finished up a duct tape mannequin, So I will be using that as a base for building the suit. I think I may take some ideas from TDK guys to build the armor out of EVA to make it look more modern. I will keep you guys posted on the progress!!

 

[joeey2k]

hi Im looking for the
Batman Beyond pepakura Helmet Cowl Mask[/h]

 

[wagitagi]

hi i'm hoping to do a batman beyond suit as well and i'm wondering if i can get help on this like can i atapt the suit or anything of the sort help please!!!!!!!!

 

[bear89]

http://www.therpf.com/f77/batman-beyond-201312/?highlight=Batman+beyond
Hey Guys, i started a while ago wir my beyond suit, i put the protection wit hot glue on my spandex suit

 

[BitterBits]

http://www.therpf.com/f77/batman-beyond-201312/?highlight=Batman+beyond
Hey Guys, i started a while ago wir my beyond suit, i put the protection wit hot glue on my spandex suit

Ah I was wondering about this! I showed your build to my SO and we're looking forward to doing something similar (if we can pull it off). There's something inherently scary about your style in this build; very uncanny valley.

 

[bear89]

:-D ok, I don't really get it but I think that's good :-D

 

[BitterBits]

:-D ok, I don't really get it but I think that's good :-D

It's good! Batman should look effin' scary and we think yours does can't wait to see more.