Blaz Blue:Hakumen costume

[Alpha Proto]

I have a convention called Ikkicon in Austin I decided to go to last minute, and I want to make a costume for it.
I decided I want to make a character that I can get done fast, but have a lot of details in.
I choose Hakumen from the game Blaz Blue.

The thing that attracted me to this character is that he has no face. When I first saw that I was curious as to how a costume of him would work.

I decided the best thing to do would be to make a mask that would set above my eyes. Then I would see out of the neck. I figured the neck would look longer than it should so I would have to cheat the proportions so it would not stand out .

To make sure everything lines up correctly when I start my build I took a picture of myself and drew over it.

I figure I can widen the shoulders so the head would not appear so large, and raise the shoulders. Also the wider shoulders narrows the waist a bit. Another trick to narrow my waist is to have the waste guards a bit higher and tapper in for a V shape.

So far the plan is to use EVA foam for the helmet, collar, and feet. The rest I want to work in foam ,and cover in latex. I want the body (especially the black area) to appear almost as if it was bare black skin. I am going to try and make this costume looked very muscular. Not a bulky look, just ripped.

Still in the planning stages at the moment. I have made a duct tape dummy of my upper body, purchased upholstery foam, and a shirt to stick it all to.The wig, and black latex are on the way in the mail. I hope to have some progress very soon.

 

[Alpha Proto]

No replies? I really was looking for some recommendations, and input before I started.

I did not get any here so I just went ahead.

Here is what has gone down so far;

To make sure the costume was built to fit, I along with my brother made a duct tape dummy.

Next I put on a white zentai body suit. While looking into a mirror I drew on the body suit where all my muscles were going to be on the costume.

After that I took the zentai off, and put it onto the dummy.

Next I got some tracing paper and traced the muscle patterns from the dummy onto paper so I could cut them the correct size into the upholstery foam.

Using these tools in order from right to left, I cut the foam and shaped up some of the muscles; Big Scissors, cuticle scissors, razor blade, and steel dragon skin sand paper.

This is what I have so far.

Once I have all the muscle groups done I will add the character's gear on in foam. After that I will add the liquid latex over the foam. I am going to try and add tissue paper to close the gaps between the foam. I have never used tissue paper with latex so I hope it works.

Comments and suggestions?

 

[Weaselhammer]

I found this while playing BlazBlue at the same time lol. Good luck with the build, and don't get to down about not getting replies at first, the costume forum really moves fast and a lot of threads get overlooked real easy.

 

[Alpha Proto]

Blaz Blue:Hakumen costume: Air brushing questions

Thank you for the comment, weaselhammer. I have the front muscles done at the momment. I have started work on the back.

I plan on air brushing this for the last step, but I would like to ask a question about that now so I wont have to worry about it later.

I heard that you can mix acrylic paint with latex to paint latex skin/maskes.

I was wondering what you use to thin the latex and paint so it can flow through the air brush? :confused

I heard you are suppose to use ammonia to thin them down.
Does it work better than if you used water?
Does it allow the paint to flow through the airbrush easier, or dry faster than with water? :confused

 

[topshape]

There's a venom build thread that seems to be similar to what you are doing. Of course his name eludes me ATM...:facepalm From what I remember he didn't thin his latex but maybe he has your answer. I'm impressed that you could draw on yourself that well in the mirror. Keep posting, I'm interested in seeing the end results!

 

[Alpha Proto]

Thank you for the suggestion. I also followed the Venom build. It was very well done.
He painted his latex on with a brush. I want to do details in airbrush so have to thin things down to flow through the airbrush

Here is what I have pinned on the body.

I decided the back will just be two parts. My knowledge of back anatomy is not great. I am using reffrence, but the back changes a lot depending on how the arms are positioned.

 

[Alpha Proto]

Got the chest done.

The top of the arms and biceps are added.

The back turned out pretty good. Having each side be a big peice really saved time. It is not perfectly scymetrical, but it will be covered.

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Question
Right now, all of the foam is tacked down.
What would be the best way to attach the foam to the body suit?

 

[Alpha Proto]

Progress is not going as fast as I had hoped. With the convention being only 17 days away there is still a lot of building to be done.

I managed to get the arms done, and I also attached all of the foam to the body suit. I used rubber cement, and spray glue to a attach the muscles. More rubber cement than spray glue, because I ran out of spray glue.

I satisfied with how the anatomy is coming together. I got some string and used it as veins. When you unravel it a bit it really helps sell the effect.

The foam muscles I took a big short cut with. I used one piece of foam and carved some muscles into it. I am really thinking the next time I make a body I will be using larges sections of foam. It really speeds things up.

You can notice that I did not cover the elbow. I think that having the elbow area exposed will help with the mobility of the build.

Still no trap muscles. I am going to add those after the armor goes on. It will helm merge the armor section with the body.

Now I want to move onto the armor. Once I get the armor made I will have to attach it to the foam body. At the moment I plan on taking or taping the EVA foam armor onto the body and latexing that along with the foam body. The plan is that latexing them together will make sure all the armor stays in place.

At the moment I am making some paper patterns for the armor. Once the paper templates are made then I will start the EVA armor.

 

[Alpha Proto]

I got the shoulder pads made. Not finished. I still have to put the eyes in. My brother says I should make them light up. Not sure if it would look right just having the shoulder eyes glow while the others didn't.

I am not sure how to attach the armor to the body. I have planned on pinning the armor onto the body. Then when I add the latex onto the body, I would add it to the armor too. Then they would bond to each other. If anyone has another idea I will consider it but I have 13 days to get this done now :confused

Here is what it looks like with the helmet, neck, and shoulders attached to the body.

I think the head is a bit too wide. So I am going to narrow it down.

Not sure if the neck should be EVA. I have a lot of white, red, and black fake leather. I could use that for the neck but I don't know if it would keep form.

 

[thetrentandpaul]

Very interesting! I have always been intrigued as to how people are able to shape muscles from foam in order to accentuate different aspects of a costume. Never played the game but like the style of the character.

 

[Alpha Proto]

I ended up using some thinner foam for the collar.

I finished the bottom of the torso.

I added some back details.

I am pretty close to adding the latex. I sealed the upholstery foam with spray glue. I am close to brushing the latex to it. I covered the bigger gaps between the foam with really tough paper towel.

I don't know if I can start adding the latex now or if I should finish the shoulder armor.

 

[Alpha Proto]

I sprayed the outside of the foam all over with a big can of spray glue. Then added the 3 layers of liquid latex to the foam.

Tonight I added the black latex from monstermakers. I figured this would work well as a base layer, for the painting, and re-enforce the latex.

I added lights to the shoulders so that the eyes on the shoulder armor can light up.

I cut the thumb off of some gloves and covered the bulb to diffuse the light.

I didn't know the black latex was going to be this shiny right out of the jar.
I only bought the smallest jar available but it is going far.

Seeing all of this black makes me want to make a Venom costume.

I added veins to the wrist before adding the latex with a hot glue gun. I accented the string veins on the chest the same way.

I knocked over the jar of black latex; Opps!

I was able to scoop most of the latex up with a sheet of card stock and put it back in the jar.
I clean the latex that got on my hands off with the glove area of the costume. I figured that would be enough to color the gloves without bogging them down with latex.

After that I had some white acrylic paint and some latex I had mixed up and added the white areas.

Now that the base colors are down all I have to do is a bit more detailing to them. Next I will add shading to the white areas.
I have decided I want the black areas to look like bare skin. So I am going to add mottling to them. I will do this with a slightly blue black latex over the raised areas with a sponge. Next I will paint thin black veins onto it.

Not sure I want to break out the air brush this time. I may uses it for the armor's shading, but all that airbrush cleaning takes time. So I will try and avoid it.

After all the painting is done I will add a clear coat to the black areas for sure. Not sure about the white.

 

[charlie88]

wowwwwww , love the detail you put it in it. thank goodness i found another thread explain in details. am trying to learn how to make undersuits and tryong to learn everything about latex. my question is, how do you work with latex??? and how does the foam feel after applying it?? how many layers can be put in? and since there are alot of latex brand , wich one you think is best foa a novice builder like me???

 

[Alpha Proto]

wowwwwww , love the detail you put it in it. thank goodness i found another thread explain in details. am trying to learn how to make undersuits and tryong to learn everything about latex. my question is, how do you work with latex??? and how does the foam feel after applying it?? how many layers can be put in? and since there are alot of latex brand , wich one you think is best foa a novice builder like me???

I just ordered this last week. It should be here soon. Amazon.com: Slush Latex - 5 gallons: Everything Else
The latex I used before was old molding latex I got on sale. It worked, but was heavy. I always look for bargains. The black latex was from monstermakers.com. It is for making Batman cowls.

So far I have brushed the latex onto the foam. I later learned that it is best to seal the out side of the foam by spraying it with spray glue. Then the latex does not absorb into the foam. I sets on top of it, and skins there.
Next time I am going to try spraying it on with a paint gun. I hope I don't waste any latex.

When it is done drying the foam feels like rubber a basket ball stuffed like a pillow. The foam I sanded round ended up having a rougher texture than the flat cut foam(smoother).

On a side note this costume was a failure. It looked better on the dummy than it did on me. I told my brother to give his honest opinion and he said it looked bad on me. Here are the test photos.
The mask turned out good.
The body looked super stubby.
I bought a cheap body suit and the zipper broke.
The collar, and back would not close.

Swing, and a miss. I ended up throwing it all away.