Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props

[Yodajammies]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/21/2015

Loving the paintjob on that jacket Steve! I'm really sorry you're going to die of a heat stroke while wearing it at DC. RIP buddy. :lol

 

[coregeek]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/21/2015

Your detailing and paint work are just impeccable as usual!

 

[Iggy]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/21/2015

This build and paint-up is REALLY impressive. Love that comic feel to the real life items, especially the sweatshirt. I may have to do that to one of mine, just to have one that looks like that.

 

[nathancarter]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/21/2015

Whew! Awesome. I've just started on my Pre-Sequel Jack and this is all very inspiring. Hope to see you at Dragoncon, I'll be at the Friday afternoon meetup and maybe the pool party.

Looking forward to any more tips on painting clothes. I've done a test run on some old jeans and they're OK, definitely learned some things to do and not do on my "real" costume.

 

[SKS Props]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/21/2015

Ok, going to give you all a demo of how I cell shaded the hoodie for my Borderlands Bandit Steve costume. Lets get started. For the garment you are cell shading find one that is a middle ground to the value of the finished piece. In other words don't get one that is to light or dark it will be harder to get the range of values you need. I found a pretty good light brown hoodie on Amazon for $12. I start by inserting a cardboard square into the hoodie to keep it rigid while I draw out my shade lines. I do this in pencil very light. I have screen shots of Steve so I can get it close but then you have to use an artistic eye as well. Once the lines are in I start to add acrylic paint using a mop brush. For the highlight I used Liquitex Unbleached Titanium. It will go on pretty bright buy will fade once the water dries and it soaks into the cloth. This painting process will take multiple layers to get the finished highlight. I have found the best way was to get a good bit of paint in the brush srart in the corner and move along the highlight. Once you get it blocked out take another brush of just water and diffuse the paint by pulling it out from the original brushstroke.

 

[SKS Props]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/21/2015

Now for the back he has a design that I could have sewed in but I am a lot better and painting than I am sewing so I decided to just draw it on. Like the front I draw my lines on very light with a pencil and then added the Unbleached Titanium washes, Your lines don't have to be perfect at this point a lot will be covered up when we go in and add the cell lines using paint markers.

 

[SKS Props]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/21/2015

Here is where I start to add the dark value to the hoodie. I use a 12X12 piece of 1/4" MDF scrap that I have lying around as my masking line. I will line up the board with the opposite side of the highlight line I have painted on. I spray the hoodie with Krylon Black primer. The board gives the spray a hard line that will be the ground work for the cell shaded area. I also just randomly hit some spots with the primer to give it more of a grunge appearance.

 

[SKS Props]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/21/2015

This is where the fun begins!! I basically trace all of the stitching with an Elmer's Painters Opaque Paint Marker. You really do need to think of how all of these lines are going to lay out before you start because there is no going back. After the stitches are traced I start adding in wrinkle lines here and there as well as the stylized Borderlands flecks of dirt. I am still going back to my reference pic a lot at this point so I can get a sense of the size and weight of the lines. As you can see the lines are not completely sharp but that is ok we are going to go back with acrylic paint on top of this later. The design on the back is also traced with the painters pen.

 

[SKS Props]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/21/2015

The lines have been blocked in so I move back to highlights. Instead of using a mop brush this time I have a #2 flat brush. I use this brush along with Liquitex acrylic Parchment to make hard edges on all of the highlights. For larger areas I will use a #6 flat and water to fan the paint out. Again the paint will appear bright at first but will fade some when it dries and soaks into the fabric. Once the highlights have dried completely I start painting in the heavy black lines. I once again use a #2 flat and Mars Black acrylic paint. I repaint the black lines to darken them and make them sharper. Cartoon shading lines are added in the end to reinforce the comic cell shading element.

After allof the black acrylic has dried I mop brush the shadow areas with Liquitex Burnt Umber. By using a mid value hoodie this really sets the shadows back and gives it more of a 3D look and feel.

Hopefully this basic walk through has been helpful. Again this is just my way of doing it feel free to mix, match, add, and subtract steps as you see fit.

 

[nathancarter]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/23/2015

Thanks! Super helpful, and looks great.

 

[SKS Props]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/23/2015

Borderlands bandit Steve's pants are painted in pretty much the same process as the hoodie for the cell shaded look.

Highlights were added using Unbleached Titanium again. I will paint in the shadows after I catch up on some orders.

 

[JWKruser]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/28/2015

Great job Steve. Your attention to detail is amazing.:thumbsup

 

[TymanRoach]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/28/2015

Dude, the pants and hoodie are insanely cool! even though i lost interest in the Borderlands series, it still has one of my favorite visual styles and character design of all time. probably second only Brink. (The weapons, world design, and clothing anyway. the faces are just plain weird looking lol)

You're amazing replicas capture it beautifully!

 

[SKS Props]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/28/2015

Part of my Bandit Steve costume on display at KCCC last weekend. I gotta have it finished in a couple of weeks for dragoncon!!

 

[GBRyker61]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/28/2015

That's a pretty awesome looking costume there. I have the foam that you used to make the shoulder armor. What did you do to bend it? And how did you get it to hold the bend?

 

[SKS Props]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/28/2015

That's a pretty awesome looking costume there. I have the foam that you used to make the shoulder armor. What did you do to bend it? And how did you get it to hold the bend?

Using barge to adhere the two together I first roll the base shoulder pad to the desired shape using a heat gun and my hands. This is very important!! While curled I glue the craft foam in the center of the lower pad and roll it out in both directions. This will keep the curve in the shoulder pads without any additional forming.

 

[SKS Props]

Re: Borderlands Bandit Steve Cosplay - SKS Props Updated 7/28/2015

My completed Borderlands Bandit Steve costume at the DragonCon parade. Photo by Marion Dreo 2K community manager