Dishonored Overseer costume build

[PatrickOOOMazin]

I decided to make an Overseer costume from the video game Dishonored for comicon this year. Actually I decided to make several costumes for myself, each a bit too ambitious given my experience.

I also have two other costumes I'm working on. For a friend I'm making a HellGirl costume, and for my sister I'm making Balthier's costume from Final Fantasy 12.

I decided that for all 3 costumes, I would want to make the props sturdy and accurate enough that they could be hung on a wall (whether I accomplished this has yet to be seen.. and honestly, I'm a terrible judge of my own work)

Presently the Overseer mask is almost ready for paint, but I'm going to break it down into more manageable pieces in the posts that follow. I tend to yammer, so this should help to keep the wall of text to a minimum.
But just so everyone knows where this is heading, this is the mask cast in smooth cast 300 as of today

View attachment 2W7A2527.JPG


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SO! To start off I made the worlds worst bald cap for my beard. It served the purpose of keeping the plaster bandages out of my flavor saver while I did a lifecast, AND it was admired by my friends as a lumpy travesty!

I cast my face in Ultracal 30 and corrected a bung-up with Bondo when the lifecast turned out lopsided. Screw-ups! prepare yourself for a few (an onslaught) of those.

Finally, I dolloped on a layer of hot Monster clay and started dicking around trying to make pleasing shapes.

The Monster clay doesn't stick to the Ultracal, so I can remove the mask from the lifecast to admire myself in the bathroom mirror. People who have seen this think I'm strange.



This mask has a lot of really funky anatomy, and this is the first time I've worked in clay, so progress was slow as I learned the limitations of my tools, fingers and clay.
Mostly my fingers though. Its like someone attached 5 hot dogs onto a ham for all the dexterity I possess.



There is some bogus fisheye thing going on in this picture, so theres that to think about.. but also there is a lack of symmetry. I'm calling the asymmetrical artifacts intentional.. cause I'm an artist, and thats what artists do (isnt it?)



I own an alcohol torch! Do you have any idea how boss that sounds? It sounds pretty boss! You are forgiven for thinking I'm a badass now.
My sweet sweet alcohol torch and my super retro villain heat ray gun were used to get this shiny and ready for molding.
I was agonizing over getting all the surfaces super smooth and perfe... or.. well lets just call it rustic and beat it with chains later (remember, I'm an artist. I know what im doing)



And that's the end for today.
Tomorrow or whenever I get around to it i'll post the molding and casting process.. which was actually pretty cool. I can also give my review of bathroom caulking silicone as a mold rubber.

 

[PatrickOOOMazin]

this is basically my first post. for all the activity ive had on this site, call it my first post.

if the pictures are too large and take too long to load, please let me know and i will edit in smaller versions

also, how does the tagging system on this site work? apparently i can only add a tag if its already in the system? but the only tag it seemed to recognize was 'dishonored'
will a time come when i have proven myself sufficiently able to author my own tags?

also also, i have a couple other things i could potentially create a post about. so if you want to see some hellboy good samaritan gun or right hand of doom construction photos.. i guess here is as good a place as any to voice your desires

 

[Beer_Money_Props]

Keep posting up that progress! While I absolutely loathed the game, some of the character design was pretty swanky.

Also, it's really nice to see another fellow "I'll just frakking beat on it till it submits to my sheer power of will...power..." prop maker here. I was beginning to think I was the only one.

For sure post up the RHoD and Samaritan builds.

 

[PatrickOOOMazin]

i really appreciated dishonored for what it excelled at. i can certainly agree that its not a perfect game, but then i really wanted to cosplay as elizabeth from bioshock... i just couldnt bring myself to shave for it.

seriously though, i wanted to make myself a Dr. Hank McCoy costume, and one of Groot before everyone else does it (cause everyone is going to want to do that after the guardians of the galaxy movie, im sure).
i decided against building a foam oven just yet and when for the costume that was a mask and a coat.

as for making things submit to my will.. well i started out as a furniture maker, and ive collected enough hammers and a quick temper that any problem i face should be wary of a bludgeoning

 

[MightyEssoq]

I love Dishonored, and your Overseer mask looks superb. Gonna make me one someday, so thanks for the inspiration.

Brent

 

[PatrickOOOMazin]

Well it's been a little while since I put this up. I've been getting things together for things so that other things could happen, and as a result my internet time has been cut down. But let it not be said that I forgot about this.. noo, not me.

About 4 months ago I bought a sampler set of Smooth-On Oomoo 25 silicone which sat on my table waiting for the perfect project. Unfortunately it sat a little too long and congealed in the container. So I went about another, cheaper way to get this thing cast. I had read about thinning bathroom caulking with naphtha and painting it on like a brush on silicone. I half didn't expect this to work, but looking back I'm going to call this one of the greater successes during my prop making experience.. a greater, smellier success.

The silicone is colored with acrylic paint, alternating between turquoise and black. The final layer is rather splotchy just because I re-tinted some green to black and went over some thin areas. Also, I put down some delicious chocolates to encourage me during this trying time. Spoilers, those chocolates are just clay. Sorry.
I wasn't sure how to cast a mother mold for this on account of the giant undercut of the chin, so I put registration keys everywhere. In hindsight I should have just cast the mother mold with the seam vertically down the middle, but I went a different rout. Feel free to be in awe of my rebel spirit.

I gave him a neck brace to get rid of that undercut, and I put registration keys in that so the giant mother mold over top would... register.. yea.
This worked, and actually made a nice mother mold that sits together naturally for storage, but the neck brace wound up getting locked in the rest of the mother mold and required a bit of tapping with a giant mallet to release. I'd say I learned a lesson, but I'm still not exactly sure just where the hang up was.

First I want to point something out. Something in the silicone reacted with the clay turning it quite soft at room temperature. Over time this seems to be going away, but after the investment I made in monster clay, I would proceed with caution.
I had some troubles with the edge of the silicone mold where it would have met the table, so I filled some gaps with hot glue. I'm going to slush cast this, and the silicone extends past the mask anyways, so any imperfections will get sanded off later. The mold came out fairly clean, and after some light scrubbing, it was ready for resin.

Well, I do have a photo of the resin slush casting... but its just a white blob. Maybe just forget I even mentioned it

The mask peeled out of the silicone very easily and all of the details from the sculpt were captured. At this point, I was quite pleased. I even went so far as to make a *schlooock* sound as I pulled this thing apart. I'm cool like that.

I did absolutely no refining of the resin out of the mold. I wanted to keep any imperfections as I felt they would add to the artsy fartsy authenticity of this mask.. also the game files show a pretty clean mask, but it does have some texture. So I sanded the edges to smooth them out and cut out the eyes and forehead insignia.. I also tried to scare everybody i know by wearing this and popping out from corners. I might not be as cool as I lead you to believe earlier.

 

[The Schlitzie]

Very cool! That's only the second overseer mask that I've seen anyone make (the other wasn't on the RPF either)

I can't wait to see more.thumbsup

 

[PatrickOOOMazin]

there are so many things i wanted to make, but i figured for my first couple projects i didnt want to make something everyone else had already made

also, i like to think that the overseer coat would be something i could wear around town.. maybe while sporting a leather tophat, so it just made sense

thanks for the comment. ive painted the thing and rubbed and buffed the finish tonight, so the final photos are on their way.. im just waiting for better light

 

[Beer_Money_Props]

That pull looks great dude!

Can't say I've ever heard of using bathroom caulk for mold making, so I learned something new today. Good times!

 

[PatrickOOOMazin]

i will say that the bathroom caulking isnt exactly ideal. the mixing process is a bit messy, as at first the naphtha and silicone dont really get along. there is also some shrinkage as the silicone cures, though honestly i would count it as close to negligible for something like this. the silicone still fit in the mother mold without any problems, so i would only suggest caution when casting mating parts or components that require tight tolerances.. but thats why they have molding products that advertize their stability and lack of shrinkage.

and also, it stinks.. really bad.

but for all the problems, it is super cheap. as in somewhere around 20 dollars for 6 layers of silicone, a hydrocal shell, and some chip brushes.. so there is that to consider

anyways, thanks for the comment, and for letting me fill in some of the gaps from my posts earlier

 

[PatrickOOOMazin]

Time to finish this up!

Nothing was symmetrical on this. Oddly enough as I cast this, I was watching an episode of Face Off where some girl sculpted her prosthetic one side at a time and was having trouble with symmetry.. and everyone else was making fun of her. I silently commiserated with her.
So I found a line down the forehead that, for interests sake, we can call the middle, and with a comically large pencil, I drew on the insignia to cut out.
Then...
Then I cut it out

WHAM! This material is a bitch to cut. Unfortunately it is not my bitch.
I had a hell of a time controlling my fret saw. Which admittedly uses a blade about as thick as a 2 coarse human hairs so tracking can be a problem if the tiny teeth get clogged... of which this material is particularly good for. Seriously, as you cut, it heats up the plastic, which melts, which lodges in the teeth of the blade.. its a bad time. Fortunately epoxy putty came to the rescue. I also painted on some auto body primer so that I could see the contrast between the surface and the cut edge

Then I painted it. It's airbrushed with black as an undercoat, then a metallic gold, and finally its been rubbed and buffed with gold Rub n' Buff. This finish is terrible to photograph. In person, the mask has a really nice dull sheen. The lighting I used also really highlighted all the tool marks which aren't as apparent in natural lighting. Like I said, I did no refining of the resin out of the mold. I could have sanded and puttied this thing to a perfectly smooth finish, but then it would look rather out of place in Dishonored. Also, I did no weathering to this mask. I guess the Overseers take pretty good care of their uniform. I might splash some blood on it if there are any glaring errors I need to hide, but for a mask, its ready to go to Comicon

I have some other projects to get together before Comicon, so the rest of this costume is going to have to wait. I plan on doing all the fabric and leather work in April for all my costumes. So hold onto your butts.

 

[Gladius]

From one bearded man beast to another.. Lovely work bud, you built one of my to do's! Next you need to do black mask from the new batman and I'll be convinced us hairies have a hive mind

 

[nefreeze]

Love our mask, and the fact you scratch sculpted it. Working on one of these costumes as well and wondered if you had an good idea on the color of the uniform. I have a good dark gray cloth left over from an earlier costume, keep going from that to black. A second opinion would help.

 

[PatrickOOOMazin]

hey thanks chum!
im doing some other projects right now, getting all the props made before i switch to the fabric elements (in april) for comicon.
the overseer jacket in the game is a dark grey. my plans are to talk to a military reenactment group and get their opinions as to what variety of fabric to use, as the overseers are an elite military group. im going to ask them for info on their formal uniforms, like what they would wear to a ceremony, instead of battle gear.

if you go with grey you will get better dimension to the costume, like folds and creases will pop better than with black (my opinion, at least). also going with grey allows you to dye the fabric as needed.. so for blood stains or dirt, or just to darken the fabric overall if needed, you have more options.

this is the image ive used for everything for this build. the pants are black, i would say.. and they are definitely darker than the coat
http://videogame-art.com/wp-content...eArt_Dishonored_Overseer01_BuliarcaMarius.jpg

im still pondering how to do the golden design on the coat though. im talking with some of my more sewing familiar friends who have suggested topstitching bias tape down for the design. either that or im going to have to ask my quilter grandmother how she would go about it.

someone else suggested a... double sided fusible interface material?? i dont know how that would work though, plus i would worry that it would move around as you ironed it on.. also ive never heard of double sided fusible interface, but it might be an option.

or fabric paint

anyways, ill be sure to check out your build log later tonight

 

[nefreeze]

Sounds good sir, I believe I will run with the gray I have it is a pretty dark one. But I think you have the overseers figured wrong, they are a religious sect of witch hunters not really military. And better trained and funded then the city watch, at least that is what I gathered looking them up.

 

[PatrickOOOMazin]

well i wasnt about to go ask the vatican guard for fashion advice now, am i right?
yea im right
up top!