chinbeard
Active Member
The Penny Arcade Expo and Dragon*Con were on two different (although concurrent) weekends this year. That meant that I could go to both of them! That meant I would definitely have to come up with a new costume. I settled on the mage version of the main character from Dragon Age 2. I really liked the look of the armor and I already kind of look like the animated fella in the cinematic for the game.
For references I used the image from the cover of the game and a concept drawing that I found online (both linked below).
The main challenge for this project was the armor. The right arm is covered in a couple of shoulder plates and a clawed gauntlet. There is also a chest armor piece and full armor plating on both legs.
To save myself the heartache and pain of re-cutting foam PVC pieces, I made all of the armor pieces out of cardboard and masking tape so that I would have spot on templates. Then each piece was cut out of 1/8" foam PVC. There were no curved pieces on the armor, which made assembly relatively straight forward.
The seams of all the "plates" were attached with fiberglass to ensure that they could hold up to two straight weekend of convention abuse. Once the individual pieces were assembled the seams were filled in with Bondo and sanded flush to make each piece look like a single, solid armor part.
I went at the assembled armor parts with my Dremel and assorted textured tools to give it the "battle damaged" look. Then all of the pieces were primed and painted with a silver metalic paint.
The glove was a lot of fun. Each claw segment was made from two pieces of foam PVC epoxied together and then epoxied straight to a leather gardening glove.
The finishing on the armor was a couple of layers of burnt sienna and various blacks to make it look dirty and rusty.
The leather bits on the costume were made from vinyl that was painted with Krylon Fusion and finished with acrylic paints. The vinyl straps had nylon straps sewn into them so that they wouldn't stretch when being buckled.
The cape and tunic are all custom sewn, patterned after a cut-up t-shirt and weatherd with acrylic paint. Pants are store bought and weathered. The boots are ankle high, zip up leather boots that I nabbed at Goodwill.
Chainmaile is made from PVC pipes a-la LotR. The neck bit was built up with foam and covered with strips of faux fur from Joanne's. The bits on the neck armor were sculpted from Sculpy.
I've linked a photo from Dragon*Con with me and a group of other Dragon Age costumers. I'll get some studio photos up in a week or two after I make the staff and get the photos done.
For references I used the image from the cover of the game and a concept drawing that I found online (both linked below).
The main challenge for this project was the armor. The right arm is covered in a couple of shoulder plates and a clawed gauntlet. There is also a chest armor piece and full armor plating on both legs.
To save myself the heartache and pain of re-cutting foam PVC pieces, I made all of the armor pieces out of cardboard and masking tape so that I would have spot on templates. Then each piece was cut out of 1/8" foam PVC. There were no curved pieces on the armor, which made assembly relatively straight forward.
The seams of all the "plates" were attached with fiberglass to ensure that they could hold up to two straight weekend of convention abuse. Once the individual pieces were assembled the seams were filled in with Bondo and sanded flush to make each piece look like a single, solid armor part.
I went at the assembled armor parts with my Dremel and assorted textured tools to give it the "battle damaged" look. Then all of the pieces were primed and painted with a silver metalic paint.
The glove was a lot of fun. Each claw segment was made from two pieces of foam PVC epoxied together and then epoxied straight to a leather gardening glove.
The finishing on the armor was a couple of layers of burnt sienna and various blacks to make it look dirty and rusty.
The leather bits on the costume were made from vinyl that was painted with Krylon Fusion and finished with acrylic paints. The vinyl straps had nylon straps sewn into them so that they wouldn't stretch when being buckled.
The cape and tunic are all custom sewn, patterned after a cut-up t-shirt and weatherd with acrylic paint. Pants are store bought and weathered. The boots are ankle high, zip up leather boots that I nabbed at Goodwill.
Chainmaile is made from PVC pipes a-la LotR. The neck bit was built up with foam and covered with strips of faux fur from Joanne's. The bits on the neck armor were sculpted from Sculpy.
I've linked a photo from Dragon*Con with me and a group of other Dragon Age costumers. I'll get some studio photos up in a week or two after I make the staff and get the photos done.
:thumbsup
