Handsome Jack with prosthetic mask!

[Abbytates]

I've had a little project going the last several months, I really enjoyed the Borderlands games and I saw a lot of Handsome Jack cosplay where the cosplayers painted the mask on using makeup. Thats fun, but I was surprised the more I looked that I could not find a single person who had made a prosthetic. I mean, it was just screaming to be done, right?

So I had that dangerous thought. You know the one.

I'd bet I could do that.

So, having never done any FX makeup before, I set out to learn how to make a prosthetic mask! Basically, I've never done anything like this before. I've really never even sculpted anything I've been remotely proud of. I had never done any real mold making (okay, I think once with fruit and plaster in school?) I had never modified a wig, and I had never painted clothes. This entire project was more of a learning experience than I could have ever hoped for, and I am really proud of the outcome!

The mask is made from gelatin. In the two pictures below I had been wearing it for eight hours and four hours respectively. Since this was my first mask sculpt, the sculpt wasn't perfect and I also was having a really hard time getting the mold tight enough for good thin edges. In addition, I had only practiced applying the mask three times before the occasion in these pictures- basically, I'm saying the edges around the eyes and mouth are pretty bad, please be kind about them! I wish I had a good closer picture, a photographer at the convention last weekend took at least one close up that I thought looked good, but I don't think he's put his pictures online yet.

Okay now a couple detail pictures. I love the design of the back of the Jacket, its way more interesting than the front. (please excuse my funny pink hair showing, it was a very quick picture!) Since I am really terrible at sewing the only way this jacket was possible was to find a jacket that was a good starting point. I deconstructed it where I needed to and removed parts of the panels, modified the pleat, and added the belt with buttons.

Not much to say about the shoes, but I think they were the first thing I finished on this project and I really like them. I keep wanting to wear them for everyday.

And a process shot with one shoe done, because I thought it looked cool!

This little chest... fob... thing. Okay, honestly I don't know what its supposed to be. I think at some point in BL2 its called a pocket watch. But I found a nice little light for it and its very cute. It was hard to photograph but the lighter section is metallic. I really liked the decision to mix the materials, it makes it far more interesting visually.

Last is my digistruct. I'm really fond of this one. Fabricating these smaller props is, I think, what I enjoy most. It looks fantastic in person and I'm also just incredibly pleased with how it shows up in the photos. In this detail photo it doesn't have the straps attached yet, but the straps (visible in the first two pictures) are strong and easily adjustable. I also added a nice little clip at the inside of the leg to make it easier to take on and off.

Since I wore this cosplay to Wizard World Des Moines I got to meet Dameon Clarke, Handsome Jack's voice actor. He was really kind about my work and a real delight to meet. I hadn't planned on it, but I ended up deciding to ask him to sign my digistruct. I'll probably keep this one on my shelf with my other favorite things.
Thanks for looking! I'm happy to go more into detail with anything I did if anyone's curious!

 

[Ash]

Re: Handsome Jack

Really awesome! I did something along the same lines a couple years ago for Halloween when I went as Sterling Archer. I didn't create an awesome mask like you did I just used makeup to "cel shade" my face and a suit bought at Goodwill and cel-shaded with fabric paints.



You did an awesome job all around, my friends keep telling me to do this costume for cosplay and you might have just inspired me to do just that.

-Ash

 

[Abbytates]

Re: Handsome Jack

I just realized I have a picture that does the paint on the jeans justice. I really do want to wear some of this stuff all the time.


Does anyone have a suggestion for a quality clear spray to protect the permanent marker on the props? Especially the signed one. I'd like to make sure it never gets scratched. I have a couple random ones around the house but when I tested them they weren't very clear or made the marker on the test pieces run.

 

[Reynolds]

Re: Handsome Jack

Can you go into more detail about how you modified the coat?

 

[Abbytates]

Re: Handsome Jack

Can you go into more detail about how you modified the coat?

Of course! Sorry I haven't been keeping an eye on this thread or I would have gotten back faster.

I have to mention that I'm about as new to sewing as a person could possibly be. This is probably the first thing I've ever sewed that seems structurally sound after wearing it. Anyone looking for valuable information on how to alter clothing should probably find someone whose experience surpasses.... uh, wildly dubious.

To start, here's a reference.

I needed to end up with a jacket with a hem that was long and pointed in the front, Jack's has a well fitted waist and is quite tight without closing, so I knew it was likely I'd have to take in the waist on whatever jacket I bought. The last feature I looked for was a single vent in the back. I shopped for mens jackets for a long time, but eventually found what I needed in a woman's jacket. This was fantastic, because being female myself, I knew that what I was getting was going to fit me well and not require alterations beyond what I already planned to do.

Here are the original eBay pictures (left) next to the finished images (right.) The finished jacket is a bit of a funny shape and for a LOT of reasons doesn't like to lay flat, so it doesn't photograph too well on a hanger.

Most of the modifications were done to the back of the jacket. I needed to take in the jacket considerably to define the waist and so it naturally hung open at my sides, Handsome Jack's jacket is far too tight to button and I wanted mine to hang the same way.

Here's the most basic steps of the modifications I made. The jacket had five seams in the back, I tore out the seams highlighted in red in the second picture, and then removed the two darkened panels. Removing this fabric was enough to take in the jacket as much as I wanted, so the two remaining edges became my new seam. The third picture shows (very) roughly what the seams looked like on the finished jacket with the panels removed, I also sketched in about how much I altered the hemline.

The other biggest things I did to the jacket was make the belt at the back, the tabs behind the collar, and the pleat for the vent. I was very lucky that the fabric from the two panels I removed turned out the be enough for nearly all of this. I had to use a little bit of black fabric at the sides of the pleat but it isn't visible unless you pull it open to examine it. I sewed the tabs and belt over a crisp fabric interfacing to give them more structure.

Someday it would be very cool to actually sew my costumes, but until then these alterations were a lot of fun. Anyway, I really hope this helps!

 

[Abbytates]

Re: Handsome Jack

Hi RPF, having a rough day with my props.

I wanted to have a look at my mod/watch and digistruct, so I pulled them off of their shelf and turned the lights on. I hadn't noticed but at some point over the last few months the lenses had completely lost all of their color. I tested so many different things to get the effect I wanted, I forget exactly what I ended up using to color the lenses,. If I could remember what I had ended up using I would post it here to warn others about the product.

Anyway, they look like this now. I am so proud of these two props and I want to fix them, however I don't even know where to begin. I don't know if there will be any way to remove the lenses without destroying them, as this problem is one that I hadn't prepared for.



The color looks strange in the picture- the actual lenses are the same color (and were the same color before) I wanted the leg holster to appear blue and the "watch" to appear greener, so I used one extremely white light, and one warm white light. The difference looks extreme in this photo, and is also effected by the fact that this picture was taken in the 20k lighting of an aquarium.

I think I may just do the simplest thing, and find a piece of transparent plastic thats the right color and place it behind the existing lens- if there's any room inside for this fix. Otherwise, I may have to paint an additional layer of color on the lenses. Can anyone recommend a good product for this?

 

[Mike J.]

Tamiya makes high-end model paints – they have transparent colors, but I don't know what they'd do to the material you used for your lenses...

You may be able to purchase some theatrical lighting gels online, they'd have to be cut to size and inserted behind the lens, though.

 

[Abbytates]

Tamiya makes high-end model paints – they have transparent colors, but I don't know what they'd do to the material you used for your lenses...

You may be able to purchase some theatrical lighting gels online, they'd have to be cut to size and inserted behind the lens, though.

These ideas are so helpful! I'd like to try the paint but you may be right about it reacting with the lenses, I'll have to think about that one. If nothing else the theatrical lighting gels would probably give great color. Thanks, Mike!

 

[Mike J.]

You're welcome. Good luck.

Thanks for doing the RPF credit by being an awesome member.


-MJ

 

[PrimoOptimoso]

Holy crap, that is probably the best Jack cosplay I've ever seen. just aces.

 

[akoolpoptart]

The painted Jeans is a really nice effect. I thought it was photoshopped at first

 

[asavage]

This is inspired and incredible.

 

[Lear60man]

Tamiya makes high-end model paints – they have transparent colors, but I don't know what they'd do to the material you used for your lenses...

You may be able to purchase some theatrical lighting gels online, they'd have to be cut to size and inserted behind the lens, though.

Yup. Tamiya has the transparent paint you seek. Or tinted cellophane or you can take clear lexan and tint it with food coloring or RIT dye.

Lots of options.

BTW, cool get up. Borderlands kinda bore me, but your work is noble.

 

[Abbytates]

Thank you for all the kind words, they mean so much.

I don't have a lot of extra funds for a whole new cosplay right now, and I've only worn Jack twice, so I think I'll be wearing him again this spring. I have a few ideas for details that I'd like to be better, such as I think I will actually sculpt the shoulder pieces on the jacket and cast them in resin, (right now they are foam and they are not that nice.) I also have made some changes to my original mask mold, at the time I didn't know anything about overflow areas and cutting edges so the outcome suffered. I drilled some small holes to help displace a bit of the gelatin when I cast, this should help me get better edges. I've also modded a nerf gun into a Hyperion gun- which isn't totally done and might be entirely repainted because that sounds like something I might do. Last, I was never quite satisfied with the vest I came up with, it was a men's vest and quite didn't fit my hips so it kept riding up while I wore it, also I really never liked the vests clips, and I'd really like to sculpt and cast those in resin as well.

 

[Abbytates]

Here's my Hyperion nerf gun. I didn't spend too much time trying to find the perfect nerf gun for the Hyperion look, but I do like it. Since this was my first try, as was most of the things I've done in this thread, I might repaint this.

 

[gothic]

never played boarderland but i like the way you have duplcated the cartoonish paintwork and lines if thats the right phrase ?

 

[Handsomejack96]

Hey Abby I'm in the process of assembly my first cosplay and I wanted to tackle handsome jack and I was wondering how did you make that white shirt/coat of his

 

[Abbytates]

Hey Abby I'm in the process of assembly my first cosplay and I wanted to tackle handsome jack and I was wondering how did you make that white shirt/coat of his

Hi! That shirt is actually a women's button up dress, I altered the hemline to match Jack's shirt, and took in the dress at the sides so it hung open instead of wanting to close all the way. The one I found was from Forever 21 a year ago, and it isn't available from that store anymore. Admittedly, it wasn't easy to find one that matched what I needed.

 

[Abbytates]

Getting to work on some improved details! Here's the shoulder piece, I recall the original one being about the last thing I did before the Con last year, very hastily as I was packing.

 

[Abbytates]

A few questions about my mask! I'd like to do another casting of it, and hopefully get a much better outcome. There was a lot of trial and error the first time around, so my mold got a lot of use. The edges around it were pretty thin and I ended up with a few very small cracks around the corners and I'm worried about its strength. I'd like to reinforce it with more resin, but I know that it can be difficult to get a new layer to "stick." Does anyone have any tips for this?

Second, I originally used gelatin for my mask for budget reasons, but I'm thinking seriously about trying to cast my mask in silicone. My main concern at the time was that I heard silicone can be very difficult to paint. I mostly see people using airbrushes and other fancy things, and I don't have any specialized painting equipment. Can someone recommend a good painting method to someone who is new to working with silicone?

(To be clear I have read a bit on properties of silicone and when I was originally sculpting and casting I thought I might go the silicone route then, and didn't make a decision not to until the end, so I avoided using any materials which- to my knowledge- would inhibit the curing of silicone. I think I'm okay in that area.)