Help!!! Brand New At ThIS!

[neorei2088]

Hello everyone!

I am a huge fan of cosplay and I've been doing mostly cloth costumes. Very simple on most accounts and I want to start getting more serious about my costuming.

I am brand new at this and would really appreciate any sort of pointers or tips. I want to eventually make a Beast costume from Disney's Beauty and the Beast but I know that this is something that will come with some practice. A friend suggested doing some small components of other costumes to try and get the hang of foam based costumes.

If you have any idea how I can get started it would be great help. I am not even sure where to start. I was thinking of making a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle hand just to get some of the basics down.

Can anyone help!?!??! :cry

 

[EyeofSauron]

welcome to the rpf

im also rather new here, but was on other boards before that, and i think i can help with some

so first of all, there are different possibilities for costumes:

so first, you have your basic cloth costumes, that you are familiar with.

then there is pepakura- making the basics out of cardstock paper, with a program called pepakura designer. there is so many files out there, you can just use the search engine to find your desired model. i think pepakura is a good way to start costuming for beginners, there are a lot of low res models, that will give you a sucess pretty quickly. those pep models are afterwards covered with polyester resin, and the insides with fibre glass cloth, or bondo alternatively. Afterwards bondo is used on the outside to get it smooth with sanding, and making details.

Another option is EVA Foam. Basicly floor mats, cut, glued and painted. basicly works the same way as pepakura, only you dont have any 3d program to print it with so its basicly free hand. Advantage over pep is its more flexible.

Also there is the possibility of sculpting something out of clay and molding it (molding can be done with other pieces too, for example resined pep pieces etc). you can get a lot of your own ideas with that, and have free hand, as its your own design.

After molding, you can use different ways to get something out the mold, silicone, polyester, plastic etc. Possibilities are unlimited.

Personally, i would start with for example a pepakura helmet, like a storm trooper, iron man or boba fett for example. if youre into that kind of stuff, as i said there are really models for everything out there.
Or alternatively, you can try modeling a ninja turtle hand and then mold and cast it. if thats more your thing

i personally, would try and start with the project i want to do, because basicly, if you do something you dont really care for, you will lose interest sooner or later. It might not be perfect, but given enough time, even if you just started, you can get it really good on first try

hth
EoS

 

[fleefromme]

you should check out other peoples threads. even if its not the same build they often use the same techniques that you will be using, so just keep that in mind. you will was also find people who know a lot and can answer any question that you have.