Hulk Costume

N

neonpanther

New Member
Hi all.

I'm new here, but have recently taken a big interest in cosplaying…

…So I want to cosplay Hulk.
I'm not talking paint myself green and wear a white shirt and purple shorts.
I'm talking about a full 7ft 6" oversized costume.

Marvel.com describes Hulk's height as 7ft - 8ft so i'm averaging it out at 7ft 6".

Now, I know there have been several people that have made Hulk costumes before…some of them maybe even on this forum, but I wanted to start a thread which clearly covers the best possible way of making an oversized costume like this.

I have already seen many other oversized costumes, and I have learnt from them already.
I've seen Mike Passaretti's Hulk costume, i've seen Harmonic_Distortion's Hulk costume, i've seen Stan_Lee_Wannabee's Hulk costume, i've seen Jeremy Taylor's Wampa costume, and i've seen Allen Hansard's Sasquatch costume.
They are all very good costumes, and some actually have progress photos and videos.
However, I have set up this thread to clarify all the dos and don'ts in making an oversized costume…particularly for the Hulk.

Now i'm not saying I know how to do it, i'm just gonna put forward what I know so far and then i'll leave it to you guys to submit ideas and feedback.

So here we go!

So I started out by comparing the size between the human inside and the Hulk outside.
I needed to get the proportions correct.
So I drew it up in photoshop using a photo of a Hulk maquette and an image of an average male human body (roughly 5ft 9" which is near my height incidentally).
I edited the 2 images together in Photoshop and you can see the image below.

6793524212_5e5ee386f9_b.jpg


1. MOVEMENT

The head will be free-moving. You can use a mask if you want but I prefer to just have my face because i'd like to add my own personality to the Hulk and also I think the Hulk looks better with a tiny head. It makes the rest of the body look all the more huge.

The Hulk arm's will be controlled by the human simply moving their arms. There would be grips inside the costume to hold onto, to move the arms.

The Hulk forearm, on the other hand, would be controlled by the movement of the human's wrist. The human would angle their wrist to change the angle of the forearm.

The Hulk's legs would be controlled my the human simply moving their legs because the human will be standing on stilts that are attached to the Hulk feet. These stilts will provide the extra height for the human, and will also maintain good balance because the stilts will have a large surface area on the bottom to attach to the feet.

2. CONSTRUCTION METHOD

Step 1 - Create armature (skeleton)
Step 2 - Rig up the armature joints (hinges)
Step 3- Create individual muscle pieces
Step 4 - Attach muscle pieces to the armature
Step 5 - Cover in green material

3. MATERIALS

The armature would be made from flexible PVC tubing.
The tubing would be put together using PVC couplings.
The muscle pieces would be made from foam board.
The covering green material could be made from polyester.

So this is what I have gathered from my many hours of research. I'm hoping it will help other people that want to make an oversized costume like this…
…so…what do you think?!

JR
 
nice concept bro, but with your legs inside the stomach cavity of the hulk costume, how will you step? would recommend sizing down the costume a bit so so your hip is not too far from the costume's hip so the leg movement will not be too compromised. i've been toying with a hulk/ben grimm costume for a while myself, but only around a sub 7 ft . range (i'm 6 ft. barefoot). please keep us posted for any developments.
 
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why not have some prosthetic face pieces on as well? that way, people can still see your face and at the same time see the hulk. unless you do already look like the hulk
 
Love the idea and hope you will pull it off!

I have two concerns though about your concept design. They both have to do with the bigger arm and leg joints. Do you think you will be able to move the whole massive forearm with just your wrist? The same question goes to the lower leg, it looks like the costume's knee will be bent by the wearers ankle . I think it will look a bit stiff legged. As mentioned before I think you will have to place your natural joints closer to Hulk's joints for it to look natural.

A thousand good luck to you, will follow with interest!

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
 
Ah, I see you've seen my build :) For those who haven't, I did something very similar a few years ago when I made Sasquatch from the Alpha Flight.

63048_430542366594_572191594_5520919_2290650_n.jpg


Have you seen the WIP thread of this build on The SCF? It may be helpful to you:

Log into Yuku | Free forums, social networks, communities, chat rooms

The concern about your legs being in the stomach is valid. In my costume my hips were the same as the costume's hips. My actual feet also ended in the knees of the costume and I also used painter's stilts. My actual knees bent in the middle of the costume's thighs and this was not noticeable.

My actual arms came out through holes in the side of the torso; the upper arms of the costume are attached to the torso and don't move. (If you don't yet realize it, this is the way you've drawn your figure too.) My actual hands ended in the elbows of the costume.

If you look closely at my costume, you'll see some vertical slits in the center of the chest - this is where I looked out.

If you want your face to be inside of the costume's mask, this presents problems for your arms and legs (as your head moves up, so do your arms and legs). For your costume arms to have total movement from the shoulder joint, your actual arms will have to be almost horizontal, with your actual elbows bent at a 90 degree angle at the shoulder joint. An interior padded structure would have to be built to keep your arms up in this position. Regardless, the elbows of the costume will not have any movement so if you want an elbow bent of something you'll have to construct it that way.

With the way you've drawn it, your hips are in the stomach of the costume. I'm sorry, but this simply won't work. Try walking around your house only using your knees to move and not moving your hips at all. Not imaging trying to do this on stilts with an incredibly bulky costume all around you.

My tough-to-hear yet strong advice: take your head out of the costume's head - it'll solve a LOT of problems. It's a tough one to accept - trust me I know - but it may be the difference between success and failure on this project. (This is why the SDCC Hulk also looked out of the chest too.) With the Hulk, you can potentially hide your viewing slits through rips in a shirt (the SDCC guys viewing triangle was WAY too noticeable imho).

I hope this helps, and please feel free to message me with any questions. I'm going to be moving in the next few days, so the best way to get a hold of me will probably be by PM on The SCF.

Btw, if you're coming to DragonCon, I need a Hulk for a Defenders group I'm putting together :thumbsup
 
personally not a fan of talent show clip looks like a really bad rush job. I also started my hulk build around the same time as you im doing everyhing in foam sculpt coverd with smoothing foam then wrapped in a 4 way stretch poleyster with airbrush paint job. My hulk will be right around the 7'5 level but I am already 6'4 so not to far of a strecth. I havent really seen many good hulk costumes out there. I have only seen one i consider to be truly good but I have high standards. Ill make a thread with all my pics and progress. I have most fo the head scuplted and formed. The left arms partail chest done and 1 hand sculpted ...it's aloot of work my arms are 38" around....
 
I agree with awestdesign. Paint looked a little dark on that Hulk also. I liked the concept and stages of their presentation though. Can't wait to see progress on these hulk builds. Mine will be done early next week...I hope.

Paul
 
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