Mass Effect: Mass Effect, Grunt - foam build with latex - pic heavy

[fallimar]

Re: Mass Effect: Grunt, foam build with latex

Building up the facial features. I'm using a pic I found of what I believe to be the original zbrush artwork for Grunt's face - whatever it is it's very detailed and awesome, so it's my reference.



I'm still very much learning how the clay works. The ridges on the lower lip are too deep and I'll soften those up, but the effect is nice overall. When it's all textured it'll look very nice, I think. Lots to do!

 

[Beer_Money_Props]

Re: Mass Effect: Grunt, foam build with latex

I'm gonna miss "Derpy Grunt", but it's shaping up really nicely!

That eye really looks like its got some life to it now. Keep up the fantastic work.

 

[fallimar]

Re: Mass Effect: Grunt, foam build with latex

Right! A couple more shots of progress. I'm a bit worried about symmetry so the front-on pic is very important. I need to even up the eyes, bulk out the left jaw, and... not even start on the head ridges, those are wonky as, bro.


(I miss Derp!Grunt too)

Oh, and I managed to try out my stilts for the first time successfully today. Sitting on a table outdoors next to the side fence, I managed to stand up and walk clumsily along the fence line. It's -murder- on the thighs, but that just means I need practice and exercise. Always a good thing on both counts. I need to do tiny adjustments to the balance point, but the design of the stilts makes that a breeze. Great things!
Rather excited about this all coming together, slowly or not

 

[Nero]

Re: Mass Effect: Grunt, foam build with latex

Right! A couple more shots of progress. I'm a bit worried about symmetry so the front-on pic is very important. I need to even up the eyes, bulk out the left jaw, and... not even start on the head ridges, those are wonky as, bro.
View attachment 229585View attachment 229586

(I miss Derp!Grunt too)

Oh, and I managed to try out my stilts for the first time successfully today. Sitting on a table outdoors next to the side fence, I managed to stand up and walk clumsily along the fence line. It's -murder- on the thighs, but that just means I need practice and exercise. Always a good thing on both counts. I need to do tiny adjustments to the balance point, but the design of the stilts makes that a breeze. Great things!
Rather excited about this all coming together, slowly or not

Keep practicing on the Digilegs mate, after a couple of hours your legs will begin to relax, walking will become natural after an hour or so and that burn in your thighs will ease a lot. that third leg/ crutch idea is a good way to start if you dont have anyone to hold your hand.
Being a big mass effect fan and part of the team responsible for bringing the world Digilegs im Very excited to see where you take this.
Subbed

 

[fallimar]

Re: Mass Effect: Grunt, foam build with latex

Keep practicing on the Digilegs mate, after a couple of hours your legs will begin to relax, walking will become natural after an hour or so and that burn in your thighs will ease a lot. that third leg/ crutch idea is a good way to start if you dont have anyone to hold your hand.
Being a big mass effect fan and part of the team responsible for bringing the world Digilegs im Very excited to see where you take this.
Subbed

Hey! I'm loving the digilegs so much, I've wanted a pair of them ever since I first saw 'em, and having this project as an incentive is damned awesome. I'm fence-walking right now, going up and down the fence line until I get comfortable to let go. I've got some friends with circus training coaching me, and I'm doing thigh exercises to get my strength up. I've got until next year so it's a slow burn from here. Grunt will be as butt-kickingly Grunty as I can make him!
Thanks, awesome to hear from one of the team! :thumbsup

 

[fallimar]

Re: Mass Effect: Grunt, foam build with latex

Right. So I'm running into mental blocks with regard to fitting.
This is always going to be a very tricky build with regard to putting it all together, and I'll come up with solutions eventually, but the real issues I'll be facing are vision loss, instability and the lack of ability to sit down. I will need to be able to sit down, because in a crowded area in the kind of bulk I'll have on with the stilts and everything... yeah.

So my thoughts so far are thus: The lower leg portions should attach to the digilegs themselves, and attach with velcro to the upper legs once the stilts are on. The main bulk of the suit will be lowered on and strapped to my upper body, then the thigh plates attached with yet more velcro. I intend to have a PVC pipe harness inside to spread the weight over my shoulders.

I run into problems thinking about the upper arms, as they'll not be able to have my arms in them. The lower arms will be my entire arm, basically, so the upper and lower arms need to join somehow -after- my body has gone into the rest of the suit. I'm thinking velcro again, but it's something to think about. Would it be worth considering wetting up a PVC pipe "skeleton" for the upper arms to hang from and give a small range of movement? Anyone done this?
The head is the biggest issue. I need the jaw to move so I can see. I'll be attempting to design a simple mechanical rig to use the movement of my own jaw to open Grunt's mouth, though I'm no engineer so I doubt I'll be able to get the range of movement I want without difficulty. Animatronics aren't really a possibility.
I'm considering the idea of a camera mounted on the suit for vision purposes. Does anyone have an idea of which kind of hardware would be feasible? I'm not exactly rolling in cash so low-cost options are always a major plus. Yes, I've thought about having mesh panels and such, I've used them in previous costumes but I hate the look of them and they provide structural weak spots, as well as providing crappy vision when they're not right up against your face. My face will be probably close to a foot from the nearest surface.

I'll overcome all this stuff eventually, but any input from all you lot who've done this sort of thing before would be very useful indeed. I want this to be awesome, not half-arsed.

 

[fallimar]

Re: Mass Effect: Grunt, foam build with latex

Minor face sculpt progress.


This is an annoying stage, because I'm having to double-check myself every time I try to add detail, remembering that the shape has to be right first. So I have to keep slapping clay on to make it symmetrical, then ruin the symmetry by carving in or slapping on detail. Then fix, then move on... the rinse and repeat. Frustrating for a beginner sculptor, but good learning experience I guess. Wish I knew the proper techniques! heh!

 

[booksandcorsets]

Re: Mass Effect: Grunt, foam build with latex

The eyes look great!!

I have no suggestions as to electronics, sorry. I went through this myself. You're going to either suffer through poor vision or have extreme problems with weight and need some sort of Google-glass setup in order to be able to fit that "screen" underneath the mask. I would assume it's probably easiest to suffer through poor vision.

 

[Boris Mzhen]

Re: Mass Effect: Grunt, foam build with latex

Amazing work! :thumbsup

 

[fallimar]

Re: Mass Effect: Grunt, foam build with latex

Thanks, booksandcorsets and Boris Mzhen, very much appreciated

I'm doing mostly superficial work on the face, though I'm adding some more neck and chest to balance it a bit - and hey, if I'm making a massive lump of insanity then it might as well be even bigger. Because that... helps somehow. Thankfully it's still the right scale, though this will -definitely- be an oversize Grunt. Grunt when he's grown up. A lot.
Thankfully I got a great tip from the guy at the mouldy-casty shop to use artists' turpentine instead of isopropyl alcohol for smoothing. It works! I did a small test patch under the eye and on the upper lip ridges. I like what it's done to matte the surface too. Very cool.


I also threw the raw leg pieces on to a stilt to see how they fit together. They will need a lot of adjustment once I've got the softer foam inner shell in there to set them all into place and build up the leg structure, but the basic form is there. The thigh piece is sagging a lot, that shouldn't happen once it's been hardened. I went over it with some messy lines to show the proposed leg outline. Light blue for existing foam, red for foamwork to come.


The scale is starting to worry me, but the awesome factor is kinda cancelling that out a bit. Silly, but fun

 

[fallimar]

A little progress on Grunt's face - I've been so slow lately - my little one is turning into a two-year-old so time for sculpting and foamwork is... less. A lot less. heh.

Still, progress is progress. Learning a lot.

... and housemate photobomb. Kinda shows the scale well though!

 

[Beer_Money_Props]

Looks so rad...

I still miss Derpy Grunt though...

 

[Rubber Slug]

That is an awesome sculpt!

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Wow that looks really good!

 

[Super Dad]

So rad. Looking amazing.

 

[Freya Willia]

Excellent job on the face details. I feel you on the life issues making slow progress. The only good thing about working slowly is that you catch mistakes early on. Some of them, anyway.

 

[postmanpat]

Great progress so far!!! Look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[fallimar]

Slooow progress, but a bit more on the neck and forehead. Getting rocky!

 

[Nessy]

I just found your thread and I am mightily impressed at the quality of this sculpt. Did you make or buy the eyes? They look fantastic. I am subscribed and cannot wait to see more!

 

[Killtime]

Looks perfect fallimar! Are you planning on wearing it to any con's this year? I'd wager March's waicon is too close, maybe Supanova?

Either way I look forward to seeing this in real life!