Mass effect Shepard cosplay

[Deadlyninja18]

So this is my first eva foam build. Im new to cosplaying, mostly because various materials are hard to find in my country (one being eva foam which i found after atleast of few months searching) but that didnt stop me. I was inspired by all the costume and prop makers using eva foam for their armors so i decided to try my hand at it..

It took me about a week from scratch to finished product, of non stop working, since i was making it for a huge annual masquerade in my city (sadly we dont have game conventions or similar things ;c)

for eva ive used templates created by http://www.therpf.com/f24/n7-armour-templates-patterns-prop-codex-142610/, half of them to be exact, since i ended up merging me2 and me3 armor in progress of building (Liking how more detailed the me3 armor was) although i have to replace the pauldrons to fit the me3 style.

For the breather helmet ive winged most of it, doing it by hand and eying the parts from 3d models since i couldnt find a decent file. I did manage to get the schematics from http://www.therpf.com/f24/axiomultras-mass-effect-project-146406/ by the end, so the back part of it is credited to him.

Everything is done by my hand, ive used dremmel and heat gun to shape and carve the foam, hot glue to merge them and nylon straps and buckles for it to hold to my body.

As for the finish, ive used white glue diluted with water for the base, acrylic black spray for the primary coat, and my acrylic paints for the details and weathering.

ive still not used anything to protect the paint, because im not sure what to use... any suggestions?

i still need to do a decent photoshoot for it, Probably when i finish my n7 rifle.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

finished the avenger, more pix on 2nd page.

 

[Morgenes]

Beautiful work, love your paint skills. Props to AxiomUltra, I used his pep files for my shep armor as well. Great work, keep it up!

 

[oysteinhole]

Amazing build .... And i just love the way of making the suits with templates and not pep

 

[Deadlyninja18]

Beautiful work, love your paint skills. Props to AxiomUltra, I used his pep files for my shep armor as well. Great work, keep it up!

i do have things in mind next, i need to finish n7 rifle and then probably will start a DS project..

Amazing build .... And i just love the way of making the suits with templates and not pep

yeah templates are a great way to make things with EVA since with it you can get those curves and ovals

 

[cannibal869]

wow....

I mean wow... your *first* build?
You got some serious skillz!
strong work!

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Very cool! That's the way to make an entrance with your first build! I think you might be the first member from Serbia too.

 

[morcon1223]

WOW!!! great work!

 

[SofaKing01]

First eva foam build, new to cosplaying, mostly because various materials are hard to find in your country... Results: FANTASTIC JOB!

 

[Deadlyninja18]

wow....

I mean wow... your *first* build?
You got some serious skillz!
strong work!

well i was always really persistant with my work =p and tried to make it as best looking as possible..

Very cool! That's the way to make an entrance with your first build! I think you might be the first member from Serbia too.

wow really? :s i thought with a forum like this at least someone would be from here... So im kind of a pioneer

WOW!!! great work!

thanks!

First eva foam build, new to cosplaying, mostly because various materials are hard to find in your country... Results: FANTASTIC JOB!

thank you though i had much ups and downs (mostly with the helmet) im happy how it turned out. Worthy of commander shepard !

 

[Freya Willia]

So this is my first eva foam build. Im new to cosplaying, mostly because various materials are hard to find in my country (one being eva foam which i found after atleast of few months searching) but that didnt stop me. I was inspired by all the costume and prop makers using eva foam for their armors so i decided to try my hand at it..

It took me about a week from scratch to finished product, of non stop working, since i was making it for a huge annual masquerade in my city (sadly we dont have game conventions or similar things ;c)

That is a beautiful accomplishment in such a short time! Nothing about it looks like you rushed it, either, and even if you said it took you a month my mind would still be blown.

Excellent work with the paint. It's also a very unique Shepard.

 

[Old Trenchy]

New to cosplay or not that is some wonderful work there and definitely a costume to be proud of. FANTASTIC!

As for protecting the paint, a regular acrylic clear coat might do the job as long as the pieces don't have to flex to much.

Wonderful

 

[Deadlyninja18]

That is a beautiful accomplishment in such a short time! Nothing about it looks like you rushed it, either, and even if you said it took you a month my mind would still be blown.

Excellent work with the paint. It's also a very unique Shepard.

thank you, i always try to work the best i can with the time i have (something you learn in architecture uni since you do everything in last minute and cant looked rushed xD)

I tried to make my armor different, atleast i managed with paint...

And also, your shepard armor looks amazing so far the amount of time and detail you've put into it is remarkable

New to cosplay or not that is some wonderful work there and definitely a costume to be proud of. FANTASTIC!

As for protecting the paint, a regular acrylic clear coat might do the job as long as the pieces don't have to flex to much.

Wonderful

thank you I was thinking of doing so but i was also afraid it would give it a shiny look ;s since i wanted to keep some of it matte, but im not sure if the acrylic clear coat will give it that look?

 

[Peerino]

Really awesome work!

I have two questions:
1. How did you get the structure on the foam?
2. How did you make the carvings? (for example the lines on the breast-shield)

Thumbs up for your costume,
Peer

 

[TheShinyOne]

A girl Shepard?

But in all seriousness: very, very awesome, love the paint as well!

 

[Deadlyninja18]

Really awesome work!

I have two questions:
1. How did you get the structure on the foam?
2. How did you make the carvings? (for example the lines on the breast-shield)

Thumbs up for your costume,
Peer

the foam comes with two sides when bought, one is smooth, the other is textured, reason why most chose this foam for their build (http://www.bizrice.com/upload/20111221/EVA_Foam_Puzzle_Mats_EVA_Puzzle_Mats.jpg )

I made the carvings with my dremel, using various extensions, allthough im still trying which ones work best for making straight lines (since the tool tends to get out of hand since its rotating at high speed)

i also used a soldering iron, but i only had one pointy tip for it so the lines it made were kind of weird and dotty (you can see it on the detail of my helmet, on the side of it) but there are other tips that may work much better for it

And, some parts (the one that are quite staight) were cut entirely, and then sanded on the edges before getting glued back in (you can see this on the chest plate, the lines 'beneath' it on the edge and the gauntlets, the addons were made out of little cubes that were sanded on all sides)but this is also a bit of an unlucky method since you cant heat form that part again since the heat gun will melt the glue connecting the cut out parts

A girl Shepard?

But in all seriousness: very, very awesome, love the paint as well!

thank you well there is a female shepard you know ;c

also detail shots for anyone that is interested in seeing

 

[Peerino]

The more I look at it, the more I like it.
Can you tell more about how you did the painting?

 

[Deadlyninja18]

The more I look at it, the more I like it.
Can you tell more about how you did the painting?

I used a matte black acrylic spray for the base, colored the entire armor, then i used acrylic paint for the shine.

I used a dry brush method, since i used to color miniature models when i was a kid i remembered this method i used for armor.

So i grabbed a big paint brush (about 4 cm in diameter) and dry brushed the entire armor. I mixed silver acrylic with black and cyan, to give it that bluish metal coat. Whenever i would get too much paint on i would smear it with a piece of cloth or my fingers.

for the scratches, i used silver and white paint to give it highlights (I also added some details after the pictures were taken with a silver sharpie, which is a good way to add details since the brush kind of always runs out of paint mid stroke,since its dry)

for the dirt i used black paint and randomly dabbed places to give it a damaged look smearing it with a cloth or my fingers.

I also used VERY little almost to no water for this, since i noticed whenever i would dilute the paint in water, it would act like oil on the surface =s which is possibly because i didnt seal the foam all that very well with the glue..

Im also exploring new ways of adding 'scratch' details since i saw few good ideas on the forum

 

[TheShinyOne]

Nice tutorial!

 

[Peerino]

Really awesome. Thanks for the informations and good luck for further projects.

 

[EyeofSauron]

very nice work, and were allmost neighbors