First off, let me say hello to one and all. I happened to stumble upon your forum after checking out a Bio mask build on instructables.com, and I must say I am utterly in awe at some of the things that you guys and gals have designed. The effort, time, mud, sweat and tears are completely visible in the incredible attention to detail presented. Well done, very well done indeed. As a younger guy (I'm 26 now) and even now I find the Predator costume to be one of the coolest movie monsters of all time, up there with the original terminator machines and the "Independence Day" aliens. When I saw that build on instructables, I immediately thought about doing my own. Then I found this forum, and realized I wouldn't be content with a mere handmade mask - I wanted to build one that looked professional. I showed it to the girl I'm dating, who loves Halloween, and she told me I should go for it. I don't believe I could get a decent costume together in the space of one summer (I'm going to be a 2nd year dental student next year, and 2nd year is, for lack of a better word, a total b***h!). I will have 3 solid free months this summer, however, so maybe I can get the mask done at least. I have spent a few hours perusing the huntorials here regarding fabrication and molding of the masks and think I can at least get the thing modeled up in clay. I believe I will be using the wire-frame covered in plaster as a modeling base (per Uratz's how-to, I believe - if I have incorrectly attributed, please forgive and correct me!). As a dental student, my hand-skills have been developed and improved this first year - both with creating wax-up models of teeth and cutting preparations with a handpiece, (insert ToolTime Tim Taylor's laugh here 
so tackling something like this and customizing it sounds like fun to me. I know it will take an inordinate amount of work, but as Uratz said in some of his posts, if it is something you really enjoy doing then you never regret the time spent.
At this point I am starting my first of two weeks of finals - basically 9 exams in 8 days starting this Wednesday the 27th (why the hell did I choose to go to dental school again? lol) so my creative process will be on hold until I finish on the 6th of May. I had a few ideas for design themes with the mask however, and wanted to run them by some of you pros and see what you thought. Hopefully I can use the P1 bio template to brainstorm and flesh them out in the near future, and when that happens I'll post my ideas here for all to comment/critique upon.
1. Snakeskin - I was thinking about snake scales all over the mask, possibly with the cobra hood design on the forehead portion. Also a forked-tongue piece in the front, although it would likely have to be small and not hang down too far for ease of molds. Slight fang incorporation as well if possible.
2. Ice/arctic - white/grey/bluish color scheme, with icicles for head spikes and possibly hanging from the chin region. Very angular like carved out of ice.
3. Roman gladiator style - I was envisioning a metal-like finish (much like on the original P1 bios) but inspired by Maximus' helmet in "Gladiator" - Punisher-style underhangings on the chin and and three triangular ridges running from forehead to back, the center of which is more prominent, possibly tying in very thin dreads with the rest of the hair.
I realize that these are very difficult to picture since they are so limited in description, but I wanted to put the ideas out there. I know some of the members here have designed their own "themes" for preds of different origins, and that was kinda my idea as well.
Any/all input is very welcome and appreciated. As this is my first foray into this world, I will be posting numerous questions and ideas along the way. Sorry for the long introduction but thanks for reading!
so tackling something like this and customizing it sounds like fun to me. I know it will take an inordinate amount of work, but as Uratz said in some of his posts, if it is something you really enjoy doing then you never regret the time spent. At this point I am starting my first of two weeks of finals - basically 9 exams in 8 days starting this Wednesday the 27th (why the hell did I choose to go to dental school again? lol) so my creative process will be on hold until I finish on the 6th of May. I had a few ideas for design themes with the mask however, and wanted to run them by some of you pros and see what you thought. Hopefully I can use the P1 bio template to brainstorm and flesh them out in the near future, and when that happens I'll post my ideas here for all to comment/critique upon.
1. Snakeskin - I was thinking about snake scales all over the mask, possibly with the cobra hood design on the forehead portion. Also a forked-tongue piece in the front, although it would likely have to be small and not hang down too far for ease of molds. Slight fang incorporation as well if possible.
2. Ice/arctic - white/grey/bluish color scheme, with icicles for head spikes and possibly hanging from the chin region. Very angular like carved out of ice.
3. Roman gladiator style - I was envisioning a metal-like finish (much like on the original P1 bios) but inspired by Maximus' helmet in "Gladiator" - Punisher-style underhangings on the chin and and three triangular ridges running from forehead to back, the center of which is more prominent, possibly tying in very thin dreads with the rest of the hair.
I realize that these are very difficult to picture since they are so limited in description, but I wanted to put the ideas out there. I know some of the members here have designed their own "themes" for preds of different origins, and that was kinda my idea as well.
Any/all input is very welcome and appreciated. As this is my first foray into this world, I will be posting numerous questions and ideas along the way. Sorry for the long introduction but thanks for reading!
