Question about Spiderman/superman suit prints

[Risu]

Sorry if this had been covered before, but it's been bugging me for a while and after seeing man of steel I've got to know. Everybody is using prints and puff paint to make all these suits and while it's really cool I just can't believe that's how the originals were made. Has anybody ever figured out how they actually achieve that effect on the screen used suits?

 

[Lunaman]

Sorry if this had been covered before, but it's been bugging me for a while and after seeing man of steel I've got to know. Everybody is using prints and puff paint to make all these suits and while it's really cool I just can't believe that's how the originals were made. Has anybody ever figured out how they actually achieve that effect on the screen used suits?

On the Amazing Spider-Man suits, they used gloss high density poly inks with a stretch additive screen-printed onto the suits to achieve the raised effect. The construction of the underlying suit itself is almost identical to the way people on the forum have been making them, MCL34N in particular, since he based the seamlines on his suit on the same seams present on the film suits. The main difference being that hobbiest suits are dye-sublimation printed on white fabric, while the suits for the films were in most cases printed on colored fabric, either using several individual screen printing passes (as in Spider-Man 1 and The Amazing Spider-Man) or dye sublimation printing (as in Spider-Man 2 and 3).

Last I head on the Man of Steel suits, something similar was done to achieve the chainmail pattern (screen printed on using high density poly inks), with a silver-colored/reflective molded muscle layer worn beneath the lycra. The gauntlets, body/belt details and chest emblem were 3-D printed and then cast in a flexible rubber and attached to the suit.

Edit to add an interview with some additional info on the ASM suits:
http://costumedesignersguild.com/articles-videos/articles-archive/amazing-spider-man/

 

[Risu]

Thanks! That's really interesting. It sounds a bit like really heavily applied silk screen.

 

[Lunaman]

Thanks!

Welcome!

That's really interesting. It sounds a bit like really heavily applied silk screen.

Very much so, yes. With special rubberized inks.

 

[Risu]

I have no desire to wear one of these costumes myself, not built for it, but I am really tempted to ask my screening guy about this next time I'm in. It would be really interesting if it's just a matter of running a different type of ink through a silk screen.

 

[venomvsspidey11]

I'm curious as to how you came across that article as I found it and posted it here a few months back and not many people had read it. Did you get that from my thread or did you find it by just searching the web?

 

[Lunaman]

I'm curious as to how you came across that article as I found it and posted it here a few months back and not many people had read it. Did you get that from my thread or did you find it by just searching the web?

I read it on your thread first, yes. I've read most of the Spidey stuff that's on the forum.
I thought linking directly to the article would be more appropriate for Risu's question than linking to your thread about it, since most of the discussion there was less about replicating the techniques they used and more about certain people picking fights about hating the design of the suit. Cheers.