S K Y R I M - Mad Axeman for dcon 2012

[Hawk TK9401]

So the forearms and shin armor are made out of foam? I am wanting to make some bracers for my Jedi, but I dont know where to start.

 

[Vrogy]

So the forearms and shin armor are made out of foam? I am wanting to make some bracers for my Jedi, but I dont know where to start.

I'm not really good at describing how to actually make the shapes work, but I did patterns in posterboard, then scanned them in and did the details in a 3d program, then did a render and vectorized that image in coreldraw, printed it out at a nice scale, spray-adhesive'd it to a sheet, used a dremel with depth/router attachment to cut the details by tracing, scissored the sheet out, threw it in the oven at 170-200degF-ish for 10 mins, and wrapped it on my arm/leg over a towel. You could skip most of that crap and probably go from posterboard patterns to heat-forming, not sure how detailed jedi bracers are.

Here's where parts are. Black gloss is going away very soon, going to throw on a flat black coat then wipe down with metallics, do some grime layers, finish the tunic and surcoat.


dcont-1ffffff2 by vrogy, on Flickr

Back to work.

 

[Vrogy]

Just got the tape off the axe, parts were painted last night. These have a clearcoat now.


dcont-1ffff1 by vrogy, on Flickr


dcont-1ffff2 by vrogy, on Flickr

Axe needs the leather straps furniure-tacked and glued on, I might do that at the hotel. Going to position some nylon straps and buckles under slightly wider leather strips for the arms/legs. Going to do plain black gloves attached to the arms, wrap and dirty up some muslin scraps around deck shoes for feet.

Tunic is done, getting washed with hot water and a lot of bleach. Surcoat now.

 

[Finnlock]

Wow, that is really well done! Given the time and materials used it's nothing short of incredible.

I look forward to seeing this in person.

I think that is the worst part if d*con, you can miss so many awesome costumes you are looking forward too. but you also see a ton you didn't know about, so it's not all bad!

Now to finish packing!

 

[poopymcbutthole]

Holy crap holy crap holy crap!!!!!!! ****!

 

[RussellSculpts]

Really Nice!

 

[cjor]

absolutely amazing!

 

[DepPotts]

I'm firmly entrenched in another run-through of Skyrim and I'm loving this project.

Keep up the great work! I'm looking forward to seeing the final product.

 

[Vrogy]

Just now getting to unloading the camera, updating the build- here's a few short videos of parts before the road trip began:
axe:
SKYRIM STEEL BATTLEAXE PROP - YouTube
helmet:
SKYRIM STEEL NORD HELMET (HORNED) - YouTube

And here's the files I developed/used:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/607393/SKYRIM/SWsteelbattleaxe.pdo
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/607393/SKYRIM/steelbattleaxe.pdo
One of these is the game model, other is a solidworks file I made-
ended up using bits of the game model for the undercut details.
The spike is tricky.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/607393/SKYRIM/steelnord_helm.pdo
Simple game model unfold of the helm. Horns are tricky.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/607393/SKYRIM/steelnord_armdetails.dxf
Chartboost
leg and arm details in DXF format, roughly scaled to a 6'2" 185lbs human.

 

[TheShinyOne]

That helmet and shinguards are simply jaw-dropping. :eek

 

[Tastyburger]

Holy crap holy crap holy crap!!!!!!! ****!

I don't think she likes it

 

[582bronco]

This thing is super cool! I love the work! And it will be comfortable to wear.

 

[Vrogy]

Skyrim, Axeman by vrogy, on Flickr

Here's how this looked at dragoncon.

There are many many things wrong with it.
The axe was built too thick at the left and right outer edges of the detailed areas. Looking back at the game I can see that the blade starts tapering to the outer edges from the hammer-faces of the center raised T-shaped section. It makes sense, really, it's just a perspective not often encountered, and I was insufficiently thorough to see it.
There's also inset detail missing from the hilt. It's also at least 10% too large.

I never finished the gauntlets and greaves- the actual hand and foot coverage, with its complicated articulation, looked like it would take too much time, so I glossed over it by wearing black cotton gloves and wrapping a pair of cheap canvas shoes with muslin, for 'ragged footwraps'. The fur used ended up being much too dark, as well, and the hinged rear-plates were never finished.

The helmet has some pretty rounded edges, but that worked to my advantage across most of it, save the tips and edges of the cheek-guards and nasal. It was also ~5-8% oversized. The horns need a much better paint job, there are brown and tan accents missing. The aluminum chainmail I had ready also ended up looking cheesy, it's too bright and the rings are too big. The light, grey game model really calls for ~1/4-5/16""ID X 16ga galvanized maille, preferably aged.

The surcoat ended up being terrible, the fabrics and padding I chose were far too heavy, so it had no drape at all, was hot as dagon's deadlands. It also ended up not showing the texture of the quilting I did by hand, probably should have powdered it down or rolled around in some dust. There was also no weathering of it, and the fit and flaring of the shoulders was pretty bad. The fit of the belt over the coat was pretty irritating, I think I'd partially glue the damn thing on next time.

The makeup was pretty silly-looking, but luckily it hid my black eyeglasses decently. I need to get contacts, and I think maybe eyeliner or a much darker black makeup. I sort of ground up the block I had and mixed it with a little water to try to layer it thickly, but the ghost skin seems to shine through. The hair on the sides was added last-minute, I realized that my sideburns didn't match the grey.. normally they'd be hidden by the maille fringe on the helm. I spritzed the beard with some flat black and smeared bits with makeup, but it really didn't help much. Even glued some beads in, still sucked.


LEARNED:
Don't procrastinate. Seriously. Holy crap. I missed the parade and a good day and a half of dragoncon, just sleeping in and returning to normal after working like a madman on 3-4 hours of sleep per night the prior week or so.

Don't dink around a month away from the event. I spent maybe 2-3 weeks just on the helmet and axe. Everything else suffered. As it is, I still feel there are some basic mistakes on those pieces, they're perhaps 75-90% accurate at most.

Dry brushing is a LOT of fun, it's the most elating thing to work with super glue and bits of bright rainbow foam, flat grey primer, ugly gloss black undercoat.. wade through a long swamp of boring build, then wipe on a little metallic paint and see cold iron in your hands.

Yeah, nobody's gonna read that.

 

[Bountys Hunted]

I read it. :lol

Even though you had some missteps, it still looks pretty darn radical! A very, very damn cool piece.

Do you plan to upgrade / change any of the pieces?