Superman Uniform Concept: Need Advice (PIC HEAVY)

Dorough

New Member
Hey gang! A lot of you might know me from the convention circuit. I'm Dustin Dorough, former propmaker, current philanthropist. I do a lot of visits with children's hospitals and the like and will be leaving in January to visit at least one hospital in each state and a few Canadian provinces as part of the Hospital Heroes project that I started back in August.

Clearly, I have a lot of passion for the character of Superman and his portrayal. Since I'm going to be doing so much charity work with my costumes, I wanted to go all-out and REALLY invest in my personal vision of the ultimate Superman costume. With great assistance and creative input from my good friend, Allen Belk, we put together this new design. It's based on lots of different versions going all the way back to 1938 and picking out our favorite parts of each design and tweaking where necessary.

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Here's Allen's basic sketch of the suit. The thing we most significantly updated was the boots, but there's lots more detail not quite visible in this image.

The entire uniform is supposed to look like ONE garment instead of suit + trunks + boots + etc. so there will be a uniform diamond texture over EVERYTHING, except for the cape. My suit will look similar to this piece of Man of Steel fan art:

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That is also a perfect example of how I want the cape to attach to the neck. I absolutely love those crisp folds and that detailing around the neckline.

Though, unlike the above picture, I want my suit to have a sheen to it like the Man of Steel movie suit. I suppose this would require the same process to make the raised texture that they used for the MoS movie.

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The raised texture is particularly important because with a printed texture, it all seems to blend together from any sort of distance. My current Superman costume has the exact texture that I want on the new one, but you simply can't tell once you're more than six feet away.

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I'm using the Earth-2 Superman chest shield (Highly similar to the one they're using in Man of Steel, actually.) and the whole suit will be done in vibrant colors, but not cheesy cartoon colors. The texturing will help to subdue the brightness to a realistic level. The color scheme will be similar to the fan art that I posted up there. *points*

I'm going to try having the trunks made in something other than the standard spandex. I also plan for the trunks and belt to be one piece with the belt actually built into the trunks fabric. The belt will be rigid (well, more-so than just fabric, but not to the point where it becomes difficult to wear or anything) and have a gold-ish sheen to it. I want the trunks to have some extra seam lines in them and the same diamond texture pattern so that they will look modern and match the rest of the suit. Very similar to the trunks in this well-known Batman costume. (Which was created by some members here, I believe?)

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One of my Facebook friends decided to help me out a bit and do a quick bit of coloring on Allen's original sketch. They helped bring it to life, though there are still a couple of things missing. The border around the \S/ shield will be yellow.

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Also not pictured are the wrist cuffs that I'd like to include in the costume. We went through a lot of designs before finally deciding on this one.

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The cuff will look metallic and have the same sheen as the rest of the suit, but it won't be textured.

Luckily, I've already found my bootmaker, so the boots are covered. Those were the very first piece designed (and the most complex, undoubtedly).

What I need to know from all of you is... How in the heck do I go about having this made? I'm willing to spare no expense to make this the best suit possible, since I plan on wearing it very often to visit sick children. I imagine that I'll likely have to commission pieces from multiple costume-makers, then assemble all of it myself. I would be extremely grateful for tips and suggestions of who to go to or at least what methods of construction might be best for each part, so that I can begin seeking out costume-makers based on those particular skills.

I'm really sorry if this is cluttered or hard to understand. I'll do my best to explain things further if anyone has any questions. It's been quite a long time since I've used a message board, so it'll take me a bit of getting-used-to as far as the most effective post formatting, especially for a project such as this.

I would very much appreciate any and all input that you could suggest. Like I said, I don't mind spending a lot for quality (even if it means that I have to wait longer and save up for it), but if there is a slightly-less-expensive option that is just as good as the other... I prefer the less expensive one, haha. I also don't need it to be as form-fitting as the MoS suit, so I'm trying to avoid the expense of doing a full body cast.

Thanks so much in advance, everyone. All of the RPF members I know are great people, so I know that I've come to the proper place for great and knowledgeable guidance. *bows low*
 
Oh! Almost forgot the cape detailing. I'd like for the cape to be a heavyweight material that still flows well. Similar to the MoS cape (easily my favorite part of that new suit). My cape will have the yellow \S/ on the back, but with red negative zones, in a reverse of the coloration of the chest piece. Similar to this picture, except with the \S/ shape that matches the one on the front of the suit.

superman-cape-towel-bath-beach-cotton-design-davesgeekyideas-2012-dc-comics.png


Suggestions on fabrics would be much appreciated as well.
 
Might as well include full detail on the boots, so you can get more of an idea of the suit as a whole. I've already been in contact with Son of Sandlar to have these made. I already have a price estimate on them and will be getting these as quickly as possible.

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Note: These specific colors aren't permanent in the slightest. Those were just the closest things I could find in my tiny box of colored pencils, haha.

We're trying to make the full suit look like ONE garment, rather than a bunch of individual pieces. That's why there is blue in the boot. We played around with other colors like yellow, black and white, but they made the boots look too reminiscent of other DC characters. There will also likely be a lightly-embossed texture pattern throughout the boot to match the diamond-print texture on my bodysuit and chest shield.

These are based upon the New 52 boots (http://media.dcentertainment.com/sites/default/files/Superman.jpg) along with a hefty mix of other versions from over the years. They're going to be very form-fitting and almost match the bodysuit in tightness.

I feel like the boots can be one of the more ornate parts of the uniform because Ma Kent didn't make them. The biggest problem I've found with most Superman costume boots is that you can't SEE any of the detail due to all of it being one color and very flat. No layers or depth, you know?

1- These lines will be an additional layer of leather to give it a 3D effect while the blue ties the boots into the rest of the suit.

2- This will be an embossed stamp into the leather. Just the outline of the "S" shield, but no "S" within it.

3- This line will be raised up for the 3D effect.

4- These ribbing panels will be red leather layered over blue, to give the appearance of the bodysuit still being visible.

5- I don't like the over-abundance of "S" shields on the "Superman Returns" uniform, but I do like this subtle nod to the shield that is found on the New 52 uniform. This will likely be a recessed cut-out in the leather.

6- This area is meant to look armored in the front, sole and rear of the boot.

The very back of the boot will have a stretch panel and invisible zipper so that they will be as form-fitting as possible.
 
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Just giving a quick bump. I've only made posts in this thread in mid-day, when I assume that traffic is at its lowest. Hopefully someone will see this and be able to offer some sort of helpful insight. I don't want to step on any toes and show poor etiquette, though, especially being a new member, so I really hope that this isn't frowned upon. I'll only be doing the bump on this one occasion unless I'm adding new information. I beg your pardons, though, if I've been rude.

I know that one person likely won't be able to answer ALL of my questions, but I'd very much appreciate any information on any of these topics that some of you might be able to offer. If I just did a poor job of explaining what I'm going for or what information I need, just let me know and I'd be more than happy to explain thoroughly or to re-organize my original post into a more coherent and understandable format.
 
what i would do is get a lycra suit with just the blue printed at first. with patterning and shading.
i would do muscle shading on the suit, because, even if youre a buff guy, the details will not show unless they are shaded correctly. i probably would commission someone like mcl34n to go over the pattern with puff paint to give it a textured effect. he did a great job on his spiderman with this method.
for the shield i would sculpt it in clay, cast it flexible urethane and attach it to the suit. same thing with the gauntlets.
the briefs i would make out of a different material, something naturally textured and heavier fabric.

check out mcl34n's thread on his spiderman to get an idea of what i mean. http://www.therpf.com/f24/mcl34ns-wip-amazing-spidey-costume-updated-6-a-140975/index20.html
 
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Well, I was trying to avoid the puff paint route. While, yes, mcl34n's suit looks AWESOME, I used to do a lot of custom work with puff paint and it's not very durable. Very prone to cracking and hard to get absolutely precise. I'd rather try to figure out the same methods they used for the MOS suit. I want this suit to be movie-quality, so I'm prepared to spend $4-$5,000 on the full thing.

Thank you so very much though for your response. Even though I don't want to go the puff paint route, I'll definitely keep it in mind as a secondary measure, especially seeing how great mcl34n's TASM suit was looking. I really appreciate your input.
 
The ASM and MoS I believe are screen printed with a particular ink to give it the 3D raised effect contact some screen printers and speak to them about different inks
 
I don't think so. I've seen some printed texture suits for TASM and MoS in various methods (screen print/dye sub/puff paint) and none of them look as 3D or precise as this close up of the MoS suit.

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Also, now that I really look at it, the MoS suit doesn't really look like any fabric I'm familiar with.

Does anybody know what it is actually made from?
 
I do silk screen printing for a living and there ARE a couple different inks that can produce a "puff paint" finish. Plastipuff or Suede are a couple examples of additives that can be mixed with standard plastisol silk screen printing inks. It "puffs up" when it's heated and cured, and can puff up more or less depending on the thickness of the stencil your art is on.

I've personally only used it for the first time couple weeks ago, but as soon as I saw the results it made me think of all the sub-dyed and puff paint projects I've seen on the RPF.

You could easily get quality like that from silk screening.

I've never used craft puff paint before and I assume it just cures by air drying. Screen printing plastisols have to be heat cured to about 330°F. I don't know if trying to "cure" puff paint (in an oven for example) would add to it's durability or not. Just throwing the suggestion out there.
 
Ha! I stand corrected. I'll look more heavily into that. Thanks so much, Banner! Do you think that such "enhanced" inks would be able to move and stretch on a spandex costume without ripping/breaking? I'm really excited!
 
There are also additives that increase the stretch properties of the print (used on things like winter hats/beanies). Union Inks, which is a pretty major brand, makes Plastipuff additive, Suede additive, and Unistretch additive that can all be added to standard colors to get the achieved results. I'm not 100% sure, but pretty sure that they can all be used together to achieve any kind of result you're looking for.

Hope this helps.
 
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Oh, Banner, that is absolute the best news ever. Thank you so much for telling me about these ink additives. I'll start asking around to screen printing shops in my area. I really can't thank you enough.

And sp1derman, I apologize for my ignorance causing me to doubt you. Thanks for your input as well!
 
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