The Tick

[Squirrel]

Howdy ladies and gents! I am starting to work on a costume for upcoming Halloween. I was wondering if I could get some advice from everyone as you've all had much more experience that I could imagine. Basically I would like to make a costume as close as I can achieve to the live action show (I included picture below for reference). The problem lies in that the suit was originally made of molded rubber. I can say right now that I have neither the space or money to build a full body cast and model a suit, then make rubber molds. I was hoping for some advice on the best way to create a likeness (not necessarily screen accurate) that isn't simply a lyrca stretch suit. I had a bit of an idea on the cowl and I plan on taking a cheap captain america mask, cutting the proper face shape, adding the antennae and repainting (again it's not perfect but should be better than painting my head blue). So any advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance!

-Squirrel

Captain America Mask
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PO5JE2/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Squirrel]

Does anyone think an eva foam build would work? I know most of the suits I've seen with foam look great, but are generally more linear (like Iron Man).

 

[WebHeadSS]

I know you said you didn't want to do a lycra body suit, but aside from a full latex / rubber molded suit, it seems like the best option. I would think maybe you could create the under-musculature from foam, and then use a blue zentai suit over that. Since the entire costume is a single piece and a single flat color, you don't have many options.

 

[RCvie]

SPOON! Great idea.

 

[thejakemoore]

Once you have the foam muscle suit build under the zentai suit, you could airbrush details (shadows/hightlights) onto the zentai suit to accentuate the shapes.

 

[Squirrel]

Ahh... I didn't consider airbrushing! That's a good idea. So it sounds like that'll be my best bet. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Squirrel]

So I got a decent sized piece of 5in high density foam from Jo-ann fabric and I intend to go down the route of making a foam muscle suit glued to an "under armour" style shirt and then a blue zentai suit over. I am going to opt for a comic book-cartoon styled suit rather than the live action for now, someday perhaps I can make a live rubber suit once I have the skills and money. Once I start carving up the suit I will give some updates with photos, for now I have a quickly sculpted idea for the antenna, but I most likely will try to remake them with a spring/pvc pipe inner so I can make them flexible and a little more lifelike.

(Sorry about the lint in my camera.. damn iphone isn't as airtight as I'd like).

 

[tauriice]

I love The Tick. Will be following your progress. The foam suit under a zentai sounds like the way to go without spending a ton of money. Good luck, can't wait to see how it goes!

 

[SmilingOtter]

You wouldn't even have to modify the Captain America cowl that much if you wanted to make it closer to the animated Tick look.

Either way, good luck - and remember, leap before you look!

 

[Squirrel]

I love The Tick. Will be following your progress. The foam suit under a zentai sounds like the way to go without spending a ton of money. Good luck, can't wait to see how it goes!

Thanks! Yes I am hoping it will be the best of both worlds. The live action suit will have to wait.

You wouldn't even have to modify the Captain America cowl that much if you wanted to make it closer to the animated Tick look.

Either way, good luck - and remember, leap before you look!

The cowl I got wasn't too bad, but since I decided to go for the comic/cartoon version I will be scraping the plastic cowl and using mostly the zentai hood, just have to make a killer chin!

 

[Squirrel]

So I finally got in one of the two zentai suits (one will be the base for the muscle suit, the other will be an over-suit) I ordered and the electric knife for carving. I will most likely start carving the foam for the muscle suit this weekend. Here is a picture of just the zentai suit and one with the captain america mask I was originally going to use, with the tick antenna I quickly carved out. I don't think I'll be using either the captain mask or the antenna, but it gives an idea of the direction I am heading.

 

[Squirrel]

I finally started drawing out some muscle shapes and created a few patterns out of cardboard. I only had time to carve out BASIC pectoral muscles that aren't even close to matching, or the right shape or size, but at least it shows a little bit in the way I'm going. So far I've been using an electric carving knife, scissors and a hobby knife but the carving is still a little tedious. If anyone has an idea roughly how many inched the foam should add to a chest for a super-hero esque physique please let me know..I"m think these are still a little much.

 

[Squirrel]

I was curious if anyone had knowledge of a muscle suit pattern I could use, I'm having a tough time nail the proportions of the male form..

 

[fallimar]

These are slightly hilarious references, but they might help! This one is more realistic and good for placement.
Honestly I'd look more to the character reference pics for shape guiding, then remember that less is more when doing foam underlay - you can always build up in layers. Start small, put the suit over so you can see proportions on yourself - take photos! Then print them and draw over the top (or use a tablet if you have one) where you want to add/move/remove bits and go from there.

 

[montysaurus]

IMHO Cartoon Tick has an exaggerated up torso, looking quite to heavy. Might want to use the slightly hilarious reference for the to, and the reference for the bottom. Will make it more cartoon like. Also Don'forget SPOON!!!

 

[Squirrel]

Sounds good, I think my problem might be trying to make them too big to start, I already have a large enough frame at 6'2" and 210lbs so maybe I'll restart with some thinner foam. Thanks for the references.

 

[Looch]

I was curious if anyone had knowledge of a muscle suit pattern I could use, I'm having a tough time nail the proportions of the male form..

I did a muscle suit under my Tick costume a few years ago-basically, I cut out two bodysuits(the Butterick "Riddler" bodysuit has worked well for me in the past), stitched the muscle groups, stuffed them from behind, and then constructed the thing. You used to be able to buy a set of antennas that worked with a squeeze bulb to make them move, but not anymore. Here's a link to a thread on bodysuits-mine is about halfway down the page.
http://www.therpf.com/f24/muscle-suit-build-captain-britain-cosplay-148854/

 

[RvanAken]

I once made a full body suit using a wetsuit as a base painting it with colored liquid latex. Made some light muscles with 2mm foam. Works pretty good and is durable, I used this suit for about 3 years as a larp character. Running fighting and just walking around.
You get a nice smooth Finnish if you use a paint roller instead of a brush. But you must be wearing the wetsuit while it is being painted, hours of standing still but when done right the result can be just like the suit in the ref pics.

-R-

Oh and how could I forget......





SPOON.

 

[Glenn Aki]

you could use EVA foam to shape it as muscles. Look for my gambit costume.

 

[SuperFLY]

remember, if you're building up the torso for bigger muscles don't neglect the shoulders. it's a common thing people miss and it ruins the whole look if its not included.

good luck with this.. love it. i actually smiled as soon as i saw the thread title; the tick is such a classic!