TMNT Cosplay Build - 90s version

[wholesomejoe]

After much deliberation, I've decided the next cosplay I want to attempt is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I loved the movie as a child, and my son loves it now.

I decided that the 90s movie is the only version that appeals to me, and I want to do a complete suit.

I've been doing a lot of research so far on here and the web trying to find the best way to go about this for a beginner, with the best results. I've done some MINOR sculpting before, but I didn't succeed because it had to be very precise and uniform (power rangers helmet). I drew the turtles for YEARS and I feel like I have a better grasp on getting this one right. It feels more organic, and doesn't have to be AS precise like a helmet would.

I have a monster makers bust, and about 50lbs of oil based clay already to start with. I figure I'll start on the head first, since it will easily be the toughest part for me.

I think I will go the Mr Incredible Suit route for the body, and HEAVILY modify it before I latex it. I'll make the Shell out of foam mats from Lowes, and cardboard.

I want this to be ready for Dragon Con 2015, so I'm starting now. I'll keep this thread updated with progress for my build. I'm narrowing down what turtle I want to do. My gut says Raphael, but the computer nerd in me says "Donatello".

 

[Wheeljack]

Good luck man! I'll be watching. I saw that movie about 5 times in the theater as a kid and I'm loving all the replica costumes that I'm seeing popping up here in the RPF lately.

 

[George]

Awesome! Love that 90ies movie.I hope it will be a huge success!:cool

 

[wholesomejoe]

Donatello it is!

 

[George]

Perhaps consider making all four turtle suits (should be a minor ajustment,which is the colour of the bandana and their weapons ) and find three friends to stand in for the other turtles :cool you'll be the talk of the town...eh,convention:thumbsup

 

[wholesomejoe]

That'd be cool, but that's $$$ they'd have to shell out (see what I did there?)

 

[George]

I know :rolleyes...consider it a suggestion for the near future.You'll know more about the budget after your first build (x4)

 

[wholesomejoe]

So it begins!

 

[wholesomejoe]

Does anyone have an estimate of the dimensions of the real masks from the movie?

 

[Egon Spengler]

I don't, but you could look at screencast and compare the objects around them in their environment in relation to the size of their heads to get a good estimate. The scene were they are eating pizza might be good for referencing slices to their heads, also just the sizes of items in April's apartment, etc.

 

[zanderman]

You might want to look through Dericrw's thread. Should give you some good ideas if you find yourself stuck. Best of luck, i'll be following this one.

http://www.therpf.com/f62/tmnt-replica-costume-sculpt-shredder-143175/

 

[wholesomejoe]

So far, it's not looking too hot. I've never been too great with clay and I didn't realize how difficult such a seemingly simple shape would be. I'm already to the point of giving up, and I told myself I wasn't going to do that this time. So I figured I'd post some pictures here, and maybe get some help/advice to get this pointed in the right direction.

 

[Scouser]

Sounds like the same problem I had. I am trying to build a 2014 Mikey and wanted to start with the head too. I thought I was getting close but in reality was far away. I scraped it at the time because I needed my clay for another project that was higher priority. I plan to restart it in the next few weeks so maybe I can learn from your work and advice you recieve. Like you I want to have it done by Dragon Con this year.

Not sure if it would help you at all, but what I did for a previous sculpt (and hope will work for my turtle if I can get enough images) is using an image projector. You can get them cheap at crafting stores with 50% off coupons. It may not be the best answer in the world, but my last sculpt it helped me a lot. I could line up mouth and eyes of the image against or next to my model/sculpt so they line up vertically with each other. This allowed me to get the right size for my sculpt and then I could measure the rest to get a good idea of just what was too small, big, thick, etc.

Don't give up! Hopefully we can both have turtles at DC.

 

[wholesomejoe]

I started with the head because I knew if I could get it done, the other parts would be easier for me.

 

[Alpha Proto]

If you are going for a accurate representation of the Don from one of the movies your reference is wrong.
You have the TMNT1 and TMNT2 done photos printed.
Don's face was redesigned to look different than the first one in the second movie.
Choose one of the movies and stick with it.
Also get side shots of the head so the face sticks out enough.

 

[wholesomejoe]

Alpha, I didn't notice that until I'd already printed it. I have a ton of images from the first movie, and I'm using those for reference now. I'm going with the first movie, because I like the meaner look better.

 

[wholesomejoe]

I worked on this thing all day today while my sick girlfriend played Skyrim. It's not where it needs to be yet, but it's a ton better than what I started with.. I think. I'm not sure if it looks like Don though, and I'm okay with it turning into a different turtle lol. Comments, suggestions, and HELP welcomed!

 

[wholesomejoe]

Worked on him some more today. Totally redid the mouth and eyes.

I'm pretty happy with it so far. Now I just need to know how the heck to smooth all of this out. It's oil based monster makers clay. What's the best way to get it all smooth?

 

[wholesomejoe]

I photoshopped my sculpt for fun to see what direction to go in. I didn't do Mikey because I don't think it looks like him at all, but maybe a toss up between the other three. What I want to avoid is what I've seen some people do which is make Raphael all 4 turtles. They all have distinct expressions/looks and I don't think you can just change the color of the head band and have a new turtle unless you are doing the comic version. I saw a Donatello cosplay that was Raphaels head with a purple mask. It looked cool, but it just didn't work for me.

Thoughts?

 

[Smylex]

Big fan of this project. Looks like you are getting better and better the more you work at this. Keep it going!!