What pose do I scuplt my costume in

H

Harmonic_Distortion

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone.

I've been researching and working on an oversized Hulk costume for awhile now.
But things just got interesting since I've cemented 7 king-sized mattresses together so that it can be sculpted (by someone with more talent than myself).

Here's my question: How should the body be posed?

There are several things to take into account...

  1. balance - so I can stay standing
  2. walking - so I can actually move in the thing
  3. arm movement
  4. waist movement

My reference model is the 9" Hulk maquette I bought when I started the project:

b171673d62ae0c8af59a999a9b02e63581d0754d.jpg


30a36815307c6a4fa979050488a0fd4596ea3085.jpg


There's some bend in the knees as well as the arms...so I'm thinking this might be in the perfect position already...but wanted to get the opinion of the experts in these parts :)

Help?
 
I'd say your pics above would be one of the best sculpts to go with for this alone.

It looks cool in pics when your just standing and it can still look okay when you're walking.
 
contec said:
This pose is Ok.
Are you going to sculpt the big bulge he has as well. :lol
Click to expand...

I've never been to a Con before...think the girls would appreciate a little Hulk adult-cosplay? :love (The pelvis wont be so pronounced :love)

There's a little bend in the knees already but didn't know if there was some glaring error or consideration that you experts might clue me in to.
 
The feet might be a little wide apart in that model. That could get a little uncomfortable for you. Other than that, not sure. Do you want to keep the hands in fists, or do you want them usable?
 
7 foam mattresses - king sized so the resulting block is 6.66 ft by 6.3ft by 3ft.

I'll be doing a finger rig in at least one of the hands, per the Dick Smith method of telescoping brass tubing. The great thing about foam is that anything that can be cut open can be cemented back together. I did a test run with pure string of a finger rig and it didnt turn out well...but I learned some things about tension direction.

Nice note about the legs. You're right perhaps they should be closer together for comfort, though still slightly parted for balance?

No CGing in real life ha ha!
 
Im designing a hulk build myself. I am an artist, and aircraft structural mechanic. I haven't started the build yet. It would seem to me that sculpting the body from one giant piece of foam would cause an undue stiffness. My plan is to sculpt separate muscles. Attatch them together at joints. Similar to the real thing. And i intend on applying a skin layer once i have the shapes formed and test the movements. Im going to use a comination of stilts and mechanical arm extensions. For balance I will be testing and adjusting the center of gravity. Im 6'3, goal fot hulk height is 7-8ft tall depending on proportions and balance issues it'll vary throughout the process.
 
Great to see this thread get some new life. It's been years since this thing was active, but I've kept on learning and researching since then.

sketchman1981, im excited to hear about your build. And you're right that the mattress foam wasn't the right way to go. It almost worked...but fell flat. The sculptress got about 80% there...but the sculpt really doesnt look as close as i wanted it to look. (I've had it sitting out in the yard covered in tarps for forever).

IMG_2121.jpg


IMG_2123.jpg



Honestly, Im not sure what I was thinking since hollowing out the inside would have been the next step. Maybe cut it down the back then keep digging out foam until I got to the arms? Actually I know what I was thinking - I didnt want to do a life cast...then sculpt over that...then mold the sculpt...then take the clay off and fill the space with FlexItFoam. I thought this might be a cheat. It wasn't. Oh well, you live and learn.

BTW, the new and improved version began just a couple of months ago.

1. Brandon Lane from FlexDesign Costumes is building the muscle suit, using his proprietary methods. We've been on the phone for months and months now hashing out how exactly this needs to get done.

2. For the head...I may be sculpting the mask in clay and then casting in silicone...or Brandon may do it like a mascot head. We're not sure yet.

3. The skin. I researched Smooth-On's Easy Jr. spray silicone system. Heather in Sales agrees that this would probably be the best method. They'll even pre-mix the color of the silicone for us. Then use psycho paint to do the highlights.

4. Parts - looks like it's going to be in parts - with torso and arms being one part...the legs being another part..and the head being a third part.

5. Proportions - they'll be a finger rig armature inside the hands and either my arms will cheat out the torso a bit or my wrists will just clear the elbows. Yes, it's going to hurt...but sacrifices must be made :)

Just purchased some Marshalltown stilts for Brandon to start working on the build. The cool thing is they only have one support bar...so the dip under the calf can seem more realistic and scoop in.

HulkStilts.jpg


We're shooting for sometime before DragonCon 2011. Wish us luck.


NINJA EDIT: Didn't know if it would help others, but there are a few great oversized costume builds that are out there for people to learn from.

The first I dont have a link for, but it's worth using your google-fu to find - the incredible Wampa build (sorry for forgetting the name of the builder!) which I'm sure is on this forum somewhere in addition to the blog of the builder.

Also, Allen Hansard's Sasquatch build...
Sasquatch001.jpg


http://thesuperherocostumingforum.yuku.com/topic/44/Sasquatch-WIP-Thread?page=1

Also..Hero over on the SCF is doing a Darkseid costume. I'll post his rig (hopefully he wont mind if it could aid someone) for ideas.

Skeleton1.jpg


This reminds me a lot of the Wampa I talked about before.

There are so many topics to be covered - cooling, finger rigs, skin texture, molding, sculpting...this can be a real beast, but I love to see people doing these oversized characters!
 
Last edited:
Harmonic, looks like you have a much better plan this time. The mattress looks like had potential, but would not be very easy to move as one piece. Separate pieces are the way to go. Mike from mikescostumes.com has the best one I've ever seen. He had a great concept. Keep in mind when you're building yours that weight will be a huge issue, plan out your supports before doing the body. And if it was me, think of the muscle as fairings on a bike, or skin panels on a car. Weight and the outside appearance is the main concern. I would use some sort of brackets/standofffs that come from the skeletal structure to support the body. Keep it as hollow as possible. Your stilts look like they would be perfect. I would deffinately support the weight of the arms by using a backpack type harness similar to the wampa costume or your arms will fatigue super quick if doing any movement over extended time. Anyways, look forward to seeing your progress. Once I start my build I'll be sure to update. Also, good choice with smooth on, I like their products, and actually planned to use them for the skin and mask.
 
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