WIP: Hippolyta from The Fearless Defenders

[ChanceCrafts]

Now complete!

Update- Full set of Worbla Armor finished 5/23

Hey guys! I'm starting on a new costume that should be full of fun challenges: Hippolyta the Warrior Woman from the current Marvel NOW! series The Fearless Defenders. It is a fun female team comic (that doesn't stuff the "girl power" down your throat) and I sort of fell in love with her in particular... so much swag. She's the daughter of Ares and was Queen of the Amazons, so she prefers to spend her time destroying her enemies and guzzling wine. Anyway, her costume is pretty fantastic- golden armor, silk skirt, amazing dreadlock hair and that mask.... really inspiring.



Hopefully I'll have it completed in time for Heroscon in June. I'm also bringing it to Dragoncon!

I take a TON of progress photos- I'll put the interesting ones here, but if that is your sort of thing....
Full WIP Photo album here.

I wanted to make sure that I could pull of the wig before committing, so I started this costume with a trip to the wool shop down the block. I picked up three rovings with different colors and textures to give the dreadlocks variation and depth.

15 hours of rolling later, I had 100 dreadlocks! Here is a quick little timelapse of a tiny bit of the process.

They fluffed up after drying overnight and look oddly natural.



Next, I made a cap out of some white spandex and a bit of elastic and handstitched them down. This picture is at about halfway.



Here it is at the current state- still needs about 25 more in the back and a few in the front. After I get it filled out, I'll felt down the scalp and style it like Hippolyta! I'm glad she took her mask off in the fourth book to reference!



Up next I'm sewing a lightly boned base corset for support under the chestpiece and working on patterning out my breastplate. I've got a new roll of Worbla on the way- I'm looking forward to trying out some new techniques with it!

 

[andveryginger]

Mentioned this on FB already, but I'm so looking forward to seeing the final costume pulled together...OTOH, I'm also really looking forward to seeing the process of making her, too!

Hippolyta became one of my faves during my old WW comic collecting days; that affection was rekindled with the Justice League cartoons. I may just have to check out this new incarnation!

 

[ChanceCrafts]

Boring update, but I built a corset to act as support under my chest piece. A good foundation means that I'll be able to focus on making the armor pretty instead of functional. It is made from cotton so it will do a good job wicking the sweat away. I created a custom pattern from my measurements and have tweaked 4 drafts over the last few months to get it to fit.





If anyone else is interested in learning about corsetry, I recommend checking out Home | Foundations Revealed . They have some great tutorials that walk through all the basic processes of making a corset. I got a subscription when I first started- lots of helpful hints.

My worbla should be getting here tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have some more interesting stuff to share this weekend. Finishing up the wig tonight!

 

[Ciano930]

never heard of her but seems like an awesome build! good luck!

 

[ChanceCrafts]

^Thanks! She's not a huge character in the Marvel universe- I don't have a feeling I'll be recognized much, but could not resist attempting this crazy redesign. I love how over the top it is.

I didn't make nearly as much progress as I wanted this week, but I finished the wig and got all the patterns done for the armor.



I also finished a good portion of the helm- I'm going to laser cut the bird for the top later this week. This was made by draping Worbla over a form I built up with some clay and a party mask.

 

[Ciano930]

^Thanks! She's not a huge character in the Marvel universe- I don't have a feeling I'll be recognized much, but could not resist attempting this crazy redesign. I love how over the top it is.

I didn't make nearly as much progress as I wanted this week, but I finished the wig and got all the patterns done for the armor.

View attachment 186735

I also finished a good portion of the helm- I'm going to laser cut the bird for the top later this week. This was made by draping Worbla over a form I built up with some clay and a party mask.

View attachment 186736

I wouldn't feel so bad if you dont get recognised =P I once wore my iron man suit to a party and one of the first comments i got from a girl there was "are you a power ranger?"..... nearly flipped =P

 

[ChanceCrafts]

I finally got the base pieces finished for the chest and back armor! I'm going to cut the details out of more Worbla with the laser later tonight and layer them on top. I think I want to go back and smooth out the seam lines a little more but am pretty sure it will look great once it is primed and painted. Probably the most uncomfortable thing I've ever made- I widened the gap and am going to lace it up on both sides to get a tiny bit of wiggle room, but I basically can't move my upper body in it. At least I won't have to think about posture!

 

[boshuda]

I'm enjoying Fearless Defenders, and Hippolyta is pretty cool, so it's cool you're doing that. And this piece looks pretty impressive, but what's up with the table top? It looks cool with all the comics stuff.

 

[ChanceCrafts]

And this piece looks pretty impressive, but what's up with the table top?

Glad you like it! I wanted a desk/worktable for my studio that was tall enough to stand at, but couldn't find anything I liked that was affordable. So, I built one! I started by refinishing a sink from the local Habitat for Humanity store then painted it She-Hulk green and put on new knobs and wheels. The top is an old door that was covered with comics (I hang onto damaged stuff from yardsales and stuff for this sort of thing) and modge podge then sealed with polyurethane. Total materials were less than a hundred bucks and it was EXACTLY what I wanted. All the beautiful art is really inspiring, plus it makes bland progress photos a little more interesting. Downside- the busy pattern makes it really easy to loose stuff... I waste SO much time hunting for things sitting right in front of me.

More on topic- here are the details for the armor!

 

[ChanceCrafts]

I'm making progress on the details. The back and helm are basically finished.

 

[ChanceCrafts]

The armor is basically complete! I need to add a few more details to the boots and the chest, but the rest of it is ready to prime.

 

[YenChih Lin]

This is a honest question: Is Hippolyta a cheap rip off of Wonder Woman? She looks like her…

But your work is amazing, I'd like to add :thumbsup

 

[ChanceCrafts]

This is a honest question: Is Hippolyta a cheap rip off of Wonder Woman? She looks like her…

Oooooo, burn. ;-) Hippolyta is pretty much straight from the Hercules myths- daughter of Ares, Queen of the Amazons. He had to retrieve her belt for the ninth task in the story. The took that and ran with the warrior vibe... more of a female Herc than anything else. She's pretty cocky.

As far as the design goes, they are both Amazonian, so it makes sense that they have a similar vibe. The front will be less WW when I get the little medusa bust put on.

About the Fearless Defenders redesign:

Phil Jimenez: Marvel wanted a character that could stand toe-to-toe, visually and literally with Valkyrie and Misty Knight. I also wanted to keep her in a costume that fit with the mythological worlds of the Marvel Universe, which definitely have a distinct design sensibility—thank you, Jack Kirby!—and are not entirely rooted in "reality." So the idea was to create a physically imposing character while maintaining a distinctly mythological look that would work in the Marvel Universe. I used previous versions of her—she last appeared in INCREDIBLE HERCULES a couple of years ago—and we took elements of that design, [like] her large mane of hair, the bird helmet, and mixed and matched them with armor and other pieces inspired by current fashion and actual armor that I found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The winged harpy on the bodice was meant as both fearful emblem and playful homage.

More on Marvel.com: Wednesday Q&A: Phil Jimenez | Marvel Heroes | News | Marvel.com

(Also, thank you, I'm glad you like it!)

 

[ChanceCrafts]

Gold!



I primed the armor black and then used a few coats of Montana Black's Goldchrome... they look almost like metal! Still needs to be shaded/weathered a bit.

 

[ChanceCrafts]

I finished the collar today. I'm finally starting to see it.

 

[ChanceCrafts]

Heroescon was awesome this weekend! Here's my finished costume.

 

[Doh2]

I don't know the character, but yours is an awesome build.

 

[boshuda]

That's impressive. The armor bits look like hand-hammered, worn armor. You look like you're going to rush me and beat me up at any minute.

 

[PunisherNC]

Saw this in person this weekend and I thought you did a spectacular job! Great job using the Worbla.. I'm personally hoping to give Worbla a shot soon. Starting a Faora build to go along with my "Man of Steel" suit. Wonderful, wonderful job

 

[MrCafe]

That is some nice work. Love your work space btw.