Making of Dark Samus

Loving Metroid, Dark Samus was never my number one favourite in the series.Until I made the costume and both the process and result propelled me into the internet spotlight.

May 2022

Making of Chamberlain

"It's about the process and not the result" is what comes to mind looking back at this costume.. As I only got to wear it one day (thanks covid)But man, did I enjoy the 4 month crafting journey of getting there.

May 2022

Making of the Jaeger Drone Kaiju

As a kid I always wanted to be the big monsters from Power Rangers.So ofcourse when the chance arose later in life I took it. And became the big Kaiju robot.

May 2022

Making of Vinny

Leaving Cosplay behind I went on a new journey to put everything I learned into different and smaller packages.A doll of my favourite Original Character Vinny was my starting point.

Jan 2022

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Models are my own unless Credited

Resin Printer: Elegoo Mars 3 Pro | Filament Printer: Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro

Making of Vinny

It hasn't been a surprise to many that since the pandemic a lot of cosplay related events are cancelled. Especially in Europe, there hasn't been a comic con in about two years.This together with some other reasons made me lose interest in Cosplay alltogether. But by the end of 2021 I really had that itch to craft something again. I think I found the perfect mixed media artform that put all those self taught crafting skills to use. Here is my first artdoll, Vinny. Based on my favourite original character I drew up in 2013. Vinny has often been used as a mascot for the 'Roar and Clank' name I took online. I like to think of Vinny as a monster version of me ;)

I started out with making a sketch on paper... Which I didn't even use in the end. But having a little blueprint in front of me wasn't that bad to have. You gotta start somewhere.I took a lot of inspiration from artdoll makers on Instagram and Twitter. And thus I decided I wanted the face, hands and feet to be hard clay parts. They are mounted on tinfoil/iron wire frames.For the face, hands and feet I used two part Apoxie Sculpt. Which is clay you combine in two parts, and will harden on its own.
While I absolutely love this clay for being very soft and easy to get smooth.. It's also extremely heavy. Which is something I didn't account for in the beginning. This would prove to become quite a challenge later on.

As you can see in that third image. That was my first wireframe for the dude.. Which was just me taking over what I've seen people do online. What I didn't know however, is that a lot of dollmakers use Polymer clay. A clay type that is way lighter in weight than Apoxie Sculpt.But you learn by making mistakes. I managed to somewhat fix him upright by padding the wireframe with sheet filling. The kind of fleece you buy for filling up quilting projects.The dude managed to stand up at least!

And here you can see one of my own tricks I learned as a cosplayer. Something I'm actually quite proud of hehe. The shape and proportions of a character are extremely important. And I found a way how to make sure to keep myself in check on these.I take a proper picture of the project in its current state and simply draw over it digitally on my PC. If you cannot do this because you lack a drawing tablet, you could just scribble on the photo in your phone app really!I am also always aware that stylized 2D attributes don't always translate well in 3D. But Vinny's big gut, and pokemon-esque proportions were the most important to me.I ran out of sheet filling at this point. Which was actually a blessing in disguise. Because I was forced to use the heaps of Polyether foam (furniture foam) I had still laying around.

Polyether foam is the same foam you see used in Fursuits. And even better, in classic Tokusatsu monster suits (Godzilla, etc). Its incredibly versatile and so extremely easy to cut and glue together with either sprayglue or contact cement. You can even will it into shape with taking it to battle with a pair of scissors.Which is what I did to fill up my friend until I was satisfied with his chunk.Now to enter an old familiar into the mix; It was time for some eva foam armor.

I'd love to explain more about this part- But crafting with Eva foam comes so easy to me after all these years.. I simply freehanded my dude these gauntlets out of 5mm scrapfoam I had laying around. Because this is not a structure that requires hold a human body, the thickness and strength really doesn't matter anymore.Next up was the painting stage. All the paint I used on Vinny is acrylics. The most versatile, easy to get and use paint in my opinion. Do be careful that Acrylic paint really varies in quality from brand to brand. And this is always noticable by the price.My go to brand is Amsterdam.

And then it was pattern time. In which I made another big mistake.. But I wouldn't notice until later. (And I always manage to fix them anyways. no biggie)I covered Vinny in ducttape and divided the pattern into the segments. I would later use these to unwrap onto the faux fur fabric I bought for my fluffy friend.

What was really fun translating a 2D design of my own making to a 3D object is that I have to decide what materials, looks and textures I want certain parts to have.I decided on a latex covered tail for Vinny because of this. It would blend in well with his blue claws.First I made a sock for his tail using my pattern. The fabric I used was a thicker tricot. A 2-way stretch fabric that is perfect for soaking up liquid rubber latex.The latex I use is the one you can get your hands on the easiest. It's mostly used for face prosthetics. But has a wider range of applications. When dry, latex acts like rubber and will never fully harden in a way that will crack. Making a fabric coated in latex a skinlike, flexible sheet of rubber.There is multiple ways you can color your latex. For professional use you can buy color pigments which are made for latex.
I however just throw in acrylic paints. Acrylic paints, and especially the more expensive ones, have a formula that blends really well with latex.

And then the troubles began. I never saw these dollmakers use ducttape for patterning. And now I know why... I pulled holes into the polyether foam.. No matter how careful I was with pulling it off.So next time. I will be using painters tape first and ducttape on top.. Learn from my mistake haha....I took the gamble not to fill every hole. The fur was pretty fluffy on its own and I was pretty sure it wouldn't matter as soon as the fluff would go on. Speaking off....

Fluff! And luckily, said fluff hid all the gaps I accidently pulled into the polyether.Vinny's furcoat is made in parts (pants, arms and top/neck). It's not a doll you are stuffing. You are putting a skin onto an already stuffed doll. I did all sewing by hand. Just whatever stitch.. I am not very knowledgable about sewing yet. I simply turned the fabric inside out and sewed it together. I must admit I hotglued a lot of edges onto the polyether foam... I could've used a 'puppet' or 'Henson' stitch to connect the parts on the doll. But the fur is so thick I could uh- just use hotglue..the ears I made out of thin sheets of 2mm eva foam, with fur fabric glued ontop. The ears jammed into the neck with iron wires. Which makes the ears poseable by coincidence, ha!

Vinny's furcoat was in dire need of a trim, a comb and some subtle color variations.I noticed attacking the fur with scissors worked the best. But I have seen artists use thread clippers for this part. I will be trying that in the future myself.The slightly darker brown I airbrushed onto the fur. Just like all my other paints I prefer an acrylicpaint. I do use specific airbrush tailored acrylics however. I never liked dilluting them myself.

Vinny was still very much naked without his armor.. Which is actually not part of his body, but a seperate golden armor he likes to wear. Vain little bastard.To fit his gauntlets. These would also be made out of EVA foam.Just to make sure all the panels would fit into each other properly I made a very rough pattern. Not wanting to damage the fur, I slapped some tinfoil onto the boy and then covered that with ducttape. Worked good enough. The armor is mostly freehanded anyways.Before simply hotglueing the armor onto the fur I would paint it in the same hue of gold that I used previously on his gauntlets and faceplate.Because golden paint is always tricky and doesn't cover well with just one coat. I often tend to start with a basecoat of yellow. It makes the gold pop better!

There he is! Fully fluffed and armored! One very chunky happy boy~I made him in about a month and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I learned more than I expected, which is always good. And the process was just as fun as the finished doll. Putting it down in a blog is also a new thing for me. I hope whoever may stumble across this page may also share in that bit of fun.The only thing I wish was better is the poseability. Sadly due to the wrong heavy claytype I had to reinforce the neck with extra thick iron wire. Taking away a lot of his articulation.But to me what matters most is that he looks better than I imagined he would. Its incredibly fun to have this old 2D creature finally see realized into 3D with all these different textures and colors not possible in a cartoony drawing. It creates a personal connection to a character just like Cosplay used to invoke for me. So I will for sure be making more artdolls in the future!~December 2021 - January 2022

Making of the Pacific Rim Jaeger Drone Kaiju

I fondly remember making and wearing this creature. This cosplay was purely made off the hype from the sequel trailer of my favourite movie Pacific Rim. The original monster appeared in the movie Pacific Rim Uprising - 2018I made this cosplay off 1 little trailer sequence at first. Basically one blurry screenshot. During the build, some toy pictures leaked online as well. In hindsight I am still incredibly surprised of how accurate it ended up being. Even the backside.This cosplay won 1st prize in a little 'walk on - walk off' contest at a gamer LAN-party.Costume was made in a month of non stop, daily building. Main materials are: Eva Foam, Upholstery foam, and isolation foam for the little models I ripped the patterns from. Paints are all acrylics and rattlecan.This is also the first project in which I included the visual thought process of digitally drawing on top of WIP pictures. A technique which i still use to this day!April - May 2018

Making of Dark Samus

Without any doubt. This is the biggest mark I will leave on this world. I probably cannot comprehend how many people saw this costume with how many online articles and social media reposts there are to find. One online search for 'Dark Samus Cosplay' and you will get what I mean. This cosplay went viral before it was even finished, eventually being shared in the tens of thousands.It is appropriate to me as a person however. Metroid is the piece of media that showed a little 11 year old girl that there can be a woman in the armor. I would not be the person I was today for that particular moment playing Metroid Fusion.When the Dark Samus redesign for the Smash bros. game was shown. I was sold.In this costume I pretty much put everything I learned from the Jaeger Drone Kaiju. Where I included some basic leds in the afformentioned costume, this is the one where it became a big feature of the end result.This cosplay was made as a companion piece to Willow Creative's Samus Aran Varia Suit from Prime 3 Corruption. Its where we truly became friends. And it was all rewarded with a first place on 2019's Dutch Comic Con's cosplay competition.

The costume was made in three months of non stop building. Eva foam for hard stuff, upholstery for the soft bits so I was able to move. All paints used for this project were acrylics and rattlecan.November 2018 - January 2019

At last I want to remind you to pay Willow Creative a visit~ Next to being extremely talented, she is actually still an active costumer ;)

Making of Skeksil the Chamberlain

The Dark Crystal's revival series sure reignited the love for the absurdist fantasy universe by many. And I was no exception.I fell in love with the scheming, evil yet charming Chamberlain. This and his outlandisch design would be a challenge for me to replicate. It was clear from the beginning that I had to turn a 9-man puppeteered puppet into a single person worn costume.Having to drastically alter my shape with frames, a fake tummy and the head elevated above my own.This is the last cosplay I made before covid hit and ultimately decided to stop with the artform alltogether. I do consider it the best thing I ever made.The costume was worn once at a photoshoot in January of 2020. Not soon after, the first costume events would be cancelled in the Netherlands. Not to return for the two years to come.While only been worn once. I have a lot of great pictures and a well documented build album to share with you.This is the biggest fabric project I ever tackled, and with it I overcame the fear of sewing. The costume's flesh bits also include pigmented liquid latex, another first for me.
I build it over the span of 4 months. Using my winter holiday to its fullest. 100 meters of fabric and a body altering PVC frame later.. Chamberlain stood proud! If even for a day.September 2019 - January 2020