I always try to plan out costumes as best I can before starting them and I decided I would share how I do that. This works for both armoured and fabric costumes.
This is the full armour from front and back
I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’m going to attach the Demongaze armour to myself when I wear it. So yes I have decided on this cosplay for next year! Strapping armour to yourself can be really tedious depending on the complexity of the armour its self. I found this out with my Dragon Scale armour from Skyrim. Looking back at it now the way I strapped the breastplate to myself is really ugly,
my skill did get a little better as I made the thigh and skirting armour as I could hide it a lot better. I want to improve on this skill with the Demongaze amour by better hiding the strapping and clips and buckles ect.
So lets take a trip into paint and watch me ramble and through ideas out there so I won’t forget them later!
The Breastplate
Okay so the image above is a quarter turn view of the armour, the dark black area under the arm is obviously armour-less (I will be wearing a bodysuit under all of the armour so the fabric of that will be showing here) Below that we can see a thick dark blue line following the side of her torso to the belt. I think this would be the best place for a seam/split of the worbla, you can see the the breastplate is layered over another piece of armour covering the stomach, then there is the ‘wrap around’ armour underneath that which would connect at the seam.
This image is an angled view of the back of the armour, the main plates of the armour are distinct with the silver trim. The blue surrounding that armour is the ‘wrap around’ armour I talked about before, you can just see the thick dark blue line where I want the seam to be by the girls arm. Ignore the dot in the top right corner I didn’t see it before uploading the image!
Above you can see where the armour goes over the shoulders, I’m hoping to keep the breastplate as one piece by having the shoulder pieces of the breastplate connect to the front and back plates, have room for the arm hole and then the split down the side. Similar to this…
Found on Pinterest without credit
But with a lot more shape to it. I would make the breastplate without having a split but because it has a lot of shape to it it will be easier to get on with the splits. I would likely have two small safety buckles (like the one I used on the back of the Dragon Scale armour belt) on each side of the split, four in total for the breastplate.
The Belt
Above are images of the front and back of the belt. I think the easiest way of making this is from worbla (like everything else in this build) and EVA foam. The belt will have a safety buckle at the front (same as the one mentioned before) which will be hidden by the skull, I will attach the skull with a hook and eye set on the inside of the belt. The belt also has a small plate of armour at the back (circled in the right picture) which I will make a part of the belt, I will probably have a small piece of elastic going between my lets to connect the bottom of that to the front of the belt underneath the skull.
Belt Skull
Front and side view of the skull on the belt. I would probably make the base out of 6mm EVA foam and then cover with worbla. The horns would either be made from insulation foam or tinfoil and DAS clay.
Thigh Armour
Front,side and back of the thigh armour (left leg). This again will be made from EVA foam sandwiched between worbla I think then to make the raised silver detail I will make a pattern out of 6mm foam and then dremel it down to shape with clean edges and cover with worbla. There is a band of armour that goes around the leg so I will be making this fitted to me as well as having an elastic strap higher up on the inside of my thigh to keep it on my body. And because gravity is a bitch that won’t be enough to keep it up and it will likely slip down as I’m walking. //Flashback to SNK Cosplay of 2014// To prevent this I will have yet another safety buckle on this cosplay. One end of the buckle will sit underneath the belt on my hip so that it will line up with the top most point of the thigh armour, where there will be the other end of the buckle underneath of the top most point of the armour so that they can clip together.
Boots
Above are the boots, I don’t know why but WOW has a thing for really bulky boots. For these I’m planing on making proper boot covers to go over my amazing black boots which I have used for four costumes so far. I’ll then make the silver face and armour from worbla and EVA foam which should stay on without elastic because it has two points of connection with the boot. Under the foot and the top opening of the boot.
Gauntlets
The gauntlets from front, side and back. I think these should be pretty simple. Made from EVA foam with EVA foam raised details and then covered in worbla. And I’m sure there is a tutorial out there for gems but I will talk about that later. I think making them in one piece in then being able to slide the on is the easiest option to go with. I have seen some tutorials of worbla gauntlets with zippers so that could be another option.
Shoulder armour/pauldrons
THESE ARE EITHER GOING TO BE LOTS OF FUN OR LITERAL HELL. The shoulder armour is basically a giant skull with horns and glowing blue eyes and I love it! I’m going to make these attach to the shoulder of the breastplate using the same method Jessica Nigri did to mount her large shoulder armour.
The above images show where she has added more foam to the shoulder piece to make it sit higher (which is a reoccurring thing in WOW armour) The bottom of the added foam has Velcro which connects to the Velcro on her shoulder harness (which will be the actual shoulder armor for me) As well as that she has a safety buckle on the shoulder armour and the other end of the buckle is on the harness shoulder piece. This is there to add more security to the shoulder armour and also to keep it closer to her head holding it more upright. I will be playing around with this technique but I’m sure I will do it differently as my breastplate is a lot different.
As far as making the skulls goes I will probably make the base from 6mm EVA foam and then cover everything in worbla. And i really really want to add a LED circuit to those skulls so the eyes will glow blue. My idea is that I could have four LEDs two for each skull obviously and then have the battery pack and circuit at the back of my neck (on a harness of course, perhaps built into the back plate?) which would be covered by my hood. I really do need to look into this more as I haven’t worked with LEDs before unless you count that time in the Technology center in Year 8 but I never paid attention any way.
Horns, look cool but are a maybe
This is a close up of the horns and the only photo I have of them. I think they look really cool and add to the armour quite a bit. The blue horns to the top of the head are actually apart of the race wearing the armor but I don’t have any other photos so this will be the image used for reference. The base of the horns look like they cloth on them likely to be apart of the hood/cowl. I think I will make the horns from insulation foam or expanding foam and then cover with worbla. I would make them to attach to a headband which I can wear under the hood and have holes in the hood so that the horns can poke through and hopefully cover my awful craftsmanship of attaching the horns to the headband.
Bodysuit, hood and maybe a cape
Bodysuit
In the first picture I have circled areas where you can best see the (chain mail, other armour… something) underneath the main armour. This is where I plan to make a body suit. Because I have an extreme pet hate for cosplayers who make incredible armour and then wear normal clothes of the same color under it (example: Long sleeved black shirt and pants) instead of just making a body suit. It looks so tacky !!! The texture looks like a large scale print which is burnt purple color, though I doubt it would be an issue if I just went with a dark blue color. But I want to try and replicate the scale effect. This will be my second armour cosplay with a scale print… Fabric choice will likely be spandex/spandex blend.
Hood and possible cape
Below I try to justify why I should make the cape
The second image shows a close up of the hood. The hood looks reasonably fitted and so does the scarf (cowl is the right word I know). The cowl is what makes me want to add a cape to the costume. Simply because capes are awesome. Also by having a cape I can cover up the back of the costume a lot better, not saying the back of the costume will look bad but if I do have a battery pack for the LEDs it would be nice to have some more coverage. I don’t think a cape would make the costume look bad either just add to the awesomeness of the armour. I would use the same fabric for the cowl and cape because crossing materials is another pet hate of mine. If I can find enough of the right fabric I defiantly will make the cape. I think the best length for for the cape would be just below the backs of my knees (apparently that’s called your ‘popliteal’, see you can learn things through my blog) I think I will fry the edges giving it a weathered look ect.
I think the beast fabric would be a cotton blend but I will see what I can find in the fashion district!
Gems
I briefly thought about making all of the blue gems glow with LEDs but decided that it would be way too time consuming and considering I haven’t used LEDs before a bit of a dumb idea. Besides I think having the eyes on the skulls glowing is a really neat effect and I just want to keep it to that one area. The boots also have a face on them along with glowing eyes but I’m just going to over look that and make those gems as well. I have seen many different tutorials that use hot glue to make gems by heating the glue in a microwave adding color and then re-heating the glue and shaping it to the shape you want. Another option is mold casting gems but that can be expensive so if I do go with that option I might talk to my friend who also cosplays and see if we go halves on the costs for those materials. The surround of the gems will be worbla painted silver to give the gems that inset look on the armour.
Paint
I will most likely use acrylic paint when painting the armour. Its the best paint to use on worbla and wont crack and will take damage without showing it. There is a really neat art shop in the town over from where my grandmother lives in England so I really want to go there when buying paints. I will put together a pallet of all the most dominant colors in the armour and print it off before I pack my things so I can take it with me. Color pallets are so easy to make I don’t know why more cosplayers don’t make them when buying fabrics and paints.
Frostreaper, Blade of the Fallen Prince
Not armour but apart of the costume all the same. There are two ways I am thinking of doing this build. The first way is with 6mm EVA foam likely sandwiched together (rough sides in the middle) and then shaped down with a dremel. Or making a vague (and I mean vague because there is so much detail on that sword) outline from balsa wood and then covering that in expanding foam and carving that down to shape, then covering with worbla. From what I can tell from other (low quality) screen shots of the sword only one side has incredible detail. From this I have decided to keep the sword looking as it does from these angle and then just improvise on what the skull looks like at the back instead of mirroring the entire sword on both sides.
And I think that covers everything I will be making in this post. I can’t start on this costume until next year after I have come home from England but I’m sure I will have posts related to it while I’m on holiday. I am very excited to start this armour.
Thank you for reading this very long post
-Nivera
Nivera Gilbert 