Reference images #

When it comes to costume planning my first step is to go online and try to find as many reference images as possible. For Aloy that was especially easy as it didn’t take long to find that various designers had posted a treasure trove of images of the various outfits on their Artstation accounts¹,² and from there discover that someone on Deviantart had extracted out and rendered the exact outfit I wanted to make³. The biggest bonus here was that the artists who had created the render it had posted the files used to create the render!

After some messing around to get textures to load I had my very own version of the Shield Weaver outfit loaded into Blender. Now I could check from all angles and zoom in when I wasn’t sure of things. As I’d imported the model to real world dimensions (this took a bit of trial and error) I could also measure things which will come in useful for ensuring the templates I’d make where to the right scale. Luckily Aloy is only very slightly shorter in height than I am so I didn’t need to re-scale anything.

With the model imported I could start tearing it apart, extracting individual elements and manipulating them so they where flat on a plane. I started breaking components down even further, reducing them to shapes I could more easily make by layering foam. Having dimensions here was incredibly helpful as it allowed me to figure out what thicknesses of foam I’d need.

I settled on 5mm and 2mm foam with the view that no one is going to notice the tiny millimetre differences caused by rounding up or down. 3D printing would be more precise, but I don’t have a 3D printer and commercial prices are still much more than it costs for a couple of rolls of foam (especially if you have vouchers for Poly-Props).

Making templates for fabric #

For the various pieces of clothing for the outfit I relied on the measurements from the model to give me a rough idea, and then iterated through templates to get the right sizing.

For the trousers I took apart a pair of old jeans, since I knew they fit well, and used them as the base. Using the reference images I had, I drew on the template where I’d need to cut it into sections to make the stitched together look. On all the templates I added 1.5cm extra allowance for sewing (though in some cases I did this as I was tracing onto fabric. Don’t do this, it’s far more work!).

For the arm covers I took the extra step of making a mockup as I wasn’t convinced that the measurements I had would work. I was correct, the dimensions where too small, so with that in mind I was able to go back and alter them so that they fit better.

Making templates for armour #

I took screenshots of the front, top and left or right (which ever had more detail) in blender from an orthographic view and imported them into Inkscape.

Then came the tedious tracing and tweaking of lines to make up a template. I learnt from my early template versions that separating the pieces made it much easier to cut out, though next time I’m going to keep an outline in light grey with a number to make assembling later much easier!

A few of the templates were much bigger than an A4 piece of paper, so these needed to be printed across multiple sheets and assembled. This is much more of a pain than you’d think, with little support in most applications. Luckily a program called PosteRazor⁴ exists that can take an image and split it into multiple overlapping pages. You can then print the resulting PDF and assemble using tape and a lot of patience!

I recommend labelling your template pieces with the foam thickness, name of piece and how many you need as it will save so much time later.

Next steps #

I actually started making some aspects as soon as I had the templates for them, rather than waiting to completely them all. This approach allows me to actually be doing something productive if I get stuck on a step, rather than going “oh well, guess I won’t do anything”. I’ve had that on cosplay’s before and it really slows down the process.

The next retrospective is going to cover the creation of the trousers and other fabric based items, then I’ll move onto the initial armour!

Time until Comic Con: 11 weeks 4 days!

The cosplay project I’m currently working on is Aloy, from Horizon Zero Dawn. I loved the game and thought that the outfits integrating bits of machine parts looked so cool.

I picked the Shield Weaver outfit because it was one of my favourites in the game (I also loved the stealth and the later Banuk armour you could get). As a bonus it also has elements that let me used LED’s, something I’ve been wanting to integrate into a costume for years.

The story so far #

Planning started in February, after some experimentation revealed that creating a Mandalorian cosplay out of foam was not going to produce the finish I wanted. Making foam super shiny is really difficult!

Production of the pieces started in late April with the first bits of the armour and then onto making the clothes as in the background I worked on armour templates. I’ll write a retrospective on each step that’s been completed later, but at this point I’ve made the trousers, arm covers, shoulder covers and padded front piece.

They all need their details (such as pipes and connectors), but those need painting and I don’t want to do that with all the dust flying around.

The armour construction is going well, though I’d totally underestimated how long each set of pieces would take. So far I’ve finished the the gauntlets, chest armour, spine, upper back armour, knee armour and the shoulder cover connector bits.

What’s still to go #

I’m currently working on the headpiece, and once that’s complete I’ve got the emitters (x10!) and the shoulder armour to complete. The latter is going to involve a lot of trial and error as it’s the most complex piece. Once that’s done the armour is complete and I can start priming and painting. There’s a few connectors and the like that need making, but I’ll done them when it comes to assembly as it’s likely they’ll need tweaking.

On the clothing side I need to get a needle for my sewing machine to complete the sash/belt and scarf, but that’ll take no time at all. The pouches and quiver still need making too, but they’re fairly simple to do so currently sit at a lower priority. I need to measure the shoes I’ve got to figure out how much elastic I need and then can get on making the covers for them. These next few evenings could actually be good for getting them sorted as a break from the sanding!

Lastly, it’s come down to either the bow or the spear. I’d like both as have a template for the spear (Thank you Kamui Cosplay), but being an archer the bow is where my heart is at (and what I used most in the game). I’m currently making a template using a STL of the warbow and the Guerilla Games PDF cosplayers guide. Should have that finished soon, then onto the production! There’s a chance I might need to get some 10mm foam for that, I’ll see when the template is finished.

Time until Comic Con: 12 weeks!

It’s a bit late to have started this as I’m a good chunk of the way through a major cosplay build (Aloy, from Horizon Zero Dawn) but you have to start somewhere!

This blog will track the progress of various costumes I make, explaining why and how I’m doing things the way I am. Hopefully you’ll learn something, even if it’s a case of don’t do it the way I did!

I’ll also be posting on cosplay events I’ve attended, mostly cons, and the pictures I’ve taken at them. If you had a picture taken by me, you’ll find it here or in the linked gallery.

Thanks for reading, expect a glut of posts as I cover my progress so far!