**Update: Found this post I started from a few years ago, yikes! We had some Grifter interest this week so I thought I’d actually post this. Funny to see where we’ve come with some of the ideas I had. See the **asterisks for updates from the “present” 😀
So I thought I would have more time to post since I ran myself over…
Since I’m just now getting around to posting this, I guess I was wrong.
That’s ok, now I just have a back-log of stuff to post for your reading pleasure.
This was an unexpected commission and has in-turn, gotten Garrick and I thinking about doing W.I.L.D.C.A.T.S costumes now.
An awesome return customer asked me to make this and since I was having so much fun with the Deadpool. Deathstroke, and Cobra Commander masks I thought this would be an new fun challenge.
**It was fun!
This mask needed to have expression but the challenging part was I needed a material that would hold that expression, have good “motion” (looks good on and when the wear-er is wearing it), and would hide the faceshell.
The customer had picked a very specific design he wanted so I went off of that version of Grifter
I used the same faceshell I did for Cobra Commander and Deathstroke (getting a lot of mileage out of it!) but cut it down to fit the brow line of Grifter. I wanted to give this mask some more expression in the brow so it conveyed the menace that a lot of sculpted masks and cowls have. I did this by padding the brow line with some fleece and drawing some expression lines above the eyes. I then sewed the expressions in with same colored thread. In the picture I used a darker thread. This was my prototype, not the finished product, which is why is also more orange, I had some extra fabric lying around.
 |
||
| The mask wasn’t cut yet that’s why it’s pulling weird around the mouth |
This project also made me want to sew Garrick an MGS Naked Snake costume using this same technique! One day I’ll have my Metal Gear group…
**Update I did get my Metal Gear group! Aaaand…. you can get a Snake headband from Frank and Nat’s Armory using this same technique! G wasn’t Snake but I think I’ll try to make him a Kaz costume this year to go with Paul’s Snake. They need a costume like our Yuribears 😉
Once I was happy with this I decided to work on the rest of it and come back to this later to weather it (my favorite!!) to give it more expression and character.
**This post was a while ago and I can’t find the rest of the progress pics. So here’s the final product pic. I can tell you what I did afterward the photo above, just no visual aide.
Once I was happy with the shape of the mask I put the face shell under it and traces where the eye holes were and cut them out. I then used that same measurement to draw the black pieces around that eye hole measurement. I went through a few different shapes before finding the one the client and I liked the best.
I glued the red part of the mask to the face shell with some Barge and repeated the smae with the black pieces on top of the red. Once those were dry I cut out some splater screens (the kind you get from cooking stores to keep food stuffs from splashing on you while you cook) and painted those white on one side. I then cut small circles bigger than the eye holes and gently pressed those into the eye holes and rounded them out with my thumb, white side facing out. You can tear the mesh so when I say carefully, go slow, you’ll see the stress points on it. This gives the mask more dimension and character. It also prevents and flash photography from showing your actual eyes behind the mesh. The white blurs and acts as a cover for it.
Last part, weathering!!!!!! I got some transparent acrylics per G’s suggestion, and mixed a few browns and blacks together and slowly built up layers in areas that would get dirty the quickest. Around the eyes, nose, mouth, forehead and edges of the mask.
Finished! The masks you order from us now will be a little more weathered than this unless you ask for it not to be. The client wanted it cleaner than I usually prefer, but that’s because I loooooove weathering! Can you tell?
