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http://youtu.be/TbOU2noH56k

Finally made one of these.  I might put up some costumes and the odd sketch, but nothing too much.

http://dani426.deviantart.com/

Yay =D Hopefully I'll be good enough with sewing and have enough time to make a Sachi cosplay. =3  We'll see as we get closer. ^^

The weapons policy states no explosives, which would include dynamite.  My advice would be to play up the cartoony, cel shaded style of the character in the dynamite prop to make it look obviously fake, but it might have to be left out of the convention center if it comes down to it.

I'm probably not going to be on Rover staff this year, but if I go to any of their meeting/gatherings I'll see if I can bring it up with them to get a clearer answer.  They usually put up a big thread as it gets closer to the con and their policy gets refined.

So, I'm sculpting a Psycho mask From the Borderlands game...
Heres what they look like for those who don't know the game:


Here's what I have so far: crappy photo quality, but its what i got.
I'll be painting on most of the details once i make a cast of this, but want opinions and critiques first.  details like the eyes, facial markings and such will be added later.
My question is, does anyone thing anything structurally needs to be changed? Am I way off?  Its my first time making a full mask, let alone one so detailed... any critique helps!  Thanks1

Don't skimp on the smoothing!  Looks like a good start but definitely still very rough. What material are you working with?

So cosplay id Alice "um" from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
? is what materials can i use and how to make the sword look like metal?
there is a picture of the movie prop in link below.
http://geekfemme.blogspot.com/2010/03/nerdy-photo-monday-alice-in-wonderland.html
Thank you for any help ^.^

If you want to make something look like metal, the biggest keys are a nice base texture and s a good paint job.

For texture, whether you're working with foam, bondo, or plastic, make sure you get something workable.  The vast majority of props I see that stick out like a sore thumb tend to be paper mache products which retain their lumpy newspaper clumped form underneath.  There are few metal objects in the world with that texture.

For painting, Stan Winston Studios has a great video entitled "METALLIC PAINTING TECHNIQUES" that I highly recommend purchasing.  Here is a preview:
http://youtu.be/IrAyrV7M_ZA

Good luck!

A FB page has been put up in order to help facilitate organizations, gathering, share tips, and just general hanging out with the SMT/Persona cosplay community in California.  You can check it out here!


http://www.facebook.com/SMTCACosplay

Oh yes, I also got bored and put together a video of some friends who came out for the launch of P4U

http://youtu.be/jaTMrG1M190

For those of you that want a realistic looking prop that fits the weapons policy, I just saw these at Wal Mart.  I can't find them online, but they fit our weapons policy fairly well (you can even repaint the body and leave just the safety bits on there).  While it's in the kids section, they are really well proportioned for adults, being probably just slightly under 1:1 scale.  I haven't seen them online (at least not the railed M4 one), so RE/military/etc.-style should pick one up if you see it on sale in stores!

I need a bit of advice on a prop gun.
I was planning on carving it out of probably a block of styrofoam, then sealing the foam with something and painting it. Since the gun is fairly flat, I was going to just use a sheet of foam so i just have to worry about an outline istead of carving the sides, as well, like I would if I used something like expanding insulation foam. I also need a rather large single sheet, since I don't want to have to somehow join together two pieces to create the entire length of the gun.

Would this even work? I'm not sure what to seal the foam with, or even if the rather porous foam I was looking at would be a good option. I was thinking of using gesso to seal the foam, but I'm afraid it will just sink into all the little holes and I'd need a -lot- to get a smooth coat. If that wouldn't work, what would? I was hoping that I could seal it (sand it, seal it again, etc.), apply my decorations (which will be a combination of cut pieces of craft foam glued on and hot glue directly applied to create the raised designs), and paint it, without having to cover it in something between the sealant and the decorations/paint. Would that work, and how sturdy would it be?

Also, I was planning on using a length of PVC pipe for the barrel (which goes all the way back, so I would just need to glue it into a channel on the top of the gun), but I don't know what kind of glue to use to attatch it (I guess that partly depends on how I seal the gun?) or if that will be too heavy, especially considering how lightweight the body of the gun could potentially be. Any tips there?

I was planning on doing something like this, where piece 1 is the styrofoam body, piece 2 is the PVC pipe, piece 3 is an extra, decorative piece (though it might be good to make it structural somehow... any ideas?), and piece 4 is shaped craft foam that hides the junction (thank you, Atlus character designers, for giving her a decorative piece right there!).

Thank you!

If you did want to do foam, you can seal it with diluted school glue/modge podge or spray on plastidip.

One of the prop designers for our Halo film works almost exclusively with foam, and they look great.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DaFrontlineTrooper

My advice is to check out his "How to make a halo magnum"  series.  He tracks the construction of a Halo Magnum fairly thoroughly from start to finish, which should be pretty helpful.

Foam props can be fairly fragile, so you have to take care when handling them.  But they are also ridiculously cheap.  

If you have any specific questions, if you're local I'm happy to help.  You can also follow him on FB

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DaFrontlineTrooper-Andrew-Cook/177039162321111


Examples of things made out of foam:

Masks shouldn't be an issue.

For prop weapons, you can try modifying a toy gun that does not fire projectiles.  Kids toys or modded non-functioning nerf guns are popular methods. More elaborate ones can be made from foam, MDF, styrene, etc.  But honestly, the Army of Two guys are so outlandish,a painted Nerf gun wouldn't seem too out of place.

If you feel you must have 'airsoft' in order to be realistic, then you have to restrict yourself to taking photos outside.  I bring a rifle/duffle bag with me if I plan on posing with props I feel can't be peace bonded and simple bag them when not posing outdoors.

Since we had a couple of Halo/Mass Effect/Aliens whatnot costumes from sci-fis that don't typically fit in with Anime, would you be interested in merging into one big gathering?

One of the neatest little photos we had was when a couple of us Halo guys were fighting off an Alien Xenomorph and then two Sheperds came in to save the day.  Would be great to have something like that, and figured I'd throw it out here before possibly making a new thread. ^^

That being said, I'd love to make a Bounty Hunter costume...been wanting to put one together since the cinematic was first released.  But we'll see how much time i have.

For those planning on making TOR costumes, if anyone local to the bay area needs any help with glassing/foam/sculpting/molding, feel free to let me know.

Since Marvel publishes the Halo comics, does Master Chief count? ;)

After all, I did get to tie up Stan Lee once! (in the blue)



Hah, I happened to be outside by the Marvel gathering this year.  Figured I wouldn't quite fit in, but the thought just kept crossing my mind.  ^^

Rovers: My experience with rovers this year was not as bad as last year, but some of them were still rude while I'm asking a simple question. Although, my boyfriend and I witnessed a rover taking away a badge, and we're just wondering if rovers actually have the power to do that or was that abuse of their "power."

Rovers do not pull badges.  If a situation warrants a badge pulling, a second or head of the Rover department should be on hand to address the situation first, and ultimately the badge pull would need to be approved by Wolfgang.  If a Rover at any time threatens to pull a badge, Rover staff needs to be notified so we can deal with them appropriately.

If you can better describe the situation, time, and person we will do our best to look into the matter.

All Rovers are authorized to confiscate fake badges.

We'll continue to try to implement better ways to encourage our Rovers to be good customer service faces for Fanime.  A good attitude is something we stress, and it is considered just as important as sound judgement when deciding who to retain for next year's staff.

Dani
Rover Shift Lead

Very nice!  And as great as the foam builds come out, it's nice to see shepard armor made by different materials.  Great little piece of history about the styrene. =)

Looking forward to seeing the completed suit next year!  It already looks great for something 'incomplete'.

You can also get it when you're taking the picture.  Check if your camera has aperture controls and select a more 'open' aperture (smaller number 2.8, 4, etc.) to have a lower depth-of-field and blur out more of the clutter around your subject.  A telephoto lens (i.e. a long distance lens) will also have a similar effect.

We've had a couple of Army of Two cosplayers before.

It should be acceptable, as it would not be mistaken for any official military uniform. 

Because no matter how many times I ask, official military policy will not allow us to wear flame and skull face masks.  Not even if I paint a smiley face on them.

Source: Fanime Grave Shift Lead 2012 ; Some guy that knows what military uniforms look like

Any pictures of the blue chief or the UNSC Marine would be much appreciated!

I was wandering around con from time to time with a blue master chief suit and a brown UNSC marine.  The Marine is actually a prop from a film we're making, and I'd like to take a moment to share the latest results of our effort with you folks. =)



Check our video out here:
http://youtu.be/x1f_JCxe1v8

FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/HaloTheFallen

And also of course, a kickstarter:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1717415109/the-fallen-a-halo-fan-film

If you like our film, please share with your friends!  Every little bit of publicity and support helps.

Thought I'd just leave this here...It's a project I'm currently working on as producer, prop designer, and consultant.

Halo: The Fallen is a non-profit fan film based around the Halo universe. It's a passion project that combines the talents of various artists ranging from student, freelance and industry. Our ultimate goal is to deliver a memorable and engaging film.

See our initial VFX Trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPhpYi4Ngsk&feature=player_embedded

Follow us on FaceBook:
http://www.facebook.com/HaloTheFallen

Make sure to stick a safety color (bright orange, etc) on the tip though!