Enough Said (Click on image to see the whole thing)
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Inspirations (1)
Naturally, the movie and the comic books are inspirations for this project (with my aim being to get the costume ready before IRON MAN 2 hits cinemas...unlikely, but possible).
But another key inspiration is this guy.
An article about him can be found here, and he seems to have a few Youtube videos around the place.
I'll try to post a few more bits as I find them.
But another key inspiration is this guy.
An article about him can be found here, and he seems to have a few Youtube videos around the place.
I'll try to post a few more bits as I find them.
Work in Progress: The Chestplate (Part 1)
This is probably going to be the most technologically integrated part of the costume. When I finish it I'm planning to have a light up chest and possibly some other moving aspects, or integrated sound effects. For the moment though, it's all about form rather than function.
Looking at Iron Man, there are dozens of armour suits, many of them share features, but in most cases the fine details are different. This can be explained by a gradual evolution of the suit, something that is present throughout all the comics, cartoons and the movies. So I don't need to get the suit 100% perfect, I just need to get it looking vaguely right...but still looking good.
I'm using the 2008 Iron Man movie as my primary inspiration, sourcing as many images from it as I can. But I'm also looking back to the images that inspired the suit design for that movie, the comics and even the trailers for the new movie to get specific ideas on how the armour could work/look.
I found these great items at Reverse Garbage a few months back, and I've been meaning to use them as a modelling tool for chestplate. So the Iron Man project is perfect.
They appear to have been vacuum moulded from a mannequin torso that has been cut in half. They set me back about $5 each. Originally I planned to jigsaw them, cutting them into a back and front for a greek-style hoplite armour...but I've since decided that they'll make much better bases for sculpting projects.
I'm using a pretty similar technique to the helmet...layers of plaster of paris gradually building up contours until I get something that I like the look of.
Chestplate Front
A central ring will be cut out for mounting the iconic chest light of the armour. I'm still deciding about the rib detail because this varies on a few suits of the Iron Man armour, even within the first movie.
Chestplate Back
There is a protruding bit at the back of the armour which I'll be making use of to store batteries and electronic components for the chestplate.
My apologies that some of the pictures don't have the best lighting, but you get the idea.
Looking at Iron Man, there are dozens of armour suits, many of them share features, but in most cases the fine details are different. This can be explained by a gradual evolution of the suit, something that is present throughout all the comics, cartoons and the movies. So I don't need to get the suit 100% perfect, I just need to get it looking vaguely right...but still looking good.
I'm using the 2008 Iron Man movie as my primary inspiration, sourcing as many images from it as I can. But I'm also looking back to the images that inspired the suit design for that movie, the comics and even the trailers for the new movie to get specific ideas on how the armour could work/look.
I found these great items at Reverse Garbage a few months back, and I've been meaning to use them as a modelling tool for chestplate. So the Iron Man project is perfect.
They appear to have been vacuum moulded from a mannequin torso that has been cut in half. They set me back about $5 each. Originally I planned to jigsaw them, cutting them into a back and front for a greek-style hoplite armour...but I've since decided that they'll make much better bases for sculpting projects.
I'm using a pretty similar technique to the helmet...layers of plaster of paris gradually building up contours until I get something that I like the look of.
Chestplate Front
A central ring will be cut out for mounting the iconic chest light of the armour. I'm still deciding about the rib detail because this varies on a few suits of the Iron Man armour, even within the first movie.
Chestplate Back
There is a protruding bit at the back of the armour which I'll be making use of to store batteries and electronic components for the chestplate.
My apologies that some of the pictures don't have the best lighting, but you get the idea.
Work In Progress: The Helmet (Part 1)
I've been plugging away at this project for a long time. Building components, being unsatisfied with components, then rebuilding components.
But I wanted to blog the project, and I've been letting this side fall down. So here's a couple of progress shots on one of the key features of the armour, the helmet.
For a few months now, I have had a faceplate that I'm pretty satisfied with. It was sculpted with Super Sculpey, sanded, smoothed and was designed to work as a separate mould for a detachable faceplate.
For the moment, I'm using this as a core focal point and sculpting the remainder of the helmet around it in plaster of paris.
It's a time consuming process, but I'm being pretty meticulous about it. A thin layer of plaster, carefully pushed, prodded and smoothed over, then sanded to build up a contour. Then gradually building up contours until I get the whole thing looking right. You can see in some of the pictures that I get a bit impatient and just slap on a whole heap of plaster at times, then I have to sand back quite a bit to get the desired shape.
But I wanted to blog the project, and I've been letting this side fall down. So here's a couple of progress shots on one of the key features of the armour, the helmet.
For a few months now, I have had a faceplate that I'm pretty satisfied with. It was sculpted with Super Sculpey, sanded, smoothed and was designed to work as a separate mould for a detachable faceplate.
For the moment, I'm using this as a core focal point and sculpting the remainder of the helmet around it in plaster of paris.
It's a time consuming process, but I'm being pretty meticulous about it. A thin layer of plaster, carefully pushed, prodded and smoothed over, then sanded to build up a contour. Then gradually building up contours until I get the whole thing looking right. You can see in some of the pictures that I get a bit impatient and just slap on a whole heap of plaster at times, then I have to sand back quite a bit to get the desired shape.
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