tmnt movie costume build from part 1

[jester fx]

hi all this is i believe my 2nd thread i have done over here i believe i showed my casey jones comic mask and bats. but this thread is to show a tmnt part 1 movie costume build we are doing. this build will be for a raph costume as he is my favorite.

a little info on how this will be done. we will be sculpting the torso and legs in 2 sections just like they did for the movie. we are sculpting them on 1 body cast that way we know the size and shape will properly line up and be proportionate. than after we have the body roughed out we will do a quick rough sculpt of the front shell to make sure the shell is the proper size and shape. that shell will be removed and set aside to later be finished after the body is 100% done.

once the torso is done we will make a casting of the head that is on the boy down to the top of the shell. by doing this we can now sculpt a head that will be the proper size and shape for the rest of the body and also move properly with the neck.

for the hands and feet we will be using castings of the original hands and feet that were taken to do the full body cast by parts off of the same body form and not using parts form one body and than body parts for another form you guarantee the whole costume flows moves and fits proportionate. if you dont do this the costume may be to big or small in certain places and look out of balance for the final casting and you may not even see it until you are all finished with the project

the back shell will be done after the body and front shell is done that way we can make sure the back shell the proper size and shape. as you can tell we are taking the proper steps to ensure an accurate and proper fitting costume.

the costume its self not counting the pads and belt will be 9 pieces. all sculpted and assembled the same way they were done for the movie. the body will be made of green foam latex and there will be a spandex under suit cast into all of the pieces to keep them form ripping. we have not decided how we will make the shells in the film they were also foam latex but we may use a new poly foam that is super light.

here are a few photos so far we are only about 8 hours in and are doing this between a few other jobs. so pleas bare with us if photos do not get updated often.

please share any and all comments as we love to hear what you all think and feel free to ask any questions.

if you would like to view photos faster or would like to see any other costume builds we may be doing pleas visit us on our company facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/jesterfx as we update photos there via our mobile device often

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/tmnt.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/tmnt2.jpg

[cartoonistaaron]

Your stuff is incredible! I can't wait to see how this progresses. I added you guys on Facebook, and I looked at your photos there.... Just awesome work!

[jester fx]

thanks and we just accepted your friend request

[twopinacoladas]

Looks good, I look forward to seeing your progress on this one :)

[jester fx]

hi all here are some shots of the tmnt tour shell we just got. the shell is 100% original and was used on tour. it is a very heavy poly foam it has 2 straps in the mid section and 2 on the shoulder area i just did not attach them.

this is the same style shell we have see other sellers use. as far as size and shape it is perfect and looks very close to the part 1 and 2 movie shell. our plans are to use this as a base and modify the side parts of the shell and add more to the top and sides of the shell like in the film. however this may be done later as an add on to the shell to make them easier to cast.

but for now we can now keep working on the body as we needed this to insure a proper size and shape for the rest of the costume and front shell

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/tmntshell.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/tmntshell2.jpg

[Zany Orange Dude]

Wow that's awesome! I can't wait to see the final product!:tcool:

[Samhain]

Wow, this looks promising. I look forward to seeing more progress.

[jester fx]

thanks we are doing it as fast as we can with out compromising quality and detail. as being able to produce a professional quality product on our promised deadline is one thing we pride our selves on. if all goes well we will have a fully made and painted costume to photograph by october.

[jester fx]

but dont hold us to that deadline it is a projected one as of now. the client it is for has done a few projects with us and this one we are working on around other jobs because he is in no rush. we jut would like adam jay of superhero photography to try and shoot it if he has time when he will be around next as we love his work he has shot 2 of our batman costumes and as always were blown away by his results

[cartoonistaaron]

So is this regular clay you use for sculpting? Does it air dry? I've seen these costumes made but I'm never quite sure how the process works.

[zkarlette]

Looks Amaizing so far!:D

[jester fx]

we normally use chavant nsp medium that is a wax based clay that does not dry out but for this build we are using monster makers. once the clay sculpt is done we will fiberglass mold them and cast them in foam latex

[Raph]

Cool, this looks like it'll be very movie accurate! Can't wait to see the result!

[jester fx]

thanks for all the support.....just out of curiosity and this would not happen until l this costume was done so we dont over extend our selves. is a comic costume based off of the original series like the neca toys something that would be popular. we have always loved the original comic and once we saw the neca toys we wanted to make a full comic costume one day

[jester fx]

in going through my photos i noticed a piece of skin looking stuff that comes out of the top of the back shell. i have circled it in red below now the back shell is pushed away form the body as it houses the power pack for the head. my costume will not have a power pack so here is my question

should i A) leave the shell flush on the body like in the photos i posted above. or B) make a sepirate piece that will push the shell out a little like if it had a power pack and make this flap of shin. personally i think teh skin is not needed and makes the costume look sort of odd

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/tmnt1.jpg

[cartoonistaaron]

I think flush against the body makes more sense. Maybe move yours up a little bit, so it looks like it's higher up on the back? But I wouldn't add the skin flaps, since I didn't really notice them in the movie and I don't think they serve an aesthetic purpose.

[zkarlette]

I like it either way, I think they did it like that for mobility purposes.

[jester fx]

thats was done just to cover the big gap between the shell and the back. the power pack for the head was about 6-8 inches deep so that was made to just make eh costume flow and not look out of place and also to cover the fires going to the head. it also was an add on. if you look it attached to the shell and the upper back by velcrow

[goingnowhereshow]

after making my costume and using it for my film, i regret not being able to put that inbetween skin. it just doesnt look good when ur doing anything thats not standing straight up. And when ur doing ninja poses with the costume, u may not want to be standing so stiff

[jester fx]

spent the day working on lining up the back shell in the proper place and than tweaking the torso sculpt and making the front shell. i have a set of broadway tour pads coming to make sure the arm and leg length is the proper distance and than to use as a temple to make new ones. so here are some more shots the front shell is still in teh works

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/562787_370222989713120_397925475_n.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/432173_370159439719475_1865197770_n.jpg

[cartoonistaaron]

Hey what part of the country are you guys in? How does the weather (humidity, temperature) affect your work? I'm in Florida and it's always way too hot and humid to get anything done outside (not to mention the mosquitos).

[jester fx]

we are in florida also. and yes the humidity and heat is a factor but we work through it. the studio has 6 fans in it so it is kept at about 80 degrees. hat way it is not over Bering when working. the humidity does cause some issues but it just makes things start to kick faster and for jobs like with foma latex we work inside our come to mix it. the new studio will have an air conditioner so when doing certain jobs we ca control the temp and humidity

[jester fx]

just so you guys know this project is not over just attending to haloween orders after october our goal is to finish the project. in eh mean time we received tour used pads that are being used as templets to make ours and we are having the shell molded

[Mintyfresh]

This looks amazing, so much detail. I cannot wait to see this when completely finished!!

[TMNT-Collector]

wow, the amount of detail you are putting into this is amazing, should make out to be an extraordinary costume

[jester fx]

it has been a while since we posted any progress the shop has been real busy. we finally had some time to do more work on the costume and decided to tackle the shell mold. we went with a fiberglass 4 piece mold. the back is 1 piece each side has 1 piece and the inner half that touches your back and side has 1 piece. the foam will than be injected into the mold in the center this way there is no pour spots to try and fix

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/shell4.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/shell.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/shell2-1.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/shell3.jpg

[j_phae-41]

any updates?

[jester fx]

we will be posting some progress shots soon. the torso is done and is being molded tomorrow and we started teh head and will show some photos with the torso. we als0 plan on casting the first shell soon

[j_phae-41]

sweet! I cant wait to see.

[jester fx]

here are some wip shots of teh raph head just about done. this is some quick texture trials we still need to ad his face scars and tweak the eyes. if you notice this mask is being sculpted off of a stone copy of the head and neck area of the the torso sculpt this will allow the head to be teh proper size and shape. the neck on this mask is a little different than the original movie ones just due to how our head is being made

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/561114_412020665533352_657391946_n.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/65056_412021198866632_1422578616_n.jpg

[jester fx]

here are some more shots of the head. we changed the mouth a little and added wrinkles in the corners of the mouth. this added more of his aggressive trademark look. than we changed teh teeth a little bit and made a hollow space between teh top and bottom row of teeth. the texture is done teh same ways as for teh film. we now have to just finish teh texture under the neck and add his 2 scars

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/252236_412343492167736_1820545259_n.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/522594_412343785501040_1087907964_n.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/523947_412343665501052_1594936487_n.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/297876_412343592167726_30580529_n.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/530336_412343898834362_1637675707_n.jpg

[jester fx]

have some more photos to share. we finished the torso. her is a photo of the sculpt prepped for molding and the final mold before we had a chance to trim away the edges. next is to finish the head we finally have it all to the form we want and just need to do a new texture to match teh body.

the light spots are not air bubble it is the light clay we used for the molding process we still have to remove form teh mold

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/525896_412769045458514_1671034133_n_zps27228ec3.jp g
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a390/jokerman1303/530346_413638072038278_1749292499_n_zps148ef9b6.jp g

[jester fx]

it has been some time since i posted as i have been swamped. this has always been a personal job but i think i may start actively working on it some more. i have done some more research and found better photos. i also have decided to do the full costume in regular latex not foam latex.

now that the shell and torso are molded i will be working on casting some copies of them i also will be molding the head soon

[Gwydion]

This is looking great so far! I hope you do eventually finish it - I'd love to see the final product!