- How I made Labyrinth Costume Masquerade Masks - May 31, 2016
- Make a Judge Death Pterosaur Shoulder Piece - March 23, 2016
Painting Techniques
First, a few primer coats of Gesso are applied, this gives all the surfaces the same ‘tooth’ so that the layers of paint will be uniformly applied. The technique I use consists of three to four coats of acrylic paint working from the darkest; then roughly blocking out shapes with the second and third coats. The final coat of paint is the lightest and here I used a combination of both wet and dry brush, to achieve blending and texture. Lastly, I added a couple of ink passes to accentuate the shadows and give it more of a dirty, worn look.
Constructing The Tail & Finishing the Shoulder Piece
By now the Judge Death Shoulder Piece is taking shape and I had a better idea of the weight and dimensions I’ll be wearing. Working from this, I was able to plan the finishing touches.
The final addition was the tail (once I got some more Worbla). The techniques are the same here; cutting out the spike tail end with extra room for the folds, as well as a smaller spike that the first was folded onto. I kept some shape in the spike using a chopstick to keep it open during the cooling process. The tail was a long tapered rectangle that was heated and rolled into itself, the end was heated to fuse with the inserted tail and tabs left at the base of the tail were heated and fused to the body. The paint technique was identical to the one described above.
The final touch was a coat of Mod Podge to seal and protect the paint.
Here’s the finished Judge Death Shoulder Piece. Because most of it is made from Worbla and foam, it’s super lightweight and easy to wear, which is going to be useful when the rest of the armour is made. I’ll be documenting the rest of the Judge Death costume construction. You can follow me on Instagram for work in progress photos, and follow Atomic Ladies on Facebook to be notified when the next post is live.
