Dr Doom Original Concept
By now, it should be pretty apparent that I'm really into two things when it comes to my own projects:
Original concepts and re-designs
Working with a mix of materials, especially foam
So, for my latest experimental project, I've put together an original concept Dr Doom.
I began by working up some new templates for the upper body. I've been tinkering with new patterns and thought this would be an excellent project to use the latest. I did a base chest, one shoulder, neck and biceps as a test. I drafted the chest and shoulder templates, and the neck was modified from an Iron Man template.
It was okay, but not quite what I wanted.
For this project, the chest piece was just too massive. It was too low and straight at the bottom, too broad, and restricted arm movement too much. I needed something more 'light' to give the effect but not look like a box under the fabric part of the costume that will come later.
I found some very nice templates from Sean Xieng on Etsy. So, I decided to purchase his Batman Beyond template and see if it might help me. The template is very nice, well laid out and easy to follow. It also makes some nice forms and fits together very well. I decided to base the new chest and torso on these shapes and modify it to fit the details I wanted to include.
I assembled the chest piece and then began mapping out the details. I sketched some general lines on the foam with a sharpie and then used Swedish tracing paper to define the detail pieces better. To make the detail pieces, I very lightly dusted the tracing paper with Super 77, tacked it to the foam, traced out the lines and then, when it was removed, used a ruler to straighten and shore up the lines.
The pieces were cut from 2mm craft foam and contact cemented to the chest.
I will have green lights in certain spots on the costume, so I needed to punch the holes for these before coating the pieces. I used a size 0 grommet punch to make the holes all the way through the foam. I also used an X-acto knife to cut out the groove details and my Dremel to create the 'rivets'.
I plan to use 3mm green LED lights wired in sections to switches and coin battery packs. All these supplies can be found at Evan Designs, and I highly recommend them.
With scribbles everywhere and grooves carved in, I wanted to see the clean chest. So, I put a couple of thin coats of PlastiDip on to get a good idea of my direction. Once I could see the chest with the neck aligned and the lights tucked into their places, I decided I was happy with the concept and pressed on.
The next step was to add the shoulders and back to the chest. The back of this costume will be predominately open, and consist of all the straps and closures as the cape and the rest of the fabric parts will cover the back and part of the sides. The neck was glued down, and the whole section was given more coats of PlastiDip to even it all out.
I then moved on to detailing the shoulders. I decided to use the shoulder pieces I drafted myself and used the same method as the chest to create and apply the details.
There were some messy seams on the neck and a couple of spots on the chest that I wanted to clean up, so I used some ElastoPatch to fill in these areas.
I then moved on to the torso. I want the torso to have some decent flexibility to move and pose in the costume, so I decided to make the torso base out of a metallic fabric backed with headliner foam. I stitched some detail lines to serve two functions:
Provide some detail behind the foam pieces to be applied
Stabilize the pieces so the fabric wouldn't delaminate from the headliner when the heavier foam pieces were added to the outside.
The fabric looks quite 'sparkly' in the images, but it's actually a gunmetal silver and will also be detail painted in the end, knocking down the color and making it much more subtle. Once the front shape was settled, I finished all the edges and made the side pieces that would attach and wrap around the back.
I then made a template on tracing paper and sketched out the designs for the 'abs'. These were cut from varying thicknesses of foam and detailed similarly to the chest and shoulders. Note the holes punched through the upper piece for the lights.
I moved to the biceps next. Using a simple template, I sketched out the details. I cut the base biceps, traced the detail placement lines and pre-formed them with heat. I then cut out and added all the detail pieces using the same method as the rest of the upper body.
At this point, I decided I wanted to tackle the helmet. I began the helmet using the base helmet pattern I originally drafted for Captain America and then made it into a more generic version.
This template is six pieces: two center front pieces, two center top/back pieces and two sides. After cutting the pieces from 6mm foam, I used my head form to pre-shape them.
This step is essential. A helmet is just one big complex curve. Using heat to pre-shape the pieces makes glueing them together easier and gives you a much better curve that's not lopsided. I use my Ed Head from MonsterMakers to shape the pieces. I love this armature - it's fully life-size, lightweight, relatively inexpensive, and has a full neck and part of the shoulders and chest. It's my go-to for any collar, helmet, hood, or cowl pattern. And they have a female version. OK, the advert is over.
The base pieces were pre-shaped and then assembled.
Next, I needed to work up the faceplate. For the face, I had some definite ideas about what I wanted. I wanted it to have the feel and character of the iconic mask, but I also wanted it to reflect the original concept and flow with the tech look of the body. After much Pinterest surfing, I narrowed my inspiration to the Sideshow legendary scale statue and this Destiny helmet.
I misted Ed with some spray mount and wrapped him in plastic wrap, pressing it into the facial details (the spray mount ensures the plastic takes to the details) and then covered that in masking tape. It's the basic 'duct-tape-dummy' technique, but for the face, it's much thinner and easier to work with to get the details.
Once he was taped up, I sketched the faceplate onto Ed, cut it off him, and transferred it to paper. I then cut it from foam, heat-shaped it and glued it together to test it.
I added the jaw pieces to the base helmet, fit the test faceplate and traced around it to mark how it should fit.
Off to a good start. It fits fine and has the right proportion but needs design enhancement. I revamped the lines to be more angular and less 'organic' and added seam lines inspired by the Destiny helmet and the pieces I'd already created for the body.
The seams were created simply by making X-acto knife cuts about halfway through the foam and using the heat gun. When the heat hits the cut foam, the slices spread open to create fine seam lines. The deeper the cut and the more heat, the wider the seam line. You have to be careful not to cut too deeply through the foam so that it tears or scorch it with the heat. Also, all the seam lines were done while the foam was flat, and the heat used to open them served as the heat needed to shape the pieces on the form.
And, here's a side-by-side - the original on the right and the new version on the left.
I then began on the rest of the helmet details. I created the 'ears' that align to the sides of the face and some pieces that will align to the temples. I have some rubber furniture feet that I'm considering adding to the ears before I coat the helmet. I'm still deciding on that, but I included one in the image below. These were created using 6mm foam and heat shaped before applying. The rest of the details will be made out of 2mm foam.
I had some goggles with green lenses from an old Pied Piper costume. I took out the lenses and thought about cutting them down and lighting them from the back in an Iron Man style.
Here's what the helmet looks like at this point, with the chin added and a couple of 2mm foam details added to the top of the base.
Here's a test run of all the pieces together as they are now.
Next, I added the straps to the underside of the chest. These are 2" elastic bands covered with the same silver material as the lower torso.
They were attached to the lower sides of the chest with contact cement. Velcro closures were also added to the back of the chest and neck. I then sprayed some silver on the chest to look at all the seams and see what needed attention.
Before I did that, though, I realized that the shoulders were a little too low and caused the entire piece to rise too high on the neck and chest. So, I used some tracing paper and drafted an area to cut out.
With this section removed, the chest piece sits properly on my shoulders, and I have a better range of motion. The fact that this area is cut out won't matter when the entire project is complete, as the fabric parts of the costume will cover it.
I then turned to seam repair. A couple of construction seams needed filler, and I also wasn't happy with how deep the decorative seams were. So, I filled them in a little as well with my ElastoPatch.
While the filler was drying, I gave the helmet a couple of coats of PlastiDip to get a good, clean look at it.
Once the filler on the chest was dry, I gave it another coat of PlastiDip and coated the shoulders and biceps. Here's a test fit of all the coated pieces so far.
I began on the forearms next. Each one consists of 3 pieces that were heat-formed first and then assembled. I then started adding the details in the same manner as the rest of the pieces. Here are the forearms at the beginning stages of detailing.
At this point, being unsure of how I felt about the forearms, I decided to take a break from the armor and start developing the soft parts of the costume. I started with the base piece that will serve as the foundation for the hood and cape.
I wanted something between a vest and a harness that would reflect the original character but not cover all the armor. I started by drafting a simple pattern in muslin that would fit over the shoulders and around the chest/back.
Since this piece needed to hold up the weight of the hood and cape and cover the gap in the shoulder, I wanted it to have a good amount of structure but still be flexible. So, I grabbed the headliner foam and backed the fabric with it. The primary material is a nice, deep green linen. I also found a nice copper-green thin faux leather that I'm using for accents.
The backed vest pieces were bound around the outer edges in the leather in the front and green twill tape in the back. I used the twill tape in the back as it will be covered and more friendly to attaching additional pieces, should that occur.
I decided to add some detail to the front to give it a more 'harness' look. I created a simple shape from 2mm craft foam and covered it with metallic faux leather.
These pieces were then added to the front of the vest, and the side seams were closed. Initially, I thought about adding some kind of hanging sleeve to the vest, but, in the end, the patterns I came up with didn't work. I decided to scrap that idea, finish the armholes with the metallic, and decide on the shoulder details later.
The next major component of the vest was the hood. This is an iconic aspect of the character, and I toyed around with many different ideas for creating it. Ultimately, I decided to keep it simple and focus on what I considered the most critical aspects of the hood: the correct proportion for the head and the right shape at the shoulders without it being 'slouchy' or floppy around the face.
I didn't take pictures of the patterning process as I went through many muslin versions, but I eventually ended up with a basic hood with a gusset at the top and a lower edge that fits the neck edge of the vest.
The hood was made of the same base green linen flat lined with muslin to give it structure. It was then lined with dark green taffeta, the front edge bound with the same metallic as the rest of the vest and the lower edge finished with bias tape. The hood was attached to the neck edge of the vest, and I then moved to the shoulders.
I wanted to create some detail pieces for the vest that extended over the shoulders. These were added to serve several purposes:
To hold the vest up on the shoulders and prevent it wanting to fall into the gap between the armor pieces
To represent the sleeves that I decided not to add and create an element that evoked Thor and Loki's design elements that are similar in the MCU
To provide support for the cape where it extends over the shoulders
The base shape was created to fit over the shoulder and have the proportion I wanted. I then cut them out of 2mm craft foam along with an additional detail piece. The bases were glued to the green linen with Super 77, and the smaller detail pieces were covered with bronze metallic.
The bronze detail was stitched down. Then the pieces were lined with taffeta and edged in metallic.
Once completed, these pieces were added to the vest.
While I've been working on the armor and soft parts of the costume, the hardware for the cape discs and belt buckle was getting underway at Jordan's Ironic Armory. These pieces were 3d printed and fitted with led lights to match the rest of the suit.
I mentioned early on that I wanted to do the entire project in foam. I am doing all of the armor pieces in foam, but after consideration, I decided that the fabrication of the belt buckle and cape discs would make more sense based on what I wanted to do with them.
All armor will be foam, finished and painted the same way and therefore consistent.
All fabric/soft pieces will be consistent fabrics and embellishments.
All 'accessory' hardware (e.g., the pieces Jordan is doing) will be consistent.
So, in the end, I hope to have a finished project with three major component groups that are all consistent within themselves and come together to form a complete and coherent character.
I sent Jordan a quick sketch I made for the discs and a diagram of the belt buckle based on the lower abdomen piece to build the models.
He then created the 3d models for printing.
He began with the buckle. The pieces were printed in sections. The inner sections are semi-transparent, and the outer sections are solid. The two pieces are assembled, the LEDs are installed in the back, and the transparent sections light up from behind.
While the hardware was in progress, I got to work on the belt and the foundation for the cape.
The base for the belt was made of embossed faux leather in a copper color. I wanted to tone down the rather flat metallic look of the material, so I used a sponge to apply matte black paint and then buffed it off with a damp towel. This left the black in the crevices and only highlighted the bronze on the surface.
I then bound off the edges with the same detail fabric as the rest of the pieces and added a detail stripe to the center of the belt, and test-fit the foam version of the buckle to it.
The next piece to complete was the skirt extending from the belt and around the back to the knee. This piece was constructed as a half circle drafted to frame the belt buckle. It was made in the same green linen and taffeta as the hood and edged with metallic faux leather.
By the time these pieces were done, I had an update on the hardware. The pieces had been painted, the lights attached, and were only awaiting final finishes before being sent to join the rest of the costume.
At this point, I wanted to get started on the base for the cape. The cape needs its own foundation as it will carry a lot of weight and have to support a lot of movement. I decided to create a foam foundation for the cape that will hold it in place, support it over the shoulders and keep it in the proper drape over the shoulders.
I made a basic pattern using poster board that worked with the vest and armor. The piece was then cut from foam and shaped into the rest of the costume.
This piece will be covered with the cape fabrics, and the actual cape will be built on top of it. The plan for the cape is to make it with the sides permanently pleated over the shoulders and then connect to a center piece that has the fullness for all the movement I want. The concept is not unlike the Thor cape.
The rest of the cape is coming up later. At this point, I decided to get moving on the legs to get all the major armor pieces assembled and pre-painted.
The thighs and shins were cut out, heat shaped and assembled. Once they were together, the details were added, and all the decorative lines were cut using the same process as the rest of the pieces.
The backs of the shins were made as soft pieces to match the torso base and some of the other areas that will detail the suit. They were made by backing the metallic fabric with headliner foam and then adding 'straps' made of 2mm craft foam covered with metallic and sewn down. These pieces will fit over existing boots, and the shin armor will fit over them.
This is basically what the legs will look like when together.
The next step was to PlastiDip and base paint the pieces.
The thighs were closed on the inside with wide straps. These straps were made by lining the silver material with headliner foam, binding the edges and then adding details made out of silver fabric and 2mm craft foam. These pieces were then contact cemented into the thighs.
I created a wide elastic belt with clips on the sides to hold the thighs up. The belt rides up very high on the waist and is covered by the torso piece. When the thighs are clipped on, they stay at the right height and have a lot of movement.
Once the thighs were done, I needed to build the feet. I used a base pair of boots and created a tape pattern from the ankle down. This pattern served as a base to make the templates for the foam pieces and the foundation pieces that would cover the boots.
Since I wanted to be able to use these boots for other projects, I didn't want to have anything permanently attached to them.
I made the foundation piece first out of silver fabric backed with headliner foam. All of the craft foam pieces of the foot will be attached to this piece, and it will simply slip over the boot like a spat.
Next, using the pattern, I made paper templates of the foam pieces, tested them, and trimmed and adjusted them until they fit. Here are the finished foam pieces, 3 for each foot - toe, upper and heel.
The pieces were coated with Plasti Dip, contact cemented to the foundation piece, and then base coated with silver paint.
The next stage of the legs was to attach the shins to the calves. The soft calf piece was contact cemented to the shins on the outside, and a series of snaps were added to the inseam area so that they could be opened and closed.
All of the pieces were then airbrushed and detail painted by hand. Here are the boots fully assembled.
And here is a test fit of the entire leg together.
With the legs complete, the hands were the last parts of the armor that needed to be assembled.
I started by tracing my hand on paper and making templates for the foam pieces covering the gloves. These are the templates for the back of the hand and what would cover the palm.
For the base of the hands, I used some thin costume gloves I had to hand (no pun intended) at the studio. I cut them to about mid-forearm and began working up the templates.
I knew I wanted to leave the underside of my hand uncovered by foam so that I could hold things and make a (sort of) fist for posing. So, while the pieces wrap around my palm, most of the underside is just the thin glove. This image shows the parts after being cut. They are only taped to the glove to test the fit.
Once I got all the pieces cut, heat formed and detailed, they were all glued to the base glove. As I mentioned above, the fingers only cover the top of my fingers and wrap about halfway around.
Once completely assembled, the gloves were put on my form's hands, and the entire pieces were Plasti Dipped (glove and all) and painted.
For the paint, I base painted all the armor with Rustoleum Black Stainless Steel to give it a nice dark metallic undercoat. A thin layer of Rustoleum Metallic Silver then covered that. I then masked off all the raised areas of all the pieces with blue painter's tape and airbrushed black into all the recesses and some gunmetal highlights.
After airbrushing, the tape was removed, and all of the seam lines and grooves were detailed with black by hand, along with the 'rivets'. I then went back over all the edges with a fine hobby brush and bright silver Testors model paint to create highlights and 'scratches'. Once all the paint was finished, I coated all the pieces with gloss Mod Podge to level it all out and seal it.
The lights, mentioned at the top of the thread, were installed by cutting pieces of 2mm craft foam and pushing the lights through to create a base.
Each light, on its base, was glued into place from the back of the armor piece into its hole. I then needed to diffuse the light and give the bulb a very solid anchor. I decided to go back and fill in each gap (with the bulb already in it) with hot glue. Here is an image of my test for this method. It worked very well and did not damage the bulbs at all.
Here are some of the pieces after being detailed and with their lights installed.
I made a simple pant/shirt base suit out of the silver stretch fabric and finally did a test suit-up in all of the armor.
With the costume mostly finished, it was time to tackle the cape. As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to structure the cape to stay over the shoulders and have a very specific drape - like the MCU Loki and Thor capes.
I began by creating the cape's base form to provide a foundation. The foam piece was made at the same time as the vest, and it needed to be covered to blend in with the rest of the costume.
The cape began as a flat back piece that was edged and lined. I then created side pieces that were attached to the back. The sides have pleats over the shoulders sewn down, and the side where they attach creates deep folds toward the back and under the outer edges. This allows the cape to have a nice drape when still but plenty of fullness and 'billow' when in motion.
The covered foam piece fits inside the shoulder 'sleeves and then is attached to the chest armor. To keep the vest and cape secure, I embedded the posts from Chicago screws into the armor. The vest then screws onto one set and the cape to the other.
The discs attach to the front of the cape with Velcro and cover the screws.
And, finally the complete costume!
