Demon Hunter Cosplay from Diablo 3
Chest Armor
This is one fierce lady with full cover armor, so of course I had to make this costume. Demon Hunter from Diablo 3. This will be my first big armor costume and I will most probably use mostly worbla for the construction since the shapes of the armor is very organic.
Worbla
Worbla is a thermoplastic sheet which can be heated with heat gun or warm water. The material then gets flexible and can be shaped, bent or molded in any way, and even better remolded if you need the materials for something else later. You only need scissors to cut it, and all leftovers can be molded together so you don't waste any material.
First up is her chest armor
I figured that I could build the chest in layers and not use foam in between to save a little money. So I started of by making a one layers base shape.
The Worbla is heated up and shaped over acrylic hemispheres. Careful not to stretch it too thin.
With by basic shape done I added masking tape to draw up the patterns for the next layer. With focus on using as little worbla as possible I will only add details in visible areas. Other worbla makers such as Kamui often make whole pieces that the almost completely cover up with the next layer, therefor spanding way more material than necessary.
My pattern
When adding new layers be more careful not to get any dents in your armor, so you won't have to smoothen them out later.
The collar will be visible from behind, so I'm adding a double layers of worbla with a cardboard core (holding it stiff and smooth)
Collar on.
Repeat masking process to get the rest of the detail-layers.
Transferred to a sheet of worbla.
And back on the chest.
The cross ornaments in the making.
And all the stripes and "bolts" are just more worbla added with care.
The piece will be attached to my body together with a back piece being hold together with straps. These will be added when the back piece is done.
Worbla
Worbla is a thermoplastic sheet which can be heated with heat gun or warm water. The material then gets flexible and can be shaped, bent or molded in any way, and even better remolded if you need the materials for something else later. You only need scissors to cut it, and all leftovers can be molded together so you don't waste any material.
First up is her chest armor
I figured that I could build the chest in layers and not use foam in between to save a little money. So I started of by making a one layers base shape.
The Worbla is heated up and shaped over acrylic hemispheres. Careful not to stretch it too thin.
With by basic shape done I added masking tape to draw up the patterns for the next layer. With focus on using as little worbla as possible I will only add details in visible areas. Other worbla makers such as Kamui often make whole pieces that the almost completely cover up with the next layer, therefor spanding way more material than necessary.
My pattern
When adding new layers be more careful not to get any dents in your armor, so you won't have to smoothen them out later.
The collar will be visible from behind, so I'm adding a double layers of worbla with a cardboard core (holding it stiff and smooth)
Collar on.
Repeat masking process to get the rest of the detail-layers.
Transferred to a sheet of worbla.
And back on the chest.
The cross ornaments in the making.
And all the stripes and "bolts" are just more worbla added with care.
The piece will be attached to my body together with a back piece being hold together with straps. These will be added when the back piece is done.
Demon Hunter Pauldrons
This have to be the most iconic piece of this armor and I wanted to make sure the looked badass - The pauldrons.
When it had dried I added details in foam.
Tha pauldron has several indents, created by just cutting away some of the cardboard.
When done I covered it up with worbla, bringing out the foam details as I go along. I used a small wooden stick to press down the worbla (e.g. a pencil or chopstick. I started on the top and worked my way to the sides.
All wrapped up
Thin strips of worbla was added along all edges to create dimensinon.
To get more depth to the mouth.
Starting to cover it with worbla.
Here I just used a blunt pencil to press in the worbla and bring out the details
A hollow skull shape
I filled the space with tin foil to help keet the shape up while I added the rest of the worbla.
Filled that with expanding foam
And carved out the shapes.
To be able to get the horns off the pauldron when needed, I added bolts to the horn base. Then I could screw them in place when needed.
Testing
I used all my small left over pieces of worbla for teeth. The pieces were heated and shaped.
Priming with gesso and glue, since I needed to get this peice pretty smooth.
More testing with the chest piece I made earlier.
Blizzard Demon Hunter concept art
Again I would use worbla, but I wanted to see if I could make the base out of cardboard and then cover it up with worbla and details afterwards. Also on the larger pauldron I needed to make horns and a mean skull face. All this without making the shoulders too heavy (as mentioned before, I'm weak and don't want to carry more than I need).
Small pauldron
I covered a balloon with paper mache and added details with cardboard.
When it had dried I added details in foam.
Tha pauldron has several indents, created by just cutting away some of the cardboard.
When done I covered it up with worbla, bringing out the foam details as I go along. I used a small wooden stick to press down the worbla (e.g. a pencil or chopstick. I started on the top and worked my way to the sides.
All wrapped up
Thin strips of worbla was added along all edges to create dimensinon.
Under the pauldron there are a couple of smaller armor pieces which were made much like the leg armors, by covering foam with worbla and shaping ot over a ball.
This a part of the leg armor
Large pauldron with horns
With the larger pauldron I had a little more touble to the the basic shape. But same method by using paper mache over a balloon and adding foam details in layers was essentially used.
To get more depth to the mouth.
Starting to cover it with worbla.
Here I just used a blunt pencil to press in the worbla and bring out the details
For the skull piece I first made the form out of clay, then used that as a mold to shape the worbla, so I would end up with a light weight shell.
A hollow skull shape
I filled the space with tin foil to help keet the shape up while I added the rest of the worbla.
Before we move on with the skull details we need some horns. I build a basic grid out of cardboard.
Filled that with expanding foam
And carved out the shapes.
To be able to get the horns off the pauldron when needed, I added bolts to the horn base. Then I could screw them in place when needed.
Testing
I used all my small left over pieces of worbla for teeth. The pieces were heated and shaped.
Priming with gesso and glue, since I needed to get this peice pretty smooth.
More testing with the chest piece I made earlier.
I needed a small piece under this shoulder also.
Painting will be covered in a seperate tutorial here.
Until then, enjoy the full effect of these enormous shoulders, I have to go sideways though the dors in our apartment.
Leg armor
So many armor parts and so many techniques to use. Love this project, I have learned buckets. Here I will show how the thigh, leg and shoe armor was made.
And I tried a few thing I have never tried before too, like curved shapes with cardboard base covered in worbla. In this tutorial I don't explain how worbla works, only how I have used it.
Some detail pieces were more curved, here I used foam (2 mm) as a core
Detailig done with thin strips of worbla
Leg bracer
This piece was way more curvy, so foam core all the way.
I tried two methods here, the first where I used two seperate pieces attached with a seamline goind down the middle, and this (see picture below) where I used one piece and streched it over an acrylic sphere.
All the pieces attached together and detailed with worbla strips.
The knees are made from separate foam pieces covered in worbla.
D-rings are added along the sides to attach the armor to my legs. More about the painting in a later tutorial.
Shoe armor
Shoe covers need to be flexible, and form fitting to the shoes :)
Many armor makers forget to address the back of the shoes. Even though I have no idea what the look like from behind, I will make something interesting.
And I tried a few thing I have never tried before too, like curved shapes with cardboard base covered in worbla. In this tutorial I don't explain how worbla works, only how I have used it.
Blizzard Demon Hunter concept art
Thigh armor.
Since these pieces are single curved I thought I could use cardboard as a supporting core for the worbla, which worked great. I also alsmost always only use one layer of worbla.
Some detail pieces were more curved, here I used foam (2 mm) as a core
Detailig done with thin strips of worbla
Leg bracer
This piece was way more curvy, so foam core all the way.
I tried two methods here, the first where I used two seperate pieces attached with a seamline goind down the middle, and this (see picture below) where I used one piece and streched it over an acrylic sphere.
All the pieces attached together and detailed with worbla strips.
The knees are made from separate foam pieces covered in worbla.
D-rings are added along the sides to attach the armor to my legs. More about the painting in a later tutorial.
Shoe armor
Shoe covers need to be flexible, and form fitting to the shoes :)
Many armor makers forget to address the back of the shoes. Even though I have no idea what the look like from behind, I will make something interesting.
Demon Hunter shield and Bracer
Since I did take some in progress photos I might just add a write up of this piece also. For the smooth surfaces I used cardboard as a base, with foam details in layers. The end piece is only foam.
I wanted arrows to stick out of my shield, but to be able to pack and transport the costume I need to be able to take them off. For this I embedded M5 nuts into the cardboard and secured with worbla, while the corresponding bolt where attached to the arrows (You'll see later)
Then I gradually covered the top with worbla (only the top) and wrapped it around the edges.
Since I was going to cover up the underside with fabric anyways I thought I would save a little by only using worbla on one side. The ornamented back piece would not be covered with fabric, so I tried to blend the surface using paper mache again, and it worked beautifully.
I also made a bracer and a claw for the other arm.
I wanted arrows to stick out of my shield, but to be able to pack and transport the costume I need to be able to take them off. For this I embedded M5 nuts into the cardboard and secured with worbla, while the corresponding bolt where attached to the arrows (You'll see later)
Then I gradually covered the top with worbla (only the top) and wrapped it around the edges.
Since I was going to cover up the underside with fabric anyways I thought I would save a little by only using worbla on one side. The ornamented back piece would not be covered with fabric, so I tried to blend the surface using paper mache again, and it worked beautifully.
I also made a bracer and a claw for the other arm.
painting and detailing armor
So all of the parts of this costumes is now done and ready for paint. See here for build tutorials; Chest plate, leg armor, pauldrons, helmet, Shield and bracer.
Worbla needs to be primed. To get a smooth surface you need about 10 layers of gesso or a thick layer of wood glue. Since I wanted a rougher surface for my "steel forged" armor I didn't have to prime so much. And this time I even used a spray filler (mostly for cars) in two layers. For some details I added glue and gesso to even out imperfections.
Then I spray painted all parts (this saved me a lot of time). I altered by spraying dark grey metallic and misting silver and gold over that as a baseas a base. Several metallic hues gies more depth to your paint job.
So many techniques.
Then it is time for details, weathering, battle damage, hightights and clear coating.
First up I painted all teh gold parts with a brush. And took my dremel and added battle scars.
Here you can see on the right the same thigh with weathering (black paint smudged on) and on the left with both weathering and highlights (with a silver marker).
The gold was also hightlighted with a gold marker.
Lastly I sealed all the details with a clear coat.
Really flat people on our beds (Next to mine is Karin Olava's Hunter from Destiny)
Hehe, I thought this was funny
Now that all the armor parts are done, maybe I should make a post about the textile parts of the costume and how it is attached to my body.
Worbla needs to be primed. To get a smooth surface you need about 10 layers of gesso or a thick layer of wood glue. Since I wanted a rougher surface for my "steel forged" armor I didn't have to prime so much. And this time I even used a spray filler (mostly for cars) in two layers. For some details I added glue and gesso to even out imperfections.
Then I spray painted all parts (this saved me a lot of time). I altered by spraying dark grey metallic and misting silver and gold over that as a baseas a base. Several metallic hues gies more depth to your paint job.
So many techniques.
Then it is time for details, weathering, battle damage, hightights and clear coating.
First up I painted all teh gold parts with a brush. And took my dremel and added battle scars.
Here you can see on the right the same thigh with weathering (black paint smudged on) and on the left with both weathering and highlights (with a silver marker).
The gold was also hightlighted with a gold marker.
Lastly I sealed all the details with a clear coat.
Really flat people on our beds (Next to mine is Karin Olava's Hunter from Destiny)
Hehe, I thought this was funny
Now that all the armor parts are done, maybe I should make a post about the textile parts of the costume and how it is attached to my body.
he first edition of the costume it done and here are a few photos.
Photo by H. Nyhus
Photo by H. Nyhus
Photo by H. Nyhus
Photo by Nils Katla Photography
Photo by Nils Katla Photography
Photo by Nils Katla Photography
Photo by Nils Katla Photography
