Costumery

[furtech]

FC was a lot of fun this year: the Egyptian theme was quite successful. Many artists and costumers did pieces using the ancient gods, and generally everyone seemed to have more fun with this year's theme than in any previous year. I think that this is the first really -visual- or stylistic theme they've had; previous years had more abstract concepts like friendship, the outdoors, etc.



This year I had three costumes to show off at the con (in addition to the halloween masks I had on the display). My "big" costume was Sett, the god of evil or war, depending on who you ask. I worked extensively with calicougar on the design (btw, she's *highly* recommended for those looking for a polished artist to visualize their design). He's referred to as the "red" god, so I went with that color and used a velour to cover him with. The biggest challenge: a better muscle-suit design (extensive help from my mentor, Lynette) and getting it smooth enough that any flaw would not be seen under the thin cover material. I was happy with the result, but horrified with the presentation (dead, dead, dead). Will work on the latter.



The second Egyptian-themed costume was a simple Toth head. Trish Villalobos did the accessories for both Sett and Toth (skirt, headdress, collar). The Toth head was also based on a calicougar design. Worn by francisco (thanks!).

The third suit I wore was (Nihon) Power Ranger geeking: the head of command for the up-coming US Power Ranger series, Doggy Kruger. The coat was also by Trish V. I did the head/paws/feet, with the usual assistance from Lynette and Kathy (Sanders-- covering and dyes). (*For those of you who recognize the character, I forgot his belt and medals. Argh!)

Big Props to kvogel for the airbrushing on both Kruger and Sett. Despite the praise directed my way, when it really matters I always turn to Steve for subtle airbrushing, lest I FIU. Sett and Kruger pics courtesy of Kyreeth! Thanks a ton for having the additional photo area! And even more for the DVD!

Comments

[waynekaa.livejournal.com]

Wow you had THREE. You are CRAZY GOOD!
Do you do your own sketches too?

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Thanks! No-- the art and 2D design is a good friend who's an animator, calicougar. I've worked with her a lot on costume designs because I like her style; over the years she's learned what I need to build from (and I almost always use a hard-copy design: otherwise the costume drifts as I build it).

[waynekaa.livejournal.com]

OH! hehehehehe
costume drift >.>
^_^;;;;
Wow I get that all the time.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

That's the plus of original designs: I once started off doing a cougar head and ended up with the best rabbit head I've ever done!

[tcreynolds]

thanks man! you da bestest! :)

[skorzy.livejournal.com]

Wow. These are fantastic! I would like to see more, and larger pictures of the Set costume!

[diadexxus.livejournal.com]

DARN IT! I never got to see the Toth suit! I think I actually like that better than Sett!! Very unique. :)
Seeya soon!
-J

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Toth was fun: I liked Calicougar's design because Toth, usually a boring or dour god, had a very curious, youthful expression.

[mythos-amante.livejournal.com]

Yay! I got to see them! I thought that was you when you were wandering around in the open-air restaurant in the Kruger costume, but I was too shy to introduce myself then! Delightful work! You really are amazing! And hooray for friends and mentors!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

If you're too shy, I'll -never- get to meet you! I'm horrible with names and faces! Never hurts to introduce yourself to people at a con-- and people at a convention are a lot easier to approach than in regular RL. I've known you journal-wise long enough that you could just drag me off or interrupt a seeming conversation (when I'm in costume, conversations tend to be brief anyway). At least I now have a RL face to place with your online personality.

[nduli.livejournal.com]

:) I swear you do the nicest looking suits, I can't imagine the amount of work that goes into putting together something like that.

[mistahbojangles.livejournal.com]

That's some darn cool stuff! Lots of fun seeing it in person too; what a treat seeing those designs walking around in real life.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Oops! Forgot to credit you with the CG/Maya references you made for me! They really helped! I remember one person who created finished CG models and used them to create the pattern for covering his costume (very cool).

Here's what Brian did:


I was having problems visualizing a particular angle, and his model really helped!

[crocuta.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I got to see your stuff! The only one I missed getting to see was Kruger. I like the new design, it looked really nice!
Awesome work, as usual! :>
It is very cool getting to see the sketches behind the suits. I was always curious as to how much sketch-work was done etc.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Some costumes have more design work than others; the artist-collaboration stage is the really fun part (for me, at least). Sett had a huge amount of design art made: his actual what-he-is was still up in the air and I didn't want him to look like an ass (literally) or Anubis. The angular versions Calicougar did early on were striking; I just had a hard time figuring out how to get the angles and still look organic.

I was totally bummed that I didn't get a chance to sit down with you and Westly! Saw you a few times, but usually when I was late for something. Next time, grab me!

[crocuta.livejournal.com]

I find the steps taken on the way to the finished product almost as fascinating as the suit itself. I love the creative process and hearing how people go about it is really awesome. Sometime if you had the time it would be very cool to see how you go from the idea to make a suit to the finished product. I'm sure there are others interested as well.

The few times I saw you out of costume I was in the middle of something too so no worries. I would have tried to grab you but I never want to be a bother so unless it appears that whomever I want to talk to isn't busy, I usually err on the side of caution and leave them be. *chuckles*

[frysco.livejournal.com]

The Toth head was also based on a calicougar design. Worn by francisco (thanks!).

Thanks for letting me parade him out there for you!

(btw, my LJ is 'frysco' - 'francisco' is someone else :>)

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Fan names...as if I didn't have a hard enough time remembering actual names. But I'll try to remember so I don't inadvertantly link to the wrong person. Thanks for showing him off!

[frysco.livejournal.com]

Thanks for showing him off!

Anytime! (and I mean that, for him or anything else you have =>)

[colley.livejournal.com]

Was wondering when someone was going to attempt at Doggie "Boss" Krueger fursuit. 'Cause Doggie's the greatest sentai character EVER. Him and Swan are so cute together. ^_^
Shame they're not bringing over the Dekaranger suit for him in SPD. Instead we get one with scales and dreadlocks for some gawdawful reason I'll never understand.
Actually pondered getting a Deka uniform for my suit at somepoint, though it'll probably be like the ones the core 5 wear. :)

Still though, looks pretty cool. ^_^

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I was both disappointed and cheered when I saw the new PR show keeping the Kruger character: sad because they gave him scales (guess fur is to $$$ for their budget) and happy that they even kept him as an ET.

I first saw Doggy Kruger because jonnywoof pointed out your original post about him! Thanks!

[colley.livejournal.com]

Really? Awesome! :) People read my posts, yay!
Always willing to spread the awesomeness that is Krueger.
Yeah, I'm kinda glad he IS being kept in... but my view on SPD as a whole is gonna have to wait till I see a few eps.... I know they're also turning Swan's character into some sort of Cat creature... no pictures yet. Also no clue to if they'll keep the Doggie/Swan relationship in :P

[was1.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that a lot of people did things on the Egyptian theme. I'm sorry to have missed it, it sounds like it was a fun theme to play around with.

Did you manage to get any pictures of any other Egyptian costumes?

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I didn't get a lot of pics, but give it a couple of days and check here:

http://fursuit.timduru.org/view/FurryCon/FurtherConfusion/FC2005/tosort

I'm trying to remember what the address for Frysco's site is (Frysco?)...

[frysco.livejournal.com]

http://pics.vulpes.net/view/ConPics/FurCon2005/

Don't have too much up there yet, as I'm still on the road doing work stuff.

If anyone has any pictures to put up there, fire me off an email - francisco-pics@vulpes.net.

doggy kruger.

[wuuulf.livejournal.com]

hehe thats awesome! Love that character too bad the american version of doggy is crap @$$ ugly... I think they CG'ed him from the pics I found on the web.


Btw do you mind if I add you on my friends list?

Not sure if ya remember me. Met back at Duckon 1996 when you showed me your silver werewolf suit on your camcorder. :)

[shadowolf.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask if anyone else had the same problems photographing Sett as I did- nearly all the close-up pictures were simply pegged red, no detail whatsoever!

I can see a bit of that in Tug's first picture there, too.

Real great work as always. About how long does it take you from start to finish to do your major costumes?

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Apparently his red is a non-conforming value, off the scale. Tug had a heckuva time trying to get his color within range. I think he ended up under-exposing him a little to reign it in. I haven't seen Tug's pics yet, but Ashley's pics managed to get detail (I have no idea what he did: the snaps I took did the red-blob thing too!).

The time to complete a costume depends on a lot of things: whether it's a commission (long:overbuilt and usually based on a detailed design) or just for me (less long: only have to please myself/requires fewer comfort-stuff [I can suffer through it] and my design can drift a bit). The big commission suits-- especially those with a new design-- take between 200 and 300 hours to complete. A big suit for me-- knock off 50-100 hours. I can skank something out fairly quickly, but it'll have a pretty short life.

Remember me?

[n2kenai.livejournal.com]

Hi there,

I was very impressed by Set, blown away actually. I had no idea you had two more. Splendid job on all of them. You continue to inspire me. Sorry about being such a fanboy at FC. I hope I didn't bug ya too much.

[mito-dafox.livejournal.com]

Hey there, I'm really impressed with your attempts to make a Doggie Kruger costume.

Here's another Dekaranger character you might want to know.

Captain Gyoku Rou of the Leon Star, former DekaRed of Earth and leader of SPD-Fire Squad.

In case you're wondering, he's a lanky lion. :)

[mito-dafox.livejournal.com]

And one more thing. The show has ended. :)