League of Legends - Gladiator Draven - DragonCon 2013

I was up to do my first DragonCon and I really wanted to show a costume that I could be proud of. Unfortunately NOTHING I have can be easily packed onto an airplane. So for this reason I had to go into a costume thinking about portability first and foremost. I wound up picking Draven since a lot of people have suggested me for him. Granted I can't play him at all. I can't ADC, you kidding me?

In any case here are the references.





First was to make the silhouette of the weapons then print them out.







I wound up making one of his axes (the first one referenced and the left hand one printed out) more slender because it looked completely fucktarded in real life.

I cut out the silhouette from 6mm PVC foam, then glued them together.



A channel was cut and a wooden rod was glued in place.




Cut the circular pieces for the handguard with our handy circle cutting jig. It's not a fancy machine... it's a board with a bolt in it. I'm not lying.



The rod was sawed and then sanded flush along the blade channel, also put down the base for the circle handguards.



Layered them up for depth.



Then put a layer of 3mm on top to give that cracked detail.



Layed down Bondo auto body filler on the wood to hide the seam.



Beveled the edges with an angle grinder and orbital sander.



Cleaned up the edges with some Bondo on the blade bevels.



Had to heat some acrylic triangle extrusion to give the handguards more detail and depth. Heated them around a disc I cut earlier for the best circle possible.



Layed down the spike bits on the handguards.



Put down a layer of primer then some red paint. Decided it was too bright, so put down a darker red.





Taped it off for a coat of silver.



Dropped silver down and it was good to go!



Armor was a really simple build. Thigh plates and leg armor started out as flat plates of PVC foam that were heat formed.



Made the crown the same way, this isn't the crown I wound up using since it wasn't accurate but you get the idea. Not pictured but it velcroes in the back in the final build.



Bracer and shoulder guard were also PVC foam heat shaped. The base structure for the horn was put down.



Added more for the horn base.



Added Model Magic to the horn base. Wasn't really necessary though just had it lying around and didn't feel like having it hollow.





Glued a plate of PVC foam onto the horn base.



Cut out and glued trim to the thigh plates. Weathered it with a box cutter and carved out some cuts and gashes.



Added some trim to the bracer.



Did the same weathering to it as well. Again carved with a box cutter.





Filled in the bracer spikes with Apoxie Sculpt. Primed and painted everything. Wound up changing the colors of the thigh plates to a copper color instead of charcoal.





Super glued vinyl to the bracer for a nice leathery effect.





Wound up snapping the thigh plates directly to the red belt piece.



Cut the straps off some sandals for the required effect.



Everything is done, so let's talk about packing it all. The armor fits into any standard suitcase or box, so just use common sense and pad your stuff with clothes etc etc.

For the weapons I just cut out some foam from Home Depot into the shape of my weapons then taped them all together. Remember, the goal of packing for a plane trip is to make sure that your gear DOES NOT move around in the box. Less movement means less possibility for a breakage.





Reinforced the outside of the box with tape and cardboard.



TSA has torn this box open 2 times now and I have flown Draven round trip to Atlanta from San Diego as well as to Ohio from San Diego. I feel that my method is tried and now tested haha.



Thanks for sticking around! Finished product was carted all over the place, from the venerable Dragon Con to a small convention in Dayton, Ohio called Epic Con. Even made it to the League of Legends World Championships for some fun with everyone! All in all, Draven does it all....with style.













RWBY - Yang Xiao Long - SDCC 2013

The final bit in the whole RWBY project saga.

As I was working on Crescent Rose I caught wind that there was no Yang slated for SDCC. The show is called RWBY not RWB and I felt that an official cosplay group should HAVE all the characters. I took a shot in the dark and offered that my girlfriend would make Yang for them, I was told to just continue work on Rose and to stand fast. I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd get the job, but I also knew I'd regret it forever if I didn't at least try. A couple of days later I got the green light to start the project. I had mixed feelings about my success in landing the commission.

Death! By cos-cos.

I was given extensive resources with which to work this one out, but time was not one of those resources. I only had 6 days remaining to wrap up Rose while finding time to complete Ember Celica. Here are a couple of the references I was given.





Full references here

For the record, Yang has the best trailer. Watch it before you continue, you will not be disappointed.



First order of business was to get the cardstock pattern out the door.



They were small enough for my scanner so here they are!

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2

3

I cut all the pieces from PVC foam using a ruler and box cutter.



All the pieces were heat shaped. I used a PVC pipe as a bending form to ensure they were all a uniform bend.



They looked really rough. REALLY rough.




Not going to lie, I really did consider putting shotgun shells into Celica. I have them in my house, might as well use them? Instead I just used them for a size reference.



Pieces were glued together using Loctite Professional Liquid Super Glue.







Edges were beveled using an orbital sander and a belt sander.



Added acrylic trim on the top.



Added acrylic and PVC for the ammo section of Celica.



Bondo'd the seams and sanded flush.





Drilled a hole and added the same sprinkler fitting that was on Crescent Rose sans cap. Drilled another set of holes... because it looked cool I thought.



I assumed the black on her forearms were long gloves she wore underneath. NOPE.





In any case I added the section, then proceeded to add some battle damage to it. I carved it all out using my box cutter.



Primed the entire thing.



Painted it yellow. I was considering painting it vibrant gold. Thank God I didn't.



Yang had an appearance lined up on MTV the following morning so had to paint the trim with a black paint marker and red was the Testor's enamel.



The whole thing was done and over with. I just stepped back and watched people really enjoy the group as a whole, it was really humbling. To my surprise I got to do an interview with Rooster Teeth about the props while I was wearing my Tryndamere costume of all things. All in all I was super pumped from the whole experience.

That feeling.

Hope people liked the RWBY project! I had a great time doing it! Watch out for more RWBY weapons from us! This series is just getting started!

Yang cosplay by SpacePizza