Dragon Knight: Shield

For my newest cosplay, I'm going to try a Dragon Knight skin called "Father of Dragons". Though I don't play him, Dragon Knight is pretty cool; his ulti turns him into a dragon! And who doesn't love dragons. This will be at least a 3 part project; the shield, the sword, and the armor (which will be the hardest part).

I started off with the shield because its was first attracted me to this skin in the first place. Here is what it will (hopefully) look like

Sizing it up to my body. i wanted to make it bigger, but Dragon knight uses it to bash.

You can't see it, but this is a worbla, EVA foam sandwich. mmmm, tasty.

Comparison.... i dont know how the sword will cut through anything

I wanted to build up for a more 3 dimensional effect.

A whole lot of cocking to fill in the gaps and seal it.

paint job 1

paint job 2

Finished! This didn't take as long as I thought it would.... We'll see how the sword comes a long.

Patterns

While in China, I did some research on some traditional patterns, trying to get some reference for my own art and I found a lot of stuff.

These patterns were just a starting point. Looking at art books like "The Art of Frozen" and following the artist journey through Norway also helped me put together a style sheet.

Temple Studies

Hey everyone, I know its been awhile since I've posted anything, but I've spent the last 5 months in China (a place that blocks blogs!), but along with being Facebookless, I was also super inspired by a lot of the architecture and patterns there. Theres so much to see with a lot of culture and history and it was amazing to see with my own eyes instead of Google searching (also blocked in China). Here are some places I was inspired by and some work I made from it.

These 3 pictures are from Yuan Ming Yuan.

These 2 are from the Summer Palace.

Here are my drawings.

Mars' Final Stand

While reading a story, I was inspired by a scene where a character uses a volcano on Mars as a last attempt to wipe out overwhelming odds. Here's my interpretation of what might have happened. I'm not satisfied with the characters face, but everything else turned out quite nicely I think.

One of the hardest things to find was reference for lava. I wanted lava waves, but most pictures are more like explosions. I ended up using Disney's Fantasia as guide. Hard to imagine all that was hand drawn.

EDIT: So I've tried to upload some progress pictures, but I'm currently in China, so logging in and uploading is difficult. I'll try to get more pictures up when I head back to the states

EDIT 2: I've finally been able to upload some process pictures!

Worbla and Craft foam practice

Here's a small. little project I started before heading to China for a teaching job. I love cosplay, but its kind of difficult to cosplay supplies and tools to travel over seas so I might be putting a hold on cosplay projects.

As for this one though, I just wanted to see what  I could do without a sketch or a costume to copy from. I'm pretty pleased so far and want to, eventually, make something full-body with this.

And my lovely girlfriend is the model... the glove is actually formed around her tiny hand so no use trying to try it on me.

Red Riding Hood

Here is model Fae that used Wolfen Jaeger for Anime Expo 2014. It was her idea for a Red with an axe and we worked on the design together