Because of a whole load of circumstances, mostly being the recent rediscovery of one of my favorite childhood films and its upcoming 35th anniversary, I've decided to once again attempt fursuit-style costuming. This time, of the Secret of NIMH character Justin.
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I'm in the pretty early stages right now, only having the head and feetpaws sculpted and patterned out so far. I have several concepts for what I'm aiming for, though, and I'd like some advice from people who have more experience in the field.
So first off, the costume isn't going to be built exclusively for me. My aim is to have it fit to a few other people I work with who are almost the same height and body shape as me, give or take. To try to get a more forgiving fit, I'm making it pseudo-partial, with shoulder/arm and leg pieces connected by suspenders or a harness. Something like this:
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This way, since the stomach and torso will be covered by the tunic, there's a bit of leniency to the fit. I'm also planning to drop the crotch fairly low, and try to create the illusion of the hips and pelvis being lower. I have a pretty decent idea of how I'm going to do this.
The feetpaws are also built in a pretty weird way: because I am a short little excuse of a man (5 foot problems...), the costume wouldn't look proportional with my current height. I bought a cheap pair of decently high-heeled boots and boosted them up on layers of balsa wood and EVA foam. The feet are absolutely huge, but are surprisingly reasonable to walk in. Like with everything else, I don't have pictures yet, but here's the idea. Trying to get cartoony, accurate-looking proportions is a mess!
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I'm also going to need advice on the tail. Since, due to its length, it will inevitably be dragging, I want it to be made of a durable inner material that might have a nice motion as a side effect. What I'm thinking is getting thick nylon rope and gradually thinner foam pipe insulation at inch-intervals (to allow for motion) onto it to taper it, and then furring it. Has anyone done anything similar? If so, how has it turned out?
And the last thing I have to ask is: padded or sculpted hands. I know with added detail and bulk to hands comes a lack of dexterity, but for this, I'd be willing to sacrifice it. I'd just be adding about an inch to the end of each finger to make the hands look more proportionate to the rest of the costume by adding EVA foam and kind of folding it over like a band-aid on each finger. Would that be too bulky or unwieldly? Again, if you've ever done something like it, please tell me, it would help me out a lot.
I'm in the pretty early stages right now, only having the head and feetpaws sculpted and patterned out so far. I have several concepts for what I'm aiming for, though, and I'd like some advice from people who have more experience in the field.
So first off, the costume isn't going to be built exclusively for me. My aim is to have it fit to a few other people I work with who are almost the same height and body shape as me, give or take. To try to get a more forgiving fit, I'm making it pseudo-partial, with shoulder/arm and leg pieces connected by suspenders or a harness. Something like this:
This way, since the stomach and torso will be covered by the tunic, there's a bit of leniency to the fit. I'm also planning to drop the crotch fairly low, and try to create the illusion of the hips and pelvis being lower. I have a pretty decent idea of how I'm going to do this.
The feetpaws are also built in a pretty weird way: because I am a short little excuse of a man (5 foot problems...), the costume wouldn't look proportional with my current height. I bought a cheap pair of decently high-heeled boots and boosted them up on layers of balsa wood and EVA foam. The feet are absolutely huge, but are surprisingly reasonable to walk in. Like with everything else, I don't have pictures yet, but here's the idea. Trying to get cartoony, accurate-looking proportions is a mess!
I'm also going to need advice on the tail. Since, due to its length, it will inevitably be dragging, I want it to be made of a durable inner material that might have a nice motion as a side effect. What I'm thinking is getting thick nylon rope and gradually thinner foam pipe insulation at inch-intervals (to allow for motion) onto it to taper it, and then furring it. Has anyone done anything similar? If so, how has it turned out?
And the last thing I have to ask is: padded or sculpted hands. I know with added detail and bulk to hands comes a lack of dexterity, but for this, I'd be willing to sacrifice it. I'd just be adding about an inch to the end of each finger to make the hands look more proportionate to the rest of the costume by adding EVA foam and kind of folding it over like a band-aid on each finger. Would that be too bulky or unwieldly? Again, if you've ever done something like it, please tell me, it would help me out a lot.