Gotta Sketch 'Em All! #023, #151, #257, #107

I think I've skipped posting a few of my drawings, so I'll have to go back and figure out which ones are in my notebook that aren't here. But in the meantime, here are a few I got done today:

#023 Ekans

#151 Mew

#257 Blaziken

#107 Hitmonchan

Chell: Wrist Wrap

This should not have been as difficult as it was.

Chell has what looks like a white wrap bandage around her right wrist. I decided to spiral-sew some white elastic so I can slip it on and off pretty easily, instead of having to wrap a bandage and find a way to hold it in place whenever I wear Chell.

First, I wrapped the elastic around my wrist and pinned it in place to make sure the length was right.

After a little bit of swearing at the sewing machine and my tiny wrists,
I determined that the first connection would have to be made with
my best friend, Loctite superglue.

After more swearing at the sewing machine, I finally got on a roll.
Then I got off the roll when things got really close together,
and the right (top) elastic was not lining up under the needle, so
I was sewing one piece of elastic to nothing but itself.
About four times.

I glued the bottom connecting spot too, and
here's the finished product.

It's a tiny bit tight, but I'm going to slip it over something (a soda bottle or the like)
to get it a LITTLE bit more stretched out.

Ta-da! Wrist wrap, done.

So that leaves the to-do list (edited since last time) looking like this:

28 things to get done in 49 days (19 for Chell, 9 for Zoe).
I've decided not to put the lights/sound in the portal gun for May,
but I'll work on it over the summer and hopefully, I'll have that
all done for any fall shows I go to.
I'd like to have all that for the TWCC cosplay contest, but
maybe next year.

Chell: Long-Fall Boots Weekend

I rewrote my to-do list for Tidewater Comicon this weekend, because I have a better idea of how I'm actually going to do most of the things. Here's the new list:

Some of the things have already been done now, at time of posting.

So I worked on the long-fall boots this weekend. They're one of the tricky parts of the Chell costume, and one that I really need to get right, or I'll sprain my ankles and fall on my face and get a concussion and who knows what else.

I nailed it at the thrift store. These boots were just about as perfect as I was going to find. Ten bucks and they fit like a dream:

First things first, I had to remove the studded/buckled straps from them:

Voila.

Then we took them to the house and used a Sawzall (okay, Birk's dad did, because he's helpful and knowledgeable like that) to take off the heels:

Some advice, if you want to try this.

(1) We started with a fine blade (which got through the metal rod/screw/nail/whatever runs up through the entire heel) then switched to a coarse blade (which got through the rest). It kind of melted the plastic of the heel a little, and it was pretty tough to get through.

(2) Don't wear flip-flops. You won't want plastic/metal shavings in your feet. Just trust me.

(3) Be INSANELY CAREFUL. The shoes were jumping around, and like I said before, the plastic melting makes it a little hard to saw through. One person holding the shoes down, another doing the sawing, and COMMUNICATE. Otherwise, someone is losing a finger and you'll have blood everywhere.

(4) Put something under the shoe while you saw. The vibrations rubbed the side of the shoe on the table, and you can kind of see the result on the shoe on the right in the picture. The other one turned out worse. I figure it's okay, because we're going to paint or Plasti Dip or something these things, but still, there was a genuine possibility that we were going to go right through the shoe and leave a hole in the side.

We didn't go any closer to the sole because we didn't really have to, and it was hard to be especially accurate, since - as I mentioned - the shoe and saw were bouncing all over the place. But I'm going to use a little Bondo to smooth everything out and make it look nice, so accuracy wasn't really essential.

I also used some packing foam to create a prototype/template for the foam part that will go around the boots:

I thought I was going to build boots from scratch.
After I got this far, I decided to go to the thrift store.

The finished template, with notes in case I don't get
back to it for a little while. I'll have to remeasure now
that I'm using the thrift store boots but it should be
close enough.

The current plan is to make those out of stiffer packing foam (not the EVA foam mat pieces), but only if Plasti Dip or Bondo will adhere to it, so I can get the shiny white look I need.

I also managed to finally hem the legs of the jumpsuit:

Still a little big, but taking them in will be a different day.

Gotta Sketch 'Em All!: 118, 162, 206, 505, 539, 568, 679

#118: Goldeen

#162: Furret

#206: Dunsparce
(This one's a little blurry, sorry)

#505: Watchog

I already had Throh, so I did Sawk in a similar way (only the colors and the necklace are different).

#539: Sawk

#569: Trubbish

#679: Honedge (from the last post, but now colored in...
there's a LOT of metallic gold that didn't necessarily show)

Gotta Sketch 'Em All! #147, #679

Happy 20th birthday to Pokemon! I thought that made this a good weekend to do a few more sketches for the Gotta Sketch 'Em All project. Dratini is the one I've been wanting to do since I started, and Honedge was on a whim when I looked at it by chance. Honedge won't be colored until I retrieve my Prismacolors from my office tomorrow.

I really do love this croquis.
Also, I don't think the metallic shows up in the photo,
but those are silver shoes.

I think I need to add a small back version to this one.

Wings of Freedom (1)

I'm also planning on Zoe Hange from Attack on Titan for Tidewater Comicon. That to-do list comes out to 14 tasks in the next 90 days (and four of them may not be necessary, as they go to the cape which I probably won't want to wear until fall cons).

I'm starting with the Wings of Freedom patches that will go on the jacket:

Drew the patch onto a piece of paper, mounted that on the porch door,
mounted fabric over it to trace onto the fabric. Not the most high-tech
or accurate way I could do it, but one of my favorite methods.

First patch, traced from the door-mounted drawing.
Skinny black Sharpie, fat blue Sharpie, silver Sharpie for the background.

Drawing a large version based on the small version so I can do the same thing for the
patch that goes on the back of the jacket (and later, on the cape).

Finished large drawing (just not done coloring in the gray, which I might not bother with,
since it's just the template).

I have the jacket ready to bleach and dye in the tub, pants and boots purchased, still hunting for a shirt, and I need to get the supplies for the harness. I won't be making the actual omnidirectional maneuvering device, at least not for TWCC. Maybe I'll add it for future cons.

Starting Chell

Chell has been on my "to cosplay" list since day one, and I've decided to give her a shot this year. Here's what I have done already:

I ordered a costume jumpsuit on Amazon. It was the only one I could find that (1) might fit me,
(2) didn't have any printing on it, and (3) was a reasonable price.

Step one of the portal gun: painting a shipping tube black.
(I knew I was keeping this tube for a reason.)

As of right now, the task list sits at 29 tasks to do in 90 days (in time for Tidewater Comicon) and it's the costume I intend to enter in the cosplay contest. If all my plans pan out, I'll have amazing long-fall boots, a portal gun that switches from orange to blue lights (and stores my wallet/phone/glasses), with a GLADoS potato on one of the arms (that might even talk... we'll see). Plus the jumpsuit, tank top, wrist wrap, and haircut.