Hey everyone! Welcome to Theorycrafting: Cosplay Edition! This series will be updated weekly and features a discussion on potential ideas for the creation of a character for cosplay. This is a fairly quick look into what I might think of doing and what materials I may use when considering building a character.
If you have any requests of characters you would like to see, feel free to let me know who in the comments, on my facebook page, or via Twitter!
This week’s character is: Xerath (Classic skin, League of Legends)
Xerath was once a mage of the ancient city-state of Shurima. His lust for power was so great, he sought immortality by turning himself into a being of pure magical energy. Fearing his new-found power, Xerath’s former peers sealed him away in a coffin. Despite their best efforts, Xerath eventually broke partially free and now seeks the power of the nexii of Runeterra to rid himself of his former prison.
I have yet to see anyone attempt a Xerath cosplay, possibly because Xerath (3D Model) has no feet, but that’s beside the point. I think with the proper engineering and thought behind the effects, creating Xerath is doable and would be awesome to see!
Lighting/Body:
First off, the main body for Xerath will probably require a lot of EL (Electroluminescent) Sheeting, Tape, and Wire. Here is a good website for information and ordering EL wire, tape, and sheets: http://electroluminescence-inc.com/customPattern.htm. For the patterning and use of the lighting, I will leave it up to you, but I know that I would try and have larger sheets around the torso and other large coverage areas, then add in tendrils of EL wire and tape.
I would probably start out with a black bodysuit as a base, then I would sew a layer of sheer light blue fabric over the body suit and insert and sew the EL light sources in between the two layers so that you will still appear blue in daylight, but glow awesomely! If you have the electronic know-how, I bet you could also get the lights to pulse!
Armor:
I think my material of choice for this armor set would be EVA foam, as it is thicker than wonderflex and will give a better effect. EVA foam can also be used for the 3D detailing on the armor, as I think it would work well for the more geometric patterns of this costume. You can then attach the armor pieces directly to the body portion with straps or velcro.
Though the armor is curved, I believe there are a couple of ways to mold the EVA foam into curves. The main way I have heard of is to cut a groove partway through the foam with a utility or hot knife and use the groove as a flexing point and then use hot glue to keep its shape. You can also apply heat to the foam via oven or heat gun (for more localized heat) and then shape the dome that way, though the grooves may still be useful for this method as well. In any case, here is a decent tutorial that I found on making EVA foam armor: http://www.schenz.com/fm_eva.html.
If you are feeling particularly ambitious and want to have the armor pieces suspended away from your body, I think you could rig up straps to go on underneath the body suit with clear posts/pegs that can stick out through the body suit that the armor can be attached to.
You could then theoretically build lighting effects off of the clear posts (if you wanted) to create some of the tendrils of energy that extend beyond Xerath’s body.
Feet:
Ok, so Xerath doesn’t really have feet, so in order to make the foot-less effect, I would probably make a clear platform shoe from plexiglass. The bottom-most armor piece would then be built around the platform so that your foot would not be poking out beyond the armor, but the effect would still work. Just remember to extend the lighting effects down through the clear platform!
Here’s a quick sketch of a possible plan.
You would want to glue/fasten some form of flat shoe onto the top of the platform and then cover it over to look the same as the rest of the body.
With that said, do you have any ideas or methods that you would think of using?
Leave your questions and/or comments below! I’d love to hear what everyone else’s thoughts are!
Also, feel free to let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for future posts and/or how to make this better!