Creating Costumes from Extremely Limited Source Material

[Anonymous No.7135239]

Has anyone every created a costume in which the source material, even official was near nil? I have about 4 16 bit sprites to work off of. And the knowledge that the character (might) be a rotting body but the game wasn't finished enough for anyone to know for sure. I'm literally almost to the point of hunting down the character designer's contact and politely asking if he can point me in the direction of where I might be able to buy an concept work he did. If anyone can shed some light on how you worked a sprite into a costume, please share.

[Anonymous No.7135246]

well, it would help if you were more specific.
right now, considering that you only posted a sprite of link, who has plenty of concept art....go look for some fucking concept art?

[Anonymous No.7135280]

>>7135246
The Link was to catch your attention. Here's what I'm actually working with.

[Anonymous No.7135486]

>>7135280
well fuck, thanks for telling me nothing.

the game? the character? sure, I could look at the image name, but Thanatos is a popular name that gets nothing. reverse image search? well that series has a lot of shit to choose from.

[Anonymous No.7135497]

>>7135486
Its from Secret of Mana, Thanatos is kind of a repeating villian but you only ever fight him once he turns into a Lich at the end of the game.

OP: You will never ever get the character designers info from Square so don't even bother trying.

How is that not enough?
>Purple wig
>skull mask with 2 horns
>robe with sleeves that go past the hands
>chest plate with shoulder pads

Thats actually just fine for cosplaying... just take some artistic liberties with the back.

[Anonymous No.7135614]

Homestucks might be worth talking to here. The designs in the comic are extremely minimalist and quite abstract in a pop-art kind of way. Cosplayers make great interpretations of them, regularly.

[Anonymous No.7135654]

Try this sprite, it's a bit larger - made by someone else but fairly faithful interpretation. I would've said he had a robe with puffed sleeves under those pauldrons, and blue cuffs, somewhat like this but obviously with a longer hem and it probably does up at the neck:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/Bwaze/Arming%20doublets/Commercially%20available%20doublets/MedievalMarket1.jpg
The robe underneath looks fairly straightforward with gold hems and a gold-edged belt around the middle. He's also wearing some kind of pendant. You could probably model off Popoi a bit:
http://images.wikia.com/mana/images/4/44/SOM_Popoi.jpg
Good luck, SoM needs more cosplay.

[Anonymous No.7135662]

Also might be worth you picking up the iPad version, see if the improved graphics are any help. Fab game to replay anyway.

[Anonymous No.7136471]

OP here; I KNOW what the character is. I've been playing it since 1993. My question still stands; IF you are a person who has worked a costume from only tiny sprite images, what sort of techniques did you use?

I'm not asking for a character image and I'm not asking for your take on the character (If I wanted that then I would use someone's fanart.)

The question is relevant to the sprite providing little info; not to the character itself, which is why I didn't mention it.

No need to get nasty over a little question which you apparently didn't read and comprehend. If you have never worked a costume from only a sprite, then simply don't post in the thread because your answer doesn't matter.

[Anonymous No.7136482]

>>7136471
All of which would have been prevented with
>pic unrelated

[Anonymous No.7136493]

>>7136482
Or reading.

[Anonymous No.7136498]

>>7136471
Quit acting like an entitled bitch.

The answer is you take artistic liberties if you only have a handful or a few sample images of the character.

[Anonymous No.7136500]

>>7136471

God you're so fucking stupid. THESE ARE the techniques people use. Look at more sprites. Look at fanart. Look at popular interpretations. Make shit up wholesale because who the fuck is going to tell you otherwise?

Take the advice, or don't, but don't bitch at the people trying to help your whiny ass.

[Anonymous No.7136511]

>>7136471
wow, chill the fuck out.
No one here was being nasty at all. You made a post asking how people extrapolate designs from limited source material, and then went into detail about how you yourself are struggling with doing that. Since a lot of posts on this board are people asking for help with various projects, it is only natural that people think that you are having trouble with the design and people were offering to help. Then you come off like a little bitch.

If you just wanted a topic about working on costume that has very limited source material, then all you need to say is that. Don't go into how you are having trouble with it. The "reading comprehension" here seems to be entirely your problem.

There, is that nasty enough for you?

[Anonymous No.7136515]

inb4 a Thanatos cosplayer gets shit on in the near future

[Anonymous No.7136520]

>>7135497
>>7135614
>>7135654
>>7135662

Thank you for your helpful responses.

[Anonymous No.7136534]

>>7136493
>helping you, specifically
>instead of the general thread you were hoping to start

wow so nasty wow

[Anonymous No.7136562]

>>7136534
I apologize if I've offended anyone with my poor communication skills. It wasn't my intention; I just got heated after the first comment felt they had to include "fucking," but that's neither here nor there.

[Anonymous No.7136572]

>>7136562
Why are you on 4chan?

Do you imagine this is the type of discussion community you would do well on?

[Anonymous No.7136576]

>>7136572
Because it's an anon board so I don't embarrass myself entirely too much when I end up looking stupid.

[Anonymous No.7136603]

>>7135280
what a fucking boring cosplay

no one will care about/notice you at all

[Anonymous No.7136630]

>>7136603
Good thing I don't do cosplay for attention, then.

[Anonymous No.7137036]

>>7135239
I never noticed before but it looks like he has a huge nose

[Anonymous No.7137107]

Wow, OP. Way to not only look a gift horse in the mouth, but take a whole-hearted shit in it.
You're... What... 14?

This is what people do. They look at the sprite, analyse, look at alternative interpretations, and decide what the costume looks like. Some people draw out the design, which they then pattern and sew from.

So go google or doodle out some costume designs and take them to mommy to sew for you before Halloween comes around and you won't be able to trick or treat anymore.

[Anonymous No.7137142]

>>7135614
The only time a homestuck is ever worth talking to.

[Anonymous No.7137145]

>>7136562
Wow, well, maybe if you hadn't used a sprite of one of the single most well-known vidya characters ever, the first poster wouldn't have thought you were retarded.

If you don't like it, get the fuck off of 4chan.

[Anonymous No.7137235]

Probably also worth stating that the in-game sprites are nothing like the concept art anyway - Popoi being a prime example. In his sprite art he's wearing a single dark green robe with a zig-zag collar which has been extrapolated into all kinds of layers in the official artwork.

Sprite art: http://www.mysticrpg.0catch.com/rusty/charset/popoi.png

With that amount of creative license, stop complaining and go to town on it!

[Anonymous No.7137266]

>>7137142
Actually we also happen to be great at body paint and mounting shit through wigs.

To OP: I would personally make a sort of shoulder piece and attach the cape-thing to it so that when you are standing still it can drape around you if you want to go with the cape version. I am unsure about the cloak and especially its design, the golden thingies seem to wrap around the characters hips and then there is the blue gem (?) which would logically be placed on the chest but looks to be sitting closer to his abdomen at the sprite. I would personally make it a part of the shoulder piece.

The cloak itself I would suggest doing with a high and stiff collar, and those puffy shoulders anon above suggested. I would also make rather stiff and wide cuffs to make it heavy.
The wig is important, especially how it flows backwards and has a lot of volume. I would suggest making a fake widows peak/use a lace front to get that pushed back look.

For horns: yaexrae (pic related) has a good tutorial on them. Mount them with screws on a headband/snaps through the wig. If you cannot wear the mounting under the wig make sure to style it around the headband.
Mask (I think it is a mask) - There are a bunch of techniques, use some sort of pink netting or opaque pink plastic (preferably a bit dim to hide your eyes better) for the eyes, I wold also suggest making it rather toony as making a skeleton mask and make it look good is hard.

As a final touch it is also recommended that you use some body paint to make yourself look more outlandish and clash less against the colours and the mask, some sort of greyer flesh tone probably.

[Anonymous No.7137323]

Sort of related, but not really:

I'm planning a Rydia cosplay for next year. I don't want to do New Rydia from the DS remake because pleugh. Leaving out the one from Theatrhythm too, since it's just not detailed. This leaves me with Amano, sprites and fanart. I'll be making an amalgamation of the three and hoping that I'll be recognisable. A lot of examples I see recently which are not based off the DS version just seem to have piled glitter upon glitter a la Limebarb (which I feel barely represent the character at all.)

[Anonymous No.7137468]

>>7137323

To be fair, her amano artwork is really limebarb and sort of blinding. I agree though - there doesn't seem to be much medium between people just piling on rags of fabric and glitter makeup, and people just cosplaying her DS version.

Maybe look at some (good) fanart to see what makes a good amalgation of the sprite and amano artwork?

[Anonymous No.7137484]

>>7137468

Also, I think cooler colors rather than bright green would help. I imagine that keeping the cosplay breezy and light would make it remniscent of Amano, while keeping certain elements of the sprite (like the pink headdress) would make it more identifiable as the sprite character.

Also don't go crazy with the makeup, I suppose. Leave the face gems and bright yellow green eyeshadow for another day.

Anyways, that's just my suggestion. Take it with a grain of salt, but I hope it helps.

[Anonymous No.7138392]

>>7137266
No, "we" aren't. Homestucks have a bad reputation for shitty gray body paint for a reason.

[Anonymous No.7138394]

>>7138392
The CGL ones should be alright jesus