Started: September 1st, 2019
Completed: November 10th, 2019
Total Cost: ~$100
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| Photographer: https://www.shannonduffy.net/ |
I will try to keep this as quick and painless as possible...
Hello and welcome to this (tutorial??)! I've wanted to actually do something with this blog for years and I figured posting progress threads that people can gain inspiration from might be the best use for it.
So welcome to my first post, a progress thread on Brother Nier!
A few things before I start:
1. I did not originally intend to make a progress blog on this cosplay, so I am lacking some photos...
2. I live in a very small town so my options for materials are limited, I mostly use Micheals and Joanns for everything. Please do not feel limited to use what I used!
With that, lets go to step 1!
Step 1: What The Hell is This? (References and Materials)
The first thing I ran into trouble with this cosplay was just the lack of people who cosplay him (one of the main reasons I'm making this progress thread in the first place). I usually use other cosplayers as my main reference but this time I had to actually use reference pics. Here are the main ones I used:
Also here is a reference I used for the sleeves, please feel free use this if you are going to make this cosplay because I had to ask my brother to vector trace this for me:
Next up, materials.
Wig: https://www.kasouwig.com/nier-automata-a2-short-hair-version-warm-white-flippy-wig-sp05-p1187.html
Fabrics/Sewing Supplies:
- Long Pile Grey Fur, ~1/2 yard (bought at Joanns, $13)
- Short Pile White Fur, ~1/8th of a yard (was long pile but I shaved it)
- Grey Fabric, ~3 yards (2 way stretch, idk how much it cost since I just had it laying around but I know I bought it at Joanns)
- Black Blizzard Fleece, ~2 yards (also bought at Joanns, unsure of cost)
- Eyelets, 3 packs of 12. ~$15
- Black Leather (I bought a small scrap of real leather at a special shop for $2)
- Black Silk, (This is what I used for the belt, unsure of cost)
Clothing Pieces (Not Sewn):
- Black Gloves, $4.99 (Party City)
- White Pants, ~$0
- White Long Sleeve Undershirt, ~$0
- Base for Boots
Construction Supplies:
- Chain Roll, ~$20 (bought at Joanns)
- PVP Pipe (5 feet long)
- EVA Foam, ~$13 (Yaya Han sheet you can buy at Joanns)
- Worbla, (Almost an entire Jumbo Sheet)
- Gold and Silver Spray Paint
- Plastidip
- Autobody Primer
- Instamorph Plastic
- Caulk/Qwik Seal
Step 2: Legs
I started from the bottom and worked my way up, leaving all the armor for last. So I started by making the thigh warmer parts:
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| Progress |
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| Complete |
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| Progress |
Pretty straight forward:
Measured the length of my thigh, then cut out and sewed the fur to make cute little furry thigh pieces. The weird leg things were made using instamorph (I highly recommend against using it however, its a bitch to work with and they came out wonky). The middle parts, the colorful little bits you see in the photo above, are wood beads. I put them on a really long nail and then glued the ends onto the finished instamorph pieces. I DID NOT make ones for the back, even though his reference images shows that he has one in front, one in the back. I didn't have enough instamorph to make two more lol.
Next up are the two little kneecap pieces:
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| Complete |
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These measure ~6 inches in width (one of them is bigger, whoops). Like the text above states, the white detailing is all done with fabric paint and a steady hand. Using the references images, I hand drew the symbols with sharpie, then spent the next 4 hours hand painting it.
As you can also see, there are two eyelets on each piece. This was done so that I could use strips of blizzard fleece as my ties. I cut blizzard fleece into ~2 inch wide strips, then tied a knot at the back of them, and slipped them into the eyelet holes. I chose blizzard fleece because its inexpensive and doesn't fray when you cut it, but I think ribbon would also be a viable alternative.
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| Complete!! |
Step 3: Torso and Sleeves (The Worst Part)
I will try to explain this as best as I can, please forgive me:
So I measured my arm length and circumference, cut out the fabric, and whipped the tears from my eyes. As mentioned before, all the white detailing is hand painted, that includes the sleeves too. I did this mainly because after I saw how nice the knee pieces looked, I wanted to keep up that same look on the sleeves. Each sleeve took about 7 hours to paint. You'll notice that the pattern isn't exactly the same on my sleeves either, that's because the stencil I made wasn't very good, but I didn't notice until I was about 4 hours in and I couldn't bring myself to turn back. All in all, I still spent 14 hours hand painting them so idk, you decide if that's impressive or not.
As for the rest of the sleeve, small strips of fur are sewn into the bottom and the top. The lacing was done, once again, with strips of black fleece. My sleeves DO NOT actually lace up, they are sewn together at the center. That's why the lacing doesn't match up perfectly every time. (I did this because I knew I would bitch about having to constantly re-tie them).
Moving on, I actually didn't any pictures of me making the Torso (probably because It was so easy compared to making the sleeves). But I used a basic shirt pattern to sew it, and made ties off to the side once again using eyelets and blizzard fleece strips.
I'm also very guilty of not taking any pictures of me making this weird chain thing. But let me explain:
The base part is real leather, with short pile fur hot glued underneath. There is no sewing on this piece, it is pure hot glue. The chains are pretty straight forward, I used wire cutters to snap them, and then needle nose pliers to twist them. I can't really explain the logic that went into this, I just kinda hooked chains where I could.
Step 3: Gloves and Boots
Every piece of armor on this cosplay is made out of unsanded worbla. I use auto body primer and plastidip, and then spray paint and seal it.
I bought a pair of black gloves at Party City, and viola. The little finger peices are super glued onto the gloves, and I will say they are prone to coming off every now and then. Overall, they've held up pretty well in the few times I've worn them.
Didn't get many photos of boots progress either, but that's OK because I personally don't think they look very good (the boots were a rush job) Once again, I used Worbla and patterned out how it should fit onto the boots. The little lines you see were done using a soldering iron,then painted, and then finally super glued onto the base boots. I also weathered the boots by dry brushing them. I did this just because I made a lot of mistakes, thats why the gloves aren't weathered. The boots stay together pretty well, but they aren't the prettiest to look at. Step 4: Spear
The spear is a mix of Yaya Han cosplay foam (that 10mm thick stuff you see in Joanns), craft foam, and a PVC pipe. Unfortunately, this was the very last thing I made and I totally blacked out on how I eve made this. If you are looking for a tutorial on how I made this spear, I'm sorry but I can't give you one. I would highly recommend looking elsewhere, because this thing was totally half assed and I'm not even sure if I could explain how I made it without physically holding it in front of you.
Final Notes...
This cosplay wasn't difficult, it was just tedious. I had to gather so much just to understand the most simple of parts. I really truly wish I had a guide like this to help me when I made this, and so this is what I gift to any potential Brother Nier cosplayers out there. Not exactly a tutorial, but a look into what I did to make it. Hopefully it helps anyone who wants to try their hand at this someday!
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| Photographer: https://www.shannonduffy.net/ |
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