Berserk costume

Hey guys, Im trying to make Gatts' outfit, I havent started on much besides drawing the designs and seperating each piece of clothes.

The trouble im going to have is doing the armor, basicly the shoulders and the leg armor, Does anyone have any good ideas, on how to make these? I dont want it to be too heavy, but i also dont want it to look like garbage.

I may need help on other stuff, but im worrying about this first, if anyone has ever done this, or has any tips it would be welcomed. I might need to know what to make the sword out of as well. thanks.

Which Guts armor? From what I understand he has several different styles. As for making the armor, you can make it out of metal, leather, plastic, cardboard, foam, fiberglass, etc... For the "authentic" look, metal and leather would be best. For the "I don't know how to shape metal and leather into armor," fiberglass would be my next choice. Or whatever. It all depends on how much time and effort (and money) you put into it.

As for the weapon, you can make it out of metal; wood; fiberglass; foam; foam and fiberglass; foam, wood, and fiberglass; etc... Again, it all really depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it.

For the foam, wood, metal, leather, and fiberglass, I can provide some insights. I've worked with them all. The others, I can give you my impressions on how to utilize them.

http://www.brighthelm.org/armour/Basic-Armouring.pdf (5.84mb)

That pdf might help you :) i would use a thin metal which could be cut with tin snips u will also need to grind down the sharp edges so a hand file would be handy too. Drilling the holes for the riverts is done now. the thin metal can be shaped over a log by hand (wear gloves) and by using a mallet. then its just putting it together.

alternatively ive been told about the craft cardboard u get from art shops, its fairly cheap and its like 2mm thick once u have cut it out and shaped it u cover it with waterd down PVA glue (not to sure on the proportions), becomes solid when it drys..(might require a few coats) kinda paper mache style but since its thick its durable. havnt tried it myself but most of the business the forge gets is historical re inactments and live role plays got told about it from them.

hope those 2 ideas were a help because i missed 5 mins of my lunch writing this hehe

zooty said:

http://www.brighthelm.org/armour/Basic-Armouring.pdf (5.84mb)

That pdf might help you :) i would use a thin metal which could be cut with tin snips u will also need to grind down the sharp edges so a hand file would be handy too. Drilling the holes for the riverts is done now. the thin metal can be shaped over a log by hand (wear gloves) and by using a mallet. then its just putting it together.

alternatively ive been told about the craft cardboard u get from art shops, its fairly cheap and its like 2mm thick once u have cut it out and shaped it u cover it with waterd down PVA glue (not to sure on the proportions), becomes solid when it drys..(might require a few coats) kinda paper mache style but since its thick its durable. havnt tried it myself but most of the business the forge gets is historical re inactments and live role plays got told about it from them.

hope those 2 ideas were a help because i missed 5 mins of my lunch writing this hehe

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That .pdf would be very helpful for the beginner. There is a lot of information in it. Good find!

I probably wouldn't use a hand file to clean the edges. That'd take forever. I'm currently using a bench grinder with a sanding flap-wheel attached. It cleans the edges very well. You can shape the metal over just about anything, but becareful about what you shape it over. It will transfer over onto the surface of your work. Also, use a rubber mallet or a rawhide hammer to do most of your shaping. A metal hammer will dent the crap out of your project.

i was going for the cheap way to armouring i know how much some of the stuff in the workshop costs, yea grinders save alot of time and effort :)

Caldus said:

Also, use a rubber mallet or a rawhide hammer to do most of your shaping. A metal hammer will dent the crap out of your project.

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i said mallet for that particular reason ;)

also i have chicken and bacon sandwiches for lunch today yum yum!!!!!!!!!

zooty said:

i said mallet for that particular reason ;)

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Sorry, I come from a family of engineers... you have to be specific. ;)

zooty said:

also i have chicken and bacon sandwiches for lunch today yum yum!!!!!!!!!

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Damn you! Now I'm hungry... >:(

Putting 'berserk cosplay' into a search engine might give u a few ideas too :)

i quickly found this http://www.satyrnet.it/berserk/cosplay/berserk_gruppo.jpg now i personally think cosplays a little sad but thats probabaly because i make the real thing lol anyway that guys sword looks good despite it being about 3 foot too short ans his armour isnt as good as it could be but compared to some of the other guts cosplays ive seen hes done a good job.

dont think much to the other 2 either (caska looks like hes been dragged along dressed like that by her boyfriend) but i assume thats suposed to be master roshi from dragonball sticking his head though them.

zooty said:

http://www.satyrnet.it/berserk/cosplay/berserk_gruppo.jpg

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If there is a Berserk fandom wall of shame this deserves to be on it. This needs to be apologized for by the Berserk community like the Bebop community must apologize for the man-fey

crap, i used to have a picture of a fat kid dressed up as the black swordsman...i must find it! >:(

this one is pretty good: http://img70.exs.cx/img70/5383/bestcosplayever.jpg

Fat kid!
http://www.satyrnet.it/berserk/cosplay/1845-8003.jpg

I used to have one with the fat kid "attacking" someone with the sword

That looks like a fat women to me not a fat kid XD

redria said:

Fat kid!
http://www.satyrnet.it/berserk/cosplay/1845-8003.jpg

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LMFAO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA see why i think cosplay is sad ;) and i hope that isnt someone who posts on these forums :/

http://img70.exs.cx/img70/5383/bestcosplayever.jpg

Thats really good, besides the eye patch, wtf Pirate Gatts?
Anyways I know most of them suck which is why im trying to make the best one possible, i have a whole year to work on it, so i want it to be pretty damn good, i dont want to look like the fat kid :'(

redria said:

Fat kid!
http://www.satyrnet.it/berserk/cosplay/1845-8003.jpg

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Looks like he needs to head up to Godo's mountain again. That Elf Powder is full of complex carbs.

Berserk Ayato said:

http://img70.exs.cx/img70/5383/bestcosplayever.jpg

Thats really good, besides the eye patch, wtf Pirate Guts?
Anyways I know most of them suck which is why im trying to make the best one possible, i have a whole year to work on it, so i want it to be pretty damn good, i dont want to look like the fat kid :'(

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Yeah, he should have super-glued his eye shut ;D Seriously though, it's Prototype Guts! It's accurate in that context.

Berserk Ayato said:

Anyways I know most of them suck which is why im trying to make the best one possible, i have a whole year to work on it, so i want it to be pretty damn good, i dont want to look like the fat kid  :'(

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Which Guts are you trying to cosplay?

The Guts from around volume 15.

Berserk Ayato said:

The Guts from around volume 15.

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*laughs* That doesn't help me any. I haven't read the manga yet. I've seen the anime though, and I've seen most of his armours from the Berserk statues that I've looked at.

Wow, there are still some people that haven't seen these old (several years old) cosplays... By the way, I'm not going to deny the fact that some of them look silly, but at least they put effort in it, which isn't always the case, trust me...

Now, if you guys can't stand the eyepatch, here's a shot of another good cosplayer without it, at a convention.

Caldus said:

*laughs* That doesn't help me any. I haven't read the manga yet.

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Well you should... You'd get a much better look than by just looking at pictures of the statues. Anyway, here's the armor he's talking about.

Another option you can use to make the armor pieces is ABS or Styrene plastic sheeting. It can be purchased online, search industrial plastic sheet supply. I bought a bunch to fix a suit of Stormtrooper armor I was working on.

Anyway, you can make the stuff malleable by heating it with a Heat-Gun, that you can buy at home improvement stores for like 15 bucks, you can make a form to make the basic shape by getting a 2 liter soda bottle, and filling it woth something like Plasto-cene modelling plaster that you can buy for like 5 bucks a half gallon at hobby stores.

Basically you make the rough shape of the armor section in plaster using the 2 liter bottle as a base for the basic shape, then heat the ABS or Styrene until it becomse soft and press it to the plaster mold, then trim it with a skill knife ad clean it up with a Dremel or sandpaper.

Anyway it will take some trial and error but to make the interlocking pieces it is a method you can use without getting into too much metal working which might be intimidating to some. The pieces can be rivetted or glued together, painted how you like. There is a lot you can do with plastic.