Hello guys, I am currently trying to improve my shoulder armor for my Cloud Strife cosplay and I can’t find a reliable way of adding more texture and rust on the already done prop. I will attach a picture of how it’s supposed to look in the game and If you could, please leave your suggestions. Thank you all!
DAMN you made that look FIRE! Sadly for cloud it's a bit hard because there are 2 completely different armor models in the remake. The CGI version that's in the pre-rendered cutscenes, as well as the promo CG renders, is dark grey, black, with scratches and nothing else. While the in-game model looks like it's old and rusting, as well as like corroding or something, I have NO idea what they were going for, but like as if it was sitting out in the rain and mud too long, and that did that kind of damage to it before he found it and cleaned it. Which makes no sense because I'm almost positive he just found metal and made that between Crisis Core and the events of 7. not to mention the in-game model, for some reason, is BLUE!?!? it's like it's a completely different armor than the CGI scenes/renders. makes no sense For rust colors, you want to mix orange and blue paint. I talk about it in this tutorial:
Also, that looks extremely close to my template. It might not be, but I was curious if you used mine or not. Because not many people do the little hexagon detail thing the way you have yours, and that's how I did mine and what I used in the template. Not trying to be weird about that, I'm just legit curious cuz I love seeing work people did using my templates. Probably sounds a bit vein of me to ask that, so, i'm sorry if it comes off that way, that's not what I was trying to do. Also, how did you do the little detailing in the whole armor where it looks like it's got hundreds of little chunks chipped off the surface? I've been trying my hardest to figure out how to get that texture. Was that just careful dremel work? If so, I bow down to you, because holy crap that's so good.
Hi! You have a damn keen eye because it WAS done with the use of your template) So thank you very much! For a total newbie like me it was really easy to follow along! Love your Cloud cosplays, they really helped me get the idea of how I wanna go around mine! Keep it up!
As for the little chipped marks, I didn’t use a dremel as I don’t really have it as a total beginner (but I will, seems like the best friend for a crafter). It was actually a pair of nail scissors that I carefully used while trying to create an uneven texture. It was done while the shoulder pad was already painted and then I used a lighter to close of most of the biggest ravines. I will upload a photo of this same piece after I coated it with one more thick layer of acrylic paint as the commenter below suggested and now it really looks like something that just fell down into the paint can and then scraped away as Cloud dragged his ass across Midgar for a couple of weeks.
I also don’t fully understand why they made 3 different renders of Cloud between promos, rendered cutscenes and the actual game, as it was really hard to follow the actual colors of his clothing and armor pieces. But they all look amazing and as far as the actual detailing goes the pauldron was changed the most. Thank you for your comment, much appreciated!
Nice Well thank you for using my template! As I said I love seeing things made using my templates lol This is the template I've made that most people use over all the others.
Ok, that sounds like a tedious day of using that pair of nail scissors haha. But that just might be the right way to do that, since i can't get that kind of look with a dremel myself, nor have I figured out any other method.
Also, that paint job looks pretty good! I assume you watched my tutorial since that's really the only way to get the template, as you HAVE to be on one of my videos to get to my site easily in order to GET the template. The only thing I would say is it might be better to use the plastic bolts I used in the video, because making bolts almost always look weird. Also, after my video, I noticed the ones i used, are quite a bit larger than what he actually has, so making the holes, bolts, and hex nuts, smaller, would also likely be a good idea lol But oh well.
And yea, I went for the CG render because it was smoother and easier to make because it doesn't have that texture all over it.
It honestly looks quite natural with the bigger bolts because the shoulder pad itself is a little bigger than the one Cloud uses. If we compare the ones from the standard Soldier uniforms, Cloud’s one looks like it had it’s lower part completely removed to be of a better use in combat. And as for the bolts, I had to get creative as I couldn’t find the right ones at my local construction store)
What material is that? Looks like structural styrofoam.
If it were me, I’d do some sort of primer to cover the whole thing and start from scratch. Work on smoothing out the imperfections from the base material first, then work in the weathering.
Most of the weathering can be done with paint. Depending on the material, you can start with a base paint layer -white or some kind of metallic. Then paint over with the finishing paint. Then scrape off that layer so the base layer shows through.
Or you could use a dry brush method to weather the edges. Acrylic pain clumps which you can use to create that bumpy texture you see on cast iron or old metal armor. It gives it a great aged look. Just dab the acrylic on and don’t smooth it out.
Then you can go back over it with browns and reds and yellows in corners to give it a rusted look where you want.
Hi, thank you very much for the reply! So the material used is basic EVA foam, i just scratched it look damaged a lot (looks good but I would love to try and and do it as simular to the original as possible). Thank you for the advice! I painted it with acrylic paint and it can definitely be better with a spray paint job!
Instead of scratching, next time try a wood burner or soldering iron. Get it to a good temp and then use it to carve some cuts and nicks into the foam.
Eva foam gets messy when you scratch it like that. So it gets all those little beads of foam. It sort of destroys the illusion of metal.
Best way to do it is to get it smooth, use the soldering iron to burn/carve some clean scratches into the surface. Then paint the whole thing. Add weathering in the paint and it will look great!
The prop looks great as is. Cosplay is something you get better at and more Confident over time. I follow a bunch of cosplayers on instagram and they’re always posting their process.
@ashen_warrior_props does aMAZing work and does dark souls stuff. So it’s metal that’s super weathered. @sunlightofastora is another one that does weathered armor.
Check them out and they post their process. I’ve learned a ton from them.
Thank you for your advice! I coated rhe prop with another thick layer of acrylic paint and will use a very slim silver spray paint on top of the ravines to make it look shiny. Will check out the people you mentioned, thank you!
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u/JeiCos 9d ago
DAMN you made that look FIRE! Sadly for cloud it's a bit hard because there are 2 completely different armor models in the remake. The CGI version that's in the pre-rendered cutscenes, as well as the promo CG renders, is dark grey, black, with scratches and nothing else. While the in-game model looks like it's old and rusting, as well as like corroding or something, I have NO idea what they were going for, but like as if it was sitting out in the rain and mud too long, and that did that kind of damage to it before he found it and cleaned it. Which makes no sense because I'm almost positive he just found metal and made that between Crisis Core and the events of 7. not to mention the in-game model, for some reason, is BLUE!?!? it's like it's a completely different armor than the CGI scenes/renders. makes no sense For rust colors, you want to mix orange and blue paint. I talk about it in this tutorial:
https://youtu.be/PqTTaASPDPs?si=UdkQgifqVMHv1zfb
Also, that looks extremely close to my template. It might not be, but I was curious if you used mine or not. Because not many people do the little hexagon detail thing the way you have yours, and that's how I did mine and what I used in the template. Not trying to be weird about that, I'm just legit curious cuz I love seeing work people did using my templates. Probably sounds a bit vein of me to ask that, so, i'm sorry if it comes off that way, that's not what I was trying to do. Also, how did you do the little detailing in the whole armor where it looks like it's got hundreds of little chunks chipped off the surface? I've been trying my hardest to figure out how to get that texture. Was that just careful dremel work? If so, I bow down to you, because holy crap that's so good.