HOME | DD

Description

A little insight into what my process is nowadays:

I debated on whether or not to post this, but honestly, it's not like I have a patent on how to do this sort of thing. Everything that goes into these kind-of-sort-of suit designs I've learned and collected from other sources, so it's not like I came up with it wholesale. A lot of it is freely available on the Internet anyway. So I guess if anything this is a potential learning experience for anyone who cares to listen.

Basically, the idea is that kaiju suits, in the vein of Godzilla and Gamera and the classic suitimation tradition, I feel can be made with slightly more mobility, maneuverability, and comfort. I've studied a lot of different sources in the hopes of eventually building something myself and taking it to a con, maybe shooting an indie film, but mostly I think that time has come and gone. I do still draw most of my monster designs, though, with all of these suit-building ideas in mind, on the off-chance they could still be built by myself or someone else.

I have three main inspirations, whom you are free to look up:

The very talented suit-maker Kazplay, whom I absolutely recommend you look up if you don't know of them already, and their amazing suit-creations. Hogger is the one that initially got the ball rolling for me, seeing how that suit was built and how it worked really inspired me.

...and, weirdly, the Big Bird and Coca Cola Bear puppet suits, from Jim Henson Studios. Which I feel don't need much explanation. (Oh, and Bear In the Big Blue House. Can't believe I forgot that.)

The thing all of them have in common is, the suit-actor is using one or both arms in the suit to control the creature's head, and all of the expressions and mobility the face unit is capable of. Blinking, opening and closing the mouth, maybe a practical breath weapon like a fog machine, and a full range of mobility that isn't really possible in previous versions of the practical kaiju suit. Shusuke Kaneko famously used some very maneuverable kaiju heads in his films, specifically for Gamera and Godzilla, and those were very formative to me when I first saw them...very inspiring to see the suits able to do that, or at least puppets switched out between takes. It was very much like seeing a Batsuit in a Batman movie where Bruce Wayne could turn his neck. I wanted to take that even further, if I could.

This, of course, would require a lot of energy on the suit-actor's part, so there's a certain amount of forethought put into that in order to make it less of a hell for them to do. Suit-acting, from the little I know and have done, is exhausting to begin with without what I'm proposing...but the hope is by being both smart in design and the types of resources used, this can be made much more doable without making it a miserable experience. For example, the idea is, perhaps audaciously, to use as little foam in the suit as possible. Granted, there is some required, and there are rigid materials needed to make the overall suit stable and solid, but the hope is that with the proper lightweight lattice design (perhaps with a combination of dress boning and other materials), the suit could be remarkably lightweight, very roomy, and not nearly as heavy as the traditional foam suit. That, and there would be a sort of arm-rest situation in the neck of the suit so that the actor would be able to put their arms out in front of them instead up above them, like the Big Bird and Coca Cola Bear suits are forced to do, reducing arm strain. The suit would also have to be built in such a way that the suit actor is able to stand at full height without slouching or stooping over, so there would be some kind of support built around the shoulder area that would carry all of the weight of the suit (possibly around the actor's shoulders) instead of putting it all on, say, some sort of helmet design that would force all of the weight onto the person's head and neck.

The arms can be built to either be rigid, slightly maneuverable via some sort of simple apparatus, or can be hollow to allow for the suit actor to slip in their actual arm into either to maneuver more realistically. The head of the suit could be potentially locked in place for moments like this so that the actor can move the arms more believably without the head of the suit flopping bonelessly around without control. I don't know if I've sold it well in this pic, but the idea for the legs is that they are fake digitigrade legs (something I'm sure most furry and creature-suit builders know can be reasonably faked with the right amount of padding), except that these would also be mostly open with minimum padding, also built with a boning structure that's meant to be lightweight and flexible while still retaining a certain amount of rigidity. As big and pronounced as they are, there would be some potential danger of them flopping around like balloons, but that's I feel fixable in the long-run. The tail would be build basically with all of that in mind as well. I feel like it's reasonably possible to make it into one long practical tentacle construct, with a string or chord run down the middle, so that on occasion the suit actor could pull it from the inside and replicate that famous Godzilla tail swiping effect, without the need for a team of puppeteers with piano wires off-screen.

If it wasn't apparent before, this is also meant to be a suit that's almost completely controlled from the inside. No major animatronics that a team off-camera has to control, all built from cheap materials. It's meant mostly to be very cosplay friendly, if you can call it that, because my initial hope was to build one of these things and take it to a local con and show it off, but...yeah, we'll see, I guess. The point is that this way costs go way down, and the suit performance is much more independent, if and when that's preferable. The suit actor would also presumably have either vents or a small fan in the suit to keep cool, although hopefully with the way it's built, the lack of highly insular materials would make it much cooler and less claustrophobic. The suit actor might also have a small TV screen in the suit that's running a live-feed from a small camera, probably positioned discreetly somewhere in the head of the suit, so that the person inside isn't blundering blindly around. That idea is actually taken from the Big Bird suit, believe it or not, although in execution and function it's a little different.

A couple of downsides:

I don't know exactly how the person would get into the suit. Most Godzilla suits, it's my understanding, required the suit actor to climb in through the back. I had initially wondered if this suit would be collapsible, like some cosplay boning-based suits are, but I think most of it wouldn't be, unless it came in several pieces. I feel like regardless, the head would have to go on last, and clipped into place or maybe zipped closed, with careful placement of the seams around the clavicle/collar-bone, etc., to hide it. Still figuring all of that out.

And, also...while I don't have all of the specifics down yet, I imagine the way these suits would be built would make them all very fragile as a result, regardless of what they were made out of. The appeal of foam rubber and such is its relative resilience, which allowed some degree of roughness while the suit-actors were "fighting" or rampaging through sets, etc. I feel like a suit like this probably wouldn't withstand the same amount of damage that a Showa suit might, for example. However, it's my understanding that since the Heisei era, most of that has been replaced by camera shots and careful editing anyway, as the suits have become more expensive and it's in everyone's best interests not to damage them (someone correct me if I'm wrong). It's possible if, used in a cinematic setting, these suits might not need to actually contact one another much in order to get the same results. So maybe I'm worrying over nothing.

Okay. I think that's it.

Description

A little insight into what my process is nowadays:

I debated on whether or not to post this, but honestly, it's not like I have a patent on how to do this sort of thing. Everything that goes into these kind-of-sort-of suit designs I've learned and collected from other sources, so it's not like I came up with it wholesale. A lot of it is freely available on the Internet anyway. So I guess if anything this is a potential learning experience for anyone who cares to listen.

Basically, the idea is that kaiju suits, in the vein of Godzilla and Gamera and the classic suitimation tradition, I feel can be made with slightly more mobility, maneuverability, and comfort. I've studied a lot of different sources in the hopes of eventually building something myself and taking it to a con, maybe shooting an indie film, but mostly I think that time has come and gone. I do still draw most of my monster designs, though, with all of these suit-building ideas in mind, on the off-chance they could still be built by myself or someone else.

I have three main inspirations, whom you are free to look up:

The very talented suit-maker Kazplay, whom I absolutely recommend you look up if you don't know of them already, and their amazing suit-creations. Hogger is the one that initially got the ball rolling for me, seeing how that suit was built and how it worked really inspired me.

...and, weirdly, the Big Bird and Coca Cola Bear puppet suits, from Jim Henson Studios. Which I feel don't need much explanation. (Oh, and Bear In the Big Blue House. Can't believe I forgot that.)

The thing all of them have in common is, the suit-actor is using one or both arms in the suit to control the creature's head, and all of the expressions and mobility the face unit is capable of. Blinking, opening and closing the mouth, maybe a practical breath weapon like a fog machine, and a full range of mobility that isn't really possible in previous versions of the practical kaiju suit. Shusuke Kaneko famously used some very maneuverable kaiju heads in his films, specifically for Gamera and Godzilla, and those were very formative to me when I first saw them...very inspiring to see the suits able to do that, or at least puppets switched out between takes. It was very much like seeing a Batsuit in a Batman movie where Bruce Wayne could turn his neck. I wanted to take that even further, if I could.

This, of course, would require a lot of energy on the suit-actor's part, so there's a certain amount of forethought put into that in order to make it less of a hell for them to do. Suit-acting, from the little I know and have done, is exhausting to begin with without what I'm proposing...but the hope is by being both smart in design and the types of resources used, this can be made much more doable without making it a miserable experience. For example, the idea is, perhaps audaciously, to use as little foam in the suit as possible. Granted, there is some required, and there are rigid materials needed to make the overall suit stable and solid, but the hope is that with the proper lightweight lattice design (perhaps with a combination of dress boning and other materials), the suit could be remarkably lightweight, very roomy, and not nearly as heavy as the traditional foam suit. That, and there would be a sort of arm-rest situation in the neck of the suit so that the actor would be able to put their arms out in front of them instead up above them, like the Big Bird and Coca Cola Bear suits are forced to do, reducing arm strain. The suit would also have to be built in such a way that the suit actor is able to stand at full height without slouching or stooping over, so there would be some kind of support built around the shoulder area that would carry all of the weight of the suit (possibly around the actor's shoulders) instead of putting it all on, say, some sort of helmet design that would force all of the weight onto the person's head and neck.

The arms can be built to either be rigid, slightly maneuverable via some sort of simple apparatus, or can be hollow to allow for the suit actor to slip in their actual arm into either to maneuver more realistically. The head of the suit could be potentially locked in place for moments like this so that the actor can move the arms more believably without the head of the suit flopping bonelessly around without control. I don't know if I've sold it well in this pic, but the idea for the legs is that they are fake digitigrade legs (something I'm sure most furry and creature-suit builders know can be reasonably faked with the right amount of padding), except that these would also be mostly open with minimum padding, also built with a boning structure that's meant to be lightweight and flexible while still retaining a certain amount of rigidity. As big and pronounced as they are, there would be some potential danger of them flopping around like balloons, but that's I feel fixable in the long-run. The tail would be build basically with all of that in mind as well. I feel like it's reasonably possible to make it into one long practical tentacle construct, with a string or chord run down the middle, so that on occasion the suit actor could pull it from the inside and replicate that famous Godzilla tail swiping effect, without the need for a team of puppeteers with piano wires off-screen.

If it wasn't apparent before, this is also meant to be a suit that's almost completely controlled from the inside. No major animatronics that a team off-camera has to control, all built from cheap materials. It's meant mostly to be very cosplay friendly, if you can call it that, because my initial hope was to build one of these things and take it to a local con and show it off, but...yeah, we'll see, I guess. The point is that this way costs go way down, and the suit performance is much more independent, if and when that's preferable. The suit actor would also presumably have either vents or a small fan in the suit to keep cool, although hopefully with the way it's built, the lack of highly insular materials would make it much cooler and less claustrophobic. The suit actor might also have a small TV screen in the suit that's running a live-feed from a small camera, probably positioned discreetly somewhere in the head of the suit, so that the person inside isn't blundering blindly around. That idea is actually taken from the Big Bird suit, believe it or not, although in execution and function it's a little different.

A couple of downsides:

I don't know exactly how the person would get into the suit. Most Godzilla suits, it's my understanding, required the suit actor to climb in through the back. I had initially wondered if this suit would be collapsible, like some cosplay boning-based suits are, but I think most of it wouldn't be, unless it came in several pieces. I feel like regardless, the head would have to go on last, and clipped into place or maybe zipped closed, with careful placement of the seams around the clavicle/collar-bone, etc., to hide it. Still figuring all of that out.

And, also...while I don't have all of the specifics down yet, I imagine the way these suits would be built would make them all very fragile as a result, regardless of what they were made out of. The appeal of foam rubber and such is its relative resilience, which allowed some degree of roughness while the suit-actors were "fighting" or rampaging through sets, etc. I feel like a suit like this probably wouldn't withstand the same amount of damage that a Showa suit might, for example. However, it's my understanding that since the Heisei era, most of that has been replaced by camera shots and careful editing anyway, as the suits have become more expensive and it's in everyone's best interests not to damage them (someone correct me if I'm wrong). It's possible if, used in a cinematic setting, these suits might not need to actually contact one another much in order to get the same results. So maybe I'm worrying over nothing.

Okay. I think that's it.