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Description
I had a lot of people asking me how I made the Kuma costume. Im not very good at making tutorials, so the best i can do is dig out some pictures of my work in progress so those of you who are interested may have some ideas on how to make your own kuma costume

This costume was a group effort from all the members of my persona group and a few other friends. In fact most of the research and initial process of making the costume was done by Jarold and . I mostly help to put on the 'skin' for kuma after the base was done.

This costume was almost completely experimental and very trial-and-error ish. We started this 2 weeks before the shoot working on and off on it whenever we had time

Onwards to the picture description/tutorial.
(sorry for the blur/low quality-ness of some of the pics)

1) We started making the body and head of the costume using strips of card to form the shape. We then covered the entire thing with newspaper + resin . Think of paper mache, but using resin to replace the PVA glue. After that we realised the base wasnt strong enough ( OTL) and we had to use some thick wires to strengthen it so that it would remain its shape.

2)Once everything was try and solid, the base was then covered with cloth . As we were too poor to afford fur for something of this proportion, we mostly used cotton and velveteen for the entire costume. The ears and hair were made from cardboard and stuck on to the main head piece.

The costume was FREAKING HUGE. D8. since Malaysian houses didnt have garages or large empty spaces, most of the costume was done in my room and it took up my ENTIRE room. X__X

3) The legs were made from cardboard and covered with velveteen just like the body and head.

4) The arms was sewn and filled with plushie stuffing with a long wire in the centre as the 'bone'. This is so that it would be easier for me to hold/ move the arms and also bent them whether needed . 8D . I'm sorry i don't have pictures of how i did the arms cause i did it really last minute (like the night before the photoshoot OTL) and didn't have time to take pictures of it.

5) Finally we made 2 thick straps and attach them to the body allowing the body to hang on my shoulders while i hold up the head with my hands.

We had to use two cars to transport the costume to our photoshoot location, which was about 2 hours+ away. Unfortunately about 1-2 hours into the shoot the costume started falling apart. .

I hope this tutorial picture compilation will be useful to those interested to make something similar in the future. It was a fun experience making the costume but....its gonna be a longg longgg time before i consider making something of this again.

Dont forget to check out pictures of the rest of the group~

Persona 4 : Signs of Love
It's too early in the morning
Pursuing Our True Selves
Lets End This
Never more
Doing that thing you do
Smoke gets in your eyes
The Star Arcana

Description
I had a lot of people asking me how I made the Kuma costume. Im not very good at making tutorials, so the best i can do is dig out some pictures of my work in progress so those of you who are interested may have some ideas on how to make your own kuma costume

This costume was a group effort from all the members of my persona group and a few other friends. In fact most of the research and initial process of making the costume was done by Jarold and . I mostly help to put on the 'skin' for kuma after the base was done.

This costume was almost completely experimental and very trial-and-error ish. We started this 2 weeks before the shoot working on and off on it whenever we had time

Onwards to the picture description/tutorial.
(sorry for the blur/low quality-ness of some of the pics)

1) We started making the body and head of the costume using strips of card to form the shape. We then covered the entire thing with newspaper + resin . Think of paper mache, but using resin to replace the PVA glue. After that we realised the base wasnt strong enough ( OTL) and we had to use some thick wires to strengthen it so that it would remain its shape.

2)Once everything was try and solid, the base was then covered with cloth . As we were too poor to afford fur for something of this proportion, we mostly used cotton and velveteen for the entire costume. The ears and hair were made from cardboard and stuck on to the main head piece.

The costume was FREAKING HUGE. D8. since Malaysian houses didnt have garages or large empty spaces, most of the costume was done in my room and it took up my ENTIRE room. X__X

3) The legs were made from cardboard and covered with velveteen just like the body and head.

4) The arms was sewn and filled with plushie stuffing with a long wire in the centre as the 'bone'. This is so that it would be easier for me to hold/ move the arms and also bent them whether needed . 8D . I'm sorry i don't have pictures of how i did the arms cause i did it really last minute (like the night before the photoshoot OTL) and didn't have time to take pictures of it.

5) Finally we made 2 thick straps and attach them to the body allowing the body to hang on my shoulders while i hold up the head with my hands.

We had to use two cars to transport the costume to our photoshoot location, which was about 2 hours+ away. Unfortunately about 1-2 hours into the shoot the costume started falling apart. .

I hope this tutorial picture compilation will be useful to those interested to make something similar in the future. It was a fun experience making the costume but....its gonna be a longg longgg time before i consider making something of this again.

Dont forget to check out pictures of the rest of the group~

Persona 4 : Signs of Love
It's too early in the morning
Pursuing Our True Selves
Lets End This
Never more
Doing that thing you do
Smoke gets in your eyes
The Star Arcana