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Darth Zash


Elodya

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Hey everyone!
After following the 501st legion and this forum forever I've finally decided on a costume. As I like challenges, of course I had to go for one that doesn't have a CRL yet... One of my favorite characters from SWTOR is Darth Zash. I just think she's really badass and as I unfortunately don't tolerate face paint a human character seems to be the best bet for me. 

Anyway, luckily I already found a 3D model of her here: https://swtor.jedipedia.net/en/npc/darth-zash-8 and apart from numerous screenshots, I found the picture below on DeviantArt.

Not quite sure about the materials yet but I'll have a look at other threads about SWTOR characters, as the 'fabric' seems to often be similar. 
Any tips or tricks are welcome! I'm very new to this but in it for the long haul :) Not expecting this to go very fast but I'm determined! 


Image result for darth zash

 

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3D model gives the whole 360 view, so that is good.

Be Careful using references that are not official, as they may not be valid reference materials and more so fan art.

3D model had shoulder armor, the Deviant art is missing the shoulder armor, just as an example.

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48 minutes ago, Yankee71 said:

3D model gives the whole 360 view, so that is good.

Be Careful using references that are not official, as they may not be valid reference materials and more so fan art.

3D model had shoulder armor, the Deviant art is missing the shoulder armor, just as an example.

Thanks for your comment! I'm not really using that picture as a reference, more as motivation for myself to hang on the wall because screenshots and the 3D model just don't look as nice haha :) I'll be sure to only use actual proper references for crafting. 

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First research progress! 

I've spent some time playing through the first part of the sith inquisitor story, where Zash appears in pretty much all the cutscenes. (I love the story and her inclusions so much!) Nina advised me to record them so I could play them back in slow-motion and take better screenshots, so that's exactly what I did. Here's what I've found out about the costume.

Apart from the screenshots, I made a 6 minute body scan video for myself after one cutscene where I could stay in a room with her: https://youtu.be/9oselPqHNms
I've carefully checked the video's and pictures against the 3D models that I found, and as far as I can tell the 3D models do have all the details that I see in the game from various angles. So that's very good news haha :) 

3D model of Darth Zash, which I'm going for: https://swtor.jedipedia.net/en/npc/darth-zash-8
3D model of Lord Zash, simpler version before she becomes darth: https://swtor.jedipedia.net/en/npc/lord-zash
3D model of her later game appearance, where her hood is up: https://swtor.jedipedia.net/en/npc/darth-zash-10 

If we assume that the basics of her outfit remain the same, which it looks like, that means that her Lord version 3D model gives a better view of the belt and the continuity of the seams on the front of the dress. Her old version shows that while you can't really see it, there is another red line under her hood when it's up.  

One thing that I did find out from the game is that the dark red seams in the front of the skirt are actually standing outwards a bit. That's one of the challenges of this costume in general, is that everything on the 3D model is stacked on each other in 2D (ironically..). For example, there's no way to integrate the metal neck plate into the fabric, so it'll have to slightly lay on top. Same for the red chains with beads that hang from her belt. Anyone dealt with a similar situation? As long as I make everything as flat as possible, I hope it's not too much of an issue. 

This will be a fun mother/daughter project because my mom is very good at sewing and I convinced her to help me with this challenge. She's almost as excited as I am. I've ordered some fabric (pleather) samples and can already tell there's a great difference between the colors you see online and what you get... The lighter red color almost seems like a coral on the 3D pictures, but in game it's redder. We'll start with a mock-up first either way so I'll have some time to go to fabric markets. Below are some screenshots with details. (Imgur album with more here: https://imgur.com/a/aAUJVSI

Any and all advice/comments are welcome :)

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I'm glad the video idea worked out for you!

The 2D skin rendering on the models was what I was referring to on the details. You can't tell planes or depths because it is all flattened. Your in-game shots work great for that aspect.

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I've spent the last weeks being busy, but also tried to figure out the pattern of the base dress. I bought an existing pattern online and I've sewn it together as it was, just to see what needed to be altered. Also my first attempt at sewing so that was fun to learn! All with cheap fabric of course. I drew the lines on roughly as I thought they are supposed to go, but it remains pretty complicated. The picture is a mess but it was helpful for the process :) Today I covered myself in duct tape (according to Kamui Cosplay's helpful video's!) and drew the lines on much better. Then I cut it out and reshaped the pattern for the top. I'm out of fabric now but will get more later this week, when I'll also take a first look at 'real' pleather. Hope I can find the right colors! I fear I might have to dye the parts that are the coral/light red color, because I haven't seen anything like it so far. But maybe I'll be surprised.
All in all: this isn't a very fun part of the costume, but if I get this right it'll be smooth sailing from here on. 

Also a question: If you look at the pictures/3D model, where would you hide a zipper? There's no way for me to get in and out without one, but I don't want it to be visible either. Now I'm thinking the side of the dress, but only until the part where the seam curves into a point (you can see it on the 3D model). There's no seams on the back which makes this pretty complicated. 

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Still going steadily, its hard to take proper pictures because the light keeps making the colors look really weird, but hope this gives an idea! Two pictures here: http://imgur.com/a/eMT20eN

I got the pleather I ordered and we made a first version of the base top. It actually came out really nice since we did 3 different mock versions to perfect the pattern. I’ve made the sleeves with the pattern sewn into it (wanted to glue but it didn’t hold well enough unfortunately). Now I’m drawing the subtle pattern on the black inner sleeve so I can sew the top together. We figured out the pattern for the skirt too cause it was waaay too wide before. 

Current question is what wig to order. Arda Wigs suggested either of these styles as I can change the side the hair parts to. I’m leaning towards the 2nd or 3rd one as I like those colors more. What do you think?

(edited to delete the other options - went with this one!)

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Progress is finally a bit more tangible! I ordered the 3rd wig and it's really nice. I'll have to cut it a bit but I'm still working up the courage.

The whole base dress is finished now, yesterday we started draping around the second layer of the skirt. The color looks pretty weird in certain light but it's the closest match I could find (between game shots, the color on the 3D model and the color reference squares beneath the model). It's not as orange as it looks haha! Either way, it's going really well. I've started patterning all the black parts as well, so that will be a next step. I'm getting really excited every time I work on it now. What do you think so far?

Pictures!
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 More progress! Things are going quite fast now.  I've cut our the first black parts (with some hemming space, which is why it looks bigger than it's supposed to be). Just taped everything together to see how it would look. Pretty satisfied so far! I also found iron-on vinyl in the right color so I can make the trims on the black parts and don't have to use my fringey fabric. Curious to see how that will look. 

Just one question for this moment, does anyone have experiences with belt boxes? I can find the standard imperial ones which I might be able to alter, but she also had two smaller ones. Don't think i'm comfortable working with aluminum. Does anyone have a suggestion where to get/ how to make them?

 

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More pictures! Most of the rough work is done. Quite a bit of detailing and attaching to go (just threw things together for the picture but the back and shoulders are all pins and tape).  So happy that someone told me about cricut vinyl, it’s been amazing to work with. I think I have all materials for the next steps finally. I’m really thrilled to see it coming together. It’s actually starting to look like Zash!

 

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I realized it’s been forever since I wrote an update! I’ve been working slowly but steadily, came to some difficult details. Here’s some random pictures of things I did recently: all the buttons, the belt (took forever!!), the base for the gloves (inside is red, outside black), the hood and the belt boxes. Honestly I want everything to be perfect but sometimes it’s just impossible. Then I start to doubt if it’ll ever be approved... but I can only keep hoping! What do you think so far?

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I have been on holiday so I had lots of time to think about how I'd do stuff but not actually make any progress. Luckily that helped me figure out some next steps. I can proudly say that the entire base dress is done! Just unhappy with the belt so I'll probably redo it. Then it's just the shoulders, gloves and boots to go! So excited to see it come together! :D

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One of the hardest parts about this process so far was finding the right color paint to match my fabric. As I wrote earlier, I found some cricut vinyl that was perfect for the strips on leather, but putting it on foam was a mess (belt attempt 1). So I really couldn’t get around it and visited some stores with my fabric and my vinyl. Unfortunately, the stores only had paint that would crack on foam. With the help of a sample card I found the RAL number which I thought was universal so anyone could mix the paint. When I finally found a store with flexible paint, it turned out that they mix RAL colors with a clear paint base and the flexible one had a white base. So back to square one I thought, but the amazing paint guy offered to hand-mix it for me to match my fabric! Four hours of mixing, shaking and testing paint got me the perfect color. Secretly i think the man had fun with the challenge too :) So that’s hat I’ve been up to this week! I did the boots with Angelus leather paint and I love them so much I might paint all my shoes haha! I also made a to do list of all that’s left and it fit on one page #hype

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Crossed quite things off our remaining to do list today! Really excited about the progress, I think all will be done in two or three weeks... I also cut the wig, but I can’t quite get used to myself with blonde hair. Hope it’ll look better with the colored contact lenses and full makeup haha! And then I guess it’s time for a ton of detail pictures! I can’t find much else about the new to the legion process, so if anyone can enlighten me on what to expect or if there’s anything else I need to do I’m all ears :)

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The last details are kind of tricky, I think I know how I'm going to attach the shoulders but still have to actually make it work. Everything else is almost finished. What I was most scared about was the battle damage, I didn't want to mess up my pretty paint work! Does it look okay? Painting with a toothpick was definitely a new experience but I'm quite happy with how it turned out. Fun fact: both her shoulders have identical battle damage. Not very realistic, but I tried to stick as close to it as I could without looking too calculated. Submission picture day is planned for the 1st of September! 

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Well that's a wrap (for now...)  Just sent my submission email :tkdance:

Reference screenshots: https://photos.app.goo.gl/G6uCwGYm3FW1pWwd6

Submission photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/sY6z3ENPv41U5G626

Fingers crossed! My favorite photo:

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Edit: now this is my favorite ❤

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