Finally some Progress... need advice!

[tk6232]

Hi there guys and gals,

Well, after a year of having my Ventress sitting on the shelf, I thought it best to start everything up again!

 

Tonight, I hemmed the skirt, and created some vambraces - while tweaking my neckbrace pattern.

 

Can somebody please take a peek at these bits and pieces, and let me know if I need to adjust anything?

 

Boots:

 

Vambraces:

 

Everything so far, (sans makeup, belts, neckbrace)

 

I'm almost at the stage where I want to throw away the top that I made, as the material is a little bit thin - and goes crinkly way too quickly. My only concern is that if I increase the thickness, i'm going to struggle with heat here in Queensland, Australia!

 

These photos dont really show the horizontal stitching in the top either... it's there! Really it is!!

 

Anyway, some advice would be really great -

Cheers,

Moxxxie

TK6232

[Guest Daritha]

Looks good, though. Just two things: I noticed that the skirt is really thin and the white part of the shirt shines through. You should fix that. Also,are the boots sufficient for the costume?

Otherwise, everything comes together quite nicely. I'm curious to see some pics with baldcap and make-up.

[tk6232]

I've based my boots on this image from the CRL:

[Guest Sakara]

lol i have those boots. though not for my Asajj costume , just cos im a goth.

 

i'd agree the skirt should be a thicker fabric. Its a lovely shape, but perhaps the waist band could be flat as it will sit for more comfortably.

[tk6232]

I have to admit, the skirt is only half way there. It's incredibly long, even with those massive boots on. I've rolled up the skirt so that I can at least stand up without stepping on the hem and falling flat on my face! I'll have access to an overlocker shortly, so I'll be hemming it all, and doing a nice waistband at that point.

 

I've now completed the belts, but the leather now needs to be dyed - and the buckle still needs a few coats of strong gloss.

 

My only fear is the neckbrace. I've got a pattern for it, but I'm still anxious about it all.

[ladyb]

Looking good. What did you have planned for the belts and buckle?

 

Best of luck with the neck armour. It is one of the trickiest part of the costume to be sure. I'm currently using the third version of it I've made.

[tk6232]

LadyB, I've already cut the leather pieces out. I formed a pattern by wrapping myself in cardboard and drawing the belts on. They fit quite well, so now I'm just dying the leather...

 

The belt buckle is actually a light fitting that's been modified a little bit! I've sprayed it with silver paint, so now I'm just building a protective glossy coat.

 

Once the leather is finished, I'll post some more images!

 

Cheers,

Mox

[ladyb]

Sounds good, I'm excited to see it.

 

My husband was saying on your image above that your facial structure really matches how she was drawn in the 2D cartoon (some of the best Asajj IMHO). Excited to see how it comes together.

[Guest Anonymous]

Your vambraces look good and I'm curious about the end result. Your quite far already.

I also noticed that the fabric of the skirt is indeed very thin. Maybe it's an idea to make an overskirt so that the fabric is thicker and it doesn't shine trough anymore?

I must also say.. Your boots rock!! I really love them. Did you made them yourself?

Good luck with the collar, as Lady B said:"It's one of the trickiest parts".

I'm busy with the 5th collar

 

~Elyon

Madelon

[tk6232]

Come Padawan. Your fall shall be my ascension to the Sith.

 

I know I've got a few tweaks I need to make:

• Buckle needs to be 'chrome' look
  
• Neck Seal needs to be more fitted at the shoulders
  
• I need to work out Makeup - Tattoos and Bald Caps
  
• I need to work out a better way of fixing the belts up

 

Moxxxie's "AOTC Concept Ventress"

 

Skirt. V1.1 - Skirt has been shortened so that I wont break my neck, and a black slip sewn in for modesty!

 

Neck Seal. v4.0

I'm really happy with the way this one sits. I'm yet to add the banded detail (will be hand done) but I wanted to ask if it would be ok to put a few darts in the shoulder area to make it more fitted.

 

Vambraces v2.0

I bought nicer pleather to make these out of and hemmed these along all cut edges. They're much more comfortable to wear, and fit a bit more snugly.

 

Image showing the crossed belts at the back. I'm pleased with the way the belts have come together, however - how did everybody else secure their belt buckles on at the front? At the moment, this belt buckle is being held on with good hope and gaffa tape.

 

Big thanks to my favorite Trooper Commander, Cobra, who has pinned hems, pinned me, and pinned himself on many occasion!

[ladyb]

I know I've got a few tweaks I need to make:

• Buckle needs to be 'chrome' look
  
• Neck Seal needs to be more fitted at the shoulders
  
• I need to work out Makeup - Tattoos and Bald Caps
  
• I need to work out a better way of fixing the belts up

 

1. Unless making it of metal I'd try rub 'n buff. That has seemed to be the best I've found so far for this sort of thing.

 

2. Admittedly very tricky, far and away the hardest part of my build.

 

3. There is a great section on here for the cap by sakara (viewtopic.php?t=1068). If it would help my husband has made our tattoo template available as well. http://www.mcapell3d.com/images/AsajjTats.pdf

 

4. Not sure exactly what you refer to but would be happy to help if I can.

 

Image showing the crossed belts at the back. I'm pleased with the way the belts have come together, however - how did everybody else secure their belt buckles on at the front? At the moment, this belt buckle is being held on with good hope and gaffa tape.

 

The the belt version without the obi my husband added a rod to the middle of the O that had the one side of the belt wrapped around and sewn to it. We're revising some belt things but this one has worked well, I believe there are some detailed images in my costume thread. viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1188&start=0

[tk6232]

My Kryolan makeup arrived today. I've heard good reports about the Kryolan Aquacolour, so I decided to give them a go. Apparently, if you mix it with the Kryolan Fixier spray instead of water, you get up to 6 hours of reliable cover. I'll be happy if I get 3 hours.

So... I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

So... When the parcel arrived I needed to rip open the package like a little kid at Christmas, and try out all my new toys. <3

 

I really need some facepainting lessons. Our Garrison has an Armour Party next weekend, so I'm going to get a few of the experts to give me some tips.

 

hehe, anyway, here's tonights results.

 

(The stripes really do give you Attitude. Thanks LadyB for the templates! They ROCK!)

 

[ladyb]

Looking good, glad we could assist.

[Guest Anonymous]

Some quick tips to help with makeup:

 

1. Make sure you moisturize your skin before applying makeup. This helps give you a better "canvas" to work with. I tend to favor Philosophy moisturizers, but there are several great moisturizers out there in every price range. Experiment a bit and see what works best with your skin.

 

2. Primer also helps give you a good canvas, also helps makeup stay on longer. Makeup Forever has a great one, Smashbox also has a really good one.

 

3. For foundation, experiment with brushes and sponges, they will give slightly different finishes. I also find that I tend to switch my preference between the two as I switch out foundation. Some foundations just look better with one or the other. Also, with brushes there are a couple different options for foundation application. My current fave is a stippling brush, which gives me a really nice airbrush-type finish with my liquid foundation. When you apply your foundation (either brush or sponge), if you stipple it you get a smoother finish with less makeup lines. Also, if you have anything like concealer underneath, you won't mess up the work you've already done. I tend to like doing my foundation before my concealer, so I'll stipple it on, then gently buff it. At least, with my current foundation, lol.

 

4. Blend, blend, blend! And when you think you've blended enough, blend a bit more.

 

5. Contour. With the uber-pale look that Asajj has, you tend to lose a lot of face shape/definition. Use contouring to bring that back. You can really define cheeks, nose, chin, etc this way.

 

6. For eyes, I'd recommend Urban Decay's eyeshadow primer potion. This gives a fantastic base for applying eyeshadow, so what you have will blend better and stick around longer. I have really greasy eyelids, and my eyeshadow stays looking great all day when I use it, even during a hot troop. It's well worth every single penny, lol.

 

7. You got a really great look with your eyeliner! I really like it. You can build on that by adding a bit of a smokey eye effect to really make your eyes pop. There are some really easy kits out there that have all the shades you'd need put together (I love it when it's easy, lol). I would apply this with brushes for better control and blending. Oh, and a cheap mascara that works AMAZINGLY well: CoverGirl Lash Blast. I prefer it to my DiorShow, actually.

 

8. Eyebrows. Defining the eyebrows really makes a statement here, and helps give back some of that definition that tends to get lost with the pale makeup. Some people like pencils, but pencils and I don't get along, so I tend to use a powder and apply it with a brush.

 

9. Something I've seen work very well with this character is changing the foundation color slightly. Rather than using a white foundation, LadyB uses a really pale foundation and then baby powder over it. It does a great job of giving her the pale look while still staying natural-looking. This might be an option to try out as well.

 

10. One of the best books I've ever read about doing makeup is Making Faces by Kevin Aucoin. He was an amazing makeup artist, and that book really showcases a lot of different techniques and makeup basics. I learned most of what I know out of this book. His tutorial on contouring is beyond amazing.

 

11. Another great resource is http://inmykit.com/. This is a site put together by a professional makeup artist with a lot of great product recommendations. I'm mentioning it because I was talking about primers/moisturizers/etc and didn't give you a ton to go by, I'm not in any way picking on your foundation. Not sure which brands will be available to you in Australia, but it's a starting point.

 

Sorry for the novel, you get me started on makeup and I just can't stop My husband just kinda rolls his eyes at my collection of products. He's pretty scared because a Sephora just opened in a JC Penney near us, lol. He's wary anytime I tell him I'm going out that direction.

[ladyb]

Some excellent suggestions from JainaSoloFel, who has been kind enough to assist me in the massive makeup effort of Ventress a time or two.

 

Do be careful with the all white, build up some details such as the cheek bones etc, else you run the risk of what I encountered the first time (admittedly with cheap Halloween make-up) that I like to call the marshmallow syndrome.

 

You definitely want it to look more like this than that when done:

[kathgruben]

Sorry for the novel, you get me started on makeup and I just can't stop

 

Thank you for *not* stopping! Stuff like this helps all of us

[Guest SuperAzza101]

Looking good there! Keep up the good work!

[Guest Sakara]

i tended to use very pale grey makeup as it didnt 'white out' my face so to speak. you can use the black (or a dark grey matt shadow)from your eyeshadow as 'blusher' or contour powder. I used it to contour my cheek bones, temples and jawline to give that more pointy features Asajj has.

 

this is a guide to show how placing lighter and darker shades can change the shape of a face. note this is preblend lol

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__Nbr6207Dk0/S ... ontour.jpg

http://whateverkellielikes.blogspot.com ... akeup.html

 

i tend to follow the dark areas when i contoured Asajj as being pale as it was the flash took care of the lighter areas!!!!

 

 

second shot was first time i'd done my makeup and it was taken at end of the day after wearing it all day so you can see my skin colour peeping through lol...but it does show the cheek contouring.

[Guest Daritha]

@Sakara: The shown pictures are great. The one with the hood is simply outstanding. "I can seduce and kill you - or vice versa."

Are the pupils photoshoped in the other pic?

[Guest Sakara]

thanks!!

yeah the 1st pic i removed the black dots..it was for a promo shot

[tk6232]

We had an armour party today, so I thought it was time to try and have another go at the makeup. One of my garrison buddies made me a few spare bald caps, so I guess I had no more excuses not to give it a try.

 

 

I couldn't quite believe just how long it took to create an even colour! My poor long-suffering TK Commander spent about 80 minutes going over and over and over it. I think the big lesson I learned from today was - GET AN AIRBRUSH! My Garrison buddies still think I'm crackers for attempting to do this with cake makeup, rather than an airbrush....

 

 

I'm really happy with it so far... I just need to work out a faster way of doing the makeup, because I dont think I'll be wearing this costume very often if it takes me soooo long to apply the makeup! Total time was around 2.5 hours...

 

I'm tempted to submit these to my GML to see what he thinks - I'm sure that if I wait until I get everything 110%, I'll never actually complete it!

[ladyb]

Looking good. Nice to see that you're sticking it out. It does get easier, I promise (see my costume thread for similarly lengthy first go at it).

 

What I use is actually a cake/foundation. One thing that has really helped is to use a large natural sponge to apply it. Also blot it on instead of rubbing. Then I use baby powder applied with a blush brush to set it and do final smoothing.

 

The tattoos look really nice. I hope that was easier.

[Guest Sakara]

cake foundation can be temperamental to work with, but if you dont or cant afford an airbrush, liquid makeup works better. Kryolan liquid or the ben nye one are good.

make sure you have

a - moisterised and primered skin, as this creates the best base for any makeup (stops makeup sucking all the moisture out of your skin and making it blotchy

b - use a Pax on the bald cap. it fakes the look of how your skin looks under makeup (by creating the appearance of blood under skin, it evens the look of the makeup applied on top. it also provides a good base for the makeup to sit on top.

[Guest Anonymous]

From personal experience with Ben Nye and an airbrush: Fantastic application, looks beautifully even (and also allows you to airbrush in cheekbones etc. if you have some darker/lighter shades) BUT it does not work well in hot weather - lol.

 

When I did Aayla and used Ben Nye all over I spent half the day running back to the changing room because of sweating! No-sweat (I think its by Prosaide) is a really good solution as I have now found, and Ben Nye also does a "Final Seal" to use before and after application. it does help, but its no miracle worker

 

The makeup is looking good so far! Well done!

 

x

[Guest Sakara]

yeah for hot weather i think only the alcohol based stuff stays on. If tested in Atlanta humidity at Dragon Con and it survives..then its got to be good!