Modesty's Costume Closet

Previously, I went over design considerations to adjust the challenge of making the centaur costume. It is still a big challenge but now we can get into building tips for the horse body.  Disclaimer:  Once again, I will emphasize that as of writing this blog, I have not attempted this construction. When I do, I may come back to update a few things. I'm going off of what I would consider in the planning/design phase and how I would approach construction. You are free to try my ideas but know that these are currently UNTESTED. I am using principles from making art dolls, sculpting and pony plushie making in these experiments/hypothetical situations.  Measuring for the Horse Half If we look at a picture of a horse from the side and you measure from the withers to ground, you should get the horse's relative length from chest to rump.  (Life's not perfect...but it's relatively true.) Standard Horse, Pony and Draft Horse, picture angles... We can take this principle in mea...

 So, to move forward with the design of a centaur costume, I want to create a character design.  Brainstorm This mess is what I came up with: Very quick bubble map Now I'm going to pick some words to put together and make some concepts:  Farming - Clydesdale - Draft Horse - Sunflowers Circus - Lippazanner - Acrobat - Clowns - Balloons Fantasy - Knight - Draft Horse - Sword Greek - Unicorn  - Drapery - Nymph - Willow - Blossoms Western - Rodeo - Cowgirl - Texas Pony Express - Post Office Worker - Wild West Gothic - Nightmare Moon - Armor - Pegasus - Unicorn - Vampire Medieval Princess - Unicorn Hunt - Unicorn  Race - Marathon - Greek  Rose - Unicorn - Virgin Mary - St. Teresa the Little Flower 🌸  Chariot - Roman Legion - Military Horse Police Horse - Mounties Already we have a lot of ideas here. The ones that are of most interest to me to test out are:  Western - Rodeo - Cowgirl - Texas Circus Acrobat Clown Pony Express Postal Service Greek Nymph ...

 Obviously one of the most challenging parts of the costume is the horse half. Horses are particularly tricky creatures to recreate. There are a few ways to make it more accessible or challenging depending on what you want to do and what your skill level is.  To make the costume as convenient as possible, you want to make sure the horse half stays light-weight and balanced.  Inspiration References First, let's consider various depictions of centaurs or horses throughout media and history.  Some of the more popular or at least what I know are Disney's Fantasia, Chronicles of Narnia (BBC and Disney), and a Wrinkle in Time.  For horses, we can look at My Little Pony, Spirit Stallion of Cimarron, again Disney's Fantasia, or the myriad of horse characters from animations.    These depictions of centaurs and horses (particularly in animation) can simplify the design of the horse in ways that may make the creation of our costume design much easier. Pay attent...

This is going to be one of my first series of costume concept designs giving you tools and ideas to make your own version of this concept. I have a few other creatures in mind but we'll start with the toughest: the centaur/centauress.  Now, to be honest, I have not yet attempted to make this myself. These are my design musings. I borrow heavily on my past costuming experience and what I've gleaned from tutorials. Some of the tutorials that were particularly helpful for my research are:  Ginny Di's   Centaur of Attention Book  and Video .  Kopolenske's Walking Centaur Instructables Trilemma Adventures: Halloween moving Centaur And Write of Passage's WordPress Blog   Then I looked at other people's attempts at this costume and tried to decipher what they did.  This will be a series of blog posts that will act as guides for different parts of this costume. Centaur Body Design Considerations Concepting a Character Building up a Horse Body Suggestions...

Costumes don't have to be of a specific character. That's why this is the Costume Closet and not the Cosplay Closet. Slight difference in focus on all costumes regardless of origin. Because most of my costume experience comes from Halloween and Ren Fairs! That's what I did before I got  into cosplay.  In these cases I'm looking at more of a Concept for a costume not a pre-made or designed character. Like dressing up as a cat, robot or vampire for Halloween.  Concept Interpretation The big thing we're coming up with or "designing" is the interpretation of the concept.  There are all sorts of angles to approach a concept. It may just be in your head already! Maybe it was a doodle or some kind of visual thing you wanted to build around. Or maybe you found a sewing pattern.  Other times, you may try brainstorming the concept. Now there's not a solid one method for this but here are a few things I do. (Granted, some of these things are done in my head but I...

This will give insight into how I analyze a reference image and translate it into its components. I tend to work in layers. That is to say, I think about what do I put on first, then what goes over that. (Underwear, shirt, jacket)  Divide and Conquer I always start with "layer 0" for any "body mods" I'd have to make. This includes hair, skin tone, ears, horns, tails, body-shaping underwear, etc.  Layer 1: This is often under armor or whatever will go on first.  Layer 2: This layer usually contains the most iconic pieces of the costume.  Additional layers continue with what I see.  In some cases, it may make more sense to divide the costume into pieces based on body parts. I find this particularly true of full-suit armor. In this case whatever is my "armor layer" will have sub-sections based on a body part.  There are times where it may make more sense to break the costume into pieces based on materials. Basically which parts are made of cloth and which...