I will be the first to admit I'm not the most skilled painter, so if you take anything from this blog, take something from the build of it, and not from my shaky painted details lol.
Anyway, I have been bustling my little butt off working on my Megamind cosplay to get it ready in time for Supanova Brisbane in November, and I'm getting close! Today I checked off another item off the list, Megamind's De-Gun.
Overall I'm really proud of how this turned out, and I always have a great time making props!
I experiented a lot while working on this one, trying out some new mediums and ideas, and while it didn't turn out perfect, I learned heaps.
For reference, here's what the gun looks like in the movie if you're unfamiliar.
I built the majority of the base out of EVA foam stacked together. I only had 1mm foam so its a LOT of layers, if I was smart I would have bought thicker foam, but alas, I am not.
For the balls on the front and the smaller details like the clips and disks on the back I used foam clay. If you're not familiar with foam clay, it's a mouldable putty than when it dries has the stability of EVA foam. It's perfect for more intricate details and shapes!
For the trigger and long leg-type appendages (idk what to call them) I used my 3D printer pen! I'm still really new to using the pen and I'm still working out how best to get a smooth result from it, but I will say its super handy to make sections you want to be more stable than foam.
The plastic tube at the end of the gun was a bit tricky for me to figure out. Originally I wanted it to be a transluscent green, like how it is when the gun is activated, but I couldn't find any containers in the right colour and all my efforts to try and stain the clear plastic didn't work. Although if you hold it up in the right light you can kinda see a blueish tinge from food dye haha.
I ended up finding these clear containers from the dollar store and I cut the screw-off end off with a saw. Unfortunately I scratched the plastic with the saw a little but it kinda just makes it look a little worn out at least. I made sure that the balls that were going inside the tube were finished and painted before gluing the plastic tube onto the base.
For priming, I would normally just use Gesso. But because of my experiementing, I had a lot of lumpy bits I wanted to cover up, so it was time for another experiment! I mixed my gesso (which is annoyingly thin, I will not be buying this brand again) with wood glue at a ratio of 1:1 and it created a really interesting thick paste! It worked really well to build up around areas that needed smoothing out. When it was dry it sanded down just fine. I finished off the priming with a layer of normal Gesso, just to seal everything in.
I painted everything with Mont Marte acrylic paints which are nice and thick. I tried really hard to keep the colours neat and tidy, so just don't look too closely at my mistakes.
The final step was adding details! I like to add a bit of vaseline to my thin paint brushes for detail work to help keep the bristles from flaring out while I paint. This helps a bit, but unfortunately my unsteady hand is harder to fix.
I didn't end up sealing the paint as I don't have any varnish that I like at the moment, and I honestly prefer the finish of the acrylic paint. This will most likely reduce the props life-span so if that's a concern to you, make sure to use a good sealant!
Overall I am super proud of how this looks, and I'm proud of myself for trying out some new techniques as well!
I can't wait to finish the rest of the cosplay, and share it with you all!
Thanks for reading, until next time!
-Andy
Comments