The Supreme King Haou from Yu-Gi-Og GX is a daunting costume for me... mainly because of the armour. I've never made a large piece of armour before, so was wondering if anyone could help?

Here's some reference: http://www.cosplayisland.com/costume/view/32501

I'm not sure which materials to make it out of, and since it's quite a big piece of armour at the top, it needs to be light >< I've read some other forums posts about using craft foam, but this option for me would probably be too expensive, and it wouldn't be very sturdy. Another option would be card (corrugated), though I don't know how well that would work. Something else I've seen is this armour made from fabrics, but I'm aiming for it to look realistic, so I'm not sure if this would be the best idea. Any ideas?

While I'm no expert on armour, craft foam is generally known as the cheapest option next to card. You have to either sacrifice on the costume looking good, or on your budget when it comes to armour. Craft foam is light, inexpensive, and smoother than card, but only really comes in A3 sheets at it's biggest. If you start looking at plastozote or wonderflex, the cost can increase marginally, though the standard of armour you can make with it CAN be better.

If you do choose to go with craft foam, here's a tutorial: http://entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html

There's a lot more information out there about making craft foam armour if you hunt around.

If you build in a wireframe, you can then use that as a skeleton for materials to go over the top.

On builds like this good structural support is key, otherwise you'll have droopy spikes, and nobody likes droopy spikes.

Kan-chan

Thanks ^^ It was probably just really expensive where I was looking. I've had a change in plan when it comes to this costume, since I want it to look good, I'm not going to worry too much about the cost. But I'll keep craft foam in mind for the more flexible parts.


JaeXD

That's a really good idea... I think I'll cover the wire in a kind of foam to give it more shape, but I think a wire frame is the way to go for this, thanks ^^