hey everyone this is sean from project nautilus cosplay and today i'll be going over a quick history on kaiju suit making and the essential steps on building your very own godzilla or kaiju suit first off what are kaiju anyway the term kaiju means strange beast in japan they come in a variety of shapes and sizes from the iconic movie stars godzilla camera mothra and king ghidorah to the diverse and bizarre monsters and alien invaders from the ultraman series the first official kaiju suit comes from the original godzilla in 1954. the titular monster was created by a sculptor taizo toshimitsu azo kamae and the yagi brothers after a failed prototype countless trial and error and large amounts of urethane foam bamboo cotton and liquid plastic rubber they were able to build a two meter or six foot behemoth that weighed over 150 kilograms or 200 pounds with that many layers inside the suit was so heavy that suit actor haruo nakajima could only last no more than three minutes between takes frequently suffering heat extraction and leaving poles of sweat inside over the years these godzilla and kaiju suits would improve in the use of lightweight materials modernized techniques and flexibility all thanks to the hard work of artists like tonarita and ryosaku takayama who made highly creative and lightweight monster suits easing performance for ultra kaiju actors in the works of queso murasa and nobuyuki yasumaru bringing new innovative techniques to the table in order to create lifelike suits for the big japanese screen these would go on to inspire monster suit makers shinichiwakasa fuyuki shinara and many more to pass on the legacy of building magnificent beasts to trample highly detailed model cities and battle with each other you know what you can too i will be going over some essential steps to creating a kaiju suit in the style of classic touhou and suburaya productions these steps consist of planning patterning foam fabrication and latex coating if you have prior knowledge or experience with sculpting and mold making you can definitely apply those steps to the build since i currently am building a new godzilla suit and have very limited space i will be focusing more on a single section in order to demonstrate the process fortunately i have spare materials to work with first off pick a kaiju you want to work on there are so many choices each comes with their own set of challenges so there is never a right or wrong choice that being said touhou suits like godzilla are known to be more detailed but heavy and hard to move inside while suburaya production suits are lightweight and flexible they'll lack in realism while researching make sure you gather reference lots of reference photo books are great in capturing details and offer an inside look behind the building of your choice i definitely recommend checking out the godzilla graphic collection a compilation that makes every incarnation accessible in a single book but a super complete work series which demonstrates some nice orthographic views of the film suits if you can't afford these books you can also visit becominggodzilla.com in its large catalog of godzilla movie suit history and cosplayers for a wide variety of references and inspirations video clips provide a good look on how the kaiju should move and feel i recommend getting some footage off media platforms or home video action figures vinyl toys and models are perfect references for proportions and dimension and will ultimately be an important tool for the method that we'll be using in this tutorial so what are the main ingredients to building a tokusatsu style kaiju suit the essential materials are polyurethane or cushion foam for the main structure and details of the suit urethane foam comes in a variety of thicknesses in large quantities and can be quite economical depending on the thickness they provide both support and adequate flexibility this foam is easily cutable carvable and can be adhered together with contact cement or special spray adhesive like foam fast 74. stretch fabric like nylon or spandex provide a nice lining between you and the foam material to reduce friction and improve comfort stretch fabric can be used to add flexibility to certain areas of articulation by leaving a gap in the joints and connecting it with the fabric it can also be used to relieve tension on areas that may create stress from foam such as areas with velcro lining or zippers liquid latex is the skin that binds the entire suit together used in halloween masks prosthetics and certain creature suits liquid latex air dries into a flexible rubber they come in different colors but i like to use the default flesh color and add acrylic paint with my choosing afterwards it can be applied using a chip brush or spare foam pieces poured if using a stone mold or sprayed with a well a spray gun cotton is an optional method to adding padding and support to the seal when adding latex you can combine cotton with it to create a malleable surface for extra details patching repairs or binding different parts of the suit together you can find these materials at your local tapestry or mattress shop while the liquid latex would depend greatly on your location i personally had to order my monster makers liquid latex on amazon so with all these materials in hand how do i even approach building this kaiju you ask well you have two options muscle suit fabrication or patterning a muscle suit is taking thick slabs of foam and carving them to individual muscle parts that when glued to a spandex undersuit will create a fitted base structure for all the details to go on the downside is all that foam volume creates more weight may also be hotter inside the patterning method is as the name suggests creating a pattern based on an initial prototype sculpture or figure and transferring it to the foam this creates a lightweight suit that maintains the original proportions of your source material the catch is that you will need to create a support structure to hold the shape in place but you can also plan out what foam thicknesses each pattern should be to provide the necessary support we'll get to that later in the build as i had mentioned previously i have limited space and materials so i will be demonstrating a small section of my current godzilla build using the patterning method let's get started shall we to begin we want to grab a nice piece of reference for this build for the new godzilla cosplay in the works i'm using the sh monster arts figure as it provides some accurate proportions to the on-screen suit this figure needs to be patterned carefully taking note of the high points curves and creases that define the surface of the design these will then be divided into small separate parts that join together and form the shape to do this we carefully laminate the figure with masking tape making sure we get into the creases that define the muscles i like to use two layers to make sure the surface of the tape is smooth and durable enough covering one side of the figure will be just fine as the large scale print will be flippable when transferring the patterns to foam next we will be deciding where the dividing lines of the patterns are as said before we would want to place the divisions at the highest and lowest points of the surface be sure to add marks that identify where each area of the pattern needs to orient and join together once divided these parts will be able to lay perfectly flat once you got all the necessary parts identified carefully cut them with an exacto or box cutting knife be sure not to damage the precious figure or your your own fingers other cosplayer tutorials that teach armor patterning apply to kaiju suit fabrication so if you need a more in-depth tutorial be sure to check those out as well whew once the danger is out of the way we lay the patterns on a cutting board or any flat surface with a ruler next to it next we hold still and take a nice orthographic view of the patterns any image orientation issues can be fixed on a photo editing program next step is to upload these photos onto a computer and convert them to vectors they provide a clean result for your patterns and can be printed in a variety of scales without any loss of detail these godzilla patterns will be available on my etsy store so keep on the lookout on my social media i like to use inkscape for this process it's a free program and easy to use we trace the tape patterns with a thick outline and label them accordingly don't forget identifying those orientation marks but wait how big should this kaiju suit be anyway well remember that ruler in the picture use that as a reference for scale the average godzilla suit is around 2 meters tall or approximately 6.5 feet this monster arts godzilla figure is about 15.24 centimeters or 6 inches which makes it a 1 12 scale figure with that reference trace a vector line on the ruler and make a uniform resize of all the patterns along with the line reference to the scale of your choice just be sure that inkscape's digital ruler is set to metric or imperial based on your own preference once you're all done it's time to print once you have everything printed and cut out it's time to select your foam thickness of choice and start transferring be mindful that the thickness of each pattern piece will determine the flexibility of the final foam structure use a good sharpie to trace out the patterns i like to use black but if you prefer a more subtle color i recommend brown markers inside the shapes use directional arrows to identify which patterns will be cut diagonally for creased or bevel edges creases should be cut outward while bevels are inward cut with a box cutting knife carefully cut along the edge of the sharpie line make sure your blade is sharp enough to reduce tension and cut the foam like butter to make the opposite side simply flip the patterns and repeat the process the gluing stage is the dirty work of this build i must advise you to work in a well-ventilated area or outdoors with a respirator when using contact adhesives these emit toxic fumes and can be incredibly nasty for your lungs that being said let's continue i primarily use foam fast 74 spray adhesive spray lightly on both sides of the contacting foam let them dry enough to be tacky but not wet to the touch then gently join them together by following the orientation marks repeat these same steps until you have a fully glued foam body part we now head to my favorite stage of the kaiju suit build texture details depending on the godzilla incarnation or kaiju design there are two methods that you can utilize when creating detailed textures one is additive detailing where you cut and carve individual foam pieces and glue them to the foam surface the other method is subtractive detailing where you draw out the texture patterns on the foam surface and carve them out with scissors tweezers or eraser blades this requires some practice if you carve or cut too deep into the foam you may gouge out a hole on your surface so test these methods on a separate foam sheet before applying it to the final build all these techniques can also be combined to create much more dynamic shapes some special textures like overlapping scales fur hair or feathers will require other materials and techniques so we're at the home stretch once you have all your textures done it's time for the latex coating stage i trimmed the excess of this pattern since we'll only be demonstrating this portion you first need to prime the foam surface by coating it with a spray adhesive you can use foam fast 74 for this but that would waste some valuable adhesive so we'll go for a cheaper 77 or multi-purpose spray this primer will prevent the foam from absorbing any latex after two coats allow to dry before proceeding to add talcum or baby powder this prevents the surface from sticking to itself to apply the latex material dab or brush lightly on the prime surface and allow it to dry between coats increasing the amount used gradually keep in mind that latex appears lighter in color but dries darker [Music] so don't worry if you're expecting a blood red but see pinkish red for interesting textures like skin membranes and webbing you can use plain toilet paper and laminate it like paper mache for smoother details though if you want something stronger for wing membranes for example definitely use stretch fabric a full kaiju suit will need about three to four coats for a strong and flexible result give it an hour or two and we're done well for this piece anyway applying all these essential steps to the rest will result in a monster of a bill i hope this tutorial video serves as an inspiration and a guide for you to jump start your very own kaiju suit please send me your recommendations in the comments below or my social media pages on instagram twitter and facebook any feedback is enough interested in jumpstarting there are godzilla inspired patterns available on my etsy page be sure to keep an eye on new uploads and visit the store in the description below if you wish to support me i recently opened my patreon page anything helps to ensure future tutorials and completion of my kaiju related projects if you have any current kaiju builds on the way or have any questions hit me up on instagram stay safe happy building