Wampa Costme Stage 1: Research and Digital Mock Up

This is something I have been working on for years so to say, because of the on again and off again status of this costume. Eying the original ESB Wampa Costume has gone back all the way to the first stages of the Beast costume, The picture below was the big inspiration, seeing how tall that original ESB costume really was that impact that I wanted. Now the Special Edition suit was regular size, and it was all camera tricks, (see second pic) but there was a more natural flow and more detail.





I always felt if you are going to go with a high impact costume, go big. And a stilted costume is usually the way to go. My goal is to go with a blend of both costumes. SIZE MATTERS, but so does detail. I am willing to sacrifice some mobility to have that large costume. I am 5'4", which makes the costume complete at 7'6" with stilts, with the discription on Wookiepedia.org, a Wampa stands at over 2 meters tall, which is about 6'6. With my stilts even though it is a foot taller, it is still withing that reasonable "over" 2 meters range.

The photo above is an early version of the Empire Strikes Back Wampa (notice the head). This early version had the head way too high (see action pic in the inset) so I modified it, removing the actors head, and brought it down closer to the version seen on screen. Click on photo for details

I have seen three other Wampa costumes on stilts some are decent but there are some bad ones out there, but I feel that I can take it that next step of realism. Improving on that old body frame of the beast by using tha PVC frame to keep the body in proportion and keep the arms bending in the natural positions. Now the elbow will be my wrist joint, but there wont be as much tension on my wrists because the forearms will be attached via clips to the "bone". Then attached to the skeleton will be the muscle frame to fill it out without the need of solid foam. Outside this frame will be a layer of thin material that a thin layer of foam will be applied to get more detail in the muscle structure.




The legs will be slightly different than the top frame. Since the goal is to be easy to put on and take off, the suit will be split down the middle, bottom half going on first like a pair of overalls, and the top half going over them kind of like a babies onsie and a snap in the crotch. With long fur and good measurements, this should fit snugly together and with some grooming you can hide the transition in the hips.

The hips and thighs will be curved 1 inch foam, to keep them soft enough for movement and to to step into them with stilts on. The calfs and feet will be attached to the stilts and the bottom of the overalls will slip over them with a slit down the inside of the leg, that can be closed up via snaps, zipper or velcro.

Here are two of the sites that really inspired me with the PVC framework.

http://www.guiltgirl.com/Misfits/Rabbit_Body.htm

http://www.cockeyed.com/incredible/guest/tauntaun/tauntaun.shtml