Tips For First Time Creating Fursuit

Hello, everyone!

Recently I've watched a few tutorials on how to make a fursuit head, and have decided that's it's a project I want to take on myself! I've never owned a fursuit before, not have I worked on anything this detailed of a craft in the past. Some simple cosplays that took minimal alterations from base materials, basic sewing and clothing repair, that sort of thing. But I took up painting miniatures several years ago and made good progress by taking my time and being patient with myself; I figured I could do the same here!

Does anyone have any tips for someone working with shaping foam for the base, or tricks for working with the faux fur once I get to that point? I'd love to hear of other people's journeys, as well! I plan to share pictures of my progress as the head starts taking shape.

Linkyu 3 points 2 years ago

Actually nevermind, I came across exactly what you're looking for just a minute ago:

http://www.matrices.net/tutorials.htm

there's notably an article on padding there, so hopefully this should answer some of your questions.

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Mesophar 1 point 2 years ago

Oh, wow, this is a treasure trove of info! Thank you!

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OmegaMouse 3 points 2 years ago

I'm afraid I can't offer any advice, but I'd also be interested to hear what people have to say on this topic as I'd love to make a partial myself. What's your sona?

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Mesophar 3 points 2 years ago

I've had several over the years, but never got official art or anything either, which makes it a little difficult figuring out patterns and colors ^.^;; but my current fursona is a North American Raccoon. I was going to call him Mezzy for short, but literally last night found there is a streamer Mezzy that is a raccoon... So may be making some alterations... I've been using 'Mesophar' on different characters and accounts since the 2000s, but it's a bit of a mouthful!

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OmegaMouse 3 points 2 years ago

Aw, raccoon fursuits are always really cute! Perhaps just 'Meso' would work?

I think it might help if you draw out a ref sheet for your sona before designing a head, so there's consistency with the design, and you can figure out any issues before making the jump to three dimensions ^^

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Mesophar 2 points 2 years ago

I was thinking Meso, too, just thought Mezzy is cuter!

I have decent idea in my head of how it all looks, I just don't have the best drawing skills to translate it to paper. The shaping I don't mind modeling in 3d, but before I buy fur to pattern it I plan to try my paw at making a red sheet. You might have convinced me to give that a shot first, though! It would probably help having something to compare against for face shape and expression (thankfully I've only finished the base and about so far!

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OmegaMouse 3 points 2 years ago

I'd recommend starting with a pre-made ref sheet template so you can just focus on the colours/markings :3

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Linkyu 2 points 2 years ago

Hmmm, I don't have any tip to share for this kind of detail in particular, but, if you haven't already, I'd recommend cross-posting this to more general craft communities, like !sewing@lemmy.world for example. They might be able to help more

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Mesophar 2 points 2 years ago

I'll check it out! I hadn't thought of looking at some of the other crafting communities, but they would probably have good tips for different stages of the build!

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