How to Make a Damian Wayne: Robin Costume - Version 2.0

Damian Wayne is the son of Bruce Wayne ( Batman) and Talia al Ghul (The daughter of Ra's al Ghul)! The kid was raised as in the League of Shadows so he was already raised as a formidable fighter. Despite his poor attitude and off-putting personality, Batman takes him in and he becomes the new Robin.

In 2016, I had plans to propose to my "then" girlfriend and I wanted to do it at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2). I was going to have all my friends wear costumes and hold up letters asking her to marry me. Well, I had originally made a Robin costume several years ago, but it was in drastic need of upgrades. Years ago, i had only thought of using fabric to create miscellaneous pieces. However, I leveled up in skill and thought it was time for a more armored Robin.

Materials

- Black long tights

-Black tight long sleeve shirt

-Dancer's belt

-High top converse shoes or tall boots

-Dremel

-Roll of scratch paper

-sewing machine

-black plastic clips

- red shoe laces

-EVA foam

-Craft Foam

-Kwikseal

-plastidip

-mascarade mask

-Yellow Fabric

-Black Fabric

-Green Fabric

-Katana (optional)

Step 1: Reference Pics

Before I ever start ANY costume, I look up a ton of reference photos from various sources and put it in a folder. The more pictures from different angles, the better.

Look up: 1. Actual photos of the character from its source (movies, comics, action figure, etc)

2. Cosplay pictures. You can see what has been done, what you like, what you don't like, how to improve on a design. You can also start getting an idea of different poses you think you'd like to do.

3. I start looking at art work. I usually look up things via google images, deviant art, tumblr, etc. This way, you can see different renditions of a character through a new perspective and once again, start thinking about what you like, don't like, etc.

4. Use your own imagination. Think about what you want, how to make it your own original design, what are some tricks you think you'd like to incorporate.. perhaps you want to try out a new technique with this build, etc

Optional:

5. If you can draw, I sometimes will take all my reference sources and start drawing out my own design.

Step 2: Clothes

1. For your clothes, you will need a black fitted long sleeve shirt and some black tights. You can even get a zentai suit, but that will be essentially a one-piece suit, thus making it quite difficult to go to the bathroom since the zipper is in the back.

2. A dancer's belt would be quite useful for this suit consider that there is a tendency to get a clear outline of your manhood if you just wear your tights. It's just awkward for everyone, so do yourself a favor and get a dancer's belt. It basically makes you have a generic bulge there instead of an outlined hog -_-

Step 3: Shoes

Now you have three options on how to make shoes. Pics are from different build, but premises the same.

Option 1) You can choose to spray or paint them. If you do this route, i suggest hand painting, because you will have a better chance of matching your shoes to your actual costume. If you do this, those shoes are now deemed your “costume shoes” FORVER!

Option 2) If you want to save your shoes for actual daily life use, consider covering the whole boot in masking tape, and then covering your boot in craft foam. Take a hair dryer or heating gun and warm some craft foam. It will then bend and mold to your boot within reason. Cut the shapes along the natural seam of the shoe as you glue your pieces. Later, take a thin piece of foam and glue it over the seams to make it appear as one solid boot. (pic 1 + 2)

For this, we were really lazy and just spray painted the boots and added red laces. However, the worked well for this build. Remember, work smarter, not harder. (pic 3)

Step 4: Tunic and Emblem

These picture are not from this build, but the method is the exact same.

1. Take your measurement from the top of your shoulder to a little above your waistline. The reason the measurement is NOT to your waistline is to compensate for how wide the belt is. Then you need to take the measurement for your width. Once you have your measurements, transfer those measurements to paper and fold in half. Draw your design out on the half sheet and then cut out. once you unfold the paper, you should have a symmetrical paper template . Transfer that to EVA foam and cut out. This is your "base". (pic 1)

2 Once i have the base cut out, i used the paper template to draw in where the pieces were going to be glued down. Once satisfied, i cut out that section from the paper, transferred to EVA or craft foam and cut out the piece. I used my dremel to bevel the edges of the armor plates at an angle. *If you want to be a superstar, you can get a electric sander and sand off all the tread from the back of the EVA foam. i personally don't like the tread and this way, glueing it down is more neater and flush. if you don't want to, not a big deal. (pic 2)

3. For the back, repeat steps 1 and 2. I just added my own design to give it some differing layers. You can leave it plain if you want, considering there is a cape that will essentially cover it.

4. Now you should have a chest piece and a back piece. In order to have them conjoin, place the chest and back piece on you. Take some extra foam, place it in the vacant gap where the shoulder strap would be, mark the foam, and then cut it. Glue in place once completed. Those pieces are like a puzzle, as you want just enough room for your head to fit through. (pic 4)

5.

I had some long craft foam, so i created long black strips to act as my accent.

Emblem

1. Cut out the pieces below in the designated color of craft foam. A and B are the same diameter. C should fit inside B. (pic 4)

2. Glue all pieces together. C on top of B on top A.

3. Glue the symbol directly onto your tunic. the symbol goes on YOUR LEFT side (pic 5)

Step 5: Belt and Tunic Flaps

1. Cut 5-7 pieces for parts A and B out of EVA foam. it will just depend on your waist (pic 1)

2. For your buckle, cut 1 piece of C from EVA foam and D from Craft foam. C and D will have the same diameter.

3. Glue D on top of C

4. Glue all the pieces to a Strip of EVA foam

5. When i originally made the suit, i made it from cardboard and fabric. I upgraded everything to EVA foam. You can see the difference in pic 2.

6. Glue the ridge of the belt directly onto the bottom of the tunic.

Tunic Flaps

1. Use your scratch paper to measure out the bottom of the tunic.

2. Once you are satisfied with the size, transfer to EVA foam, cut out, sand off the back tread, and glue directly to the bottom ridge of the belt.

3. add in your black accent lines wit craft foam.

Step 6: Gloves and Guanlets

Gloves

1. So spread your hand as wide as possible on your paper, and make a SLIGHTLY LARGER outline. This is to compensate for the fabric when it wraps around your fingers/ hand. (pic 1 + 2)

2. Cut out the paper template and then transfer it to the green fabric. Do this twice per hand.

3. Sew together. Remember to leave enough fabric to cover your wrist so your skin will not show underneath your gauntlet. (pic 3 +4). These pictures of the gloves are from a horror Robin, so they intentionally are claw-like. When you sew your fingers for this costume, just round out the tips of the fingers.

Guantlets

1. Using your EVA foam, cut two long strips (A) that will fit around your width of your wrist and the length of your forearm. (pic 5)

2. Cut two smaller pieces for the spikes that stick out (B).

3. Follow the diagram and insert piece B into the center of the A. Pic (6)

4. I cut a line down the side, and used black clips to clamp it closed around the forearm.

Step 7: Cape

1. Create a hood based on the template (pic 1)

2. You want to create the general shape of the picture twice. You will sew the top and back together.

3. Fold the hood in half so you find the center of it.

4. Match it up to the center of your cape. If you want to be a superstar, you can technically sew a sheet of black fabric onto a sheet of yellow fabric to create a more authentic cape.

5. Pin it together and then sew it. (pic 2)

5. add a button to the neck area and make a hole on the other side.when i make a button hole, i take a needle and thread and just go around the hole a couple of times so it gives it a bit more support from tearing.

Step 8: Mask

1. Get your Masquerade mask and cut out the shape of the mask. You can get nicely shaped masks for about $7-$10.. it is a thicker plastic.. Or you can just spend the $3 on a cheap one.. paint it, and use some double sided tape or masking tape to keep it on.

or

1. You can create a mask out of craft foam. First, draw out your stencil on paper.

2. Transfer the paper template to craft foam.

3. You can use a hairdryer to warm up the foam and mold it into shape of your face.

3. Once you are done, encase the craft foam in Worbla to provide rigidity.

4. prep it with some wood glue, paint green, and attach with elastic.

Step 9: Finished!

That should be it! A few last minute things and tips:

1. if you have any gaps that you need filled between foam pieces, use the kwikseal caulk

2. All foam pieces should be either coated with Plastidip or painted with modge lodge matte. doing so preps the foam for painting.

3. Paint with acrylic paint and then seal with a clear coat.

4. If you want an accessory, Damian sometimes carries around a katana.

Oh, and as a little side note, my girlfriend said "yes" to becoming my wife at the 2016 Chicago Comic Con!Yay for happy endings. For anyone interested, here is the video of the proposal. Robin is holding the "I" in "APRIL"

Thanks for the support and for more current geeky goodness, find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr.

More of the featured costumes in the pictures can be located on my instructables page.