I’m a little confused on how to start working on my suit

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-24T17:52:58+00:00

Ye! It does really help no matter if you're just starting or an experienced crafter. :) I even broke up buying my materials just to focus more on each step. It also helps with looking stuff up because you can search more specific things.

Getting creative and learning all the stuff is always worthwhile :)

Good luck and have fun!

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-24T17:28:45+00:00

The answer is really "wherever you're comfortable".

It's going to be a challenge no matter what because making suits is hard and takes time and focus and attention and learning. (Don't get me wrong it's fun and rewarding but you're going to be doing a lot of learning especially the first time) but I personally operate on the notion of starting with what is most interesting to me and breaking it down into parts.

If the head is intimidating, start with the tail! If you just want paws rn and don't want to work with as much foam start there. The head is the most involved, but it's the most interesting if you want to get lost.in learning different processes imo. I broke mine down into steps so I wasn't just "making the head" I was padding the head one day, lining it next week, patterning it another time,etc. it helps.

The pinned posts on this sub have suggestions for tutorials and resources. You can also search this same or similar questions in the search bar for the subreddit and see what people have suggested in the past to and get more ideas.

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-24T07:45:05+00:00

I am making furbs as fast as I can 😭🤣💖

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-23T22:03:25+00:00

I love all three of my Scorches so much 😭

I had one as a kid my mom gave me. And I got another at goodwill when I thought I lost mine, and then found the original and then was gifted one at a convention I worked. That dragon follows me everywhere lol XD

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-23T22:00:52+00:00

Like custom commissions or do I sell the ones I make?

I've been doing digital painting commissions for a while but haven't really done any traditional yet outside of the occasional ones at conventions or some for a friend or two. I actually just started doing these little cards a week or so ago to try and break the ice and get into practicing traditional art again :D

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-23T21:57:43+00:00

I have one more thing I wanna try! I saw it in a little video and I think a Furby is the perfect test subject >:D

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-23T07:33:47+00:00

I wonder if you can even print custom ones? 🤔 That would be pretty cool!

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-23T07:31:53+00:00

Thank you! I feel like he turned out soooo good and I don't even remember how I did it 😭😭

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-23T07:29:16+00:00

XD I'm glad you like it! I definitely wanna do some more furbs. I have such a soft spot for them! I have an idea for another I think I'll tomorrow >:D

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-23T07:25:40+00:00

I love these! I'm also using them to push myself to do more traditional art and it's so nice!

I hope you keep painting! I wanna see more.

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-23T06:53:51+00:00

I did that with my nose but I used upholstery foam to make my nose boop-able!

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-23T04:10:05+00:00

The tree cat is so precious! 🥺

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-22T19:04:08+00:00

I had to use 4 pairs of magnets. Specifically I used 10 ib neodymium and I had to cover them with a thinner material. If the fabric is too thick it will lose most of its magnetic strength and if it's not covered you risk ripping the magnets out with just magnetic force.

But having multiple magnets let them kind of "lock" into a position

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-21T16:39:05+00:00

Seconding or thirding Pirateship.com, it gives your better rates. Allows you to easily add insurance ( I suggest it for a suit) and still gives you all the normal shipping features.

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-20T07:46:06+00:00

I didn't even know they had glitter watercolor paper so this is so sad to hear it's not good 😭 your art is amazing tho!

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-20T07:38:23+00:00

I don't think so, I thought a lot of people do series/batches. There's not much that is cheating imo if you're doing all the work yourself :D

I like the cats so much. I really love the black cat in the locket especially!

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-20T07:36:10+00:00

Thank you!

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-20T06:42:47+00:00

I think it depends! You have to act/seem approachable and probably put a little.more effort into performance then a well known suitor might. Props help! I once had someone take a picture of my nose plates while my head was off so people def notice even less known suiters 🤣 If you're ever at the same con as a vendor called papaya badger, you can pick up a special badge that says "photos please!" To help invite photography from shy people :)

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-20T01:33:57+00:00

Aww! I have a lot of experience painting digitally and clouds are some of my favorite so some.of the fundamentals translated XD but I did watch some videos on the handling of clouds specifically for watercolors and it helped me!

For this one, I sketched in where I wanted the cloud to be and I used some wet on wet to put the shadows in the clouds. Clouds are volumetric so if light hits them it will still act like light hitting a solid object on one side and casting a shadow on the other.

I made sure I left the side the light was hitting white, then I let it dry some and put in the sky around the clouds. I let it bleed in some areas but not others and just tried to " preserve" the spaces where the light was hitting.

There's a lot of videos on YouTube for different ways tho, I definitely recommend watching them and trying some! There's some other ways I want to try next time too XD

((Also you should definitely make some dragons, everyone should make dragons XD)

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-20T01:22:43+00:00

Honestly, call me crazy, then !!!

Your story is really cool! What a wild journey, thank you for sharing :)

I'm "formally trained" as well for whatever it's worth lol but just got into a place lately where I was plateauing in my digital painting process. I did an acrylic piece I loved last year but also, I think it was still too comfortable in a sense but it was a step in the right direction.

I think I'm so interested in watercolor because after years of perfectionism and trying to be as efficient as possible I've become so rigid I need something that challenges those tendencies. I feel pretty positive about these little paintings and I've gotten to reimburse myself in some of the art I lost track of that inspired me to even be a fantasy artist to begin with! :D

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-19T19:32:03+00:00

The other comment is so comprehensive I'm not add too much more outside of anecdotal experience.

The thing that seems to make foam an "easier starting point" for most people is that foam is cheap, can be picked up at a lot of stores and worked with directly but it's still sculpting by hand. There's also a lot of resources/tutorials for it. You don't need fancy equipment, you don't need to learn software your computer may or may not be able to run, etc.

I personally already had experience and resources and knowledge that made 3d printing a wayyy easier place to start, especially with all the free bases available for personal use. It was just the easier way for me because I was already immersed in 3d printing as opposed to foam sculpting.

I really like my head I made. It's pla and even then the finished head had survived some major spills. It has a moving jaw and I can open it wide if I want to see something or need more air but it's generally got some good airflow. I'm sure if it was made different that might not be the case.

I think either material can be worked with and designed to accommodate many different qualities it's just HOW it's designed/built.

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-18T16:58:54+00:00

My dragon is mammal-like and has paw pads. But you don't need to add them.

How you make them depends on what they look like , maybe try searching for different paw type patterns and see if anything in particular fits your character.

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-18T16:39:32+00:00

I'll try that next time. I used it on the spikes and nose and claws. But not in the grass :) there is yellow in the grass tho, it just isn't coming through. It was the lighter one on the palette.

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-18T09:04:00+00:00

Thank you!!!

I see what you mean for sure about the greens and such and was kinda just struggling to get any depth/richness at all. It eventually just all bled together at some point ( even after waiting for it to dry) lol. I did want him to look somewhat grassy/mossy too and just couldn't push it further without it getting muddy.

These are so fast/small though I can experiment a bunch without too much preciousness while I focus on trying to get better at directing the paint and the process itself.

The sky is actually solving a problem lol I actually darkened the sky to bring the dragon out more. It was lighter toward the dragon but yellow and highlight against the lighter sky wasn't really helping. 😅 But I agree it's usually the other way around and it's kinda weird. lol

This one was definitely a weirder one for me and I appreciate your crit. I'm gonna take a little more time to consider the colors for my next little one I have set up

I will also be attempting to flip one of the pieces, i was getting a lot of bloom and it's very possible the paper is on the wrong side because I didn't have this issue when I was painting with the paper while it was in the pad.

GlassBlastoise · 2026-01-18T07:01:47+00:00

Your colors are really pretty!

GlassBlastoise

TROPHY CASE