Infinity War Thor by Henry Creations. Stormbreaker LED · SMOKE and Thor Scale Armor.
Hey family! I want to submit my two and a half years in the making Infinity War costume. It is so much fun working on this costume because it has changed my life and has so many things I learned from.
This changed my life, my career. When I saw Thor arrive in Wakanda I was speechless. My heart took a turn and I decided that I wanted to make the coolest Stormbreaker ever. And so began my journey, where I have and am reflecting everything I know about myself. I have made this costume 100% myself. If I didn't know how to do something, I learned it first. Well, I had to learn everything. I started at 0. Sewing, 3D modeling, painting, foam, silicone and mold making...except programming: that came from my Computer Engineering Degree.
The Stormbreaker took 4 versions: eva foam, two 3D printed, one with a mold of the second 3D printed version, and the final one, 3D printed, totally disassemblable, with LED effects with multiple animations, and a Smoke Machine.
Just to show that I am basically a mad man, I didn't want to just put a smoke machine and LED strips in a stick and call it a day. I wanted to delve deep into the craft and passion. I wanted to make something that represented me as a person. I wish I could explain everything here. I wrote a thesis about the build, filmed video tutorials (editing and uploading at the moment). I am basically containing my tears as I write this lol. It's a big thing for me personally. If i could look back now and tell myself that it was all going to be possible, I would lose my sh*t.
The growth I have experienced with this project is unlike anything I have ever done.
As you can see, I left pieces of me, of my philosophy, embeded into the three organs of the axe: the heart (battery), the lungs (smoke machine), and the brain (arduino). I can twist and extract the stump to reveal the heart and charge it comfortably, as well as the upper part of the handle, to reveal the lungs and refill the fluid tank of the smoke machine. Same area as the Hasbro one (hmmmmm, cough, they even made the red mode, like mine, cough). Everything had to be clean, as professional as I could. Easy to take apart partially for easy transport, while still remaining beautiful.
I recently had a 2 minute video chat with the legend Adam Savage, and here is his reaction! And it's actually a really cool elevator pitch for the Stombreaker hahahahaha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niZpVB9slBU&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=HenryCreations
Here is the trailer for the upcoming tutorials on my YouTube channel about the Stormbreaker LED · SMOKE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s48jakP8Gzg&ab_channel=HenryCreations
And here is the painting tutorial for the Head of the Stormbreaker. I had to come up with my own twist when painting with Alclad airbrush paints. Having studied 3D art for Videogames, I have learned a lot about realistic material properties, and I apply that in every project I work on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGvGbRZc9vQ&ab_channel=HenryCreations
I could really talk about this prop for days, but I don't want to bore you with more details. I uploaded some of the thesis to my Artstation, where you can see a few of the sketches I did, more pictures, etc.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JlNxqa
As a fun fact, I studied the logistics for a year, while I was practicing with other 3D models and previous versions of the axe. I knew it was going to take time since I had to work alone. I remember the sleepless nights and all the prototyping, and I enjoyed it.
Moving on to the rest of the costume. I recently finished my first version of the scale armor (sleeves) he wears. I posted about them on a different thread, but I'm just going to say that it was also one of the reasons why I wanted to make this costume. I was captivated for 10 years on how to make the sleeves. I came up with an idea that would only take my two hands, platinum silicone, my 3D printer and the wonderful platinum silicone painting courses here at Stan Winston School (thank you so much Jamie Grove!)
I 3D modeled a printable mold. A positive pair of arms with inverted scales. This was the great idea. I only had to brush the silicone on, turn it rightside out and that would become the opposite arm's sleeve. I took care of the look of the scales in Zbrush. I love the sleeves from Dark World / Age of Ultron, so they were the first ones I tackled.
They bend just right because I modeled them at the middle flexing position. I will add a muscle suit but you can see on the first picture above how cool they look even without it.
This is a little bit of the story behind the idea. I'm so amazed that I could make them so professionally, with no help whatsoever. No need to make two part molds or use fiberglass shells, which I have done in the past for the resin cast version of one of the Stormbreakers.
The rest of the costume I built in 2018 and 2019. I learned how to sew with the machine. Those trousers were crazy complicated for my poor skill, but I am very proud of them, with their zipper and fly shield and everything so I could take my bathroom breaks at conventions. They also have 4 hidden pockets, for my wallet and business card lol.
Here is a video of what that process entailed. I also added 180 LEDs to the six power discs on the vest, as a proof of concept of what was coming (Stormbreaker). I enjoyed programming those LEDs, since my Engineering Degree provided with all that knowledge (not Arduino specifically, but a lot of programming in different languages). You can also see the first iteration of the cape and sleeves (in fabric):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPviNbUT3Bs&ab_channel=Henry
Speaking about the cape, the second version I designed in Photoshop, the exact same pattern of the actual cape in the movie and then had it printed in fabric so I could sew that inner side for the new one, which also had the perfect draping and those epic red folds you can see in the movie. The shape goes around the shoulders perfectly. I just designed and printed a rig that I inserted in the cape between the two layers.
Here is an old picture (old sleeves and old Stormbreaker) with those red folds I am talking about.
I am going to leave you with the cover of my thesis. I am also working on a 3D trailer showcasing the assembly process with a cool animation hehe.
Anyway, I hope I didn't bore you too much. If you want to know more about any of it, please feel free to comment and I will post more pictures of the process!
Henry
This changed my life, my career. When I saw Thor arrive in Wakanda I was speechless. My heart took a turn and I decided that I wanted to make the coolest Stormbreaker ever. And so began my journey, where I have and am reflecting everything I know about myself. I have made this costume 100% myself. If I didn't know how to do something, I learned it first. Well, I had to learn everything. I started at 0. Sewing, 3D modeling, painting, foam, silicone and mold making...except programming: that came from my Computer Engineering Degree.
The Stormbreaker took 4 versions: eva foam, two 3D printed, one with a mold of the second 3D printed version, and the final one, 3D printed, totally disassemblable, with LED effects with multiple animations, and a Smoke Machine.
Just to show that I am basically a mad man, I didn't want to just put a smoke machine and LED strips in a stick and call it a day. I wanted to delve deep into the craft and passion. I wanted to make something that represented me as a person. I wish I could explain everything here. I wrote a thesis about the build, filmed video tutorials (editing and uploading at the moment). I am basically containing my tears as I write this lol. It's a big thing for me personally. If i could look back now and tell myself that it was all going to be possible, I would lose my sh*t.
The growth I have experienced with this project is unlike anything I have ever done.
As you can see, I left pieces of me, of my philosophy, embeded into the three organs of the axe: the heart (battery), the lungs (smoke machine), and the brain (arduino). I can twist and extract the stump to reveal the heart and charge it comfortably, as well as the upper part of the handle, to reveal the lungs and refill the fluid tank of the smoke machine. Same area as the Hasbro one (hmmmmm, cough, they even made the red mode, like mine, cough). Everything had to be clean, as professional as I could. Easy to take apart partially for easy transport, while still remaining beautiful.
I recently had a 2 minute video chat with the legend Adam Savage, and here is his reaction! And it's actually a really cool elevator pitch for the Stombreaker hahahahaha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niZpVB9slBU&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=HenryCreationsHere is the trailer for the upcoming tutorials on my YouTube channel about the Stormbreaker LED · SMOKE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s48jakP8Gzg&ab_channel=HenryCreationsAnd here is the painting tutorial for the Head of the Stormbreaker. I had to come up with my own twist when painting with Alclad airbrush paints. Having studied 3D art for Videogames, I have learned a lot about realistic material properties, and I apply that in every project I work on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGvGbRZc9vQ&ab_channel=HenryCreationsI could really talk about this prop for days, but I don't want to bore you with more details. I uploaded some of the thesis to my Artstation, where you can see a few of the sketches I did, more pictures, etc.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JlNxqa
As a fun fact, I studied the logistics for a year, while I was practicing with other 3D models and previous versions of the axe. I knew it was going to take time since I had to work alone. I remember the sleepless nights and all the prototyping, and I enjoyed it.
Moving on to the rest of the costume. I recently finished my first version of the scale armor (sleeves) he wears. I posted about them on a different thread, but I'm just going to say that it was also one of the reasons why I wanted to make this costume. I was captivated for 10 years on how to make the sleeves. I came up with an idea that would only take my two hands, platinum silicone, my 3D printer and the wonderful platinum silicone painting courses here at Stan Winston School (thank you so much Jamie Grove!)
I 3D modeled a printable mold. A positive pair of arms with inverted scales. This was the great idea. I only had to brush the silicone on, turn it rightside out and that would become the opposite arm's sleeve. I took care of the look of the scales in Zbrush. I love the sleeves from Dark World / Age of Ultron, so they were the first ones I tackled.
They bend just right because I modeled them at the middle flexing position. I will add a muscle suit but you can see on the first picture above how cool they look even without it.
This is a little bit of the story behind the idea. I'm so amazed that I could make them so professionally, with no help whatsoever. No need to make two part molds or use fiberglass shells, which I have done in the past for the resin cast version of one of the Stormbreakers.
The rest of the costume I built in 2018 and 2019. I learned how to sew with the machine. Those trousers were crazy complicated for my poor skill, but I am very proud of them, with their zipper and fly shield and everything so I could take my bathroom breaks at conventions. They also have 4 hidden pockets, for my wallet and business card lol.
Here is a video of what that process entailed. I also added 180 LEDs to the six power discs on the vest, as a proof of concept of what was coming (Stormbreaker). I enjoyed programming those LEDs, since my Engineering Degree provided with all that knowledge (not Arduino specifically, but a lot of programming in different languages). You can also see the first iteration of the cape and sleeves (in fabric):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPviNbUT3Bs&ab_channel=HenrySpeaking about the cape, the second version I designed in Photoshop, the exact same pattern of the actual cape in the movie and then had it printed in fabric so I could sew that inner side for the new one, which also had the perfect draping and those epic red folds you can see in the movie. The shape goes around the shoulders perfectly. I just designed and printed a rig that I inserted in the cape between the two layers.
Here is an old picture (old sleeves and old Stormbreaker) with those red folds I am talking about.
I am going to leave you with the cover of my thesis. I am also working on a 3D trailer showcasing the assembly process with a cool animation hehe.
Anyway, I hope I didn't bore you too much. If you want to know more about any of it, please feel free to comment and I will post more pictures of the process!
Henry
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