Commander Shepard: Fight or die

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Test shoot for my female Commander Shepard cosplay.

I've wanted to make FemShep for a while, but never really had the confidence in my armour making ability. Having tackled Fran though (a baptism of fire if ever there was one), I thought the time had come.

There are patterns floating around for the ME2 versions of Shepard, but I prefer her appearance in the third installment, which meant it was back to the drawing board. Consequently most of the patterns for my FemShep were done from scratch, but some were bastardised versions of Julian Bleeks' PDFs.

My undersuit is comprised of a black compression top and matching leggings rather than a wetsuit - I thought it'd be a bit easier to get in and out of. Otherwise, it's a traditional craft foam build. Black EVA foam floor tiles with some thinner, 2mm craft foam for detailing.

I didn't think that the foam alone was a good enough colour to leave unpainted, so everything has been sprayed with a few different coats of car paint. I think it gives a better, more metallic finish anyway, so I'm happy. In the end, it was built up with matt black as a base, then Ford Midnight Grey to get the metal effect. Dinks and weathering comes from a little aluminium colour.

Taken with Canon 60D
Photographer: Si Spencer
Model: Me