#((silver lining is that its fixable MOST LIKELY HOPEFULLY. ))

[pikaboo-pikachu]

Hey everyone! First, I’d like to quickly thank those that decided to give this tutorial a shot. I really hope that this provided some insight at the very least to your own approach to crafting the Hylian Shield. When I started this tutorial, of sorts, my aim was to give people the opportunity to learn alongside me, or even just from my mistakes, so I hope there will be some people who find my experiences as rewarding as I do.

Moving on, this part will cover the last half of the prop making journey – painting. But before we jump into that, we’ll cover priming.

Step 9

Priming is probably the most important part of the painting process, and the reason being is that it creates a strong surface for your paints to cling to.

If you paint straight on to your foam, your foam will soak up the paint and just look quite icky overall, transparent paint. I recommend you trying on a scrap piece of foam so you can get to understand it first hand. There are some other reasons, but that’s probably the biggest.

The tricky part is finding which primer to use, and for that, I’m linking you to Kamui Cosplay’s video on primers you can use for your EVA foam:

How to Prime your EVA Foam Armor

At the end of the video, she will mention that she prefers to use PlastiDip. Unfortunately, in Australia, that can be really hard to find, and the Amazon seller she provides doesn’t ship to Australia. I didn’t use PlastiDip for this reason, otherwise, it was my first go-to. The other great thing about it, however, is that you can get it in many colours and in liquid/paint form, not just spray form.

A very common primer she didn’t mention is what I used, and that’s Gesso.

Gesso is a popular choice, literally known as a primer for “porous surfaces” such as EVA foam. It’s very accessible and can be found in many different places. I found this one in a local discount store.

Depending on what primer you choose, how you apply it may differ accordingly, but since I used Gesso, I’ll talk about applications with Gesso in particular.

Obviously, you’ll need your primer, and in this case, a brush, as well as some newspapers to spread around you. If you get any of this stuff on you, it will wash off, but you must be fast. You might like to wear a smock if this is the case.

I forgot to take photos (soz, pals) but it’s pretty straightforward anyway. Simply apply the primer over your piece and let it dry. It might take a while if your house is particularly freezing but if that’s the case, I beg you, be insanely careful if you put it near a heater or use a hairdryer – some foams expands, and others might melt if you use too much heat (I used my Dremel on some foam the other day, the friction heat it up so much and for so long it became very stretchy and soft, it almost melted).

If you have a place where you can hang up your shield, you can probably get away with doing all the sides in one go, otherwise, some of you will definitely be slow and steady.

After you’ve finished priming, prime again. I did three thin coats, and depending on what primer you use, it may differ. I recommend, for Gesso, a minimum of two coats, but three or four should be fine. This makes sure that all surfaces are cleanly covered.

Beware though, don’t let your primer pool! This can be avoided by doing thin coats, and simply paying attention.

One more thing, your brush quality DOES matter, but you can definitely get away with lower quality brushes. My brushes were poor quality, and I had to keep picking brush hairs off my freshly primed piece. Try pulling out all the loose strands in that situation before you paint. Don’t forget to take care of your brushes, and clean them after every application with warm water!

Step 10

Painting time!

This part can be really daunting, if nothing else was, especially after you’ve just spent countless hours crafting and cutting and sanding and gluing and priming…you don’t want to screw it up…But have no fear, it’s actually not that bad, and painting mistakes are pretty fixable overall.

But first, you need some materials.

Acrylic paints

Variety of brushes

Mixing pallet/tubs

Newspapers

Smocks

Painter’s Tape (optional)

Pen

I would like to note that you can also use spray paints instead of acrylic paints, it’s really more of a personal choice, much like priming, not to mention, if you have an airbrush handy, that’s perfectly usable, too.

How much time and effort you put into the painting process will show at the end of the day, and that’s what makes the difference between an experienced painter and a non-experienced painter. I, myself, am not terribly experienced, painting has never been my forte, but I was still pretty proud of the end result.

There are still many questions about what you buy. Go to a craft store and pick up some decent acrylic paints. High end is unnecessary, but sometimes, buying the cheap, kids’ stuff just isn’t good enough. I used Global Colours’ Fine Artist range, and Driven Matisse Structure set. For my black and white (which is necessary) Liquitiex Basics.

As for brushes, you really only need a thin domed brush for hard to reach places, and perhaps a large(ish) flat brush. Good brushes can be worth the investment, unless you decide to do a dabbing technique (hardy ha), any old brush will do.

I also picked up some little tubs, which helped to maintain the mixes I made for long periods of time. A paint pallet or even just an old takeaway container will do.

Let’s talk in mini-steps.

One

I started with the red bird thing first. I brought out my handy-dandy template and traced around it with a black pen. I used my thin domed brush to paint the edges and tight corners, then used a larger brush to get solid colours. I used a solid red here first, so it looked quite flat.

I then went around with a red/black combo, in the edges and red/white combo in the middle. I found a light dab worked best, but it’s up to you.

Two

Next was the Triforce, which was easy enough. I didn’t want to use a basic yellow though and worked with a gold as well.

With both my gold and silver, I can’t say I was happy with them, they were both incredibly thin, and looked more like shimmers than actual paint. What I did to remedy this was mix it with yellow (gold) or grey (silver). For when I wanted depth, I used combinations of the gold and the white or black accordingly. I can’t say the Triforce was my favourite but it still turned out fairly well.

Three

The snakey bits were next, and I approached them much the same as I did the Triforce. Don’t worry too much about going “over the lines”, just use your thin brush for tight corners and edges, and you can paint over any mishaps later. Remember to add shadows and highlights were necessary, it adds a much more realistic look and it shows in photos.

Four

I did the border the same way, with shadows on the inside, in the carved triangles and under the bolts, with highlights at the top, scattered along the edges, and the top of the bolts and triangles.

Five

The blue background was both the easiest and most time-consuming. I recommend doing a base coat all around, then adding black to make your shadows along the inside of any three-dimensional part. I added white around the bird, at the very top and in and out and all around the three-dimensional parts, which I thought made everything pop just that little more.

Six

I did the sides and the back the same as I did four, which was easy enough. There’s no real need to spend all your time on the back, as it’s not going to be seen.

Step 11

On to sealing! I actually had a lot of trouble finding the right thing to seal with, but what I can say is pick what is most applicable to what your piece is.

There are three basic types of sealants, or varnishes: matte, satin, and gloss.

Matte is your flat sealant, which works well for something organic like wood, or just something that’s really not reflective at all.

Gloss is kind of like lip-gloss, its very shiny but it can be a bit over-the-top for metal, because its reflective surface is more plastic-looking than sheeny metal.

Satin, strangely enough, is actually more like an in between of matte and gloss. It fits well with something like a shield…

But why do you need it? Because it’s actually fab.

It protects your paint from coming off during the convention, and just generally protects it from wear and tear. Battle damage is great on props, but chipping paint can look a little disappointing.

I used a spray satin sealant. I sprayed, waited for two hours, then sprayed again for an extra boost, but you should follow the instructions on the packaging. If you use a spray, remember to spray in a well-ventilated space!

Step 12

Adding the belt straps ! Honestly, I did this part before the painting, and I kinda regretted it, which is why I wrote this step last, but it is up to you.

All I did was cut up a belt and stick it down with contact adhesive. You might like to reinforce it with hot glue around the edges as well, but overall, it’s a pretty simple process. It’s not like our reference picture, but it’s not something I was fussed about looking perfect, so all I was concerned with was making it adjustable.

The adjustable strap sat on the centre line, on the wood, where it sits around the middle of the forearm. The second strap was placed wherever the hand would fit in accordance to the adjustable strap.

Of course, feel free to try this another way, but this is simply how I chose to do it.

Final Message

Thank you to everyone who stuck around and read this, it means a lot! I hope you all learned something from this, whether it’s “that’s a good idea, I’ll try that!” or “that girl’s an idiot, I’ll never do that!”. My learning experiences are here for you to use. Hopefully, I’ll be adding more and more tutorials, but for now, kyaa raah yaa!

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Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Hylian Shield [Part 5: Final] Hey everyone! First, I'd like to quickly thank those that decided to give this tutorial a shot.