Blearg! First time I know of that I've caught ConCrud this badly.

[wolfwings]

I was bad enough that my roommates took my phone and car keys away, to guarantee I wouldn't go into work, and one of them that worked at the same company went in instead after calling my boss for me. So... yeah, +1 Delerius for a'while there, still feeling blearg now though. Didn't feel bad at all until I got home from work yesterday, suddenly BLAM, I'm toast.

Upside - got my taxes done. Well, federal is punted off. I'm doing the state by hand since it's a pitance and I refuse to pay $30 just to get a $80-100 return faster, compared to my $1300+300 federal return + stimulus check.

All of which is going for a down-payment on a fursuit, hopefully a quadruped by BeastCub. If not, I'm not sure who I'll go with. Now... to get a duct tape dummy assembled. And once I have my tax-return in hand I should have another $1.5k in the bank, so I'll have the entire cost of the fursuit saved at that point in spades I think. Complicated part, need to find out if it's possible or if BeastCub would even be willing to attempt a cross-purpose bodysuit and build both a quadrupedal and bipedal set of arms/heads. Or even if she'd rather just build the forearm braces and let someone else build the actual suit for that matter, especially since I saw quite a few very awesome avian fursuits at FC this year so I'm not sure who I'd want to go work now.

So... who among my wide and varied friends list would be willing to tackle a fursuit/quadsuit combo based on BeastCub's braces, some time before next FC? I'm budgetting $3k for this, is that about right? If nobody, I'll poke BeastCub directly once I have cash in hand/bank.

Now to wait for wolf_nymph to get back to me about doing the concept art, since the only thing I'm dead-set on is having her do that part because of how wonderfully she's able to blend avian & canine forms nicely, especially for the head, and she seemed jazzed about the idea when I spoke with her briefly at FC. So the earliest I could get this actually done is all the way in like... June/July anyways, if I recall the schedule she mentioned.

Comments

[jwoulf.livejournal.com]

Quite a few of us got it, I was unable to go to work today, and fell asleep at work yesterday.

Yeah, so I'm hearing.

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

And quite a few of the folks I did hang out with a lot did not, so at least I know I wasn't a carrier.

Though oddly, a large portion of the folks I'm hearing getting it were suiting a big chunk of the con. Admitedly, that's not saying much since better than 1/5th of the convention was romping around in suit. =^.^=

[lionman.livejournal.com]

I hope you get well soon, and I'm growing to like your room mates more and more, and I haven't even met them! ;-)

I'd be curious to see any illustrations you dream up for your fursuit as a guide. Your idea sounds intersting, but I'm not getting it in my minds eye just yet.

Not sure what there is to 'get' exactly?

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

I just hope to have a quadsuit, with the only 'hard part' being I also want to get a seperate bodysuit and arms/head to let me use it as a normal bipedal suit. I'm still vaguely in the research stage, trying to determine if I want plantigrade or digitigrade rear legs, and if digitigrade do I want to go with a stilts-based cross-bracing system to let me toe-walk, pad the crap out of plantigrade legs, or lightly-pad so I have to keep my rear legs back from my body to maintain the illusion. The latter is by far the simplest, but also the most tiring in my own experience. The 'normal legs' stance is likely the least tiring, but quite bulky. The stilts approach would allow for incredibly well contoured hindlegs, and what I'm leaning towards if I go for digitigrade hindlegs.

The digitigrade option is mostly limited by if it'll look good with the 'all four limbs bird-leg-scaled' look I'm being a little insistant on, since this is meant to be WolfWings, me, first and foremost. =^.^=

Re: Not sure what there is to 'get' exactly?

[lionman.livejournal.com]

I think the dual-purpose would be cool. I think there should be some pre-design work / drawings to toss around your ideas and thoughts with.

I'd go with the padded digigrade, but that's just the way I think, less complicated. However, stilts for both hands and feet would mean that you wouldn't be bending over so far with your forearms.

Re: Not sure what there is to 'get' exactly?

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

The arms will get stilts/braces regardless, the legs getting them would just shorten my legs a bit to hopefully reduce the 'maned wolf' look a lot of quadruped suits end up with. Either way I'll be bent over with my back horizontal and my forearms straight in front of me usually; here, a quick sketch to show the choices.



The green option is one of the most tiring from what I've heard, though the blue option results in the most back-ache. The red option is akin to wearing high-heals, if you have the muscles for it, it's fine and you'll get used to it, but for first-timers it's hell. It's also the most complicated, as it requires the secondary stilts on the rear legs, but it's what I'm leaning towards since it's the only option besides the green that reduces the overall height.

Re: Not sure what there is to 'get' exactly?

[lionman.livejournal.com]

Alright, I'm starting to share the vision. I think I'd go with the padding, simply because you're going to be walking on it all the time. If you plan to spend extended periods in the suit, without an escort, you'll need to be able to not tucker out too quickly.

Then again, I'm not the guy who wears a fursuit, so I could be just flapping my jaws.

BTW, you're feeling better, I hope?

Re: Not sure what there is to 'get' exactly?

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

Um... they'll all have padding, which one did you mean? =O.o=

And yeah, over the 'sick' now just coughing up the 'ick' at this point. I'll spare the TMI details beyond that. =^.^=

Re: Not sure what there is to 'get' exactly?

[lionman.livejournal.com]

If it were me, I'd go with the digigrade look that's built by padding, so you're walking normally otherwise. I've always thought they were well-built in most of the good costumes I've seen.

Re: Not sure what there is to 'get' exactly?

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

Okay... lemme rephrase again. :-) All three types of legs I'm considering will have padding on them. None of them have me walking anywhere near normal. My legs will be bent to non-natural positions regardless of what approach I take when going quadruped, which is the main goal here. =^.^=

With ~60 degrees for green I'd have good leverage, but bad support and thus tiring to stand around in but good for movement. This would be some padding, but only two large wedges per leg. Primarilly stamina issues with this one. It doesn't cause back-aches like blue because you can 'fold up' your legs occasionally to change their position, so you're not stuck in a fixed position all the time.

90 degrees for blue tends to cause back-aches I've heard due to having to keep your legs straight so much, and means my hand-struts will have to be noticably longer so I'll look out of proportion from many viewing angles. This would have padding all around it, to sculpt the leg from scratch. So I'd have somewhat limited leg flexibility without things turning ugly as well. Primarilly cosmetic downsides to this one.

~120 degrees for red is good for being stationary for long periods, and puts my calf muscles to greater use than my thighs. This one would have the least padding, no more than the 'muscle suits' many other costumes will often have. Only downside is that it does use my calves quite heavilly, which isn't an often-focussed-on muscle when costuming.

Re: Not sure what there is to 'get' exactly?

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

Basically what I'm trying to ask, is which of the three choices (red, green, or blue in the sketch above) are you saying I should go for? If it's just 'go digitigrade, yeah' then sorry for the confusion, Sir. =-.-=

Re: Not sure what there is to 'get' exactly?

[lionman.livejournal.com]

I think I would look at some existing theatrical things going on to see if that helps you rule out one option or the other:

Much taller costume: http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/images/upload/Lion-King-Kissy-a-web.jpg

Some in background: http://www.onmilwaukee.com/images/articles/li/lionkingopens/lionkingopens_fullsize_story1.jpg

I'm having trouble finding source for more of the big opening scenes with a wide range of animal costumes, but there are some other options going on, I just can't recall all of them.

If you go with 60-degrees, you need a handler.

90-degrees, you need a back brace or back support.

120-degrees, if you don't plan to be doing alot of walking around.

That said, maybe 90 is the way to go.

[lironess.livejournal.com]

I like beastcubs work a lot.

I LOVE this womans quads.

http://www.sparkcostumes.com/

Yeah, Sparks is decent.

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately Sparks looks like she might be hitting the point rosequoll did a couple years ago with utter burn-out, as admitted by herself. Compare that with Beastcub and her ability to crank out a suit of comperable quality in much less time than Sparks can, for about the same price. To be honest, Beastcub's earning probably twice an hour what Sparks is when building a fursuit, without skimping on quality, just because she finishes the work so much faster.

And so far I kinda look at BeastCub as the Soki TwoPaws of quadsuit construction, vis-a-vis design improvements and what-not. Especially since I'm not looking to get ultra-complicated painted-on markings or anything that is the one thing Sparks is somewhat more experienced and I think just a hair better at, removes some of the need for going through Sparks.

I will admit I prefer Sparks' quad-hindlegs for solving the 'looks too long/like a maned wolf' problem most quadsuits have, though from what I've heard they're more tiring than Beastcub's system. I'm tempted to try something like Gryphern's hindleg-stilts if I can get the 'switchable' body done, so I can avoid padding as much as possible and because I've got a few years experience toe-walking for 30-60 minutes without stilts for reinforcement anyways.

[lionman.livejournal.com]

Wow. She is WAY too talented with her work. VERY nice. :-)

[chaoswolf]

I am going to be constructing a fur suit later on anyway with the tiger fur (red & black) I got for Xmas. I'm also trying to find a job somewhere and new roomies as my little sister seems to want absolute control.

Ooh! Sounds shiny!

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

Look forward to seeing pictures of how it turns out. =^.^=

Re: Ooh! Sounds shiny!

[chaoswolf]

I'll be sure to post links. Speaking of shiny, spazzychick is in negotiation about lots of chain mail stuff.

[dashutri.livejournal.com]

Wish I knew how to do my taxes by myself. Stupid H&R.

S'usually awfully easy to do, actually.

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

I still use H&R Block for the Federal taxes since that's 100% free and convenient to get the refund back in a hurry. What state are ya' in? At least for California and Missouri (the states I was and am now living in) the tax forms are incredibly well documented and I've never had to use more than the 1040-EZ form yet.

Re: S'usually awfully easy to do, actually.

[dashutri.livejournal.com]

AZ

Re: S'usually awfully easy to do, actually.

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

In AZ's case, they call it the 140 form, and you'll probably still use the 140EZ form, with the instructions that give you things like the standard deduction and what-not. They have a fillable version, but it only works with the full version of Acrobat so I'm just linking the print-and-snailmail form. Standard decuction is $6,621 unless 'married filing jointly' when it's double that, $13,242. The instruction sheet goes through most of the other details, though if you're filing as 'single' then the form's pretty trivial.

[uplinktruck.livejournal.com]

Con crud? Isn't there a vaccination for that?

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

I wish. =-.-=