Bluerealm Studios Master Chief - MkVI - Halo 2 Master Chief

Creator: Devin White - Bluerealm
Email Address:web@bluerealmstudios.com
Description: Master Chief Costume
Forum Thread: Bluerealm - Done with my armor

Believe it or not, when Devin first started creating his masterful Master Chief costume, he hadn't even owned an Xbox or really even played Halo. What attracted him was the armor design from Halo 2. When Devin White revealed his hand sculpted master chief helmet on the 405th a couple years ago, people couldn't believe what they were looking at. No one had yet seen the "double visor" trick used, and no one had yet made a helmet so accurate and of such high quality. It simultaneously gave people hope and made people feel worthless. In all seriousness, it gave people something to shoot for in terms of pure accuracy and professional prop building skill.

The helmet was sculpted on top of a cast of his own head. Using screenshots as reference, Devin created a 3d model of the master chief helmet, so he could view it from all angles at any time. This was also before the advent of the "theater" that came with Halo 3, so he took it upon himself to model an accurate reference model to replicate in clay.

Using NSP oil based clay, and beating it with a friction tool to soften it, he built up clay little by little, and making many small adjustments, Devin was able to finally reach a sculpt that he was happy with. Now that there was a clay master, the next part was to create a silicone mold, and cast out his first helmet from polyurethane plastic. Eventually, Devin sculpted every part of the suit, made molds and cast out every part. Eventually sanding, painting and fitting them for wear.

Amazingly, Devin didn't stop there. His goal was accuracy, so he meticulously studied and sewed up an undersuit. Painstakingly stitching out every detail until the suit was complete. The suit was finished years ago, and people have been struggling to emulate it ever since. Adam is now doing his best to try to replicate the undersuit for more widespread enjoyment.

In the end its a remarkable feat of talent and planning, and one of the flagship creations on the 405th. Devin has created other Halo and non-Halo related costumes and props. Be sure to check out www.BlueRealmStudios.com and follow him on twitter at @bluerealmstud for more info.

Devin talks to the 405th a little about how the suit was made and what inspired him to do it.

Q. 405th - What was the hardest part of making the MC suit?

A. Devin - Symmetry. For instance, making the left arm match the right arm. It had to be a perfect mirror of itself. It took many measurement and a lot of patience.

Q. 405th - Did you know you could do something so impressive when you set out to start this project?

A. Devin - I didn't really know what it was going to turn out like to be honest. I just knew I wanted it as close to the original Halo 2 reference as possible. So I kept after it until I was happy with a particular part. In some cases it took more than one mold of something before I was happy with the final piece.



Q. 405th - So what is going to be your next big project?

A. Devin - Well, that's going to be a bit of a surprise. You can see the Arbiter suit (not Halo related) on BlueRealmStudios.com that will be featured in an upcoming independent movie called Project Arbiter, and I'm working on perfecting my process with some new toys I have in the shop.

Devin who has been making costumes since he was a kid, now runs a prop and costuming business called Bluerealm Studios out of Texas. Check it out at www.bluerealmstudios.com