How it all began

So as anyone who knows me well enough knows I'm a huge nerd, and I frequently attend conventions such as the Calgary Expo and Saskatoon Blitz. I've always loved cosplaying but I've found it difficult for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm terrible at sewing, even with my new(ish) sewing machine. Furthermore my build doesn't lend itself well to anime characters (I'm about twice the width of a standard anime character) and my face is too round to really pull off any characters properly. Also I run hot and overheat very easily, so anything heavy is a no-no.

But I digress, I was trying to think of a costume to work on for the next expo. My first thought was going to be Malthael from Diablo 3, but without knowing anyone with their own sheet metal workshop that one was prettymuch done before it started.

Then one day while watching SMASH - Smash Bros. Music Video by Screen Team *cough*shamelessplug*cough* I thought: why not Ganondorf? He's a big guy!

And so it began.

Step 1: Research

So of course the first step to any good project is research. MY first step is to find pictures of the subject, as many as possible, at as high of a resolution as possible. I need to be able to see the character from every angle and pick out all the little details. As obsessed as I am with accuracy, making up details isn't a possibility. After gathering a small folder of Ganondorf pics I was relatively satisfied.

As you can see I have a few closeups of his face, as well as side and back shots (excellent!), some official concept art, and a nice neutral pose. I also got some very high-def shots of the official statue and one from Super Smash Bros. Brawl which is definitely the best source of information. (Shrunken down of course!)

So I have about all the reference material I'll need. I've also start to figure out how I'm going to do this costume. He's obviously got clothing that I'm going to have to *gulp* sew, and on top of that he has his armor. Since I still have yet to find a metalworking friend I'll have to think of another way to make said armor that doesn't get too hot, so foam is probably out of the question.
Then there's that face of his:

Now I've seen a lot of people cosplaying as Ganon who just paint their face, maybe add some fake eyebrows or just dye their beard.
 Needless to say a face like Ganon's is pretty rare (without getting hit by a truck) so for me that means a mask/prosthetics. That means latex. That means HOT and sweaty which isn't good for face-paint.
This leaves me with two options:
A full face mask that hides the oceans of sweat pouring down my face, which would probably look pretty cheesy at best,
or minimal prosthetics, nose bridge, eyebrows and jaw-line.
I'm probably going to go for the latter.  Luckily since I have such good images to work with I'll be comparing my face directly with his to figure out exactly what's needed.

So far my list looks like this:
Prosthetics for face
Makeup
Wig*
Armor, either plastic, foam, cardboard, or something. I'd prefer sheet metal but that seems like it's not gonna happen.
Aluminum casting for the little dangly bits (tee hee).
Clothing. I'm probably going to cut off his clothing where it meets the armor to keep layers and heat to a minimum.

*This is going to have to be hand made, both for the style of his hair and to add the eyebrows/beard to the prosthetics and have them merge into the hair. This will probably be a sort of helmet in the end. Maybe with all the space he has in his hair behind his head I can add a fan in the hollow to keep my head cool?

Anyways, that's about it for planning.  Next up we'll be looking at his face in more detail.  'Til next time!