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[crashdown903p]

Hi, everyone. I posted here a few days ago about building a captain america shield. I finished by first attempt today. It turned out okay, not great but okay. Certainly doesnt look as good as the one form the film though.. I made it out of wood. its 2 pieces of 8th inch door skin glued together and bent. I then covered it in canvas and painted it. As I said its not great....But any suggestions would be great. I plan of building a 2nd one soon and hope to improve on it. Any ideas for painting or material would be great.

[StabbityBlkMage]

Found it odd that the shield is covered in canvas. I realize that wood grain is a problem but that can be fixed with bondo, sanding and primer. But yeah that would probably be my only gripe about it is that the finish is a bit strange, you could either go for the WW2 "beat to hell" sort of style

or you could make it look "comic booky" and make it glossy as hell. Either way a plain matte finish is not ideal.

Other than that you did really well, the paint lines are, for the most part, really clean and the stars are really impressive. I was going to suggest using PVC plastic sheets to make your 2nd attempt, but you did a great job bending wood. I know I couldn't do that. Keep up that good stuff!

[crashdown903p]

Originally Posted by StabbityBlkMage

Found it odd that the shield is covered in canvas. I realize that wood grain is a problem but that can be fixed with bondo, sanding and primer. But yeah that would probably be my only gripe about it is that the finish is a bit strange, you could either go for the WW2 "beat to hell" sort of style

or you could make it look "comic booky" and make it glossy as hell. Either way a plain matte finish is not ideal.

Other than that you did really well, the paint lines are, for the most part, really clean and the stars are really impressive. I was going to suggest using PVC plastic sheets to make your 2nd attempt, but you did a great job bending wood. I know I couldn't do that. Keep up that good stuff!

Thanks for the comment. I chose to cover it with canvas because it is what I had on hand....My father is a professional artist, and has lots of canvas around. I covered the wooden shield with wood glue and stretched the canvas over it.....it actually worked very well to paint on......I have no experience with painting or anything like that. And I want to avoid asking my father (the artist) for help. Kind of want to do it on my own. Any advice on how to make it look work and beaten up. So it looks like its seen battle.
Thanks for the compliment on the stars. Took me probably an hour to get them right.

[StabbityBlkMage]

Just want to say I'm still learning when it comes to the painting department, and if you have an artist on hand to teach you, I would suggest asking them for help. Not doing it outright for you, but definitely showing you their own techniques. That's how I've learned how to cosplay thus far.

Enough of the soapbox lol.

As I said I'm not particularly good at painting, but I usually paint all the way to the base colors that I want then I take a weathering color (typically black, but sometimes yellows, browns, and oranges depending on what I'm weathering) in acrylic, putting it onto a paper towel then wiping it onto the piece. Don't let it dry, immediately wipe off the excess and leave a "residue" on it.

I've also done a method called "dry brushing" where you have small amounts of paint on the brush then lightly feather paint onto the piece, but I haven't had much success with large pieces of geometry using that method.

Here is what I think is my most successful paintjob, and I used that paper towel method I was talking about, all in blacks.

[TheByakuya]

I agree that the canvas is a weird choice. You should be able to paint on the door skin directly (do you mean veneer btw?). Primer definitely helps with paint adhesion so if you have the means I'd hit the veneer with a coat of primer first and then paint on top. This will also help keep your colours brighter.

I'll also mention that in the reference pics I've seen (also the one Stabbity posted) the shield has five red stripes, not three like in yours. If you're doing it again I would pay attention to that detail and also the proportion of the stars to one another.

Also, I found this tutorial and they have some good tips on painting the shield and also weathering the piece at the end. Although this one is made of plexiglas, the method is similar because they're also bending the material like you are.
http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=capt...hield#/d5g3s65

Post progress pics of attempt number 2!