Wookiee Costume Standards Discussion

[Bacca9 (Jamie)]

Alright Wookiees, I want YOU to help me revamp these costume standards. I'm going to post what I've been working on and I hope that you'll join in with ideas for improvement of your own. After all, we all want the best representation of Wookiees the world can provide! So without further ado:

WOOKIEES
REQUIRED ITEMS

HEIGHT:
7’ Minimum

BODY:

Complete hair suit using natural or synthetic fibers (Human, Yak, Kanekalon, or NFT). Hair should be natural colors such as brown, blond, auburn, black, grey, or white. Hair should average at least 6 inches or longer, but 8-10 inch long hair is preferred. Complete coverage is required; no bald spots or exposed skin/undersuit.

Faux fur is not allowed, as it is not long enough. No yarn or shag carpet Wookiees. The Rubies Supreme Edition Chewbacca suit is NOT acceptable even with modification. The quality these materials is inferior to what can be achieved with latch hooking or National Fiber Technology, or other methods. The hair must maintain a consistent quality/type throughout the suit.

Arm length must be proportionate to that of the overall body look. No T-REX Arms.




HANDS
Dark brown, gray, or black gloves should be worn. There should be enough overlap between the gloves and the wrists of the hair suit that no skin is exposed. Gloves may be made of leather, vinyl, cloth, or rubber. Claws/nails are encouraged, but not required.


FEET &TOES
Feet must be completely covered with hair except for the bottom and the toes.
For stilted Wookiees, toes MUST be visible to create the look of a foot. 3-6” may be required depending on the style of stilt.
For those who use Kiss boots, or lifts, a hint of the claws is recommended for OT Chewies and full toes for PT. The same stands for those naturally above 7’ tall.



MASK
The mask must completely cover the head and neck, without completely obscuring the shape of the shoulders. The eyes, a smooth black nose, and a large jaw/muzzle should all be clearly visible.

The mask hair should be smooth and well groomed, not bushy, so that the mask’s shape and structure are clear. Beards, mustaches, dreadlocks and other features are encouraged.


Static masks should not be frozen in a fully opened position. All static mouths should be closed.

Although a functioning jaw and/or lip snarl is not required, the skin and lips of any mechanical masks should appear as one piece, rather than a separated jaw and face. This refers only to the mask’s outward appearance, not the underskull. Costumers should be aware that mechanical jaws and lips are complex projects requiring purpose-built components using special materials. They cannot simply be added to an existing latex rubber mask. Consult the costuming resources and fellow Wookiee costumers for advice on this project.

Eye makeup (shades of black or brown) should be worn around the eyes and completely cover any exposed skin.


ACCESSORIES
Wookiees may wear helmets, minimal body armour, leather bandoliers or aprons, or any item of that nature. Wookiees are not seen to be wearing clothes in the sense of other humanoid Star Wars characters. As such, shirts, pants, robes, tabards, shoes, or any other article of clothing are unacceptable for approval.


_________________
"Let the Wookiee Win!"

Rebel Legion: Bacca9
Apollo Base Commanding Officer
Legion Costume Judge
501st: TK-91107
Mandalorian Mercs: OM-1107

[Bacca9 (Jamie)]

TARFFUL
REQUIRED ITEMS:

HEIGHT:
7’ Minimum

BODY:

Complete hair suit using natural or synthetic fibers. Hair should be mainly dark brown. The outsides of the knees, the belly, the middle of the chest, and the inside of the arms should be a light brown/blonde. Hair should average at least 6 inches or longer, but 8-10 inch long hair is preferred. Complete coverage is required; no bald spots or exposed skin/undersuit.




Faux fur is not allowed, as it is not long enough. No yarn or shag carpet Wookiees. The Rubies Supreme Edition Chewbacca suit is NOT acceptable even with modification. The quality these materials is inferior to what can be achieved with latch hooking or National Fiber Technology, or other methods. The hair must maintain a consistent quality/type throughout the suit.

Arm length must be proportionate to that of the overall body look. No T-REX Arms.

HANDS
Dark brown, gray, or black gloves should be worn. There should be enough overlap between the gloves and the wrists of the hair suit that no skin is exposed. Gloves may be made of leather, vinyl, cloth, or rubber. Claws/nails are encouraged, but not required.

FEET &TOES
Feet must be completely covered with hair except for the bottom and the toes.
For stilted Wookiees, toes MUST be visible to create the look of a foot. 3-6” may be required depending on the style of stilt.
For those who use Kiss boots, or lifts, a hint of the claws is required. The same stands for those naturally above 7’ tall.



MASK
The mask must completely cover the head and neck, without completely obscuring the shape of the shoulders. The eyes, a smooth black nose, and a large jaw/muzzle should all be clearly visible. A slight mustache like feature should be present as well. The chin should feature a slightly “beard” on the chin. The face, eye brows, and beard should be light brown/blonde. The rest of the mask should be dark brown. The mask hair should be smooth and well groomed, not bushy, so that the mask’s shape and structure are clear. Nine or ten dreadlocks should be attached to the top of the back of the head. Four should hang down the front (two on each side) to about the bottom of the ribcage. The remaining dreadlocks should hang down to the lower back. Three decorative silver bands should be present on each lock.


Static masks should not be frozen in a fully opened position. All static mouths should be closed.

Although a functioning jaw and/or lip snarl is not required, the skin and lips of any mechanical masks should appear as one piece, rather than a separated jaw and face. This refers only to the mask’s outward appearance, not the underskull. Costumers should be aware that mechanical jaws and lips are complex projects requiring purpose-built components using special materials. They cannot simply be added to an existing latex rubber mask. Consult the costuming resources and fellow Wookiee costumers for advice on this project.

Eye makeup (shades of black or brown) should be worn around the eyes and completely cover any exposed skin.

ACCESSORIES
Dark brown leather or faux leather harness with a Y-shaped, a V-shaped back, and a belt around the waist. The strap should be approximately 3 inches wide with a narrow center strap, with large metallic boxes and small metallic boxes spaced evenly along the straps with the narrow center strap going over the boxes. The boxes should have edge detailing. Decorative buckles should be present on the fork in the front “Y”, at the base of the “Y” where it connects with the belt, and along the back where it connects to the belt. Decorated shoulder armor with three plates should be worn.



_________________
"Let the Wookiee Win!"

Rebel Legion: Bacca9
Apollo Base Commanding Officer
Legion Costume Judge
501st: TK-91107
Mandalorian Mercs: OM-1107

[Bacca9 (Jamie)]

CHEWBACCA (ROTS)
REQUIRED ITEMS:

HEIGHT:
7’ Minimum

BODY:

Complete hair suit using natural or synthetic fibers. Hair should be strawberry blonde overall with a grey/dark brown mix on the shoulders, back of head, upper back, and outer thighs. Hair should average at least 6 inches or longer, but 8-10 inch long hair is preferred. Complete coverage is required; no bald spots or exposed skin/undersuit.

Faux fur is not allowed, as it is not long enough. No yarn or shag carpet Wookiees. The Rubies Supreme Edition Chewbacca suit is NOT acceptable even with modification. The quality these materials is inferior to what can be achieved with latch hooking or National Fiber Technology, or other methods. The hair must maintain a consistent quality/type throughout the suit.

Arm length must be proportionate to that of the overall body look. No T-REX Arms.




HANDS
Dark brown, gray, or black gloves should be worn. There should be enough overlap between the gloves and the wrists of the hair suit that no skin is exposed. Gloves may be made of leather, vinyl, cloth, or rubber. Claws/nails are encouraged, but not required.


FEET &TOES
Feet must be completely covered with hair except for the bottom and the toes.
For stilted Wookiees, toes MUST be visible to create the look of a foot. 3-6” may be required depending on the style of stilt.
For those who use Kiss boots, or lifts, a hint of the claws is recommended for OT Chewies and full toes for PT. The same stands for those naturally above 7’ tall.



MASK
The mask must completely cover the head and neck, without completely obscuring the shape of the shoulders. The eyes, a smooth black nose, and a large jaw/muzzle should all be clearly visible. A slight mustache like feature of the same colour as the dark brow/grey mix should be present as well. The mouth should have a slight frown when closed. The mask hair should be smooth and well groomed, not bushy, so that the mask’s shape and structure are clear.



Static masks should not be frozen in a fully opened position. All static mouths should be closed.

Although a functioning jaw and/or lip snarl is not required, the skin and lips of any mechanical masks should appear as one piece, rather than a separated jaw and face. This refers only to the mask’s outward appearance, not the underskull. Costumers should be aware that mechanical jaws and lips are complex projects requiring purpose-built components using special materials. They cannot simply be added to an existing latex rubber mask. Consult the costuming resources and fellow Wookiee costumers for advice on this project.

Eye makeup (shades of black or brown) should be worn around the eyes and completely cover any exposed skin.

ACCESSORIES
Dark brown leather or faux leather bandolier, approximately 3 inches wide with a narrow center strap, with 8 or 9 large metallic boxes and 8 or 9 small metallic boxes spaced evenly along the bandolier with the narrow center strap going over the boxes. The boxes should have edge detailing. The ends of the bandolier should be tapered and attach to a medium-sized leather or suede pouch with a large flap cover. The bandolier should hang from the left shoulder across the torso with the pouch resting on the right thigh. No leather concho should be present as it is on some of the original trilogy bandoliers.




CHEWBACCA (OT)
REQUIRED ITEMS:

HEIGHT:
7’ Minimum

BODY:

Complete hair suit using natural or synthetic fibers. Hair should be strawberry blonde overall with a grey/dark brown mix on the shoulders, back of head, upper back, and outer thighs. Hair should average at least 6 inches or longer, but 8-10 inch long hair is preferred. Complete coverage is required; no bald spots or exposed skin/undersuit.

Faux fur is not allowed. No yarn or shag carpet Wookiees. Rubies suits are NOT acceptable even with modification. The quality of the hair used in those suits is not up to the standards achieved with either the latch hooking or National Fiber Technology Fur routes. The hair must maintain a consistent quality/type throughout the suit.

Arm length must be proportionate to that of the overall body look. No T-REX Arms.




HANDS
Dark brown, gray, or black gloves should be worn. There should be enough overlap between the gloves and the wrists of the hair suit that no skin is exposed. Gloves may be made of leather, vinyl, cloth, or rubber. Claws/nails are encouraged, but not required.


FEET &TOES
Feet must be completely covered with hair except for the bottom and the toes.
For stilted Wookiees, toes MUST be visible to create the look of a foot. 3-6” may be required depending on the style of stilt.
For those who use Kiss boots, or lifts, a hint of the claws is recommended for OT Chewies and full toes for PT. The same stands for those naturally above 7’ tall.




MASK
The mask must completely cover the head and neck, without completely obscuring the shape of the shoulders. The eyes, a smooth black nose, and a large jaw/muzzle should all be clearly visible. A slight mustache like feature of the same colour as the dark brow/grey mix should be present as well. The mouth should have a slight frown when closed. The mask hair should be smooth and well groomed, not bushy, so that the mask’s shape and structure are clear.




Static masks should not be frozen in a fully opened position. All static mouths should be closed.

Although a functioning jaw and/or lip snarl is not required, the skin and lips of any mechanical masks should appear as one piece, rather than a separated jaw and face. This refers only to the mask’s outward appearance, not the underskull. Costumers should be aware that mechanical jaws and lips are complex projects requiring purpose-built components using special materials. They cannot simply be added to an existing latex rubber mask. Consult the costuming resources and fellow Wookiee costumers for advice on this project.

Eye makeup (shades of black or brown) should be worn around the eyes and completely cover any exposed skin.

ACCESSORIES
Dark brown leather or faux leather bandolier, approximately 3 inches wide with a narrow center strap, with 8 or 9 large metallic boxes and 8 or 9 small metallic boxes spaced evenly along the bandolier with the narrow center strap going over the boxes. The boxes should have edge detailing. The ends of the bandolier should be tapered and attach to a medium-sized leather or suede pouch with a large flap cover. The bandolier should hang from the left shoulder across the torso with the pouch resting on the right thigh. Leather concho should be present as it is on some of the original trilogy bandoliers.





_________________
"Let the Wookiee Win!"

Rebel Legion: Bacca9
Apollo Base Commanding Officer
Legion Costume Judge
501st: TK-91107
Mandalorian Mercs: OM-1107

[Bacca9 (Jamie)]

GUNGI: Jedi Youngling
REQUIRED ITEMS:

HEIGHT:
6' Maximum IN COSTUME, as Gungi stands at just under 5’1”


BODY:

Complete hair suit using natural or synthetic fibers. Hair should be a blonde/strawberry blonde mix. Hair should average at least 6 inches or longer. Complete coverage is required; no bald spots or exposed skin/undersuit.


Faux fur is not allowed, as it is not long enough. No yarn or shag carpet Wookiees. The Rubies Supreme Edition Chewbacca suit is NOT acceptable even with modification. The quality these materials is inferior to what can be achieved with latch hooking or National Fiber Technology, or other methods. The hair must maintain a consistent quality/type throughout the suit.

HANDS
Dark brown gloves matching the feet should be worn. There should be enough overlap between the gloves and the wrists of the hair suit that no skin is exposed. Gloves may be made of leather, vinyl, cloth, or rubber, but MUST be realistic. Claws/nails are required.



FEET &TOES
Feet must be completely covered with hair except for the bottom and the toes. Claws may be sharp or squared off.


MASK
The mask must completely cover the head and neck, without completely obscuring the shape of the shoulders. The eyes, a smooth black nose, and a large jaw/muzzle should all be clearly visible. A slight mustache like feature should be present as well.


The mask hair should be smooth and well groomed, not bushy, so that the mask’s shape and structure are clear. There should be lighter blonde markings on the chin and around the eyes. There should also be a darker brown “Mohawk” feature from just above the nose to the back of the head. These should all be well blended. Gungi’s lower left canine should be oversized and protrude above his upper lip.


Static masks should not be frozen in a fully opened position. All static mouths should be closed.

Although a functioning jaw and/or lip snarl is not required, the skin and lips of any mechanical masks should appear as one piece, rather than a separated jaw and face. This refers only to the mask’s outward appearance, not the underskull. Costumers should be aware that mechanical jaws and lips are complex projects requiring purpose-built components using special materials. They cannot simply be added to an existing latex rubber mask. Consult the costuming resources and fellow Wookiee costumers for advice on this project.

Eye makeup (shades of black or brown) should be worn around the eyes and completely cover any exposed skin.

ACCESSORIES
A dark brown leather or faux leather bandolier with ½” grey border is required and is worn over the left shoulder. This bandolier also has a decorative grey/silver accent over the heart (please see reference photos).




A red cloth obi should be worn around the waist. Dark brown belt with silver, rectangular buckle and covertec clip should fit over the red obi. A dark brown leather or faux leather armband with rectangular, silver accent piece should be worn on the right bicep. And Gungi’s wooden lightsaber hilt with silver accents and green blade is required.



_________________
"Let the Wookiee Win!"

Rebel Legion: Bacca9
Apollo Base Commanding Officer
Legion Costume Judge
501st: TK-91107
Mandalorian Mercs: OM-1107

[mad_muppet (Mark Warner)]

I want to offer constructive criticique, but I think these are pretty complete. It's more or less impossible to codify "Face must resemble Chewbacca" in a way that can be enforced beyond what I think you have already.

One nitpick: I think the "slight frown when closed" is really only noticeable in the ROTS Chewie and maybe the Ep 7 Chewie. I think the ANH mouth is more or less a straight line.

But I wouldn't plant a flag over it. It's all I could find.
_________________
Chewbacca, what a wookiee!!

[GotWookiee (Matt Pfingsten)]

This is a good start Jamie. I've got a few suggestions and ideas. They apply to all Wookiees so I'm just making my remarks on the Generic Wookiee CRL.

Once we have the revised CRL's hammered out we ought to think about formatting them so they look a bit nicer. I like the way the 501st CRL"s look. Each part has its own section and each section is a bullet list. Pictures for each component, etc.

[mad_muppet (Mark Warner)]

I kind of agree about the gloves, although I think that in the few instances you can see Peter's fingers in the movies it's not really intentional. I think he did wear some makeup on them but you see them for an instant and they're gone.

It seems to me like some sort of creature hands are best, kinda like how most people do the toes. I'm personally not a fan of the stitched leather gloves and similar that I sometimes see that are very clearly gloves. I think it's a huge killer of suspension of disbelief. I'm not sure how I'd word that, though.
_________________
Chewbacca, what a wookiee!!

[GotWookiee (Matt Pfingsten)]

I'm just going to go ahead and ruin Star Wars by posting these for everyone.



Definitely looks like he's got some make-up on them as they look brown, though it could be dye in the hair mixing with his sweat.
_________________
Chewbacca Costuming Resources | Chewbacca Costume Guide (under construction)
Matt Pfingsten - Film & Video Editor

[mad_muppet (Mark Warner)]

Yeah I definitely remember them looking browned.

I think that if we require wookiee toes we should require wookiee fingers but I recognize that's a preference. There's an element of screen accuracy of course but also the need to maintain a credible creature for the close up fans. :-)
_________________
Chewbacca, what a wookiee!!

[Bacca9 (Jamie)]

Thanks, Matt! I'll make those changes tomorrow after work. They are all very good suggestions. And as far as gloves, how do we feel about them being required ONLY for Tarfful, ROTS Chewie/Wookiees, darker colored Wookiees, and Gungi? I don't wear gloves with my Chewie most of the time anyway to be honest. No one ever really sees your hands. So gloves are recommended but not required. I'm also all for making the articulated mouth a standard, but that does mean requiring photos of the mouth both open and closed for approval. If we are all okay with that, I'll make the alteration.
_________________
"Let the Wookiee Win!"

Rebel Legion: Bacca9
Apollo Base Commanding Officer
Legion Costume Judge
501st: TK-91107
Mandalorian Mercs: OM-1107

[mad_muppet (Mark Warner)]

My concern with requiring proof of an articulated mouth is that a fair number of people seem to have trouble with the articulation of their first mask. Mine included. My mouth moves but not much. I make up for it with head movement and pantomime for now.

In order to be approved I'd have to make a whole new head and trash the one I spent two months on that I think looks quite good.

I'm not saying no, just that it may frustrate a fair percentage of wookiee builders. I will probably make a new head eventually anyway as I do think a moving jaw is obviously quite a lot better.

I do think that my half parted jaw is quite adequate though. Obviously I'm biased on this one. :-)

Gloves optional works for me.

What if moving jaw and wook fingers were part of a "formal" tier like I've seen in other costume standards?
_________________
Chewbacca, what a wookiee!!

[Forestmoonstudio ()]

I don't agree that there should be no gloves. I used arm extensions that required gloves for the hands to pull off the illusion that the arms were proportionate to the body. That was the only way to eliminate the stumpy arm look.
I also don't agree that all masks should be articulated. That should be up to the builder.

[gulywhumpr (James)]

As someone who was not experienced with costuming I would caution you to make the standard as low as possible so it is achievable. Wookies are one of the hardest costumes to build so making the requirements be the minimal necessary to have a screen accurate costume is best. Having more features would be great but the requirement should be the easiest bar to reach. I'm not saying what should be included in that minimum, but keep it reasonable.
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http://wookiecostuming.wordpress.com/

[GotWookiee (Matt Pfingsten)]

I agree. In my view the standards should be based around what most people are doing. If people are struggling with something, making it a requirement isn't going to suddenly motivate them to overcome the problem. Helping people with better tutorials will, sharing advice on the build, etc.
The minimum requirements are really for those who aren't as motivated, to insure that they at least put in the effort that others are.

That's why I think barring the Rubies suit as a base is a good idea. It's also why I tossed out the idea of requiring a moving mouth. I knew everyone was attempting it, but did not realize people were struggling as much as they are. So that should not be required yet. We need to figure out what problems people are having with their jaws and put better resources together.

In principal I agree with gloves, but the original ANH suit didn't have them. I would say make-up for the fingers should be acceptable.
_________________
Chewbacca Costuming Resources | Chewbacca Costume Guide (under construction)
Matt Pfingsten - Film & Video Editor

[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

have moved this to "Announcement" as this is a very important discussion...

please remember that it is a discussion...
and always show each other respect and consideration..


_________________


http://livefromthegalaxyfarfaraway.blogspot.com/