About This Project

Back in 2007, when I made my first Big Daddy in my Queens apartment with Mona Collentine out of mostly found objects, CollegeHumor.com interviewed me about the suit and the construction process. There was all sorts of fun times with that suit that you can read about here.

Fast forward to August 2009, when Bioshock 2 was intended to be released in November 09, and CH contacted me to see if I was interested in making another suit for the Bioshock 2 release. My response was an emphatic heck yes. They said they'd keep me posted.

So time went on, and every now and again I'd get a, "still in the works" email from them. Then the Nov. release date was pushed back until February 2010, so I assumed the project was dead in the water. But then about Christmas time, I got another, "believe it or not, we're still moving forward" email. I kept informing them of the enormity of the project and that it would need at least a couple months to create. As time ticked closer to release date I got more and more nervous.

Finally, at the end of January, they told me they'd received a verbal confirmation from their client (an ad buyer for 2K), and that we were a "go," and could I have it done by the game's release (about a week)?

After cleaning up the hypothetical milk that had spurted from my nose, I said, no. But, I can get it for the 20th. Eventually, we agreed on the Feb. 16th delivery date for the costume to be worn at an interview with Jeff and Pat from Bleep Bloop.

I gave them the typical cost/quality/speed triangle of fast/cheap/good, and said pick any two. CH said they wanted it fast and good. So CH had agreed to fund materials and labor, as I'd have to hire a team of fabricators to meet the deadline, and away we went.

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This blog will be a combination of my and other fabricators' construction notes that we took during the build process. I asked everyone who wasn't working on the main site at the SCAD-Atlanta Sculpture Facility to take pictures of their construction process and methods. Due to the ridiculously short time frame of 10 working days, we didn't get everything documented during the original process, so there will be some post editing to fill in the blanks.

My goal during this project was to not just "get it done," but to put accuracy and quality above all else, in as much as was possible during the short time frame. Along the way, materials and personnel changed, as some things that weren't working out or looking like they'd get finished in time were nixed in favor of something more accurate and/or faster.

In the end, we had to find a balance between the ideal accuracy, and meeting the deadline. Some of the detail that wasn't specified in the reference imagery or didn't account for engineering was altered or modified, while still keeping the feel of the original as much as possible.