Pro cosplay studio Dwarven Armory created this Warhammer 40k Leagues of Votann cosplay as a personal project in just one week. The costume artist wanted something that would “spark my joy in making”, and picked a Votann Hearthkyn Warrior for its “retro sci-fi vibe”.
Although Dwarven Armory (DA) is usually too busy making custom cosplay commissions to have time for personal projects, he “needed something new” for an upcoming convention. Having just finished painting miniatures for his Leagues of Votann army, “the choice was easy to make”.
The costume is entirely scratch built; DA says “I basically spent an entire week in my shop” working on the cosplay, adding “I literally made the last adjustments right on the convention floor before suiting up!” For the most part the suit is made from EVA foam. DA says he “started by drawing mock-ups of the pieces to get an idea of the volumes and shapes”, which were turned into paper templates and transferred to EVA.
DA had been out of the Warhammer 40k hobby for some years, but says “the introduction of the Leagues of Votann saw me coming back into the fold”. DA picks up on the intriguing lore of the newest Warhammer 40k faction, like their AI controlled society or the genetic templates for their race: “they’re literally made to get the job done, very pragmatic, which is something I appreciate in such a grim dark universe as 40k”.
The hardest part of the project was translating the models to human scale. Being the newest race in 40k they aren’t as well documented in photographs as they others: DA says that converting the cosplay required “methodically analyzing the models and find out how some of the parts would actually go together, making it modular as well to allow transportation too”. Or as he sums it up: “translating something from a model to real life takes quite a lot of problem solving!”
If you want a chance of meeting this ‘Kyn in person, be sure to check out DA’s Instagram. He says the project isn’t finished and he isn’t sure which conventions he’ll take it to next, but “I’ll be sure to post on my social media pages when I’ll make an appearance, I’m from Italy so most likely it will be somewhere in Europe”.
The excellent photography is by Alessio Buzi. Be cautious before clicking on that link, Buzi has some mildly NSFW photography on his Instagram.