Comic Buff Designs and 3D Prints an Elaborate ‘Gorilla Ghost Mask’ in Just 4 Days

When I’m pressed for time, I’m usually not very effective. When I was in college I would usually get started on a long-term project the day it was assigned because I knew that if I waited until the last minute, I would probably fail. I just don’t do well under pressure, but this isn’t the case for everyone.

Take for example a man named Stefanos Anagnostopoulos, a designer who we have covered in the past. Back in February, we did a story on his amazing 3D printed Ant-Man Helmet, which was released even before the movie was.

Anagnostopoulos recently was presented with quite a lofty challenge from the MyMiniFactory team. That challenge was to come up with a unique design for a mask and then 3D print it — in just 4 days’ time. So this is exactly what he ended up doing, using both his incredible imagination from his hobby of reading comic books, and his skills as a designer.

“I have a story in my mind of a unit called the ‘Gorillas Deadly Mercenarys,'” Anagnostopoulos tells 3DPrint.com. “They are connected with a machine called ‘Life,’ and this machine is controlling governments all around the world by observing everything that is going on… It has its own mind and personality but is not known to humans. He is trying to save us (humans).”

The idea for a character was already in his head, so designing the mask to fit this character became a fun experience for Anagnostopoulos. He started out creating a hard surface model in ZBrush, playing around with different brushes until he had something that looked like what he wanted. He then sketched out a design on paper, choosing exactly how he wanted it to look, before returning to ZBrush to add all of the details in.

Once he was happy with his design, he imported it into 3D Studio Max to clean up the surface. Then it was back to ZBrush again to decimate it into a single, water-tight mesh. The final step, before 3D printing it, was to import it into Rhino 3D in order to divide it up into 10 separate pieces for 3D printing.

It took approximately 46 hours of print time to complete, and when off the printer, the pieces were all assembled together with superglue and epoxy resin before being post processed with help from a woman named Catherine Wood.

“It was then sanded and filled with p38 car body filler until the model was smooth and ready for painting,” Anagnostopoulos tells us. “Next it was primed in acrylic primer, then hand painted with acrylics and an airbrush. The skull was airbrushed in white, grey and blue. The helmet was then sealed in a matt varnish and lined with foam for comfort.”

In all the helmet came out better than could be expected for a project that was only given four days to complete. Inspired by a mix of skulls, gorilla forms, robotics, aliens, and bio mechanics,  you could consider the ‘Gorilla Ghost Mask’ project a complete success. Anagnostopoulos has made the design files for the mask available for free download on MyMiniFactory.com.

What do you think of this unique creation? Will you be 3D printing this mask for yourself? Discuss in the 3D Printed Gorilla Ghost Mask forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out some more photos below.