Introduction: Dragon Age Inquisition Foam Board Shield Tutorial

By www.cairdycrafts.co.uk
About: I'm an engineer and a dad who has a love for designing and making toys, STEM projects and anything electronicy.

Hey there! If you're a bit of a gaming geek like me and have really enjoyed played Dragon Age Inquisition (farewell social life...) then you might be wishing you could make your own momento of the game. Well, look no further! Follow these instructions and you can make your very own Dragon Age Inquisition Shield (as modelled by the handsome young chap in the photo :P).

Templates are all included, so all you need to do is print them off, pick up a few things at the local craft store and we're ready to rock and roll!

If you want to follow the video tutorial, just follow along below...

Dragon Age Inquisition Foam Board Shield tutorial

What DragonAge/Foamboard project would you like to see next?! Comment below!!

Step 1: Tools and Materials

So, for this project you'll need these tools and materials:

Tools

  • Xacto/Stanley/Sharp craft knife
  • Healing cutting board
  • Metal ruler (optional, but useful)
  • Tacky glue stick

Materials

  • 2 sheets A1 foamboard (even though it says A2 in the video!)
  • 3 cans of grey/silver spray paint - a lighter can for the back, a darker can for the raised details and a last one for adding highlights if you want to
  • A can of spray adhesive (The tacky glue stick works just as well here!)
  • The printed templates (download from this step!)

Attachments

Step 2: Trim and Stick Your Templates

First up, choose your size of shield. For the smaller shield, use the 4 smaller templates. For the larger shield (in the the video), use the 9 larger templates.

Trim your templates to size, removing the excess white edging (see photo) and begin to stick them down, beginning with the top row-centre piece.

As you stick them down, apply glue to the parts you won't be needing. This way, when you cut the pieces out, the white templates will fall away, leaving the foamboard surface unscathed by tacky glue and bits of scuffed paper template!

Step 3: Cut Out Your Templates & Create Your Back Piece

Next, using the sharp knife, carefully work your way around the outer edge of the shield. Once you've cut around the shield, place your cut-out shield on the 2nd piece of foamboard and draw around it with a pencil. This piece will become the back of your shield.

Use your knife to cut around the back piece and place the two pieces on top of each other to make sure they line up.

Step 4: Cut Out the Remaining Pieces

Now, cut around each individual piece inside the main part of the shield.

To finish off, look at where the lines are on the spikes and draw them onto the card using the pencil and ruler.

Step 5: Cutting Angles on Each Piece

Now comes the slightly fiddly, but very rewarding part. We're going to make your shield parts look more 3D!

Take each spiky part (under the eye on the shield) and line up the knife in the middle of flat surface of one spike.

Now, cut down along the length of the spike at an angle of 45 degrees (so the edge looks angled).

Repeat with the other spiky pieces so they all look angled.

Next up, add angles to all sides of the eye pieces.

Finally, add a 45 degree angled cut to the inside edge of the shield's outer edge piece - see photos!)

Once you've added angles to all your pieces, it's time to paint!

Step 6: Spraying Your Shield Pieces

First up, you want an open/well ventilated area as spray paint and glue both contain some nasty chemicals.

Working outdoors works well as the paint dries more quickly too!

Before spraying, I'd suggest sealing the foam board first. This way, the paint won't react with the foam or card. There are many ways of sealing the foam board, from using a sealing spray to a simple mix of PVA glue and water. I didn't seal the foam for this project, but I would recommend it!

You'll want to spray your shield pieces these colours:

Lighter grey

  • Eye inner piece (that the tiny inner dot sits in)
  • Shield back piece
  • Shield edge piece

Darker grey

  • Eye outer, curved and tiny centre dot
  • Spikes under the eye

Apply several coats of paint to each piece (top will do fine, no need for underneath) and don't forget to spray the back piece on both sides!

Allow each piece time to dry (30-40 minutes seemed enough outside) and you're ready to glue!

Step 7: Gluing the Pieces Together

Before gluing, grab that A4 template you printed off and dry fit all your pieces together. This way, you know where each piece goes and you can lift, spray and fit each piece together in turn.

If you use the spray adhesive, it goes tacky as soon as it goes on, so you need to be accurate when you press the pieces onto the shield!

I recommend constructing your shield in this order:

  1. Glue shield edge onto shield back
  2. Glue Outer eye onto shield back
  3. Glue inner curve inside outer eye
  4. Press tiny dot into the round part it sits in and glue these together in place
  5. Glue the middle spike in place
  6. Glue spikes in place either side of the middle spike
  7. Glue outer spikes in place

I found that the spiky pieces curled after a couple of coats of paint. To help hold these down as they glue, I use the spray paint tins to hold them down, but anything flat and around the weight of a paperback book would do the job fine.

Step 8: Stand Back and Admire Your Work!

Around 30 minutes later, it's time to pick up your shield and join the Inquisition! Find yourself a foamboard dragon and fend off its foamboard attacks with foamboard bravery!

Thanks very much for checking out this instructable. I hope you found it useful!

What DragonAge/Foamboard project would you like to see next?! Comment below!!