I want to build an animatronic dinosaur and/or raptor suit - can you help me?

Building an animatronic dinosaur or a raptor suit is an ambitious project! Luckily, we offer a variety of courses and behind-the-scenes videos that should help you learn the skills you need to figure it out.

For example, here's a video compilation from the Stan Winston Studio archives documenting the making of the raptor suit Jurassic Park which will give you a basic idea of the steps involved:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAzQr3Ml0UI

Also, here's a blog we published about a student who made his raptor suit so you can see how someone was able to create a raptor suit using accessible materials:

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/diy-velociraptor

Here are some YouTube videos we created about the process of making the Animatronic T-Rex for Jurassic Park:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SK1qTnhHzI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI9mDRWl3mw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZtJVh3nUyU

Once you have an idea of the process of building something like this, you can start looking through our courses to help you learn and develop the skills you'll need.

We have excellent sculpting and mold making courses, along with courses about how to run foam and latex, paint, make creature eyes, and build animatronic heads. 

Here are some courses that we recommend you check out:

How to Fabricate a Monster Suit - a 5-part course series

Part 1 here:

https://stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/how-to-fabricate-a-monster-suit-1-design-pattern-prototype

How to Make a Dinosaur - T-Rex Head - a 3-part course series

Part 1 here:

https://stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/make-a-dinosaur-t-rex-foam-fabrication-part-one

To get you started on the animatronics aspect, we suggest:

How to Build an Animatronic Head - a 4-part course series

Part 1 here:

https://stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/character-animatronics-how-to-build-an-animatronic-head-part-1-mechanical-underskull

How to Make Animatronic Characters - a 2-part course series

Part 1 here:

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/animatronic-character-creation-organic-mechanics-part-one 

And this might help too:

How to Sculpt a Dinosaur - a 2-part course series

Part 1 here:

https://stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/how-to-sculpt-a-dinosaur-part-1-build-armature-sculpting-primary-forms

The most important thing to remember is that you'll need to be creative and innovate on your own to solve problems that might come up. You'll surprise yourself with the solutions you discover. 

And be sure to check out our Forums, which is a great place to get questions answered by other artists who've done similar projects:

http://forums.stanwinstonschool.com/

Good luck!