Thread: Zoo Monster

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Hello All. I have been comissoned to help with our Zoo's Halloween event this year. I don't think I could have ever been given a greater event to work with. For my "haunt" I'm creating a monster, not going to give it away just yet, that is going to be worn by an actor. I've already started on the arms units and such, but when it comes down to actually creating the skin and covers, I don't know what to do. It's reptilian, so I was wondering how am I going to give this thing skin, cheaply. That and I really would love to recreate the eyeshine effect in the back of its, well, eye. Anyone have any ideas?? Thank you!!

A lot depends on how the costume is going to be seen. How close are people going to get? What will the lighting be like? What kind of movement do you hope to get from the costume? How are you hoping to cover the costume? Are you, or do you have access to, a seamstress?

If you're prepared to sew together a "skin" I would recomend you go to the fabric store and take a look at all the unique fabrics and materials they have. You can get everything from a reptilian looking cotton/polyester to faux scales, to marine vinyl. Each material type will require slightly different skills and needles to work with.

If you're going with latex (pricey) than you just need to build the pieces, sculpt, set, and paint. This avenue is time consuming, requires a lot of talent and patience, and can be expensive.

Another option is to go "ol' school" and use the master tool of men everywhere - duct tape! Built your basic shapes and then wrap in duct tape. For your final layers, you can even scallop the tape to give a scale texture.

Anyway, those are my initial thoughts without really knowing the costume design.

If this really is a costume for an actor, you might want to post this question in the "Halloween Costume Ideas" section.

Lighting is the key. you can get away with a lot if you can control the lighting.

Another option to add scales and such would be to use plasticard and cut the scales out of that. They would be very durable, lightweight and you could paint them any way you wish. Plasticard is a thin sheet of plastic available at most hobby shops, i used to use it alot building dioramas for war games. Aslo another cheap easy way if you dont want to use plasticard you could use liquid laundry detergent plastic bottles. I have made eyes and other halloween stuff out of these bottles after they have been used up.You can cut out the sides of the bottles and it will give you enough plastic to make some scales. I suppose you could even use milk cartons to a degree.

Thanks for Ideas guys! It's a "costume" but mostly animatronic. It has moreso an alien type of "reptilian" skin. I myself am a "seamster" a.k.a. seamstress. There will be little lighting for it except for the occasional flashlight sighting. I wish I could get my hands on those little motors and metal pieces. Just don't know where or how to get them.

I'd love to help, but it's hard to provide adive and/or experience when the concept is sketchy.

If you're talking about a Stan Winston "Alien" then I would suggest foam shapes sewn onto a bodysuit. You can use nylon over oval and cresent shapes to give a smooth exoskeleton look. If you're looking for more of a gloss, then a thin, thin vinyl will work, but you're going to sacrifice some finer corners. This technique can give you most organic shapes including ribs, muscle shapes, etc. To add to the alien/reptilian look, you can never incorporate enough piping. Good for underbelly, veins, joints, etc.

If you want more of a hard shell costume, you could try building your own vacuumform table. This would allow you to build shell components.

BUILDING A VACUUMFORM TABLE

ok, I guess I have to give the ol' meister away, it's el chupacabra we're doing for the Zoo event. Reptilian like skin but smooth, no scales, the quills on it's back are like those of a porcupine. here's a preliminary sketch.



Instead of being a piece attached to the back, it'll be more or less attached just to the actors head. the hands are my biggest concern. we've already created one, but it's too clunky and tough to work with.

I would build the whole thing out of paper mache! It should be light, but durable, and you can paint and mold to give proper shape. You can secure a piece of wood or styrofoam down the spine to secure the quills.

I'm sure you've seen Stolloween's stuff before, but he's a real artist and his site is loaded is info and experience.

STOLLOWEEN: imagination + paper mache

Wow, that's a lot of awesome stuff!! I love how everyone bashes paper mache, but in fact, like monster mud, simple processes to get the job done. I love it! Thanks! With the whole arm movement though, paper mache wouldn't let the person move their arms, I was thinkin along the lines of stretching fabric over it then either painting it with Latex or Acrylic, any ideas?