Alien Xenomorph - Making it differently

J

Jehudah Design

Well-Known Member
I just saw an advertisement in this forum showing a statue of the Alien Xenomorph and thought I might as well share my costume idea now.

I've already decided to get a costume of the Giger alien or something inspired by that one, but didn't know when the time for that would be since I was going to buy a somewhat expensive latex kit that needs to be glued to a bodysuit and painted and all that, then I read that such a latex costume would rot away after some time, which is pretty bad!

Thinking of other ways to make one, I got the idea that maybe it would be possible to actually sew the whole damn thing out of vinyl or leather since the whole thing is just a bunch of ribbed and shiny stuff anyway.

It would be a very complex job, but it would be my very own scratch built, or sewn if you will, costume, made a way I think no one has ever done before, and it would probably last a very long time indeed.

alien1.jpg


So what you all think of this idea? Something that could work? To me it seems possible after a whole lot of sewing and swearing. :lol
 
Thanks, I'll certainly try, but I'm not sure yet if vinyl is the way to go. Real leather breathes and probably looks more like real skin since well it is real skin.
 
Well, it certainly is a very ambitious idea, that's for sure. I would definitely go with leather over vinyl, vinyl just isn't supple enough to create those folded and twisted shapes. But bear in mind that quite a bit can be created with upholstery foam, glue, tubing, and then covering those shapes with the leather if you don't want to cover your construction with liquid latex. You could probably used Barge cement and other adhesives in some areas in place of stitching. But however you proceed best of luck!
 
Excellent, another alien scratch builder. I'm focusing towards the alien warrior design myself from Alien Resurrection. Although, kinda new to costume making I look forward to seeing yours materialize.
 
Latex doesn't rot away in a couple years dude.... More like 20 something years.... As long as u keep it clean and de funk it after you wear it.
 
@Vermithrax 4 - Haha, yeah I'm sure. Yeah I think leather would work best for this too, easier to shape and glue down to things. I am going to use a bit of foam and tubes and all that other stuff too, otherwise it would look like a 200 year old wrinkly alien for sure.

@simul8r - I thought I'd never make one myself, but it seems I will anyway :D Ah yes, those look cool, and they seem to have digitigrade legs too from what I can find on Google, is this something you will make on yours too? I've actually been planning for several years how to make digitigrade legs for a scary looking costume, so this costume would sure be perfect for that.

@Bowelrock - Well that should last for quite some time then, but still I can't really afford the expensive kit anymore so would rather just make it myself, and the only way I could make it would be to sew the thing out of leather anyway.


I Googled around last night and think I found the one I want to be.
3636843275_7f83f4f49d_b.jpg

2eyyhav.jpg

3132631176_836a49d9c6_b.jpg


It seems this wonky headed one was made as several different statues and busts, but I can't really recall seeing it in any of the movies, so I have no idea where it came from or who designed it, but I guess it won't matter since mine will be a custom version similar to that one anyway, hopefully with digitigrade legs.
 
I was thinking the same thing but was wondering about the extra weight involved with the costume if you don't use foam latex with most of the parts. But as I live in a rather warm climate I'm also going to make most the tubing in the costume function as ducting for airflow. As I'd like to make something more flexable it'll be a challenge to do both.
I was thinking of starting with one of those morphsuits (full body lycra) as a base. Anybody else recommend those with costumes?
 
I actually thought about this as well. To that end, I purchased in NYC some really nice 4 way stretch black spandex with a shiny black coating. It's super stretchy, and my plan was to sew an alien body. Ribbing, tubing even, most of it could be done with some batting and a sewing machine. The fabric I found is very lightweight (otherwise I think you'd DIE in the thing) and super stretchy. Don't know if I'll ever get around to it.
 
@RCvie - The tail might be the heaviest part if covered with nothing but leather, plus the stuff inside it, but the bodysuit will probably weigh as much as any other leather jacket and leather pants, so the tail and head would be the heaviest. Having the tubing open for airflow is a good idea.

@dlzx9r - Thanks, I'll sure be needing it, though I'm not sure when to begin.

@asavage - That's two more people with the same sewing idea then, so maybe I'm not crazy afterall, or we all are... Hey, making it of a stretchy, light material like that would be even better than leather, and cooler to wear too. Also another problem I see is that I do have an Alien-like skinny *******'s body, so making the leather suit tight against that will clash with my plan of deskinnybastardizing by working out where a stretchy suit would fit now and fit later. I hope you get the time to start on it sometime then.
 
The Photos you have posted are of Takeya's Alien ( I have both in my collection) and a full 8 foot replica of Takeya's was built by a guy in Manchester and was an awesome piece.He was a friend of a friend and I dont remember his name but he had also done some other full size sculpts
 
Thanks for sorting that out for me. Hopefully I won't get any problems from making a costume from his design? Then again the Aliens weren't designed by him, so to speak, just this variation, so it should be fine, I guess.

Anyway, there would be the matter of vacuforming the dome of this thing or figuring out something else. Anyone here capable of vacuforming such a dome?

Also some designs for homemade digitigrade legs would be awesome, I've always wanted to have that for something, so having them with this Alien costume would look awesome and damn tall!
 
I've been thinking a lot about how I will be able to get a dome for this costume since I don't think I'll be able to make that myself anytime soon, so I was planning on asking someone else to make an alien dome by the style seen above, but that involves having to ask for someone to make just that one oddly shaped dome that he probably couldn't sell on to anyone else anyway.

But then someone posted this photo that really inspired me and pretty much changed my mind.
521873_370743989627941_130940650274944_902958_554632497_n.jpg


So why would I want to make my Alien costume with a non standard dome instead of the one seen above with the iconic shape? Hell, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that there are at least a few people who have vacuuformed the standard dome before and could sell one of those to me, in fact I already know of one guy here who made Alien costume kits for sale.

So in all, I basically just need a dome for my costume, the rest I will hopefully get to sew together myself out of leather, and dang I have a lot of black leather around now and even got to scavenge lots and lots of gray leather from a large couch that I will later dye black, so I'm good to go for assembly once I get that dome for it. I will still make digitigrade feet for it, 'cause that's just awesome and will turn me from 6'3" to whatever I will become afterwards.

Thanks for any help you can provide to let me get that dome.
 
This is Takeya Alien model kit that you are looking at here. It is not from any of the movies, it was made into 3-5 varying model kits, including a life-sized bust, which you have pictured above. I love the look of this, it's a fresh look at an old design. I myself am making an Alien costume from scratch for Halloween 2012, and I have just the solution for you: Construction Foam. You can buy it at Home Depot or Lowes. It glues together with liquid nails and is strong, durable and extremely lightweight, AND...you can saw it, drill it and sand it. Look at the head in this picture...it weights about a two pounds and I was able to drill all the details including the second mouth.
190492_IbtArLhqm2WtBL9eOSqh2Yq1N.jpg
 
I am trying to make this xenomorph costume as cheaply and out of an many recycled materials as possible. The foam actually got from leftovers from a construction job, but it's cheap enough to buy, a $15 sheet will make you the head after you cut the sheet and glue it together. To see more pics of my progress, here's a link to the costume page: Xenomorph Costume 2012 by Ian Austin at Coroflot.
The foam was really handy for those tricky shapes like the wavy shaped pipes on the back. But by sanding and carving the foam I got exactly the shape I wanted.
 
Ah yes, but I don't think I'll be making mine to look like that variation anymore as it's much easier to find a regular dome, otherwise I think I'm the only person out there who would have such a dome and would have to pay someone a lot extra to make a vacuum-form base shape for that dome that will probably just be used for my one costume, so I'm letting it out there that I need a vacuum-formed dome, all standard shaped! This request is also in the sales section of this forum now.

That's a cool foam build you have there, good work with that. Though I'll still be making mine out of leather though, seeing as I'd probably be the only one or at least the first for some while to have done that.
 
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