akootbascomb
Member
Nothing says Halloween like the master of fear, freshly escaped from Arkham Asylum....That game has hands down been one of my all time favorite games, and the Scarecrow segments and his new design for the game had my jaw on the floor from the get go and remains the most memorable parts of the game for me. So when I decided that I was going to NYCC last year (my first con), there was really no question as to who I would be going as...
I had built a few costumes with my grandfather before when I was younger, but NOTHING nearly as complex as this, let alone by myself and from completely from scratch. I learned sewing, solder and circuitry from this, the latter of which were self taught and none of which I had ever even touched before. I actually discovered therpf while I was researching techniques for the build, but didn't join until this summer, when I finished college and actually had the time and workspace to resume prop making since I couldn't remember the last time I had that much fun with a piece! I'm an illustrator with a love of horror, and taught myself some basic makeupfx in school, plus I used to be an avid Games Workshop fan when I was in middle school, so this project really brought all of my passions together and got me addicted to cosplay and prop building almost immediately! Plus being theatrical by nature made wearing it for 3 days a blast...Kommissar had a great thread for the same build that I got a lot of great help from. As far as tips go the best two I walked away with was linen makes a far more comfortable substitute for burlap and is extremely breathable (those tattered rags remain the most comfortable pants I've ever worn) and the inkwells from cheap pen's make great, non-lethal syringe needles!
(Sorry all the images are sideways, for the life of me I couldn't get them to upload right...)
Humble beginnings! It took me a while to find PVC pipe parts that both looked detailed enough and more importantly, would fit comfortably on my arm. The central piece was a small bit of air conditioner tubing I found, while the syringes were actual syringe bodies, with bits from an air compressor hose and pen inkwells for needles. Many, many, many, trips to Home Depot...
Meanwhile I started reading up on circuits, LEDs, soldering, and all that good stuff. It was a very exciting point for me to see those LEDs actually do what they were supposed to let alone in conjunction with the syringes. Band-Aides masked off the opening areas of the fear injectors.
My favorite step...making everything look filthy and rotten...years of painting Games Workshop figures came into play full force for weathering metal. My basement's dungeon aesthetic set the mood haha. If I learned nothing else from this step is that spray paint is a fickle mistress when it comes to certain surfaces...
Because no man should have to wear Burlap let alone on his face, and because it is miserable to work with, I dyed some linen in coffee a few times, and built a wire mesh frame that attached to a cheap respirator I ordered. I bulked out the brows and cheekbones with some equally cheap Crayola model magic clay which dries extremely light to get a more skull like look, then carefully began to pin and stitch the linen over the frame. Lastly, I went back over everything with a fabric stiffener and airbrushed some of the receses. The black of the clay broke through unexpectedly but it gave it a great dirtied look which saved me from having to do it myself.
Taking full use of my department's spray room! I used a sewing machine for everything initially, but then went back in to do all the patchwork and craziness to give it that Dr. Crane "I-built-this-from-murdered-inmates'-uniforms" look. Being a tall guy (6' 3") that was a lot of hand stitching on those pants...50 episodes of Digimon Season 1's to be precise. Weathering included using everything from spray paint to fake blood!
I originally intended to use Elwire for the tubing but it wasn't as bright as I hoped and didn't move as smoothly nor look good in daylight so I had to scrap the idea. The gauntlet remains my favorite part if it was not already apparent. But barring some final testing the un documented addition of all the belts adorning the good doctors arms and legs, that pretty much wrapped it up!
I had built a few costumes with my grandfather before when I was younger, but NOTHING nearly as complex as this, let alone by myself and from completely from scratch. I learned sewing, solder and circuitry from this, the latter of which were self taught and none of which I had ever even touched before. I actually discovered therpf while I was researching techniques for the build, but didn't join until this summer, when I finished college and actually had the time and workspace to resume prop making since I couldn't remember the last time I had that much fun with a piece! I'm an illustrator with a love of horror, and taught myself some basic makeupfx in school, plus I used to be an avid Games Workshop fan when I was in middle school, so this project really brought all of my passions together and got me addicted to cosplay and prop building almost immediately! Plus being theatrical by nature made wearing it for 3 days a blast...Kommissar had a great thread for the same build that I got a lot of great help from. As far as tips go the best two I walked away with was linen makes a far more comfortable substitute for burlap and is extremely breathable (those tattered rags remain the most comfortable pants I've ever worn) and the inkwells from cheap pen's make great, non-lethal syringe needles!
(Sorry all the images are sideways, for the life of me I couldn't get them to upload right...)
Humble beginnings! It took me a while to find PVC pipe parts that both looked detailed enough and more importantly, would fit comfortably on my arm. The central piece was a small bit of air conditioner tubing I found, while the syringes were actual syringe bodies, with bits from an air compressor hose and pen inkwells for needles. Many, many, many, trips to Home Depot...
Meanwhile I started reading up on circuits, LEDs, soldering, and all that good stuff. It was a very exciting point for me to see those LEDs actually do what they were supposed to let alone in conjunction with the syringes. Band-Aides masked off the opening areas of the fear injectors.
My favorite step...making everything look filthy and rotten...years of painting Games Workshop figures came into play full force for weathering metal. My basement's dungeon aesthetic set the mood haha. If I learned nothing else from this step is that spray paint is a fickle mistress when it comes to certain surfaces...
Because no man should have to wear Burlap let alone on his face, and because it is miserable to work with, I dyed some linen in coffee a few times, and built a wire mesh frame that attached to a cheap respirator I ordered. I bulked out the brows and cheekbones with some equally cheap Crayola model magic clay which dries extremely light to get a more skull like look, then carefully began to pin and stitch the linen over the frame. Lastly, I went back over everything with a fabric stiffener and airbrushed some of the receses. The black of the clay broke through unexpectedly but it gave it a great dirtied look which saved me from having to do it myself.
Taking full use of my department's spray room! I used a sewing machine for everything initially, but then went back in to do all the patchwork and craziness to give it that Dr. Crane "I-built-this-from-murdered-inmates'-uniforms" look. Being a tall guy (6' 3") that was a lot of hand stitching on those pants...50 episodes of Digimon Season 1's to be precise. Weathering included using everything from spray paint to fake blood!
I originally intended to use Elwire for the tubing but it wasn't as bright as I hoped and didn't move as smoothly nor look good in daylight so I had to scrap the idea. The gauntlet remains my favorite part if it was not already apparent. But barring some final testing the un documented addition of all the belts adorning the good doctors arms and legs, that pretty much wrapped it up!
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