Hank "Beast" McCoy Costume Help

[PhantomRonin]

Hey all,

I am new to the RPF and new to the hobby of building props and costumes. This year for Halloween I want to attempt going as Beast, my favorite Xmen character. I have an idea in mind for the costume, but I need help with make-up, and hair (including the chest and arms). I want it to look to where people won't recognize me in the make-up. Any ideas on how to achieve this effect?

 

[PhantomRonin]

This is the kind of look I'm thinking of...

 

[Bizarro Lois]

All the Chewbacca costumers I've met have told me that fur fabric is not usually a good idea. I think they make part of their costumes from netting, then use a latch hook to attach hair to the netting. I always thought that idea had potential for a Beast costume as well. He just doesn't have hair quite as long, and you might be able to get away with a leathery material for some parts.

 

[PhantomRonin]

Cool idea. Thanks Lois . What about the wig and the make-up?

 

[chicoperdido815]

You could try looking for some sort of werewolf make up appliance and paint it blue.

 

[PhantomRonin]

Would that work, and what kinds of make-up would be the best to use?

 

[chicoperdido815]

Full face large foam latex appliance lion mask
You can find some prosthetics like this that come in flesh tone and apply the makeup yourself to get the color you want.
I personally use Ben Nye makeup because that's what works best for me. You may find that some other brand works better. It all depends on your skin type.

 

[PaperMashia]

Hey, I'm doing a Hank as well. Mine is more of a X Men First class beast, but I've done a lot of research on both. For the hair, There is a wolverine wig that should accept blue spray in hair dye. They have pretty much the same style, so it's at the very least a jumping off point.
For the face, I'm going with this guy. Halloween Masks? Better! Film Quality Foam Latex Appliances | Boaris
And going blue. Though if you want an old school less feline version of Beast, you can go with something more along the lines of this. Lycanthus | Foam Latex Appliances | Foam Latex Proshetics | Halloween Foam Latex Masks | Werewolf | Beast
As for fur, it's always going to be a bit of a problem, so I say only show a bit and let it insinuate that there's more. I'm deconstructing an underarmor compression shirt and attaching fur fabric to select sections to show a bit of chest and maybe a little forearm.
For feet, I just googled monster feet and found a good pair of rubber ones that I've painted and will attach hair to.
I hope this helps. I'm going to continue to update my progress on the X-Men First class thread http://www.therpf.com/f24/x-men-first-class-costumes-107811/index12.html if you want to see more or share tips.

 

[PhantomRonin]

Thanks guys this is really helpful

 

[Friko]

Hi, i would go for the lion face appliance that chicoperdido815 suggested. Although it is clearly more more feline like than the original beast. Buy a wig and paint it blue, save some of the hair from the wig and punch it into the foam appliance to blend the hair line. For fur, which ive had to deal with before...and its very tricky and costly, id go with National Fibers Technologies. They do a lot the hair work for most costumes involving hairy or furred characters/creatures in hollywood. Again, its costly but you wont find any better. Buy a cheaper fur and dye it blue. Hope that helps

 

[PrimoOptimoso]

When I did it a couple years back, it was basically the X-men Last Stand version, so my face was still human and not lionish. But, I actually went to MAC (the high-end makeup store) and used blue powder eyeshadow from them for all the makeup blue. Went on pretty evenly and stayed on really well. Also I grew my hair and sideburns for 6 months, so that helped =0) I did use fur fabric, attached to the front and sleeves of a shirt, though I had to spray it with a bunch of different colors of dye and ink to take it down from "cookie monster" blue to a more palatable shade that matched my hair. Used the fur-shirt again for a quickie Oz flying monkey costume, too.

Just a couple of thoughts for low-cost and low-complexity solutions there.

 

[PhantomRonin]

Good idea or bad idea, for the pointy ears would using nose putty or scar wax to mold a tip and paint it the same shade of blue as my face (after using liquid latex to blend)?

 

[SonOfPumpkinhead]

For XM:FC the suits where full foam rubber body suits, the hands and legs and neck/cowlings of which all had the hair punched one at a time. All the nails where a flexable acrylic that was tinted and painted in washes. Much of the suit also had a faint flocking to further blend the fox fur into the "hairless" sections. Then there was the foam rubber appliances. It was colored with rubber mask grease paints and powdered.

The chewbacca suit process involves tying all the hairs to a net undersuit a few at a time... It's just as tedious as punching and you have to learn how to use the latch hook and tie the proper knots...

 

[Oboe149]

I don't have personal experience yet but from what I have studied, Scar Wax is the way you want to go.

 

[GotWookiee]

Hand-tying the hair into the suit is tedious but not very difficult. I recommend getting several different hair colors, blow drying them to straighten them out, and then blending the colors with a hackle (wig makers tool) to get a more natural looking appearance.

Expect to spend several hundred hours tying hair in. You want fewer hairs per knot (like 5 to 10) with a higher density of knots then large clumps spaced further apart. Areas like the knees and arms need a higher density since they move and will show bald/thin spots more easily than other areas.

Get some nice thinning shears and a wig brush and plan to trim a ton of hair out of the suit once you finish the tying part. It will come out kind of bulky and you really want to thin it out a lot.

Finally use some hair gel to run up the arms and legs to give it a clumpy, ruffled look.

Faux fur does not come in lengths longer than about 3". If it's blue chances are it won't have a lot of variation in the color so you'll end up with something that looks pretty fake.

National Fiber Technology makes long hair fabric fur. In fact they are the only company in the world that does. It's pretty expensive, though.

For the denser areas go with the hand-tied suit. As you get closer to areas that are thinner use hair punched into a foam rubber or silicone skin. This is what Stuart Freeborn did for the proto-humans in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 

[Beastheart]

Hey Guys, new to the board but found this while researching info on Beast. I'm putting together the full costume, to the point that I'm actually casting a full cast of my head and neck and sculpting the facial prosthetic. Only problem I'm having is trying to figure out how to do the hair. Any suggestions?