My 5 yr old son this year wanted me to try to up the ante on his costumes. Last year i made an Optimus Prime and The year before an IronMan. This year he decided he wanted to be a Ninja Turtle. We were going to base off the cartoon until he saw the trailer for the new movie and wanted that. My experience is fairly limited. The 2 previous costumes have been my only foray into costume building, I have some experience with Models and painting from when i was younger. Anyone interested in making halloween costumes and mask's should check out StiltbeastStudios Youtube channel. He had a tutorial on making a foam muscle chest that really helped me out.
I started by researching how i wanted to make it but there was not much reference only a couple of pics.
We then Constructed a Duct Tape Dummy and then put pajamas ontop of that.
On top of the Pajamas we sculpted the muscles using 1.5 in upholstery foam and glued them on using rubber cement and spray adhesive. We then covered the entire outfit with a 1/8 inch upholstery foam and sealed with spray glue and a layer of liquid latex to help seal.
For the shell I tried multiple things but finally we had a platter that was the size of the base of the shell and i made a rough skeleton using Anti Faitgue Mat and then covered in duct tape. I put a couple of coats of resin on but did not make much difference. I then took 5 ml fun foam from Hobby Lobby and cut the pattern for the turtle shell out and glued it over the frame. On top of that i put a layer of StyroSpray 1000 to give it a hard shell. We used a couple of buckles and Nylon to make it into slip on backpack.
For the head we had originally planned to have it sculpted and poured in Latex but my Wife went into the hospital the week before Halloween and Both boys were really sick before that and when my wife got home i got sick. This is also why there is a big gap in my in progress photos. I also did not have any experience with Molding so i messed up the Mold and did not have a chance to start over. We got a painters sock from Lowes as a last ditch effort.
The hands are a pair of gloves with the fingers slit and taped together then covered in Latex.
Painting:
I had never airbrushed and decided this was the best time to try. I really enjoyed it. Cant wait to practice somemore and get better. For his Arm Tatoo we created a stencil and airbrushed it on.
Accessories:
Bandana: Just fabric trimmed and painted blue.
Shoulder Pads were Anti Fatigue foam glued onto the shell strapping.
We wrapped his joints in stained cloth that were exposed.. We dyed it with Tea.
He has a pair of Cutoff brown Shorts which is covered by his Kilt like piece made from cutup jeans painted cut and sewed together.
The boots are a wrap around the legs made from Leather at Hobby Lobby and the feet were cut from foam and glued to the shoes.
the swords i attached together with Cord and Glue then poked a hole in the shell and attached them together with Coat hangar wire.
His armguard is actually a shinguard painted Brown to approximate the movie.
His wood chest armor is cinnamon sticks glued to twine and tied around his neck and waist.
One thing i realized when researching the movie turtles are some of the things do not look like they are attached to anything. Like the shoulder pads look directly riveted to his shoulders. Swords attached directly to shell.
This has been a great learning experience and alot of fun. Took my son out last night and he said was the most Epic Halloween ever. That is good enough for me.
Chad
I started by researching how i wanted to make it but there was not much reference only a couple of pics.
We then Constructed a Duct Tape Dummy and then put pajamas ontop of that.
On top of the Pajamas we sculpted the muscles using 1.5 in upholstery foam and glued them on using rubber cement and spray adhesive. We then covered the entire outfit with a 1/8 inch upholstery foam and sealed with spray glue and a layer of liquid latex to help seal.
For the shell I tried multiple things but finally we had a platter that was the size of the base of the shell and i made a rough skeleton using Anti Faitgue Mat and then covered in duct tape. I put a couple of coats of resin on but did not make much difference. I then took 5 ml fun foam from Hobby Lobby and cut the pattern for the turtle shell out and glued it over the frame. On top of that i put a layer of StyroSpray 1000 to give it a hard shell. We used a couple of buckles and Nylon to make it into slip on backpack.
For the head we had originally planned to have it sculpted and poured in Latex but my Wife went into the hospital the week before Halloween and Both boys were really sick before that and when my wife got home i got sick. This is also why there is a big gap in my in progress photos. I also did not have any experience with Molding so i messed up the Mold and did not have a chance to start over. We got a painters sock from Lowes as a last ditch effort.
The hands are a pair of gloves with the fingers slit and taped together then covered in Latex.
Painting:
I had never airbrushed and decided this was the best time to try. I really enjoyed it. Cant wait to practice somemore and get better. For his Arm Tatoo we created a stencil and airbrushed it on.
Accessories:
Bandana: Just fabric trimmed and painted blue.
Shoulder Pads were Anti Fatigue foam glued onto the shell strapping.
We wrapped his joints in stained cloth that were exposed.. We dyed it with Tea.
He has a pair of Cutoff brown Shorts which is covered by his Kilt like piece made from cutup jeans painted cut and sewed together.
The boots are a wrap around the legs made from Leather at Hobby Lobby and the feet were cut from foam and glued to the shoes.
the swords i attached together with Cord and Glue then poked a hole in the shell and attached them together with Coat hangar wire.
His armguard is actually a shinguard painted Brown to approximate the movie.
His wood chest armor is cinnamon sticks glued to twine and tied around his neck and waist.
One thing i realized when researching the movie turtles are some of the things do not look like they are attached to anything. Like the shoulder pads look directly riveted to his shoulders. Swords attached directly to shell.
This has been a great learning experience and alot of fun. Took my son out last night and he said was the most Epic Halloween ever. That is good enough for me.
Chad
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