Hellboy Cosplay - Comic Book Style

BigCoffinProps

BigCoffinProps

New Member
I have started a Hellboy costume that I hope to have completed for the 2019 Con season. My cosplay will be the comic book version of Hellboy and I am using the Mezco figures as a guide. My build will mostly be foam because the material is cheap and light enough to comfortably wear/carry around all day at a convention.

I started with the right hand of doom, of course. I used poster board to figure out the dimensions for the forearm and transferred that to foam. I offset the seams on the base of the forearm and the bands at the top and bottom to make them less noticeable. A little Qwik Seal helped hide the seams even more, and step one was complete:


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After completing the forearm, I used cardboard to mock up the hand. This was mainly to ensure I had the size correct before making the final piece - foam is cheap, but it ain't free.

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I transferred the cardboard template to foam, cutting v shapes into the foam to allow it to be folded into shape without awkward bulging. Don't get me started on awkward bulges...

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The main body of the palm was folded into position and the ends were connected with contact cement. I closed up the bottom with a piece of foam, added a another piece of foam across the top where the fingers will be attached and then sanded the whole thing to hide the seams.

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I used a piece of poster board to figure out the size and shape of the palm, transferred the pattern to foam and the main part of the hand was done!

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I attached a simple cylinder of foam to the hand to act as the wrist and glued a handle to the bottom of that so I will be able to hold the whole thing in place and rotate it around. I am designing my Right Hand of Doom as two pieces so I can make different hands to switch out, rather than make a whole new forearm for each look. This way, I will be able to have a "relaxed" hand, a closed fist and one that can hold drinks and stuff. To make the fingers, I layered two pieces of foam together to get the appropriate thickness and then used my wood burner to add the groove details to each finger. The knuckles were single layers of foam. I referenced the Mezco figure for all of the cracks, dents and battle damage. Various rotary tool bits were used to add these details. Here it is assembled.

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The hand is looking great. The Hand I built is just permanently a fist. You have a great idea about being able to switch out the hands, that should come in handy.
 
Thanks, Grundy! I hope that pun was on purpose.

Here are the pieces with Plastidip and with the first coat of red spray paint. In the first pic you can see the handle on the bottom of the wrist. The hand portion is held in place in the forearm by friction.

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Here are some pics of the finished product. The painting process consisted of alternate layers of red and black acrylic paint, with the black being heavily watered down. After that, I applied a couple coats of matte finish. The effect I was going for was a weathered, battle damaged stone hand. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. The last pic is of me (I'm 6'2) wearing the Right Hand of Doom, so you can get an idea of the size. First piece complete. Woo hoo!

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Sorry for the hiatus. You know, life happened. Anyway... back on track!

The next project I tackled was Hellboy's belt. The belt and pouches were pretty straight forward, just made some paper patterns and transferred them to foam, but the buckle would have to be made out of different materials. I found these shower curtain grommets at Walmart and picked them up to use as the ring of the buckle.

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For the red center portion of the buckle, I cut up pieces of plastic from a poster frame and experimented with spray painting both sides and one side red. The best look was viewing the unpainted side. That was the shiniest and least likely to be damaged from incidental contact at Cons.

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Next, I attached a painted piece to a ring with hot glue.

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This worked perfectly, so I moved on to the next step...
 
Hellboy's buckle is black rather than silver, so I experimented with a few methods of recoloring my rings. First I tried using a sharpie (not pictured) and it looked terrible. I love sharpies, but the coverage on the rings was streaky and uneven. Next, I tried black Plasti Dip. It dried bubbly and blotchy and scratched off easily.

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Finally, I went with the obvious fix and spray painted the rings black. This looked great with a few coats. I hit it with a matte varnish to protect it from scratches.

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I then attached a red center and VOILA!

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A few days after finishing the buckle I went to Walmart and found these right next to the silver shower curtain grommets I bought and painted...

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Yeah.
 
After looking at several options for the snaps on the pouches, I settled on these buttons from Walmart. I used Qwik Seal to fill the holes and cover the entire surface. I left a rough texture on them, figuring Hellboy would have worn equipment. I then covered them with some silver acrylic paint and hot glued them onto my pouches.

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Since my cosplay will have a trench coat covering my back and the rear of the belt will not be seen, I used the ol' nylon straps and parachute buckles technique to fasten the belt. The D rings on the straps were purchased on eBay. They are plastic and I bought a 25 pack. Here are some pics of the finished product. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. The long center strap that goes between the legs will attach to the tail assembly - no idea what that will look like yet...

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Next on the list: boots. I made the pattern by first covering a combat boot in plastic wrap and the in duct tape. This way I could be pretty sure it would fit when constructed. There are a lot of curves in a boot and I struggled for a bit trying to decide how to cut the pattern up, but I found inspiration when I saw my sister-in-law wearing a pair of Uggs. They don't even TRY to hide the seams on those things, and in many styles the seams are accentuated. So, I drew cut lines on the duct taped boot Ugg style and hoped it would go back together fairly easily. I labeled the sections so I wouldn't get confused later and it was ready to go.

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I failed to mention above that in order to get the toe/top portion to lie flat I cut it down the middle.I transferred the duct tape pattern to card stock and then used that to trace it out on foam. I simply left the toe seam unattached and filled it out with scrap foam to form the hooves. Then it was just a matter of adding the details of the boot. I order to get the thing on, I decided to make a cut along the back so it wouldn't be too obvious when worn. I had initially planned to leave the inside vertical seam open (not connected with contact cement) but I thought that might detract from the silhouette of the piece. Again, this is my first time making a cosplay (or anything, really) but I it went much smoother than I anticipated.

Here is the first boot/foot assembled. The Qwick Seal looks rough in the pics for some reason, but it is smooth to the touch and should hide the seams just fine.

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I will add velcro to the slit here to keep it closed.
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The split hoof shortened the wearable space inside the shoe, so I cut off the hoof portion and added about a quarter inch strip of foam to keep my toes comfy. While applying Qwick Seal to hide the added foam strip, I decided I liked the texture of the Qwick Seal. Instead of using water to get it super smooth, I intentionally added a texture into it to match the "grain" of the hooves visible on the Mezco figure. I think the added length makes them look better. The hooves seemed a little stubby before.

Oh yeah, I thought I was going to glue or strap this whole thing over a shoe - but then I thought to myself, "self" I thought "this is floor mat foam. It's intended purpose is to be comfortable to stand on." So I cut and glued a foam sole onto the boot, added a second piece for comfort and a touch of height (I'm 6'3, but every bit helps) and they should provide pain-free convention floor walking.

As soon as we get a weekend around here that doesn't include a snow storm I will get these babies painted up.

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P.S. I have taken to calling them "Pandemonium All-Stars".
 
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