The man of your dreams
Last weekend (May 5-6, technically Sunday and Monday, but Monday was a National Holiday) was the Hollywood Collector's Convention in Tokyo, Japan. Celebrity Guests were Sean Astin (Sam in Lord of the Rings, Goonies) and Robert Englund (V, and most famously Freddy Krueger in Nightmare on Elm Street). Just under two months prior to the event, I was asked to do a Freddy Krueger costume. Time and budget were therefore factors in the creation of the costume.
For the sweater and the glove, I went with Rubies Deluxe versions. While I realize Rubies may be somewhat anathema around here, I did not have time to acquire some of the higher quality fan made gloves, so the Rubies would have to be "good enough" for the event, and their Deluxe Edition Replica glove did fit better and give me more movement in the fingers than some of the other gloves I tried on that people had at the con, both fan-made and by other companies.
For the hat, I opted to use my old Star Wars fan club Indiana Jones Fedora (Stetson, Last Crusade era) with the ribbon removed. I've had the hat for over 20 years, so it was nicely aged (sun faded, rain and sweat stained, dusty, dirty, and slightly beat up). Removing the ribbon left a dark band around the crown; I tried dusting that up and artificially aging it a bit, but it still showed quite a bit depending on the lighting. I was a bit sad about pulling the ribbon off, having worn the hat for 20+ years in several travels (I have photos from in front of Stonehenge and the Pyramids where I'm wearing that hat), the inner band is falling apart, the lining has seen better days, and it may just be time for a new one, which means I'll be getting one that is actually more Indy-accurate than the officially licensed one I have. I'll still be re-attaching the ribbon and using this for a "stunt" version if needed.
For the makeup, I used slightly different methods both days of the convention. I did it all myself without assistance (I wish I'd had some help, actually). Both days took roughly 2 hours to apply. The first day, I used straight latex and makeup: a flesh tone for over the latex areas, and red in the scarred and burned spots in between, with a faint outline of purple around the larger areas that was blended in. The second day, to add some more texture and strength on some areas that had started to peel on me by the end of the day (neck, chin, nose crease), I started by using spirit gum to attach some cotton (unrolled Japanese cotton balls, much smaller than the cotton balls we had growing up when I was a kid in the U.S.), over which I dabbed the latex until it covered the cotton, giving a bit more depth and texture, then the same makeup techniques as the first day. The second day actually went a little faster in application, despite the additional cotton and spirit gum, so I had time to do more around the back of my head and under the hat (in case I ever took it off). This is where assistance would have been greatly appreciated, it's really hard to do makeup on the back of your own head using two mirrors. As it was, for the back and head areas, I did not apply any latex or latex-covered cotton, just added some red areas without the purple highlights. While it was a bit obvious close up, it did help quite a bit in mid- to long range photos. The cotton and latex also let me "melt" one of my ears in to the side of my head. You can definitely see the difference in adding even just these rudimentary details in the photos.
Given more time (and budget), I would have tried for one of the silicon face prosthetics/masks I've seen, but under the time and budgetary considerations, I think I did fairly well for an amateur. I had a theater makeup class in University more years ago than I care to admit, skills I've only ever really used at Halloween and, many years later, when I started doing a Darth Maul costume for some events. I wish I could have taken more time with the makeup (2 hours may sound like a long time, but it honestly was a rush job) to get it more screen accurate. Regardless, I had a blast, and I did actually get quite a few compliments on the costume, including some kind words from the man himself, Robert Englund. While the event was last weekend, technically this costume is "finished" but were I to do it again, there are some things I would change and improve, so I still kind of consider it a "work in progress", hence my posting in this section of the forum.
Enough talk, time for some photos.
Day 1:
Day 2:
More photos from my camera can be found on my flickr page. Some other people's shots that I've found can be seen at Cinema Today andthis photobucket. Some people have also posted some great shots on my facebook page.
For the sweater and the glove, I went with Rubies Deluxe versions. While I realize Rubies may be somewhat anathema around here, I did not have time to acquire some of the higher quality fan made gloves, so the Rubies would have to be "good enough" for the event, and their Deluxe Edition Replica glove did fit better and give me more movement in the fingers than some of the other gloves I tried on that people had at the con, both fan-made and by other companies.
For the hat, I opted to use my old Star Wars fan club Indiana Jones Fedora (Stetson, Last Crusade era) with the ribbon removed. I've had the hat for over 20 years, so it was nicely aged (sun faded, rain and sweat stained, dusty, dirty, and slightly beat up). Removing the ribbon left a dark band around the crown; I tried dusting that up and artificially aging it a bit, but it still showed quite a bit depending on the lighting. I was a bit sad about pulling the ribbon off, having worn the hat for 20+ years in several travels (I have photos from in front of Stonehenge and the Pyramids where I'm wearing that hat), the inner band is falling apart, the lining has seen better days, and it may just be time for a new one, which means I'll be getting one that is actually more Indy-accurate than the officially licensed one I have. I'll still be re-attaching the ribbon and using this for a "stunt" version if needed.
For the makeup, I used slightly different methods both days of the convention. I did it all myself without assistance (I wish I'd had some help, actually). Both days took roughly 2 hours to apply. The first day, I used straight latex and makeup: a flesh tone for over the latex areas, and red in the scarred and burned spots in between, with a faint outline of purple around the larger areas that was blended in. The second day, to add some more texture and strength on some areas that had started to peel on me by the end of the day (neck, chin, nose crease), I started by using spirit gum to attach some cotton (unrolled Japanese cotton balls, much smaller than the cotton balls we had growing up when I was a kid in the U.S.), over which I dabbed the latex until it covered the cotton, giving a bit more depth and texture, then the same makeup techniques as the first day. The second day actually went a little faster in application, despite the additional cotton and spirit gum, so I had time to do more around the back of my head and under the hat (in case I ever took it off). This is where assistance would have been greatly appreciated, it's really hard to do makeup on the back of your own head using two mirrors. As it was, for the back and head areas, I did not apply any latex or latex-covered cotton, just added some red areas without the purple highlights. While it was a bit obvious close up, it did help quite a bit in mid- to long range photos. The cotton and latex also let me "melt" one of my ears in to the side of my head. You can definitely see the difference in adding even just these rudimentary details in the photos.
Given more time (and budget), I would have tried for one of the silicon face prosthetics/masks I've seen, but under the time and budgetary considerations, I think I did fairly well for an amateur. I had a theater makeup class in University more years ago than I care to admit, skills I've only ever really used at Halloween and, many years later, when I started doing a Darth Maul costume for some events. I wish I could have taken more time with the makeup (2 hours may sound like a long time, but it honestly was a rush job) to get it more screen accurate. Regardless, I had a blast, and I did actually get quite a few compliments on the costume, including some kind words from the man himself, Robert Englund. While the event was last weekend, technically this costume is "finished" but were I to do it again, there are some things I would change and improve, so I still kind of consider it a "work in progress", hence my posting in this section of the forum.
Enough talk, time for some photos.
Day 1:
Day 2:
More photos from my camera can be found on my flickr page. Some other people's shots that I've found can be seen at Cinema Today andthis photobucket. Some people have also posted some great shots on my facebook page.