SMASHWORKS - Footwear, Illustration, and Costume Design: COSTUMES

Showing posts with label COSTUMES. Show all posts

Friday, November 04, 2011

Toronto Zombie Walk 2011 - Baywatch Zombies

For Toronto Zombie Walk 2011 I finally got to execute a concept that I had envisioned over two years ago! Last year I had to miss doing the zombie walk because of my new insane grad school workload but this year I was having none of it. Baywatch and zombies seem like the perfect combination to me so I was dying (harhar) to do a mash-up for the walk. The garments were all modified and distressed for the costume and I made the patches myself. All the makeup and prosthetics I did from scratch! The best part was that we did the slow motion Baywatch run zombie style, it was great to hear people cracking up as we passed them on the street :) There are a ton of photos online of us but I'm only posting three!

Oh yes, and we made it on to BlogTO! :) http://www.blogto.com/city/2011/10/toronto_zombie_walk_2011/

Saturday, October 08, 2011

Monster High Fearleading Cosplay - Frankie Stein

The final costume of the Monster High cosplay trio that I designed was my own character Frankie Stein :) As with Draculaura and Deuce Gorgon's costumes, I designed mine from scratch, hand screening all the trims, body coverings and using a vector rendering of the MH logo I'd drawn for the chest. I had never modified a wig before this project so that was a HUGE accomplishment. I'm so happy with it I think I'll likely do a post just to show it close-up :) I made it stable enough that it hasn't changed since I first put it on! This costume between the uniform, arm and leg coverings, and the f/x makeup was a huge amount of work and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

I made the earrings from scratch using my long-lost childhood sculpting skills with Fimo/Sculpty and created Frankie's skull earrings. My ears are stretched larger than a normal gauge plus a normal ear piercing wouldn't be able to handle the weight of these so I opted for the clip-on earring backs. They were nearly impossible to find in the city! I could not believe the amount of store employees that gave me brain dead stares when I asked if they carried them. Who would have known they were so rare!

The f/x makeup was done by myself. I made the cheek stitches from scratch, actually sewing through the semi-completed prosthetic while it was on my face. It turned out great! I loved being able to incorporate some authentic elements into something like this.

Monster High Casketball Cosplay - Deuce Gorgon

Ah, Deuce Gorgon. Putting the Deuce in seduce ;) This year I was very excited to have my partner join me for his first time cosplaying! After debating which Monster High character he wanted to be for Fan Expo Canada we decided on Deuce Gorgon. I had a heck of a time figuring out how to translate his snake hair and initially planned on doing an insane f/x prosthetic. In the end there just wasn't the time to execute it so I came up with an alternative plan and it worked beautifully. I designed a hat and hand screened a gradient print that was a larger scale pattern to what Deuce's hair looks like. Instead of opting for the Casketball hair version where his snakes are sticking up, I opted to go with the flipped down style of his Dawn of the Dance hair. This was more fun anyways since my partner got to flip it from side to side and put a snake in front of his eyes like a loose curl when he felt like it :)

I made the uniform from scratch, hand screening the trims and drawing a vector MH logo for the chest. I also made the socks and hand screened the pattern on them. The glasses were painted with stained glass paint to make them green.

Monster High Fearleading Cosplay - Draculaura

After attending SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) this year and meeting Garrett Sander, creator and design manager of Monster High I knew I HAD to do this group cosplay for Fan Expo Canada 2011. Initially the friends I usually do a group cosplay at Fan Expo Canada were all going to join in this Monster High epicness (I'm the official costume maker for the group) but a large number of them couldn't attend this year! Regardless of that, we represented with a group of 3 and I don't think it could have be more epic :)

This is the lovely Draculaura in my original Fearleading uniform costume design. I made the uniform from scratch, even hand screening the trims. Many many many yards of trim! I also created a vector logo in Illustrator for the MH logo on the uniform chest. Draculaura made her own wig and did her own f/x makeup, all for her first time. I think she looks great!

I made the earrings from scratch too, free-handing the design on shrinking plastic and then making them into earrings. If you've seen my blog before you know how much I like to play in the area between 2 and 3 dimensional props so I liked the idea of using these for her costume instead of real safety pins :)

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Monster High Cosplay - Fan Expo 2011 PREVIEW - UPDATE!

UPDATE! I've now published three new posts about my Monster High Fearleading (and Casketball) cosplay designs for Frankie Stein, Deuce Gorgon, and Draculaura! Check them out :)

I can't resist posting this one..

(ORIGINAL POST)
I attended SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) this year and one of the many highlights was meeting Garrett Sander, creator and design manager of Monster High at the official MH booth! The experience along with all the amazing doll prototypes pretty much decided it for me.. I was determined to cosplay as Monster High characters for Fan Expo Canada 2011!

I'll be doing a long post for these costumes but this is a sneak peek! I designed the entire costumes from scratch for Frankie Stein, Deuce Gorgon, and Draculaura (minus her wig which she did herself). So excited to do a post on these, they were a huge amount of work but I am so happy with how they turned out! Can't wait to do more ;)

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Toronto Underground Cinema - Raptor Costume Revisited!

The Toronto Underground Cinema's 2011 pinup calendar features the lovely Sam in my Raptor costume pieces! The hood and gloves are my original designs :)

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Uberfriendship.com's Show About Games Show - Ezio Cowl

David over at UberFriendship.com needed a costume piece for an upcoming segment on their Show About Games Show at The Escapist Magazine! The upcoming segment features a character based on Ezio from the Assassin's Creed video game series. I created a cowl based directly on the game version and I was happy with how it turned out. I wasn't sure how I wanted to do the closure initially but I ended up putting Velcro down the centre front and it is inconspicuous enough that it doesn't detract from the rest of the top-stitch detailing.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Archived - Toronto Fan Expo 2009

This has been long overdue because I was hoping to have done a shoot with the ladies to post here but I figured it was about time! At Toronto Fan Expo 2009 I designed 7 Merlotte's waitress costumes, of True Blood fame, for me and the ladies! I styled myself as Sookie Stackhouse, bites and all :) We also had a guy with us who was styled after Sam Merlotte!

I made all the aprons from scratch modelling them directly off the style worn in the show. I also created iron-on decals with the logo and applied them to each t-shirt our group members provided me with. For my own costume I converted a pair of pants into short shorts and also picked up a pair of white canvas sneakers like Sookie wears in the TV show.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Toronto Underground Cinema's Tales From the Underground

This was a project I was involved with back in July 2010. The Boys at Toronto Underground Cinema decided to create a three short films for Edgar Wright's The Wright Stuff which happened the first weekend of August 2010. For those of you that don't know what that is, Edgar frequently programs series of film screenings in various theatres around North America and the UK, films that have inspired him throughout his life. TUC hosted his latest Toronto event which was in honor of his newest film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World being released that same week.

I was the costume designer for this project which was so much fun! The second film was particularly costume intensive and the one I spent all my time on. Part 2 was inspired by the 1980's film Flash Gordon, one that I love particularly because of the campy costumes and character design :) I was hoping to get some detailed construction shots but unfortunately that hasn't happened yet so I'm posting some shots the boys took on set!

For Alex's costume I was inspired by Prince Vultan, who was the prince of the bird-like Hawkmen in the film. I created a leather breastplate with shoulder guards and matching leather bracers. I don't have a shot of the back but there were two buckled straps going from the shoulders that created a harness with two horizontal buckled straps across the back. Additionally, I got a set of baby black angel wings that tied to the back harness and a viking hat.

Evil Emperor Dark Nigellus was kept in the theme of Flash Gordon's villain, Emperor Ming the Merciless. I created a long hooded cloak from red satin and Nigel accessorized with copious amounts of eyeliner and faux facial hair!

The love interest in this mini-epic was Belinda played by Christine. I was inspired by Ming's daughter in the film, Princess Aura and her memorable gold costume. This costume was all about the bling so I picked up some vintage antique white lace with beading/sequins and repurposed it for the bra portion of the costume. I created gold beaded/sequined shoulder pads that had loops to attach them to the bra strap which I also added gold trim to. The skirt was a wrap with a thick gold elastic band (that was a really big pain to find!) and an interlocking metal buckle. I also picked up some strands of clear seed beads for a necklace and a Celtic knot elastic headband.

The last costume was for Charlie and inspired by Flash Gordon himself. I created a t-shirt from scratch, adding the contrasting red arm and sleeve ribbing. I then screened the FLASH logo on the chest and the lightning bold on the back. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it but you can check it out in the film below! :)

Friday, December 03, 2010

Halloween 2010 (1.0) - Totoro!

For the longest time I have been planning on paying hommage to Hayao Miyazaki's genius in the Studio Ghibli produced MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO (1988)! I started with a romper base and somehow created this in about an hour and a half. Considering I didn't even have access to my pins, I'd say I did a pretty awesome job! I also added a headband I'd created with a small glitter foam leaf on the side to protect me from the rain ;) And of course, I compensated for the lack of clothing by wearing giant boots! I needed to keep warm somehow..

My friend Sam loved the costume so much that she decided she needed to keep it for herself:) It looks awesome on her! These photos are too cute, she even has a Soot Sprite from the movie <3

In case you have not experienced the joy of My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro) here is a clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWMEBbkxsq8&feature=related

Halloween 2010 (2.0) - Chucky.. also known as "The Lakeshore Strangler"

My second Halloween costume undertaking this year was Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray who is also known as "The Lakeshore Strangler" by horror aficionados :) I unfortunately had to miss the Zombie Walk earlier in the month, breaking my yearly tradition so decided to console myself by morphing into a character that still haunts many. I did all the f/x makeup from scratch, using a combination of scar wax and liquid latex for the base, adding color. After sealing it, I manually sewed in the stitches with a needle and fishing line.

I made a shirt from scratch after realizing that rainbow striped long sleeved shirts are impossible to find! Who would have thought. I screened the "Good Guys" logo on a pair of overalls and found a pair of red kicks that I added the white stripes to. After that, all I needed was a nice sharp knife and a switch blade... Oh yes, and a creepy frozen smile that I kept on throughout the night..

Hi. I'm Chucky, wanna play?

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Indie Film "Death and Space"

The great thing about doing costume design is the variety of projects you can have that allow you try experiment will all kinds of techniques and materials. Working on 'Death and Space' has been particularly interesting because it actually takes place in space. Or as close as we mortals can get, the green screen :)

There were going to be alot of tight shots and close-ups so the space suit worn by the astronauts had to have as much realistic detail as possible. The creators ordered an NASA replica space suit modelled after those worn in the Apollo mission which ended up looking pretty simple and needed tweaking.

The helmet had to have extra fabric added to the neck in order to cover up the bottom lip of the visor. Hand sewing Velcro on to thick glued canvas is painful, let me tell you. Though, we didn't have to worry about making our first blood sacrifice for the film after that.. haha

The front pack base was usable but the 'hardware' it originally came with made it look like a toy. I got to install all kinds of fun gadgets and dials so that it more resembled the real thing. The grey piece on the front was originally bright silver so I repainted it and added distressing and darkened the edges. The backpack was pretty plain so I added more fabric overlay pieces and held them in with screws that were the closest I could find to the original.

PETER JORGESEN, DEATH AND SPACE

The snoopy cap that came with the suit was pretty unusable so I ended up drafting and entirely new pattern. From here, they look fairly simple but the ear pads were a bit more complicated. I also had to worry about them starting to droop so I actually filled them with polar fleece so they would keep their shape.

ERICA LEUNG, DEATH AND SPACE

The most frustrating and time consuming piece of this project was definitely the gloves. I had to start over from scratch with those and the stitch lines were so close together, working on my machine became very complicated. I ended up having to hand sew a few small parts in the end. But all in all, they worked out and looked exactly as I had envisioned.

They are still working on post-production but I have some stills from the film and it looks pretty cool :)

Saturday, May 15, 2010

2009 RECAP - James Bond Promo Trailer "Maximum Bondage"

Last year I worked on a promotional trailer for The Bloor Cinema's James Bond Retr007spective that ran January 21st - February 4th, 2009. I was the costume designer as well starring in the role of 'Bond Girl #257' which required me to I spend the majority of shooting over two days tied to my Bond co-star in the Bloor's extremely filthy dungeon-like basement.

As 'new Bond (ie. Daniel Craig)' and 'old Bond (ie. Sean Connery)' are intrinsically different and the retrospective included both versions, the promo reflected this by switching between the two. In order to properly illustrate this, I needed to create two disctinct looks for all the cast. The first set were a retro more campy, perfectly coiffed style and the second was a harder grittier modernised version.

This description better describes the dastardly plot of the trailer:
"James Bond, the worlds most sexually active super-spy, may finally have to give up and meet the Reaper. Hes trapped in an asthmatic unfriendly basement, hes surrounded by sleep deprived goons armed to the teeth, and the greatest foe hes ever faced, the dread Megaplex, happens to be wielding the most terrifying weapon Bond has ever faced: A machine that is capable of completely changing reality! If the machine is activated, James Bonds world of campiness and wise-cracks will get replaced by a darker universe filled with grit, darkness and an unhealthy dollop of excessive violence. Can James Bond keep things nostalgic? Do audiences actually prefer all that shaky camerawork as a substitute for actual excitement? Are we finally going to get a bewb shot in a Bond film?"

You can view the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOFg4xZPLGM

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photographs of the costume details but here are some shots taken on set.

MIKE WOOD AS JAMES BOND CURRENT (PICTURED FIRST) AND JAMES BOND RETRO (PICTURED SECOND)

CONALL PENDERGAST AS MEGAPLEX

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Halloween 2009 - Vampira & Absinthe/Green Faerie

Long awaited Halloween costume post! I unfortunately only have full costume photographs of my second costume, The Green Faerie, or Absinthe Faerie. My first costume was Vampira, cult goddess and horror movie host from the 50s! I got a corset made specifically to use with this costume and although it was insanely late on delivery, it thankfully fit and worked with the dress I made.

For the Absinthe Faery I used green powder over the entirety of my exposed skin which took quite some time as I had different shades for contouring. I didn't want to make myself look completely flat, especially on the contours of my face. Additionally, I had elf ears which were somewhat a pain because it turns out they are quite impossible to do the initial adhering by yourself. This is a two person job! Luckily I got some help last minute for which I was very grateful.

The dress was actually two separate dresses, the top layer made of a two-toned voile that I frayed around the edges. The under dress was made of green satin.

I was extremely excited about making the wings! Instead of doing the typical wings with straps, I decided to experiment with a version that was strapless. It stays on with a reinforced circle of metal wire that slides between your bra band and your center back. It was amazing! I was worried it might not stay in there but it didn't come out once. And I also had the ease of just plucking it out from my back when I was navigating through extremely busy areas.

The wings themselves were made of green tinted cellophane. After cutting out the wing shapes I wanted, I took two different gauges of wire and made veins running through them, using the largest pieces to adhere them to the circle base. Then, I ironed the top and bottom wing pieces together and to finish, repeated ironing with a textured piece of fabric on top so they would have a discreet pattern across them.

Pages