Halloween - Ideas and Tips

So October 31st is quickly approaching, and I of course am waiting to the last minute to come up with a great idea. While the news of my undertaking these special effects make-up classes spread among my friends and family, I quickly became the de facto guy to ask for costume advice. A sucker for attention and not wanting to disappoint, I want to share some tips and ideas for my favorite holiday of the year.

I want to keep the focus on techniques, emerging technologies and inventive ideas. If you buy an entire costume for Halloween and have to tell people your a "sexy nurse" then keep on truckin'. Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Apply that to your scruples and your costume as I apply it to my learning and craft.


Special effects studio Tsuburaya Productions has released a Fully animatronic Gomora costume via Pink Tentacle.

Now imagine that coupled with this...



Combining technology in novelty ways is always entertaining, though I see one drunken friend with an overfilled keg cup completely ruining this costume.



A great idea requiring little bit of makeup, Roy Lichenstein-inspired real life comic book people.

Some face paint, properly applied dots, and bright bold colors. More info can be found by clicking here.

A great resource up those into DIY is Indy Mogul. This web show is dedicated to delivering cheap and practical effects for costumes and small budget films. This includes visual effects, editing, props and many other facets besides special effects make-up. They're supported by their viewers who often dictate what costumes and make-up builds should be made next. Sometimes I do think they let their "super time lapse" skip some important steps in many of their make-up builds, but the heart of any endeavor is in the experimentation. Their cousin site Thread Bangers is helpful in constructing costumes and clothing as well.

For B-Movie Becky, here's an example of a Devil/Demon build, that can easily be Hellboy or whatever you can imagine. Think of the endless possibilities just by changing the color of make-up used.




Now I'm always inspired by when form meets function. Now these are pretty rad...





But when thinking of this apply it for the greater good.



This is "Wearable Shelter" that is emergency protective gear. Imagine if your local homeless shelter had this for those unfortunate to not have homes to hand out candy. More info and pics can be found here.

The most exciting tutorial I've found All Things Horror is a video from a fellow classmate Jacqueline Olszewski. She outlines all the steps needed to make one of the best zombies I've seen in quite a while. You can follow her YouTube channel here.



Here's another video of her applying a full face zombie utilizing liquid latex and some of the techniques mentioned with burns and scars. A great job with maximum effect.



I hope this serves as a brief source of inspiration. I find myself googling images and YouTubing for inspiration and how-to's more so than when I should be actually doing work. Research who did the effects on your favorite movies and TV shows. Find what companies they work for and where they got their training. It helps to see where others have been to see where they're going. One day this will be said of you too, if not already.

If you don't have any plans for the 31st quite yet, click here.