Epic Werewolf Halloween Costume

Usually, at this time of year, I am working as the project manager of a charity haunted house, but there was no space for the haunt (at a local mall) this year and therefore no haunt. I wanted to keep busy and “in the Halloween mood”, however, so I wanted to take on a project for myself.

I took some inspiration from other very cool Werewolf costumes I’ve seen including by Austin D (also on this site) and someone with the handle Creeves 76 (on another site) and wanted to do something like what those creative gentlemen have done for myself.

With less skill than them (particularly Creeves – I mean, he sculpted his feet and mask himself!), I think my costume still turned out pretty good.

The costume is made up of a couple of things I bought including the mask (it’s a “Hellhound” mask from Immortal Masks, though I could have used a cheaper mask for even a facial prosthetic if I wanted to, I suppose) and the hands. I also bought two spandex suits as one would be the exterior of the costume and the inner would be the basis of how I would make the muscles.

I started with a duct tape mummy of myself which I put what would be the exterior suit inside out onto. I then put the other spandex suit over the dummy. By doing so, it allowed me to have an easy way to draw where I wanted the muscle groups to be and, that done, I began stitching the muscles by ensuring that my needle went through both layers of spandex. I would leave a small section of each muscle unclosed so that I could put the stuffing (from a pillow) into each muscle. Once satisfied with the look, I stitched all of the muscles closed. Then, I cut away the excess spandex, leaving only the muscles in place. By now, (and many hours into this project) the costume was taking shape!

Taking the suit off of the dummy, I turned it right side out and started to spray paint it with a Krylon-brand paint that was suitable for fabric (ie: it’s flexible). I also used some black paint and smeared it in places to give a sense of grime to the costume. Some additional paint in a slightly darker brown would also be used to add some additional detail.

Next came furring the suit. I didn’t want the body to be entirely obscured by fur, but I also needed fur to cover the area where the masks neck line would show and also where the gloves meet the arms and where the feet met the lower legs. I also had to hide the zipper in the back and, of course, the crotch zipper. (How else would a werewolf pee?)

Frankly, I would have liked to use a longer pile fur for this step, but I couldn’t find any in my local fabric store, so I just went with the medium pile fur you see in the photos.

For the feet, I used Gryphern’s basic design (you can find Gryphern’s stilt design online in various places), but modified it enough so that it worked for me and the way I wanted it to look. (Well, sort of anyway – I’m not entirely happy with the final result, but with so little time before Halloween, it’ll have to do for now!) Each stilt had an “aquasock” bolted to it and then I put on a long spandex sock and put my foot in the Aquasock.

I originally planned to use fabric or some other way to “skin” the feet, but with time running out, I opted for duct tape (which works surprisingly well). I wrapped the entire stilt including the spandex sock up to above my calf essentially forming a boot which would get hidden under the legs of the spandex body suit. I then simply spray painted the feet to match the suit color as best I could.

(Walking in these stilts is not all that easy. Frankly, it hurts to be in them for any length of time and it’s best to be on a flat surface. I may try modifying the stilts again at some point in the future, but for now, they do the job.)

The gloves were only slightly modified in that I sprayed some expanding foam in the tips of the fingers and also attached a spandex glove to each werewolf hand so that it was more comfortable (less sweaty). Some Velcro attached to the gloves and to the end of the sleeves of the body suit would ensure they’d stay together, too.

The first night, after I tried it all on with full make up around the eyes and mouth, I went to a friend’s property where they were having a small gathering. With his help, we scared a few of his friends and I got to know how the costume works in a setting other than my house or back yard.

Some more activities are planned between now and Halloween night and it’s a full moon tonight (I’m writing this on October 29th, 2012), so watch out!