PROJECT :: Halloween Costume :: Conclusion

Success!

 

After spending nearly a week constructing a costume with which I was almost entirely fed up, the end product resulted in lots of dropped jaws from random folks over the Halloween weekend. The above picture is the same photo with some color correction/editing done in order to show the lighting of the skyscraper. The skyline backdrop was drawn in a half an hour on Halloween night when I came up with the idea, hence the general crappiness of it.

Above are some behind the scenes photos showing the lighting, my biplane and me putting on my stilts. The portable, battery operated fluorescent lights packed the needed punch and provided a uniform lighting through out the costume.

Above and below are some photos from wearing the costume out on Friday and Saturday night. The third thumbnail above shows a view from below looking up at me while wearing the costume. Unfortunately the quality of photos I have of me in the costume aren't the greatest, limiting the comprehension of scale and luminosity.

I've since heard that the costume has been tagged as "the best costume in the world" on facebook! After much hard work and a little bit of frustration, I am glad to hear that other people enjoyed the costume. And, lastly, here's a photo of the sweaty man behind the mask.

 

This project took approximately 15 to 20 hours of design and development, approximately 25 to 30 hours of construction and cost around $150 (after returning some items).

PROJECT :: Halloween Costume :: Part 3

Oh, jeez! What did I get myself into? As the construction of my costume continues, the size, weight and volume has grown and the hours creep on. I can't help but get that stifling/panicky feeling in these large scale, down-to-the-wire projects where I sometimes think, "I bit off more than I can chew."

The painting of the fabric, although successful in its effect to create opacity, was no less an extremely tedious chore. I detested every moment of it. However, I'm happy with the look and feel of it. I framed the windows with a black Sharpie Magnum. The look after framing with the marker reminded me a lot of Björk's Bachelorette music video directed by Michel Gondry, for some reason. Ok, maybe I used that sharpie too long and had too little sleep.

No less, I was excited to have the painting and markering over with and begin sewing. I am not a very good sewer, but am much happier doing it than painting, I realized. Perhaps it was all due to the fact that I got to sit in a chair, versus hunch over and kneel on the floor. Also, I was excited to see the form come together and even turn on a battery operated fluorescent light to see it glow!

There are portions of the fabric that let light through still that will need some touch-up paint. No less, I was happy with the glow that the portable, battery-operated fluorescent lights emitted.

I ran into some problems, unfortunately, in the engineering of the support straps that will run across the PVC frame over my shoulders to hold up the costume. The solution lies in some 3D statics, I think. I wasn't ever very good at structural engineering calculations. Alas, there are still yet some details that need to be hashed out before I can attach King Kong. The clock is ticking!

PROJECT :: Halloween Costume :: Part 2

The construction process of my King Kong on the Skyscraper Halloween costume has commenced. With only a few more days before the weekend long Halloween festivities begin, each night is devoted to completing this project. 

The frame of the structure is built out of 1/2" diameter PVC pipe. The structure will be suspended  with straps over my shoulders and covered in painted fabric. The unpainted portion of the fabric will allow light to filter through the cloth, whereas the painted portion will be opaque. 

The images below are of the panels that will be constructed out of cotton fabric and covered in latex paint. It is essentially a depiction how the building is intended to look after being internally illuminated using battery operated fluorscent and LED sources.

Here is a photo of one of the patterns being cut out of paper that I will use to transfer onto the cotton fabric shown below. I intend to paint all of the fabric panels tonight. I'll post tomorrow with updates.

PROJECT :: Halloween Costume :: Part 1

Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to go "all out" for Halloween. This year is no exception! After some thought, I've decided to be the classic Hollywood image of King Kong on top of the skyscraper. And with the help of flickr, which I suggest anyone does before coming up with a costume concept in order to see how people may have done it before you, I found some variations on the theme. Of course there were plenty of people dressed as King Kong, but nobody dressed as both King Kong and the skyscraper...together. This came close, but not quite what I have in mind.

Above is an initial concept sketch I've drawn for my costume. My lower half of my body will be the skyscraper on stilts, for added height, and my uppper half will be in the King Kong/Gorilla costume. This will also be a lighting project in which I will attempt to light the skyscraper effectively from the inside to have it appear as a building.

Above is a Sketch Up animation of the proposed costume which might give a little more insight as to how the costume is intended to work.

To the left are some quick sketches for my dimensioning and building purposes drawn on AutoCAD. I'll post again later with photos of the skyscraper as it's being built and, of course, the final product. Below are some classical images of King Kong for inspiration. Happy Halloween!