Hardhead Character Costumes

Gb Vernon

Hi! I am interested in the construction of hard head character costumes--specifically the high end theme park "walk around" suits. A few years ago, I hired a shop that some of the big studios use to build one of my characters. It was fantastic! However, it was a bit pricey.

With a number of projects in mind, I would like to know more about the actual process myself--especially constructing the fiberglass head, plastic vacuum forming, etc.  Are there any courses here that could help with this?  

Ashley Casteel

Not sure if it's helpful - but I know there is a lot of information available on making 'fur suits' or 'furry suits' and I think a lot of them do rigid head skeletons for them. Might be worth looking at even if you're adapting it for a  different kind of character. I'm not sure if there's a way around that kind of thing being pricy though! good luck!

Chris Ellerby

Fon Davis has a lesson on making a Sci-Fi helmet using vacuum forming that covers some fabrication techniques that may help you:

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/making-a-sci-fi-helmet-vacuum-forming-machine

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/how-to-make-a-sci-fi-helmet-design-pattern-making-vacuum-forming

We don't have any lessons on making pieces out of fiberglass yet, but some of our lessons cover using fiberglass to make molds, which is a similar process.

/Chris

Gb Vernon

Much appreciated!