Costume Design
THESIS:
Imagination transformed into living creation.
For my final art piece I made a bright blue and gray dinosaur dragon costume. In my opinion this most life-like living creature you can make is through a costume, With the actor inside the costume to how it is crafted form a life like creature brought into our world. While paintings and drawing and bring concepts and characters to life, it is not he same as if you were to see this character walking and talking with your own eyes. Growing up I always loved mascots and costumes, I would always wear costumes around, dancing and acting as the creature I was dressed up as. My dragon costume resents that fun part of my childhood that loves costumes, while showing how I’ve matured and learned the skill to make my own designed costume.
I have always found costume creation the most interesting art form. many people are not familiar with this medium of art, and may find it hard to understand the inner makings and the talents it takes. over time and with effort, i have found that creating my dreams while difficult, is achievable.
The video to your right is showing movement of the seams and joints of how the hands that are oversize and can move, even though there is limited range due to the volume.
CREATIVE PROCESS
Initial sketch and plans for the design elements, for the paw I needed to really execute the seams sharply to achieve the squared off shapes of the fingers, I wanted to do angles on the paw, I made the squared off shapes to follow the overall shape of the costume and follow the harmony of the angles in the mask, the horns, and pattern blocking design.
I paid attention to the color pallet creating a light range of hues in cool colors and contrasting saturated green, with the purpose of making a cool chill vibe, opposite of a fire breathing dragon. Basically creating a happy dragon that looks dangerous but colors and shapes makes it approachable and breaks stereotypes of a dragon being scary.
The first piece I created was the head. I painted a dinosaur mask a vibrant blue and gray and added cartoon-like eyes made of a mesh for clear visibility. Then I began to sculpt the ears with foam, making them big and tilted back for a dragon-like silhouette. After I got the head’s foundational structure done, I started patterning where to put the fur fabric onto the head. After creating a pattern, I shaved down areas of the ears, to give it more texture. After sewing all the patterns together, I began gluing them into place. For a finishing touch I lined the inside making it more comfortable and long lasting.
Secondly I made the tail, starting by sculpting the base out of foam, leaving gaps every few inches for more movement while being worn. Once done with the base I patterned the fabrics. After sewing the fabrics together I added value to the tail by including a hidden, finished belt loop designed for comfort.
Lastly I created the paws which were the most involved and complicated portion. I first made my own pattern out of paper, using it to form all the sizes and shapes the finished project would have. I cut out divots on the fingers so that when sewn together it would make a 3D effect with ‘pop’. I then traced all my patterns onto fabric and shaved the fur on the fingers to give it more texture and depth. Then I did an applique stitch for the green paw pads so I could individually stuff them. after i stuffed every paw pad i sewed the two sides together (front with paws, back with stuffed claws) and add lining and hand sewed cuff for comfert.
FULL LOOK: Fully designed dragon costume with three custom designed pieces, head/mask, claws, and tail. (Total hours of project: 19 hours)
HEAD/MASK: Dragon character head with spikes. (Materials used: Faux fur, acrylic paint, fleece, hand stitching and sewing machine)
PAWS: Dragon character claws. (Materials used: Faux fur, minky fabric, fleece, stuffing, inside is lined with cotton fleece, hand stitching and sewing machine)
BACK OF HEAD: Dragon character rear view. This view is showing the big ears, and different lengths of faux fur while standing against a red textured wall. (Materials used: Faux fur, acrylic paint, fleece, hand stitching and use of sewing machine)
TAIL: The tail is made of foam and fur, with lined hidden hole for belt. Spikes made of fleece. (Materials used: Faux fur, foam, hand stitching and use of sewing machine)
SINGLE PAW: Single hand, each green paw pad and claws individually padded. (Materials used: Faux fur, minky fabric, fleece, stuffing, inside is lined with cotton fleece, hand stitching and sewing machine)
