Why I did this.

The drive behind this was I always thought the Darkness character to be the Holy Grail of demon costumes. However despite any artistic 'talents' I thought I may have, to take it on was almost too awesome a project for your average Joe Schmuckitelli without the help of experienced Hollywood FX designers and their seemingly limitless resources. However, being singled out for a thrashing in a costume contest was a great motivator. That and I am extremely competitive.

I started to look around on-line for information about the costume. Mainly the headpiece but found almost nothing. I found a handful of photos posted of home made Darkness costumes but no details about construction. Eventually I contacted Miles Teves and he sent me pictures of what they did with Tim in the movie. "Send photos!", he said. I then decided to photo journal everything and post it for any other Dick and Jane to help give ideas to pull this off.

Here is the end result:


Not exact but close.....

Acknowledgements

Miles Teves: Creator of the Darkness character.
Since I was a kid, Darkness was the epitome of the demonic image. It has become the brass ring of costumes. His talent and vision created a forever imposing and memorable character that has awed and inspired many.
http://www.milesteves.com/

Michael King and Jason Painter: Instigators.
Michael and Jason are very good friends of mine. It was because of them I took up the challenging and almost impossible task of making the Darkness costume. Every year they host an incredible Halloween party. This year they posted a contest for best costume on their web site with a notation to 'Beat Scot Ward'. Basically it was the equivalent of a “Double Dog Dare”. I was just going to go as your friendly neighborhood Nosferatu but when I was named as the guy to beat the kit gloves came off and the game face went on. Thanks for the push guys!
http://www.michaelandjason.com/

My Wife: Patiently supportive. (Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!)
My wife. What can I say really? She has always been supportive with all my crazy ideas and weird projects. Like a bemused parent patiently watching a child. Sighing under her breath and letting them blaze a trail through their follies. Not saying a word unless they try something that will either harm them or burn the house down.

Sara B: Thanks to Sara for taking great photos during the party! The pick of the bunch was used for the opening page on my blog. You can see more pictures of the party at her flickr page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14564261@N07/sets/72157602775438430/

World Wide Web: Thanks to everyone out there who has posted anything and everything about costumes, special effects, and other stuff on the web. Your hard work and willingness to share your information helped me to pull this thing off.

Resources - Stores -n- stuff

LiquidLatex.com: Reasonably priced latex body paint.

AradaniCostumes.com: Found the Darkness mask here but at several other locations as well for the same price.

MagicDove.com: Provided an adhesive better than Spirit Gum and by far the best customer service I have ever encountered!

EyesBright.com: Theatrical contact lenses. About the same price as anywhere else.

Lowe's Hardware: Picked up the fiberglass kit there.

Home Depot: Don't remember what I got there but I do have receipts for something I needed.

Ace Hardware: Nuts and bolts. Sandpaper. Paint brushes. Velcro strips. Glue gun refills.

Michael's Crafts: Odds -n- ends like brass rings and gems for the pants. Scrap leather.

Dawn's Co: The local art's and craft's store in Auburn. Very nice people who helped me find the best product for making a cast of my head. Thanks!

WalMart: Inexpensive cloth used for pants and cape. Faux fur for the top of hooves.

K-Mart: Spray paint. More paint brushes (very cheap!).

Other: My office. Boxes of packing foam for computers. Very handy as there were different types and a use for each one.

How I made Darkness - The Horns

The horns and head piece were the single most daunting part of this project. While playing with ideas for the headpiece, I started on the horns by attaching various pieces of packing foam together. In this photo I had already made some progress. I took several long flat pieces and bent them over by letting them slide along as I made a bend. I used wax twine to hold each bend. From there I moved onto the next bend, more twine and so on. Wax twine worked great as it was durable and held a knot fast.

Once I had the flat pieces in the general shape I wanted I added strips of foam on the outside. This built up the edges which gave them a rounded shape.

I kept using the wax twine to help hold the shape as I moved the foam pieces around. I chose not to glue them because once glued, that's it. I was winging this whole thing so I needed to be flexible in case I needed to back out of whatever stage I was at. Eventually the shape came out to about the size and shape of the Darkness horns.

I rounded them even more with scissors to smooth out the gaps and get rid of the edges. I used paper mache paste made of two parts flower to one part water and strips of newspaper as the outer cover. Use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process. Helps allot!

Once dry I used a flat black household spray paint. Be patient and do one light coat at a time and let dry before starting a new coat. The paper mache will wrinkle if saturated with paint.

How I made Darkness - The Headpiece

This was the most challenging and time consuming part of the whole costume. I had no idea how to even start. I was able to contact the designer, Miles Teves and he was kind enough to send me photos of Tim Curry having the original makeup and headpiece applied. They had used a fiberglass headpiece with anchors attached for the horns made of vinyl. They simply slid into the sockets and locked down.


Since I had no idea what to do I decided to follow suit. Lets make a fiberglass headpiece! First off I needed a mold of my head. I used a paper mache / plaster compound I picked up at the local art supply store. I wrapped my head in plastic wrap to keep it out of my hair.


The paste was a compound called by AMACO called 'Sculptamold'. It worked very well and was easy to mix and dried fast and hard to make a good mold of my head. *Note : make sure to put a layer of padding or wear a beanie cap BEFORE wrapping in cellophane and applying the molding compound. I found that an exact cast of my head left little room for padding and did cause some comfort issues.



It took about 30 minutes for it to cure. Once off my skull I let it dry for a few more hours to make sure it would not fall apart.

Now for the fiberglass. I found reasonably priced materials at the Lowe's hardware store in the paint department for around $30 bucks. It was made by Elmer's and consisted of a can of resin and hardener compound. I had to by the fiberglass cloth, also by Elmer's, separately. It came in a clear plastic bag and covered nine square feet. More than enough. *Note: Make sure you do the fiberglass outside if at all possible. The fumes are extremely toxic.

First step is to remove the lining that covered your head while the mold was setting. (You used a padding buffer right?) Cut the fiberglass cloth into small manageable strips. This is to avoid wrinkling. I used small pieces of clear tape to hold them in place. In retrospect small dabs of Elmer's glue would have worked as well. Once in place, I mixed the compounds from the resin kit and applied in generous strokes to the cloth with a paint brush. (Buy several brushes! This stuff does NOT clean off the brush and is worth spending about $10 bucks on half a dozen cheapo brushes) Be careful no to use too much when applying to the cloth! It will pool up in the bottom.

It needed to cure for about 45 minutes outside on a warm day. I applied at least one more layer after that to give it a little more strength. Once completely dried, I peeled away the mold, trimmed it to fit over my ears and forehead. I sanded the edges (Fiberglass will cut you!) and put a small strip of duct tape so avoid scratches on my skin.

Now on to attaching the horns. First I needed a socket of some sort for them to fit on the skull piece. What I wound up using, believe it or not, were two clear plastic covers from one of those bulk blank CD disk spindles you would pickup at a Fry's or Staples. The diameter of the horns was an almost exact fit. First I eyeballed where they should sit on the skull piece then i did a mock up with some duct tape. Once I felt good about the position I drilled about four holes through the skull cap and plastic covers. The holes were drilled out a bit wider than the diameter of the screws I was using in order to make the head more flush with the inside of the skull piece. (Remember when I said I goofed and left no room for padding let alone my head?)

How I made Darkness - Attaching the horns

Now that I had the base foundation of the Darkness head piece made, I could start putting things together. As stated in the earlier section, Miles and his crew had a metal attachment for the horns inside the socket. I wasn't too sure how to pull that off. What I did was to insert the horns and play with the positioning until I liked where they sat. Once comfortable with the look, I needed to work on building up the headpiece so the sockets "flowed" more naturally to the skull piece. I trimmed large chunks of foam and attached with duct tape. Once I liked the shape, I placed thin strips of duct tape to bridge the gaps and smooth things out. I also placed a strip of foam as a ridge for his head.

I couldn't help but think that at this stage it looked like a Rebel pilot helmet from Star Wars.

Here is where more fiberglass comes into play. Now that I had a solid foundation, I cut fiberglass cloth into strips and attached to the headpiece.

The epoxy resin was applied and allowed to dry. I used only one layer here as it was already attached to the skull piece and fairly sturdy.

As you can see in the above photo, I marked the sockets about 3 inched down to be trimmed. Once the desired length, I inserted the horns and held them into position with pieces of foam.

Oh yeah! Lookin' good!

I permanently attached them with 3 inch wood screw through the top of the sockets. (No one will be able to see them from that angle anyway!)

Now I needed to make the ridge where the horns and the sockets meet as they did on the movie costume. I did this by attaching a thin strip of foam all the way around the leading edge where the horn and socket meet. Small strips of fiberglass cloth were then attached and finally covered in the resin and left to harden.

Once the fiberglass cured I sanded down any rough spots.