X2 Nightcrawler costume

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X2 Nightcrawler costume

Post by Saint Kurt »

A few months back I posted in a thread that was in this forum about making Nightcrawler's X2 costume. I said I was making a very close replica of the costume and somone asked me to post pictures. Unfortunately that was right before Nightscrawlers had to change ISPs.

I can't find my post or even the thread now, but for those who asked, here is a link to my site with pictures of the costume in various stages of construction:

Nightcrawler costume

Thanks for looking. And if you have any comments, feedback, suggestions, or questions feel free to throw them my way...

-e
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Post by Bamfette »

that is EXTREMELY cool, you don't often see a costume with that much time and effort put in, right down to an animatronic tail and clothes made from scratch. are you going to be going to any cons with this costume?

my only comment is that the blue may be a tad bright, movie nightcrawler was a very dull grayish blue.... other than that it's EXCELENT!
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Post by Maelstrom »

Zam,

WOW! That's beautiful! :nodyes Can I assume you cast your own hands for that as well? I didn't see any "in progress" photos, as with the ears, but I know they aren't the slightly foamy-type ones you can buy from other dealers, so they had to be custom-made somewhere.

I'm also curious to know what you'll be using for the scars. Some form of liquid latex? Obviously you won't have the crew of makeup artists that they had for the movie, let alone be willing to spend all frikkin' day on it, so I would love to hear the details about the shortcuts. ;)

Oh, and so far as flipping the bird with only two fingers, as opposed to four? I figure that someone like Kurt would use an equally obscene gesture known as a "fig". It's more common in Europe, and especially in Italy (where giving the "fig" in the wrong place can get you SHOT). You fist your hand up in such a way that the tip of your thumb is visible between your 2nd and 3rd fingers, and it is presented as a "back of the hand" thing, same as "the finger" over here.

For the trivia buff, the fig gesture was supposedly created during the reign of Charlemagne. Story goes that Charlemagne was uniting Germany and having a HELL of a time with this one town, which was rebuffing every attempt. Finally, after an inordinately long and costly seige, he won, and he rode into the pacified town square, where the inhabitants quaked in fear, terrified of his repraisal.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'm more than willing to be merciful, on one condition. You see, my little donkey has been having trouble all during this journey in passing an unripe fig. One of you needs to go in and remove it. With his teeth." :bite

And the "fig" came into the lexicon of obscene gestures, as, literally, a "kiss my ass".
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Post by NWKurt »

You bet I'm gonna comment! I will back up everything that was said before. That tail is the best I have seen for a costume. There has to be many hours put into this project. We HAVE TO SEE what the final product looks like. Please dont forget us! If you have the ability on your end (yourself or by a friend or two) I'd love to see video of that tail moving. Any and all would be appreciated!


(A little self humiliation here...) Awww, this will put my costume plans to shame:oops! But congrats from me anyway, AWESOMENESS!
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Post by Saint Kurt »

The hands are the only part I didn't construct myself. I cast my hands, but shortly after I found a guy who had done a cast of the original mold used for the movie. So I wanted those. :)

They are a little too blue. I didn't paint them and the artist was trying to match the blue off the color of the makeup on my skin but it's really hard from a photo (even several taken in different light sources). I will repaint them when I do the feet because I'll be sculpting and casting those myself to fit over those little black boots I'm wearing in the photos. (They are the kind used by acrobats and other performers - I needed something where I could sit on the balls of my feet comfortably.)

Right now making costumes for people is my livelihood but I'll be starting vet school in the fall so it will become a part time endeavor. Every year I make a really fancy costume to show off my skills. I will be going to cons with this costume - Dragon Con is probably the biggest. I plan on competing with it - maybe I'll get a workmanship award or two.

The make-up artists on the movie used something called "bondo" in the industry. It's not the stuff for fixing dents in cars though. It's a mix of a strong prostetic adhesive called "pros-aide" and a fine silicon powder. Based on other costumes I have made and worn I expect it will take me 2 to 3 hours to put this one on. To do it, I will need to teach one of my friends how to use my airbrush etc. since it's really hard to airbrush your own face.

One of the ways of streamlining the process was to make a life cast of my face. I'm using that to vaccu-form a mask that will have the scar patterns cut out of it. That way I can put it on my face, dust dark powder over it, and have a template. So I only have to worry about symmetry and accuracy once.

The flipping of the bird is an inside joke with my costuming friends. A few years ago we started collecting pictures of people in costume flipping us off. I called it "bird watching". Then we started doing it in our photos. Now it seems that I'm giving the finger in all my photos whether everyone else is or not. So this costume may cramp my style. :) I may have to resort to the fig after all.

I'm out of the muslin stage and ready to start sewing real stuff now so I'll keep posting updates. Unfortunately I had a set back on the tail yesterday. There is a problem with slack in the system due to the bending of my elbows. So I have to re-cable the whole thing and put a joint in or else I won't be able to bend my arms. Bummer, but that's life.

-e

(And please don't feel humiliated NWKurt - I don't make this stuff to humiliate people. If you have questions or need advice on things for your costume, I'm always happy to help.)
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X2 Nightcrawler costume

Post by Northstars Love »

Fantastic work zamweasel! A lot went into this for sure! I love the tail part. Please do go to conventions dressed as Nighty. Spread the joy! lol. I would love to see a contest with just movie Nightcrawler. Go even further and create a X-3 leather Nighty costume. I always find that creating original costumes are so much more fun because they are your creations and you don't get frustrated when the costume you are trying to replicate doesn't turn out the way the movie's does.

This kinda reminds me of the times when I used to go to the Star Trek conventions and made my "Mirror Mirror" Next Generation costumes. People were very impressed and I love the attention.

*Ok, you can pet me now. I love the attention!....purrrrrrr :content
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Post by NWKurt »

And please don't feel humiliated NWKurt - I don't make this stuff to humiliate people.
Nah, don't worry about that. After reviewing your page :doh! I figured that was what you did was part of your livelihood. I should have gone back and edited my reply so you knew that. Absolutely no hard feelings - sorry.

And BTW, even though I know that one of the AU Kurts (Evo) isn't so popular here, my costume was going to be of him in that universe. It seemed to be a bit easier and didn't involve too much face paint (or airbrushing). THAT is one of the biggest things that I need to figure out. Where to get the supplies for that. The fabric for the costume( spandex or ??) - easy to get a hold of and the patterns, easy too. Found a halloween store here in town that has all the goodies I need for the accessories, teeth, ears, hair, etc...

But the biggest problem that I had to overcome was the bright yellow gloves. I acquired about 3 pair of outdated, yellow, elbow-length, rubber 'hot gloves' that the power companies and cable TV crews use. All I need to do is stretch and glue the cut fingers over two at a time and I'll have a good representation of Nightys three fingered (gloved) hand.

So to sum up, no, I shouldn't have used humliliated, probably -amazed- to see what REAL artwork can create :D

Good luck at any of the 'cons you go to and bring back ALL the awards!!

And thanks for the offer to help; thats what were all here for anyway!:)
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Post by Gaz »

That is amazing! I can't focus on anything for that long!!! Why did you decide to make it? Did you spend a lot of money on it? I spent about 10 bucks on some spripey Kurtish pajama pants, thats about how cheap I am though. I'm amazingly impressed. Good job!!!
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Post by Saint Kurt »

Making costumes like these takes months. I'd say from plans to construction the tail armature took three months. At the same time I was sketching the coat and pants etc and collecting materials. For those of us insane enough to replicate movie costumes, the goal is to get as near to the film as possible. Research can take months and in the end you know more about the costume than the film's designer. :) But that's part of the fun. (For instance, the coat Nightcrawler wears is based on a priest's cassock but heavily modified. It is lined with ecclesiastical vestement fabric. None of this matters while you're watching the movie, but it's cool nonetheless.)

I love doing costumes from book descriptions, but that's as close as I come to originals. I've done a couple Harry Potter professors. The only thing that's not movie accurate on Nightcrawler will be the material for the pants. I found a perfect match but it was $40 a yard. :surprise Lucky for me I had already fallen in love with this other striped fabric I got for $5, so I'm going with that. $40 a yard is highway robbery.

The cost of a costume like this is in the hundreds. I'm going to say around $300 for this one, but most of the money was spent on prostetic pieces I can't make myself. (Hands, teeth, contacts.) I'm an awesome fabric bargain hunter so I got off cheap there. My costumes sell in the hundreds though and by wearing ones like this I get jobs. So it kind of pays for itself.

I wanted to do this costume the minute I saw it in the movie. It was so unique and the character was so cool. I almost didn't because I don't like dressing as the opposite gender. While watching the extras on the DVD I was like "wait, I know how to do all that" and decided that with all that stuff on it wouldn't matter what gender I was. :)

Basically the work I do goes beyond halloween costumes. Here's the front of my site so you can see what I do.

http://homepage.mac.com/bohemian_junkie/

-e
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Post by bluefooted »

Wow, the amount of work you spend planning and researching is stunning! It really shows in your finished products - Amazing! :shocked

btw: Congrats on vet school! I know it can often be harder to get in than most med schools... and it should be: you have to know everything about all kinds of different species, not just one!
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Post by Discordia88 »

That really is an amazing costume! You have to post pics of the face if or when you experiment with that. So, when and what are you planning on wearing the costume for? :D
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Post by Saint Kurt »

I'm normally terrible about taking pictures of things in production and even worse about updating my site. Thus it is a miracle that I have done both.

update

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Post by Garble »

Wow! It's looking really great so far.

I gotta say, I really admire the way you made that tail. It's incredible!

You really have a knack for this stuff. The other costumes on your site are also impressive. I especially like the Twi'lek costume. :)
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Post by Saint Kurt »

Yeah, the rosary is really kind of odd. It took me forever to find one with the right kind of beads but the crucifix was black. The other thing is that in that picture the crucifix is really strange looking - kind of twisted almost. But when I went into the movie and still framed the scene in dark cerebro (you can see the crucifix really clearly when storm tries to stop him from walking forward) it looks like a normal papal crucifix. Not twisted at all.

Sometimes in movies they use different props for different things. There's a possibility that there was a "hand rosary" and a "costume rosary" that were different. Plus promo pictures occasionally have different costume elements in them than the movies.

For instance, this one.

I'm not even sure if that's Alan Cumming or not. Either way it's a completely different costume. The coat is a different kind of leather - it's shiny instead of nubuck. It also lacks the piping and topstitching that the movie coat has. And the real kicker is that it has no buttons or button holes. (and the sewing is really sloppy.) The turtleneck has no zipper in it and it's heathered, not solid black. Plus the hair and make up is off. The contacts are different, the scars are in a different pattern, the hair is totally different, and I don't think he's wearing his teeth.

I think this is a picture of an early costume test.

So, you have to be careful that you're really looking at the right thing. I'm getting a second crucifix with a silver papal cross. One of them will have to do because I'm not sure if that shot with the cross in his hand is a promo picture or a still from the plane. It's hard to tell.

So, costume replica research is tricky. After a while you get a good feel for the costume and you know what you're looking for.

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Post by Maelstrom »

Originally posted by zamweasel
Yeah, the rosary is really kind of odd. It took me forever to find one with the right kind of beads but the crucifix was black. The other thing is that in that picture the crucifix is really strange looking - kind of twisted almost. But when I went into the movie and still framed the scene in dark cerebro (you can see the crucifix really clearly when storm tries to stop him from walking forward) it looks like a normal papal crucifix. Not twisted at all.

......


So, you have to be careful that you're really looking at the right thing. I'm getting a second crucifix with a silver papal cross. One of them will have to do because I'm not sure if that shot with the cross in his hand is a promo picture or a still from the plane. It's hard to tell.

So, costume replica research is tricky. After a while you get a good feel for the costume and you know what you're looking for.

-e
In cases like these, I figure that a DVD and the "still" function are a costumer's best allies. Have you checked that cerebro scene close-up for a long period of time? Or, maybe, the one spot in the Blackbird, when Storm is first walking back to talk to Kurt, and he's praying alone in the back? I think we get a good shot of that rosary in his hand there....

It's one interesting piece, to be sure: in order to be 100% authentic, I fear you'd have to create the cross itself, or hire out a metalsmith. I've never seen one that's based off of nails quite like that, almost like they're twisted around each other. (I think the word "cross" is more appropriate, here, for though it is a rosary set, it doesn't have Christ speficially on the cross, which is the definition of "crucifix". Sometimes rosaries have crucifi, and sometimes crosses.)
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Post by Shadow_Dancer »

This costume is marvelous! Are you sure you want to spend all those years studying to be a vet? (I know the difficulty, I teach pre-vet students) You really have a talent for this. You could be working for a movie production company.

(Although I doubt that pays as well LOL)
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Post by Siona »

Originally posted by Maelstrom

Oh, and so far as flipping the bird with only two fingers, as opposed to four? I figure that someone like Kurt would use an equally obscene gesture known as a "fig". It's more common in Europe, and especially in Italy (where giving the "fig" in the wrong place can get you SHOT). You fist your hand up in such a way that the tip of your thumb is visible between your 2nd and 3rd fingers, and it is presented as a "back of the hand" thing, same as "the finger" over here.

For the trivia buff, the fig gesture was supposedly created during the reign of Charlemagne. Story goes that Charlemagne was uniting Germany and having a HELL of a time with this one town, which was rebuffing every attempt. Finally, after an inordinately long and costly seige, he won, and he rode into the pacified town square, where the inhabitants quaked in fear, terrified of his repraisal.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'm more than willing to be merciful, on one condition. You see, my little donkey has been having trouble all during this journey in passing an unripe fig. One of you needs to go in and remove it. With his teeth." :bite

And the "fig" came into the lexicon of obscene gestures, as, literally, a "kiss my ass".
Or, he could do the always popular "peace" sign with the two fingers, but with the back of the hand shown to the unlucky person; in Britain, and some parts of my town for some odd reason ( :? :? :? ), it's considered extremely offensive.
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Post by Saint Kurt »

I finally got around to doing some make up tests. I've also gotten in the habit of putting my camera out on it's tripod whenever I start working so that I actually take pictures of it. Maybe this is the start of a new trend...

So I've updated the page:
http://homepage.mac.com/bohemian_junkie ... rawler.htm

I've also included stuff about the rosary that I figured out. Basically, it's the same prop all the time, it's a cross not a crucifix, and it doesn't look like anything I'll be able to find easily. In this case I'm going to go with one of the ones that I have, since most people won't know the difference. I think having the prop is the most important part even if I can't get it exactly right.

As for going to vet school vs working as a costume designer full time: There is a difference between a job and a calling. I'm a very good costume builder, but become a veterinarian has been my calling since I was a child. I've spent years saving money and going to school. I once told a friend that if going to vet school meant throwing my sewing machines into the sea, I would ask directions to the pier. I still feel the same way. Lucky for me I get to keep them AND go to vet school. :)

I may have just landed a commission for more historical Japanese stuff. Samurai costumes. That would be amazing...

-e
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Post by NWKurt »

Hehehehe!! ZAM Keep it goin - love the new addition to the page! Looks great! And yes, keep the camera out! More pics and fics please :P

Your work is WELL appreciated!

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Post by Singe »

Dearest Zam,

Long time lurker and all that, but where on earth did you find that fabric? High and low have I searched, through the mountains of Tennessee, to no avail. Wouldn't have found it online, would you? The stripey pantsed fabric, I mean.
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Post by Saint Kurt »

Hello -

No, I did not find the pants fabric online. I found it in the super high end fashion and upolstery fabric warehouse I sometimes go to when I want to pick up leather scraps.

One day I was hunting through their sample books (they have a huge room with thousands of sample books on hangers) and ran across all this striped fabric that looked kind of like nightcrawler's pants. My curiousity was piqued so a few days later I returned with reference photos and found a match. It's an upolstery grade fabric and had a kind of grainy feel I didn't like.

It was $40 a yard with a 50 yard minimum and since it takes less than 2 yards to make a pair of pants I didn't even consider it. I didn't want to spend $2000 on pants.

I'd have to go back to the store and find the swatch book again if you're really interested. You might be able to convince the company to sell you a yard or two. I didn't bother because I had already found a striped fabric that doesn't really match at all , but that I really love the look and feel of.

I hope that helps. In other news, I actually finished a tail last night. I scrapped the old one completely and built one that isn't puppetable while I iron out the technical difficulties on the one that is. When I finish the pants (which I'm working on now) I'll post more pictures.

-e
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Post by Singe »

Nyarrr... twas worth a try, though. Me, it looks like I'll have to wait until I move back to New York so I can scour the garment district. And I mean scour. Ohyeah.
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Post by Nandireya »

Wow...that thing's gonna look amazing when it's completed...looks pretty amazing now...

As for the crucifix...looks to me like it's made out of horseshoe nails...you might be able to get one made for you by some nice metal-worker...shouldn't cost too much...

And...if you're taking suggestions...you might want to add a bit of blue to the wig...the X2 DVD clearly shows the hairstylist putting blue crap through Alan's hair in that sped-up make-up thingy...at least I seem to recall it does...I'll have to have another look...or were you planning that anyway?

But still...looks great :D
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Post by Saint Kurt »

I have thought about the whole blue in the hair thing.

I think on the DVD that blue crap was all about not having his non-blue scalp show through. But sometimes it does seem that his hair his a bluish cast. I think my solution will be to turn the wig inside out and spray it with blue from the roots out. I think that should get a similar effect and will keep me from looking too much like a blue Frodo Baggins.

I finally have stripey pants and my vest done. Hooray!
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(I'm turning away because my kttens had just knocked something over. The tail needs to have the detrail airbrushed on. Oh, and yes, I own a pair of blue shoes. :) )

I'm just going to have to wait and see with the cross. I'm very close to having a completed costume. Perhaps after I will see about making improvments.

Thanks for all the input. You guys are helping me catching things I might have missed.

-e
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Post by Saint Kurt »

I had to take a 3 week hiatus from this costume in order to lay around in the hospital. That was really great. (not)

I didn't know if I'd have it finished by my self imposed deadline of July, but I'm seeing actual discernable progress now so it might happen. And someone found me one of those crosses made from nails so I can replace it on my rosary. Coolness.

Is it a circus yet?

-e
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