# I need costume some advice!



## FreakShowQueen (Oct 3, 2013)

This year is my first to do Zombie makeup and wardrobe and I need all the help I can get. My husband and I are actors at our local attraction for the first time this year (both of us have worked ametuer productions in the past and we both love Halloween !) and so I need ideas on costume. I want to go more the way of the Walking Dead rather than the green and buried for years look. Advice? Wardrobe? I will be positioned just past a graveyard in the woods area and since it's outside there are many nights it will be chilly so I am thinking tights under a pair of ripped and stained jeans, wifebeater, tore up flannel button up or hoodie, and hiking boots... Maybe like I was caught out in the woods and turned ... 

Also plan on doing our towns first ever Zombie walk this October! Super excited because these things don't normally happen in middle of nowhere, Oklahoma!


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## FreakShowQueen (Oct 3, 2013)

Ever since I was a kid I loved working in spook houses and haunts. It started with my Dad and I volunteering together for a non-profit and we did that every year until I went away to college. Skip forward about 10 years , here I am married with two little ones of my own (way to young to do this with me) and I find out that my husband loves this stuff as much as I do! So we auditioned for our local pro haunt and got the jobs! 
Here's where I need the advice - I am supposed to be a zombie in the woods just past the graveyard. I personally want to do more of the Walking Dead type zombie rather than the Night of the Living Dead esq zombie but I have never done a zombie type makeup or wardrobe (usually I was either a roving character in a black morph suit or the vampire mistress in the past)! I was thinking wardrobe - hiking boots, ripped jeans, tights, wifebeater, and a pull over so it looks like I could have been one of the people that went through last year and got bit and had to stay behind! We do have a makeup team so I am not so worried about the makeup aspect as the wardrobe, I would rather wear my own rather than have to borrow from costuming... Advice is really welcome!


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## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

I prefer a more fresh zombie than the raccoon eyed ones as well.

What I do is keep the basic flesh tone as close to normal as possible. Then use very watered down washes of colour for veins etc. Then using a cut down brush, flick watered down dirt/blood colours. After that paint any wounds or heavy blood spatter.
Prosthetics are optional.
You end up with something like below.


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## FreakShowQueen (Oct 3, 2013)

Wildcat - that is amazing ! You , my friend, have some great talent! But this girl here - not so much ! I just realized last night the reason that many people do the whole black out eyes and such is because it's fast and pretty much anyone can do it... this girl included.. But I sent my husband to the costume shop today (not holding my breath much that he will find some good prosthetics there though since we live in the middle of nowhere, although I am pretty proud that we can boast that we have a costume shop!) I am not getting many screams and such from the makeuping that I did last night at dress rehearsal - although I did get a few from fellow cast (maybe they were just being polite! hmmm) so I am thinking along the same lines as you, go more for the gore ! I'm going to do a bit more research on the internet and see if I can figure out something awesome with that fresh look for a female... Thank you for the advice and I will keep ya updated on how it all works out!


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## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

First, thank you.
I've used the cheap woochie prosthetics before and if you thin the edges with some sandpaper they work pretty well. Below is a decent tutorial for a female zombie. Some contacts would really make this look great.


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## FreakShowQueen (Oct 3, 2013)

I love this one! The contacts would definantly make it pop - but unfourtanelty I am blind as a bat without my prescription contacts or glasses and the prescription colored contacts are EXPENSIVE and not an option this year... I found a pretty cool cheap zombie eye prosthetic at walmart today that I am going to try first I think as well as I bought some liquid latex that I think I can make my own wounds. I was really wanting like a ripped away mouth type prosthetic but unfourtanly we are really limited in my area of Oklahoma! Thanks again for the link to the tutorial. I will take pictures of my end result tonight hopefully and get your critique on it!!


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## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

Ripped mouth can still be done. Use tissue with liquid latex to create the ripped flesh and fake nails cut down for the exposed teeth or paint them in. There is a youtube video for this as well.


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## FreakShowQueen (Oct 3, 2013)

Tonight's show was awesome as far as opening nights on an unusually cold Oklahoma evening! So many people thought that my zombie makeup looked way cool, although I think there is still room for much improvement. I need to learn to apply my prosthetics better and minimize the edges and man blending is hard. Unfourtanetly I wasn't able to get pictures tonight but will have some to post tomorrow. Looks like I'll be watching as many tutorials as I can in the morning...


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

You can use toilet paper for a chunky look, too. I like to layer on latex (apply thin layers & let it dry between layers....use blow dryer to get it to dry faster) til it's a bit thick, and then rip a hole in the latex & pull it, creating holes and hanging "skin". Then, stick a brush or Q tip with some makeup on it in the hole, accent the ripped skin with hi & low lights....very yucky. ***Make sure you set your makeup!** and brush off excess powder. If you are in a dimly lit area, you don't need to make your effects perfectly, as you would for daytime and close-ups. Good luck! Post some pics.


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## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

Good to hear your makeup was a hit.


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## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

Here's a great tutorial for prosthetics and makeup.

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=32393


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## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

Stil waiting for pics (poke-->)


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## FreakShowQueen (Oct 3, 2013)

Lol Wildcat - I promise , this next friday I will make sure my husband gets pictures of me. Second weekend of the haunt, much more confident in my makeup and prosthetic abilities. I'm going to do a bit more research and figure out how to do the split open face like the one that you refered me too. I also have a fellow zombie in our production that has about 4 years makeup experience and has given me awesome ideas as well as working on making me a prop of a zombie baby that we can have coming out of my stomach maybe... Seemed like even though I have a ton of hair and such , many people thought I was a guy .. LOL. As for not posting any pictures yet - it seems like I am in too much of a hurry to get away from my munchkins and to work at the haunt with my fellow like minded people that neither my husband nor I think to take pictures until we are back home - and by then I am so ready to yank off the prosthetic and get a hot shower that I have already pulled everything off in the truck on the way home and there is nothing to get a picture of! Ha ha ha - btw , any tips and advice of how to GENTLY remove the liquid latex or is it just best to yank all at once and get it over and done with?

PS - Do you suggest I continue to follow the rule of thumb and continue to use the white makeup and dead flesh tones like my fellow zombies? Or do I branch off and make myself more realistic and add cheap foundation to my latex application for a "fresher" look? I don't want to throw off the astetic as we have a "zombie horde" pre-show that we do where we are able to interact with the waiting crowd but the white faces and such just isn't my style, although that is what everyone else is doing. And I think I would get more scares in my area with the more gorey application. Thoughts and ideas???


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## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

I just peal latex off. Never looked to see if there was an easier way.

The look. I would talk it over with the haunt owner/director about the idea. You'll probably find that they'll be receptive to it. Most do the other look due to ease of application.


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