Monster makeup is the best part of Halloween. It’s what separates the brave from the onlookers. Monster makeup isn’t for the faint of heart.
Most of us experience monsters starting at a young age. Maybe a scary story or a movie was your introduction to the world of monsters.
Monsters in our closets or under our beds, the monsters in the dark or in our dreams. We know monsters. So, doing a monster makeup should come easy.
This month we’re creating our own scary monsters for the month of Halloween. Let’s dive into what makes a monster scary and how to create something original.
What is a monster?
What’s Halloween without a monster? Just step into any Halloween store or the spooky fall section inside your local superstore and you’ll see just about every example of a monster in the book.
Monsters can be human or otherwise. They can come from the earth or the sea or sky. Monsters can have hair all over or drip in slime.
Their purpose is to scare the crap out of you. That’s it. And there’s a science to scaring.
In essence, we are fearful of things that we perceive as a threat. Being chased by a man with a chainsaw is a perceived threat. A man with a chainsaw dripping in blood, even more threatening.
Chainsaw, blood AND holding a dismembered limb? You catch my drift. Monster makeup has a way of getting worse with added triggers. When creating a monster makeup, the only thing holding us back is our imagination.
A Classic Monster
If you do an image search for the words monster makeup you’ll find a ton of examples of movie monsters and characters.
Image courtesy of Bloody Disgusting.
One of my favorite classic monsters is Frankenstein. The film Frankenstein was introduced in 1931. In the story, Frankenstein is the product of one scientist’s dream of creating life from scratch.
What makes this monster makeup so scary are the sinister eyes and brow bone. The expression is stuck on evil.
If we look at another classic monster, Freddy Kreuger, we can see that he also wears a permanent evil growl.
His grotesque skin makes him even scarier. And of course, his weapon of choice tops it all off.
What I see is in order to make something scary it must have an expression of anger or fury.
But what about the monster in The Ring? She was eerily scary without even showing her face! What makes her scary?
Well, it’s not just her jerky, weird movements, but the color scheme strikes fear. And when you do get a good look at her face, yup. Angry growl.
So, I think it’s safe to say that whatever color you make your monster, an angry face will bring out the scare in your monster makeup.
Tutorials
Here are the makeup tutorials I’ve chosen to help you create monster makeup.
The first is by Pinkstylist. His recreation of the classic Frankenstein monster makeup is perfect.
This next tutorial by Ellimacs is an in-depth tutorial on how to create the Big Toe monster. You’ll find lots of sfx tips in this one.
This last tutorial is by Samaro is of a patched-up monster that would scare anyone.
Here are some products you can buy to make your own monster. And if you’re not already subscribed, make sure you check out my MFX subscription box to get products sent to you!