How to Make a Thor Ragnorok: Skurge Costume

Skurge the Executioner is a Marvel comic book villain who usually fights against Thor. In the movie adaptation, Skurge is an Asgardian who is temporarily watching the bifrost bridge and is later chosen by Hela, the Goddess of Death, to become her executioner. His role in the film was for comic relief, but Karl Urban did an awesome job.

For the 2018 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, my friend and his significant other wanted to cosplay as Skurge and Valkyrie from the movie Thor: Ragnarok. I'm always down for couples costumes so why not give it a go. Let's get started!

Materials

-EVA foam of two different thicknesses

-Craft foam

-tape measure

-grey pants

-purple fabric

-soldering iron

-old boots

-silver thumbtacks

-superglue

-hotglue

-glue gun

-heatgun

-modgepodge or plastids

-masking tape

- DAP caulking.

-e600 glue

-dremel

-exacto knives and cutting mat

- elastic

-plastic black clips

-sewing machine

-maroon long sleeve turtleneck

-light grey fabric

-dark grey fabric

-black gloves

- roll of parchment paper

-spirit glue

-chalk

- shake weight (optional)

-machine guns (optional)

- Ax (optional)

Step 1: Reference Pics

Before I ever start ANY costume, I look up a ton of reference photos from various sources and put it in a folder. The more pictures from different angles, the better.

Look up: 1. Actual photos of the character from its source (movies, comics, action figure, etc)

2. Cosplay pictures. You can see what has been done, what you like, what you don't like, how to improve on a design. You can also start getting an idea of different poses you think you'd like to do.

3. I start looking at art work. I usually look up things via google images, deviant art, tumblr, etc. This way, you can see different renditions of a character through a new perspective and once again, start thinking about what you like, don't like, etc.

4. Use your own imagination. Think about what you want, how to make it your own original design, what are some tricks you think you'd like to incorporate.. perhaps you want to try out a new technique with this build, etc

Optional: 5. If you can draw, I sometimes will take all my reference sources and start drawing out my own design.

Since we were trying to go for a fairly movie screen accurate suit, all of the suit references were taken from the movie set costume.

Step 2: Undershirt and Pants

Undershirt

1. first study your reference picture. Note that there are patches on the chest, back and arms. (pic 1 + 2)

2. Grab your measuring tape and start measuring how big you want your patches to be. it's often easier to measure in terms of rectangles. (2x4 inches, 3x6 inches, etc).. For the patches on the chest, first measure the width and the height of the from of the person. I go from shoulder to waistline and from side to side. I often ask a person to wear a shirt and then use the side seam as a measuring point to grab my width.

3. Transfer those measurements to your roll of paper and then fold in half vertically. (pic 3)

4. You can now start drawing in your patches. Since the patches are all symmetrical, you only need to draw half of the design on (pic 3)

5. for your arm pieces, some of them are not symmetrical.

7. cut all your templates out

8. i went to a fabric warehouse and found and light grey and dark grey leather type fabric. (pic 5)

7. i turned over the grey fabric and used the paper templates to draw on the back side. Use your templates to draw in your light grey fabric and your dark grey fabric (pic 6 + 7)

8. I used e600 glue to glue the grey fabrics together. (pic 8- 11)

9.once dry, have the person wear the shirt. Ii then took the patches, placed them the person, and used chalk to outlines each patch on the shirt so i knew where to sew them on.

10. use your sewing machine to sew in the patches on the shirt to their corresponding chalk outlines.

Pants

1. Skurge's pants have some maroon lines going down them.I used masking tape to mark the areas i wanted to replace with purple. (pic 12)

2. cut out the pieces and transfer them to the purple fabric. REMEMBER to account for a seam allowance, so you need to add at least 1/4 inch of fabric extra to each side of the purple fabric.

3. sew the purple lines back in place. (pic 13-14)

1. pic 15 shows what the fabric part should look like.

Step 3: Shoes and Shin Pieces

Shoes

1.to create you shoes, have the person put on their shoes. Cover with shoe with masking tape in the area where you expect "armor" to cover

2. Draw your design directly onto the tape. Since the armor is symmetrical, you can draw on one half of the shoe.(pic 1 and 2)

3. Remove the masking tape and transfer to the EVA foam, draw/cut out each foam piece. There typically is some type of tread on the back of the Foam, especially if it is in a roll or in squares. I use an belt sander and sand off the tread.

4. once i have all the pieces of EVA foam, i use a heat gun to heat the foam and bend it into the shape i want.

5. Glue all pieces together with hot glue. (pic 3)

Shins

6. You are going to measure your calf for your shin pieces using your measuring tape. Measure from the bottom of the show to above the knee. transfer those measurements to your scratch paper.

7. fold the paper vertically in half and draw in your design on one side (because the armor is symmetrical.

8. Transfer the design onto your EVA foam, cut, send your tread.

9. on the backside of the shins, take your soldering iron and heat in a groove to so that you can bend into an indentation.

10. You can use your heat gun to warm and stretch the foam to your needs. I used the heat gun to form the knee portion.

11. I use the paper template and cut it into several pieces so i can draw in each section directly on the foam (pic 4)

12. From there, i used the craft foam and and i cut multiple thing strips to use as trim. Glue in place (pic 5)

13. once you have the front of your shin piece assembled, take a rectangular piece of eva foam and glue in the back piece. Draw in your lines, add in your trim (pic 6 + 7)

14. I used the craft foam to create the end straps for the calves. Cut them out and glue them in place. (pic 8)

15. From there, your calves and shins should be assembled.

Step 4: Hands and Guantlets

Gauntlets

1. Use your scratch paper to wrap around the person's forearm. Once it is sized well, start drawing in your designs.

2. Transfer the main template to EVA foam, draw, cut, and sand off tread. Use your heat gun to bend the piece. Glue in your plastic clips to allow it to open and close.

3. use your craft foam to create thin strips of trim. Hot glue in place. (pic 1-3)

4. there is a second topical layer. do the same process as before. use your original template to draw/cut out your designs. (pic 4)

5. put in your trim (pic 5)

6. the gauntlets have these triangle things on them. I used EVA to create them. Use your design to draw and cut out of eva foam. I took my soldering iron and heated a groove in the back to create bends.I used my dremel to heat in other grooves in the needed areas. I used my demel to sand of sharp corners. (pic 6-8)

7. you can glue the rest of your details in and your gauntlet should be fully assembled. (pic 9)

Hands

1. There seems to be a back of the hand piece. I used EVA foam. sand off the tread and hot glue onto the back of the hand. You can also use e6000 or also Barge contact cement if that doesn't work. It all depends on the type of gloves you find and the material they are made from.

2. there's also a knuckle cover. I used my soldering iron and heat gun to raise the areas around the knuckles.

3. For the fingers, i used craft foam and cut them into segments; 3 segments per finger and 2 for the thumb. (pic 10)

Step 5: Chest, Back and Collar

Chest/Back

1.The chest is a difficult piece to assemble for the build so just be patient. Once again, you need your tape measure to measure out the chest and back (Shoulder to waistline x rib to rib). Transfer to paper and connect the pieces together on one of the sides. Since the armor is symmetrical, you can vertically fold the chest and back papers vertically down and draw in your details. (pic 1).

2. once that is done, transfer your stencils onto your EVA foam. Draw, cut, and sand off the tread. Glue together (pic 2) You can clip the base together with clips along the back.

3. You can add your skirt in now. I used EVA foam for this, BUT you can use fabric for this as well. IF you want to use fabric, add it after the suit is painted so you don't run the risk of getting paint on it later. (pic 3 +4)

4. Now you can add your details in. There is a lot of trim on this suit.I also used the thicker EVA foam to use as pecs (pic 5)

5. There are little tabs on the back of the suit you can add. (pic 6)

Collar

1. Each collar piece is comprised of 2 pieces of EVA foam.

2. First, create the part of the collar that will rest against the chest piece. you can create a template from paper or even masking tape if it is easier.

3. From there, use another piece of paper to see how tall you want the collar to be. glue the pieces together, add your trim. (pic 7)

Step 6: Skirt, Hip Guards, and Belt Buckle

Skirt

1. Create your template from paper.Draw in all your designs.

2. transfer to eva foam, draw, and cut out. Sand off the tread.

3. Start gluing the skirt pieces in. Remember that you need to make space for your hip pieces. (pic 1 -3). Don't be afraid to try on all your pieces to see how things are fitting together. this was helpful to determine how long the skirt pieces needed to be.

4.Each panel has this bottom decorative piece attached to it. Transfer to EVA foam, draw, and cut out. Sand off the tread.I used my soldering iron to heat in grooves so i could bend the piece into the shape i wanted. Glue each piece in. (pic 4)

5. Each skirt panel also has 3 little diamonds attached. I sanded a larger slab of EVA foam and then cut all the diamonds out (angle out each) and attached them. (pic 5)

Hip

1. Draw out your template to see how long and wide you need to make each piece. (pic 6)

2. Each hip guard was made from 3 pieces pic 7)

3. Add your trim and decorations.

Belt buckle

1. When you drew your chest piece from the previous step, you should have drawn in your belt buckle.

2. Use that template to draw on craft foam (pic 8)

3. Cut out the piece and glue into place (pic 9)

Step 7: Shoulders

1. For your shoulders, there are 3 Long strips and two shorter strips. (pic 1). create your paper templates, transfer to eva foam, draw, and cut out. Sand off the tread.

2. Glue all your pieces together. if you space them correctly, you can get some really nice overall going on (pic 2)

3. Don't forget to add your trim at this point. (pic 3)

Step 8: Texture, Prep, Paint, Rivets

1. This is the most tedious time consuming part. The armor is supposed to look like its been hammered. I used a dremel to create hammerd look on ALL the pieces. it takes time, but its worth it. Beauty is in the details for this piece!

2. i used DAP quick seal to seal all the EVA pieces together so there were no gaps.

3. In order to prep your pieces, you need to either first cover them with modge podge or plastidip. Plastidip is the way to go if you have the funds for it.

4. Once dry, i took some silver spray paint and sprayed all the trim on all the pieces.

5. Then, I took metallic blue acrylic paint and went to town on all the pieces.

6. Lastly, i snipped the tips of some silver thumbtacks and superglued them in to use as decorative "rivets".

7. you can seal your work with a matte clear coat.

Step 9: Finished!

1. You have your choices of either carrying some machine guns, an Ax, or maybe even a shake weight. Just keep in mind that the more props you have, the more you have to carry.

2. For the tattoos on the head, we used black craft foam and attached them to the head with spirit gum. However, this wasn't the best thing as he was so sweaty that it didn't stick too well. If you have a different way of doing it, please feel free to share your way!

3. The actor in the movie had a goatee, so feel free to shave your face how you need.

4. the actor also had some darkening around the eyes so maybe some dark eye shadow/eye liner might be helpful.

5. Don't be afraid to find some Thor cosplayers!

Major props for fantastic photographers such as David Ngo and Noah Smith Images for their great pictures of this suit.

That should be it!. Thanks for checking out this tutorial and feel free to find more of my current projects through Facebook, instagram, tumblr, and youtube.