Introduction: How to Make a Mortal Kombat: "Scorpion" Costume
Scorpion is one of the most well-known video game characters ever. After all, who doesn't want to be a hell-bound ninja that shoots chained spears out of your hands and rips off your own face to breathe fire?! The story goes that Scorpion hates Subzero (his arch-nemisis) so much that he comes back from the dead to to fight him within the mortal kombat tournament.
Well, in trying to decide my two friends should cosplay as during the convention, we came up with the idea of making them Scorpion and Subzero. Besides, how can anyone dislike a pair of rival ninjas?! Let's get started!
Materials
- EVA Foam
-black pants
-black long sleeve tshirt/turtleneck OR black sleeveless tshirt/ turtleneck
- black shoes
-Black plastic buckles
-paper
-black strips of fabric
-hot glue/ glue gun
-exacto knives
-measuring tape
- metal craft rings
-modge podge matte
-plastic craft mesh
-yellow fabric
-plastic chains
-heat gun
-dremel
-worbla
-craft foam
-black fabric
Step 1: Sketch and Reference Pics
1) I tend to grab as many reference pictures as I can for the character. I look up cosplay renditions that have been done to analyze what i liked and didn't like about the costume, and what worked and didn't work. (pic 1-7)
2) Once i have enough reference pictures, i create a rough sketch of what i want the suit to somewhat look like. The person wearing the suit wanted various aspects of certain versions. (pic 8)
Step 2: Gauntlets and Shin Guards
Gauntlets
1. Start with grabbing your measurements. You will need with length from your wrist to wherever on your forearm you want the gauntlet to end. Then i take a rough estimate measurement of how wide to make it.
2. Transfer those measurements to a piece of paper and fold length ways in half. Folding it and drawing the design on the half will allow for symmetry once you cut it out and unfold the pieces. Draw your design on the half piece of paper, cut it out, and then unfold(pic 1)
3. Use that paper template from step 2 and trace it onto the EVA foam. Cut it out. (pic 1)
4. Heat the cut EVA foam piece with your heat gun and then curve it. Hold in place until cool. it will retain it's form. (pic 1). you no have your gauntlet base
5. Now take your paper template from step 2, refold it in half, and cut off any detail (usually the base) that you don't need. I wanted the template for the ridge i was creating. (pic 2)
6. Glue onto the base of the gauntlet. (pic 2)
7. I used a dremel to smooth off the edges and create different layers and textures. its just up to you to play around (pic 3)
8. once you have your base, i glued on my metal craft rings along the edge of the gauntlet. After you prep and paint it, you can use your strips of black fabric and tie it up like a shoe lace. (pic 4)
Shin Guards
1. Repeat the entire process that you did for the gauntlets. its just a longer scale. (pic 5 and 6)
Step 3: Belt and Tunic
Belt
1. take your measuring tape to figure out how long you want the strip to be. Cut out the strip from eva foam. I believe i used 1.5 inches x 32 inches.
2. I wanted to add a skull for the buckle. I had a lot of scraps of worbla (thermo plastic) so i heated that into the general shape i needed. Then i used various tools to press in and create the details while the worbla was still hot. (pic 1)
3. attach to the center of the belt strip. the plastic belt buckle will be in the back.
4. You need to make a choice with the tunic. Originally, i wanted to create a ridged design to follow my chest piece design. I originally made it (front and back) out of craft foam, but then later changed my mind to use cloth. (pic 3)
5. Since it was now cloth, i wanted it to look raggedy, so first we lit it on fire in various places to give it a tinged look. Then i used an airbrush to dirty it up more. If you don't have an airbrush, you can use actual dirt or even shoe polish. i glued the fabric directly into the belt strap. (pic 4)
6. I bought some plastic chains and attached them to the front of the belt buckle to the back of the belt. (pic 4)
Step 4: Chest Piece
1. Take your measurement from the top of the shoulder to the waist line. Since the chest is somewhat angled, you need the middle of the waistline to the middle of your side. From there, you will need to cut your angles in and also cut for the place where your arm would fit. Cut out of EVA foam 2x and glue the tops together. (pic 1)
2. My friend wanted these side buckles on the chest so first i needed to make the stars. I used more EVA to first create a side. Then i cut straps out of craft foam and used a hole punch of belt holes. (pic 2)
3. I had some thermos plastic that i used to create buckles. if you don't have it, you could make it out of more foam. (pic 3). Glue the buckles on top of the straps, and those directly onto the side piece of EVA. (pic 4)
4. We created a ridge along the border of the chest pieces. (pic 5) that way, it would differentiate sections of the chest, including the shoulder.
4. We wanted a roofing tier design for the chest piece so we made it out of craft foam. cut out your craft foam and glue directly on top of each other like roofing tiles (pic 6)
5. once completed, glue directly onto the chest piece (pic 7)
6. We wanted a scorpion emblem onto the shoulder. First draw it out on paper, then cut out, and then transfer to craft foam. (pic 8)
7. cut out your scorpion and glue directly onto the shoulder (pic 9 and 10)
8. repeat the process for the other side, so now you have 2 sides of the chest piece (pic 11)
9. we turned the chest piece into a vest, so we put some fabric on the inner part of the backside so now you could put the chest piece on like a jacket.
10. in order to close the front, we added some metal rings and used the chains to hold the front closed. (pic 12)
Step 5: Mask and Hood
Mask
1. Start with a measuring tape and figure out how the dimensions of your face. Fold the paper in half and start drawing in your design.
2. use the paper template from step 1 and transfer to craft foam (pic 1). This is your base.
3. Use your paper template to start cutting out the next layer. keep adding layers and putting them over and under your base layer till you get what you want. (pic 2-5)
4. From there, i took worbla and covered the entire thing so it was nice and hard. (pic 6)
5. The mask had these side panels. First we were debating about using cloth to fill it in, but eventually went with a plastic mesh grate. (pic 7 + 8)
6. Once complete, put some elastic on the mask and call it a day.
Hood
1. I always start out by drawing a paper template so i can get the general shape down. the paper template will only be half of the hood, so you will need to cut it out of fabric 2x and sew it together. If you don't know how to sew, then you could technically just glue it together. (pic 9 + 10)
2. we decided to add a collar to the chest piece which the hood could glue onto. (pic 11)
Step 6: Chained Kunai (spear)
1. Draw your template from a folded piece of paper. That way, it is symmetrical once you unfold it. (pic 1 and 2)
2. Transfer to craft foam.( pic 2)
3. I had worbla so i covered the whole this so it was nice and hard. Then i used the worbla to create ridges and details. You can technically just use a thicker craft foam if you don't have worbla.
4. Added a metal craft ring and attached it to the chain.
5. Paint, dirty, and consider adding some red for a little blood stain.
Step 7: Finishing Touches!
1. You should have everything built now. With all your pieces, you need to prep them before painting the foam. You can either use plasti-dip spray, or you can use modge podge matte on each piece to create a nice paintable shell on the foam.
2. You can either go with long sleeve or sleeveless.If you go sleeveless, strap up your biceps.
3. IF you want to be a superstar, you could get white-out contacts to hide your pupils. You could even use some face pain and make yourself look more undead.
4. You can technically use this as a duo costume if you create/ find a sub-zero.
5. Don't forget your trademark "GET OVER HERE!"
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