Tweenage Groot Halloween Costume

I've always been a bit of a Halloweenie;

So, when my ten-year-old asked if we could make him a Groot costume for Halloween, I replied with an enthusiastic 'Hell, Yeah!' Who doesn't love the 'Guardians of the Galaxy'?

The Tweenage Groot Halloween costume took a little bit of planning and a lot of inspiration which I got from Instructables like: 'DIY Groot Guardians of the Gallaxy Costume- I am Groot' by shiftline in crafts Oct 2016.

We picked up supplies in the usual places; The Dollar Store, Home Depot, the Thrift store, and even on a walk through the woods. All in, this costume came in at under $50.00 to make....not bad these days, if you don't count the 4000 manhours...kidding!

The end result was actually, on the whole, a lot less technically challenging than it looked, and once you got the hang of it, was able to be finished in about a week.

We had loads of fun watching it take shape from the pile of supplies on the kitchen table the week before Halloween.

We are new to Instructables and should probably take this opportunity to apologize for the quality of the photos...our next Instructables will be better..... promise!

Tools:

Glue gun/sticks: Home Depot

Box cutter, Scissors: Dollar Store

Hair Dryer: Bathroom cupboard

Paintbrushes: Dollar store

Sharpie felt pen: Dollar Store

Materials:

10mm Eva foam tiles: Dollar Store

Foam Pipe insulation tubing; about 4 sizes: Home Depot

Paint; Brown spray paint, variety of black/brownish acrylic tubes: Home Depot, Dollar Store

Cheap sunglasses: Thrift store

Moss/twigs: Local woods, Dollar Store

Used one-piece costume bodysuit ( I used a Ninja Turtle): Thrift store, last year's costume.

For the mask, we wrapped a single foam tile around my son's head and marked the right size to create a comfortable fit.

We then drew on the shape based roughly on the pattern shown on shiftlines 'DIY Groot Guardians of the Galaxy' published in Instructables under crafts.

Next, we cut out the shapes and added 'wood' detailing with a box cutter.

To make the foam cutouts look more realistic and woodlike, we beveled the edges by trimming them back using sharp scissors.....this can make a bit of a mess, keep the broom handy.

To make the detailing 'pop' we used a hairdryer to open up the groove patterns and curve the foam which we then glued together with the glue gun.....my son got pretty adept at this.

We added extra pieces to the mask to increase the height and make it more 'Groot like'.

We double-checked the fit and positioning so that the eyes were in the right place and my son could still breathe!

For the eyes, we popped out the lenses from the cheap sunglasses and glued them to the inside of the mask, making sure they fit comfortably on the inside.

Cut the foam tubing down the middle(sagittally) to make strips, then bevel the ends so they can be blended into a more realist 'rootlike' pattern onto the costume. Start with the neck to get the hang of it and then do the shoulders and arms, mixing sizes and pathways of the tubing to appear as 'trunklike' as possible.....it gets easier as you go, honest!

Carry on with this process, leaving spaces for where you will glue on the chest and back pieces which we added last.

Take a minute to stand back and look for any bare spots which you can then cut and add differently sized foam pipe pieces to complete your bark-like Groot body.

This is when things get interesting....

Once all of the one-piece costume is covered with the foam, it's time for the best part: spray painting!

We chose brown spray paint for the base coat and then used a dry brush technique once it dried to create a more realistic bark look.

To dry brush, we checked out the YouTube video: 'How To Dry Brush Like a Pro', Sept 29, 2016

The very last part was gluing on moss here and there, and adding a few twigs sticking out from the top of the mask.

The Halloween fun really began when my son put on his costume and stood in front of the mirror.

His first reaction: 'Whoa, Dude, I AM Groot!'