Foam board guitar prop
I made this very simple foam guitar prop for the demonic singer of our monster new wave band. It was so easy and fun to make! It’s really just mostly foam board with a little hot glue and a lot of tape.
I first drew and cut out a guitar shape from foam board. I traced the head and neck to make a second foam board copy of those and glued them in place behind the main shape. Read more…
Monster Prom band, part 3: Frankenstein keytarist!
Last but not least! I learned a lot of important lessons when I was working on our demonic singer — mostly that I didn’t want to do anything that complicated again for a long time! :) So I figured out ways to make our Frankenstein monster keytarist a lot simpler. The key here was to keep most of the shapes much more geometric and simple rather than organic and curvy. You can see the guy’s torso and legs and left arm are basically just simple box shapes. Read more…
Monster Prom band, part 2: demon singer!
This demonic singer lady is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever made! I wanted to try to make a free-standing life-size human figure, using just my normal techniques with foam board and tape and stuff. This was a first for me and it worked out pretty well!
I started with the legs; it was critical to design these to be strong enough to stand up on their own and to support the weight of the figure. (Although I cheated a bit with the microphone stand; coming up.) Read more…
Monster Prom band, part 1: alien drummer!
For our Monster Prom Halloween party, my main project was our monster new wave band. I started with the alien drummer because I knew he would be the easiest!
The first idea I had in creating the drummer was to re-use my paper maché alien mask from last Halloween as the head of the drummer. So that saved me a ton of time and materials right off the bat! Read more…
Halloween 2024 theme: Monster Prom!
I’m posting our Halloween theme a bit later than usual this year because I’m so swamped with projects that I forgot! I’ve really bitten off more than I can chew this year but I think the results are going to be a lot of fun. Anyway, this year’s theme is Monster Prom, and we’re going for a sort of 1980s synthwave vibe with our color scheme. Read more…
Cerberus mask for Mardi Gras 2024, part 2
See part 1 of my Cerberus mask project here. As I mentioned in that first bit, I had to do a few steps of this project in a weird order, but for the sake of keeping this article neat I’ve grouped things by major sections — so for instance you might see some parts painted before I get to the whole section about painting, etc.
Cerberus mask for Mardi Gras 2024, WIP part 1
I’m working on this Cerberus mask for Mardi Gras 2024! I’ll try to explain how I did it! Unlike most of my projects, I didn’t have a detailed sketch for this one, and I had to do a lot of trial and error to figure out certain bits. It was fun working this way, and terrifying! Boring note: I had to do a few steps in a weird order, but for the sake of keeping this article neat I’ve grouped things by major sections — so for instance you might see some parts painted before I get to the whole section about painting, etc.
Big brain alien costume!
I made this big-brain alien costume for Halloween 2023! Here’s how I done did it!
Hooboy, this was one of those projects where I was in such a rush I didn’t take nearly as many process pics as I usually do. But I can give you the gist of how I did all this. I started out with the three basic big shapes: the shoulder armor, the head tube thing, and the brain. Read more…
48″ flying saucer Halloween decoration
I made this 48″ flying saucer for our 1950s sci-fi Halloween party! Here’s how I made it.
This thing required a lot of math, and A), I’m bad at math, and B) the materials I use are not very precise so sometimes the pieces just don’t work out perfectly even though I’ve done the math correctly. Read more…
Giant robot Halloween decoration
With just a few days left before our 1950s-themed Halloween party I decided to make this simple giant robot statue, loosely based on the robot I drew for our animated party invitation. Read more…
Halloween 2023 theme: UFO!
This is another Halloween theme that I’ve been eager to do for many years! 1950s sci-fi, flying saucers, little green men, et cetera et cetera. I drew all of this stuff in Photoshop with my tablet, and animated everything in Adobe Animate. Read more…
Cryptique Creeps custom monster drawings!
Update: The fundraiser is over; thank you to all who participated! You can check out all the Creeps in the krewe’s Gallery!
My Mardi Gras krewe, Cryptique, is announcing its first fundraiser!
I’m doing Cryptique Creeps drawings at $20 a pop, with all proceeds going to Good Trouble Network (go read about them!!). Read more…
Making a crown for my festive Creature costume
The short version: the crown is foam board with just one layer of paper maché, and it’s held on with magnets! The jewels are craft foam covered with Mod Podge and then painted.
(This is the last part of my Creature costume project: check out my articles on making the Creature mask and hands, and the scaly suit.)
Making a scaly suit for my Creature from the Black Lagoon costume
I made this shiny scaly men’s suit for Mardi Gras 2023 for my “Creature from the Black Bayou” costume!
I made the scaly suit with shiny metallic paper and hot glue, and I want to stress right away, this is not the best way of doing this! A much better way to make a suit like this would be with fabric or vinyl or some other kind of flexible plastic Read more…
Creature from the Black Lagoon hands
Making these hands was the easiest part of my whole Creature from the Black Lagoon (/Bayou) costume. Here’s how I made ’em!
I started by tracing my own hand onto foam board, and then drawing a much bigger hand over that; I wanted to be sure that when I’m wearing these hands that my real hands are totally hidden. Read more…
Creature from the Black Lagoon mask, part 2
This part 2 of my Creature from the Black Lagoon(/Bayou?) mask process. See part 1 here!
Okay, so the paper mache for the Creature head was all done, and now it’s time for painting all the other finishing touches.
Painting the Creature head
For all my big masks, I always use some kind of base coat before moving on to spray paint. This time I tried something new: I started with a coat of Mod Podge (paid link) that I brushed on; Read more…
Creature from the Black Lagoon mask, WIP part 1
For Mardi Gras 2023 I made a Creature from the Black Lagoon(/Bayou?) mask and costume! I makde this stuff for my second year marching with my Mardi Gras krewe, Cryptique. Here’s my article about making the mask!
Lifesize paper maché Nosferatu statue!
Check this thing out! For Halloween 2022 our party’s theme was the 100th anniversary of the film Nosferatu (well, the U.S. release) and I wanted to try making a lifesize paper maché statue of good ol’ Count Orlok, aka the guy that jabronis like you call Nosferatu.
Halloween 2022 theme: Nosferatu, a Century of Horror
For many years I’d been waiting for 2022 to roll around so I could do this Halloween party theme; it’s the 100th anniversary of the film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror!
Cryptique vampire bat standard!
I made this standard for my Mardi Gras krewe, Cryptique; one more fun thing for us to carry on our march. It’s based on this illustration I did; I call this design our bat-de-lis (like fleur-de-lis):
Here’s how I made the standard!
About Manning Krull
How to make a 4-foot paper maché alligator
My violin skull mask, Mardi Gras 2015
Three-headed paper maché dragon sculpture