How to Make a Batman: Evil Robin Costume

In the Dark Knights: Metal Batman comic book series, Batman has to finally kill the Joker. In his last breath, Joker infects Batman with the Joker virus, thus causing Batman to slowly go insane and become a Batman/Joker Hybrid.. AKA... The Batman Who Laughs!!! Well, every Batman needs a sidekick, so this version of Batman takes all the infected children of the city and turns them into a horde of evil Robins.

For the most recent 2018 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, I wanted to create a whole Batman cosplay group. I thought a cool idea would be to incorporate The Batman Who Laughs into the group! My friend was also game to cosplay with us, but did not have a lot of time to join in the creation so we thought this Robin would make an easy, yet excellent, addition to the Bat-crew. So how about we get started and I show you how i built this thing?

Materials

-Green Stretch fabric

-Red Stretch Fabric

-fitted short sleeve polo shirt

-Roll of scratch paper

-Hot glue

-fitted shorts (boxer shorts can work well)

-white tights

-flat shoes such as converse or women's flats

-white long sleeve undershirt (optional)

-Prosthetic Elf Ears

-Plastic buckle

-Halloween short teeth or Thermoplastic

-Food coloring

-acrylic paint

-EVA foam

-duct tape

-plastic bag

-Yellow and Black Craft foam

-Sewing Machine

- Worbla

-Elastic

-Yellow fabric

-black Fabric

-buttons

-white face paint

-green chalk

-Chain (optional)

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.

Tunic

1.You will be using your fitted short sleeve polo shirt as a template. Lay your polo shirt flat (collar up) on your paper and trace out the shape of the shirt.. you will want to add several inches to the bottom to lengthen it. This is because Robin's tunic drops down to about his crotch.

2. From there, you want to draw about a 1/4 inch border around the shirt for your seam allowance.

3. Now draw in the shoulders.

4. From there, you can cut out your pattern. Cut off the shoulders as well at this time so it looks like a tank top.

5. Transfer the tank top template onto the red and cut it out 2 x (front and Back)

6. Now you want to use the shoulder templates and create a 1/4 border around the side where you separated from the tank top. Transfer the paper template to the green stretch fabric.

7. once your fabric pieces are cut, take them over to your sewing machine and sew all the pieces together. In all honesty, things do not have to be so neat with this build because you are going to dirty it up and distress it with some rips anyways. (pic 1)

8. To make the collar, do the same method and create a paper template. Transfer it onto the yellow fabric, cut out and sew to your collar.

9. Try on your shirt and cut from the center bottom to your waistline.

10. Take a strip of your black fabric and sew straight down the middle of your collar to the middle of the split.

11. cut out 6 small rectangles from the yellow fabric, evenly space them, and sew them on top of the middle black strip. (pic 2)

Shorts

1. Do the exact method you did for the shirt. Lay your shorts/boxer shorts on paper, draw out your stencil, add a 1/4 inch border and cut it out.

2. Transfer the paper to your green stretchy fabric and cut out twice.

3. Sew front and back of shorts together on your sewing machine (pic 3)

Emblem

1.Use something circular (glass, bowl, pop can, etc) and trace out a circle the size of the emblem. Draw the emblem out (trim and "R")

2. Cut out the pieces below in the designated color of craft foam.

3.Glue all pieces together. C on top of B on top A.

4. Carefully hot glue the symbol onto the shirt on YOUR LEFT side. You can use chalk to mark on the shirt where you want the circle to be. Also maybe wear something underneath the tunic prior to doing this if you plan to glue directly on the person.

Gloves

1. Spread your fingers out wide and trace out your hand. You need to extend the wrist several inches as the glove typically goes mid forearm (pic 1)

2. add a border allowance of 1/4 inch to the hand

3. cut out twice and sew together. (pic 2 +3)

Boots

1. You are trying to essentially make a 3D template of your foot. Put on your shoe and wrap your entire foot in the plastic bag.

2. Take your duct tape and wrap your entire food so you have a Duct tape boot.

3. take a marker and sketch out where the sole of your foot is. Also, mark a line straight down the middle of the front and back.

4. cut the duct tape boot off along those lines so you have 3 pieces (pic 4)

5. Now you have your template. Remember that you need to extend the boot up the ankle as robin's boots flap over like a collar. remember to add your 1/4 allowance.

6. Transfer, cut, and sew all your pieces together to have your boot (pic 5)

7. take the sole template and trace that on to EVA foam. cut out the foam, put some hot glue on it, and then step on the foam with the green bootie you just sewed. You now have a sole for the green bootie. Repeat for the other side.

8. If your boots do not want to stay up, use some clips or safety pins to pin them to the white tights that you will wear under your green shorts

Belt

1. Take a strip of your EVA foam and wrap it around your waist so that it fits snuggly around your

2. Draw out your belt buckle and 1 pocket on paper. Your buckle is symmetrical so fold your paper in half and draw half of it if it makes it easier

3. Once you are satisfied with your drawings, transfer them to EVA foam.

4. Glue in your pockets and your buckle to your EVA strip

5. Attach a plastic buckle to the back (pic 1)

6. painting: Before painting your belt, you need to prep it with either modge podge or plastidip. Plastidip is better, but its more expensive. One dry, you can hit it with a some spray paint. I went with a darker gold. (pic 2)

Teeth

1.If you get lucky, maybe you can find some cheap prosthetic teeth at a halloween store. However, if you cant and want to make your own, this is how i did it.

2. I used thermoplastic for my teeth. while the thermoplastic was hot, i soaked it in some water that had different food coloring in it. i think i used red, yellow and blue to give the teeth a dirtier color.

3.I also had a separate container of thermoplastic that was soaking in red food coloring for the gums.

4. Using the red soaked thermoplastic, i divided it into two pieces (upper teeth and lower teeth).. While the thermoplastic is warm, wrap it around your teeth like a mouth guard.. Do this so it is nice and snug and will unlikely fall off. Let cool.

5. Using the other container of thermoplastic, i formed little teeth with my fingers. This is going to attach to your "mouth guards".. try not to make the teeth too fat or else it will be hard to wear. They just need to give off the appearance that you have jagged teeth. (pic 3)

Cape

**This is for a different build but the premise is still the same**

1. Measure out your cape and cut the desired length. Robins cape does NOT hit the floor. Make down to the back of the knees. Plus, the bottom of the cape will be severely tattered.

2.Cut a triangle shape out of your fabric

3. Repeat for 4-5 wedges.

4. Sew all the wedges together (pic 2)

5. Repeat steps for second color. Robins cape is yellow on the inside and black on the outside.

6. Sew both pieces together.

7. cut a circle out from the adjoining point of the cape. this will be for the neck. (Pic 3)

8. attached the cape to the shoulders with buttons

Mask

1. You can get a cheap mask at a hobby store and alter it to fit the shape of robin

2. If you don't, you can create a mask out of craft foam. Draw out your stencil on paper (pic 4). You can use a hairdryer to warm up the foam and mold it into shape.

3. Once you are done, encase the craft foam in Worbla to provide rigidity. (pic 5)

4. prep it with some wood glue, paint green, and attach with elastic. (Pic 6 +7)

That should be the main aspects of the build. a few things to remember:

1. Wear your white stockings under your green shorts

2. the costume should be distressed and tattered so don't be afraid to fray the edges around the sleeves, tunic, shorts, gloves, etc.

3. You can take some dirt and get it gross looking.. You can even take a little red paint to add some "blood" to the costume.

4. Add your elf ears to the costume to give you more of a goblin look

5. add Green chalk to your hair.

6. Don't forget your white make up. Put it on your face, ears, and on your arms if you aren't going to wear white long sleeves under your tunic.

7. If you can find a chain, you can make a collar out of EVA foam and some velcro to keep it closed. You can have others hold the end, or you can go with a batman who laughs.

8. It seems like the robins are more rabid so they can be crouching or sitting on the ground like dogs for pictures.

That should be it!. Major props to David Ngo and Noah Smith Images for taking amazing pictures of this suit.

Thanks for paying attention and checking out this Instructable! Feel free to find more on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and youtube for more current projects. Most of the costumes in the photos already have instructables written about them within my homepage on instructables.