Starscourge Radahn Cosplay

Radahn is in a corrupted state, ever to wander… eaten from the inside by Malenia’s scarlet rot. His wits long gone, and gorging on the corpses of former friends and foes alike, like a dog, howling at the sky.

This is a deep dive on how I built my Starscourge Radahn cosplay from Elden Ring in case you would also like to cosplay him, or use any tips for your own armor for Halloween. This project took about 2 months of work and I hope you find this helpful!

Eva foam

Contact cement

Foam Clay

Puff Paint

Acrylic paint

Mod Podge

Clear coat

Spray Paint

Soldering iron

Rotary tool

Fur trim of choice

Snaps

Scrap fabric

PVC Pipe

Metal chain

Air Brush

Gold Leaf

FOR OVERGROWN EFFECT

Green Flocking

Moss

Floral foam

FOR HAIR

Red Wig

Uhu glue

The first step was patterning. The simplest way to pattern armor to your size, is to wrap each limb you want to armor in cling wrap, followed by masking or painters tape. Make sure it is fully covering in the area you want then carefully make a straight cut down the tape and cling wrap to have the perfect shape. Add about half an inch around the edges to allow for wiggle room. I did this for the chest plate, leg armor, and bracers. For the helmet, start with a base head shape you want. I start with a general smooth head shape pattern. Once I had that, I used a paint pen to sketch out where I would be sculpting on details later. For the swords, I printed a scale blueprint to trace onto the foam. For structure, I cut out a center gap to insert PVC pipe into the swords with contact cement. To hide the PVC pipe, I used thin strips of Eva foam to cover it on each side.

At this stage I also recommend adding secure closing methods for your armor for ease of getting in and out of it. For a more hidden seam, I recommend using a zipper close for arms and legs. For the chest plate, I used 2 snaps on the side. Sewing it directly to the foam can easily rip out so I recommend sewing the snaps to scrap fabric, and adhering the fabric to the foam with contact cement.

This next part was where it gets fun. This is where you add all the detailing. For anything that needed to be heavily built up, foam clay is incredibly helpful. You can sculpt it to follow your reference you drew on in prior steps. The thicker it is the longer it takes to dry, so my advice for that is to use EVA foam scraps as center filler for thicker spots. For the small 3D details, I’ve learned puff paint is an amazing tool for it. Take your time, and make sure you’ve drawn on your design prior so that all you have to do it trace it. Puff paint is surprisingly buildable, so you can make areas pretty thick as you can see on the belt. Keep paper towel handy in case you mess up, then you can wipe it away and just try again. For texture details, I recommend both a rotary tool and wood burner. Using different wood burner tips will save you a lot of time when adding texture. This step you will also want to sand down any edges, and fill any gaps with foam clay. You can do this by putting small amounts of clay on the cracks and wetting your finger with water and smooth it out.

So how I made the mossy rock effect, I carved and ripped chunks out of floral foam then glued it to the armor. I then did numerous thick coats of mod podge to protect the foam before painting. I painted the rocks with different shades of acrylic paint. For a soft moss effect, I speckled mod podge around the armor and rocks. After that I sprinkled green flocking over it. To add a little more growth, I glued moss to the rocks.

For the hair, I shaped Eva foam into spikes held up with thin metal wire on the back. Afterwards I put a red glitter wrapping paper over some of the foam for contrast, and painted all of them red. I then cut wefts out of a red wig and glued the edges with UHU glue. Once I had my wefts, I glued down and shaped them to the spikes. I used the glue like a hair gel and smoothed that hair down. For added contrast, I used an airbrush to darken streaks and add highlights to the hair.

Before you paint, I recommend priming all of the foam with mod podge. It is nice and flexible so it works great. After the primer is dry, cover all of the foam in a base color for the armor. For a light gold, base with tan. For a darker richer gold tone, base with brown. Too add shading and definition, I do a “wash” with black paint. I do this by taking a wet rag and rubbing black paint all over the armor then gently wipe it away only leaving it in the cracks and edges. Once you have the dark wash, use an airbrush to spray it down with a gold metallic paint. Do a couple layers as necessary. If you base it with brown or tan you will only need 1-2 layers. If you want to add an optional highlight, you can use mod podge on the areas you want to highlights and rub gold leaf into it. For mine I wanted to achieve a more cracked look so I roughly rubbed my finger and brush into the gold leaf to break it up.

For the trim, I would glue strips of the fur to thin strips of EVA foam then glue the EVA foam to the inner part of the armor.

The thigh armor I attached to the back of the belt with gold chains.

For the gold rivets along the bottom of the belt, I used a circle tip on my wood burner to stamp them in then filled it in with gold paint.

The knee armor snaps onto the leg armor with neodymium magnets on each side.

For the cape, I hand drew the patten on with a paint pen then went over it with an air brush. To weather it, I sprayed it down with red, black, and sage green spray paint to mimic mold and dirt. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH NEXT STEP. I used a blow torch to burn holes and damage into the cape, as well as char the colors. I used a sponge to add mod podge to spots on it then added green flocking like on the armor to mimic a mold/moss.

for the scales on the sleeves, I made a stamp with a piece of Eva foam to repeat the scale effect on the sleeves with acrylic paint. After that I cut small foam scales and attached them to the sleeves with contact cement. I painted them brown and airbrushed black shadows onto them.

The cape attached onto the front of the armor chest plate with 2 large snaps, and I connected them together with leftover Shaun from the belt.

Make sure to cover everything in a clear coat sealant. That is pretty much all! I hope this info helps you with your armor builds this Halloween.

Thank you for reading!

—Amara Smith ( Moemara )