Stranger Things Demogorgon- Life-size Halloween Statue

Have you watched stranger things? What am I talking about of course you have, and Like me you probably loved it and had an unhealthy obsession with each season and the creatures there within. I was absolutely taking back by the creature design of the Demogorgon and as soon as I saw this humanoid, plant faced, gnarled toothed thing I knew I would have to have one of my own some day. and that brings us to halloween! a month or so ago I was approached to make something new for an upcoming convention of fellow pulp culture nuts and collectors. I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. I ended up completing this entire project in 9 days working mostly evenings and weekends. it wasn't easy but I am thrilled with the result and couldn't be happier with my new halloween decor! apparently the neighbourhood loves it as well kids and adults alike keep coming up to have a selfie with the beast!

below is a quick video of the creature so you can get a sense of what it looks like in 3 dimensions.

The main supplies for this build was styrofoam. the foam I used is quite expensive if you had to track it down and buy it. luckily I found out a neighbour of mine working for an insulation company that uses it for large jobs and often has left over off cuts, they are happy to have someone take these off their hands as it means less to recycle on their end of things. now you can use many kinds of foam but the dense and thicker the foam the better. so with that said I will break down a few other supply items that will come in handy for a job like this

1. styrofoam (as stated already)
2. wood or something to create a fairly strong base and under structure for the build
3. foam glue ( I used great stuff spray foam and a gun applicator)
4. carving materials (I like to use rasps and files to work most of the foam into shape, as well as various knives and saws to cut it all down)
5. cheese cloth or thin mesh fabric of some sort
6. elastomeric paint coating
7. epoxy putty
8. artificial grass carpet
9. Paints (and a glossy clear coat)

now comes the fun and often messy part... carving styrofoam!!!

You need to have a clear idea of what you are making, as well as plenty of references to pull from, I made sure I had plenty of pics to go through and I made a life size drawing so that I could roughly measure and scale my carvings easily. I had a clear idea of what I wanted this to look like and the pose I would choose.

next I had to create an understructure for all the foam to attach to. this is where the higher density foam can really shine, because it is so strong on its own the understructure does have to be to tough. so in the case I used a few pieces of wood to create the legs and screwed them together at the right angles to get the legs and waist in place.

once that step is done we can start gluing and securing the foam onto the base. I don't have any photos of this first step as i didn't have it in mind at the time so the next set of photos in the carving step jump forward a little bit in the build but hopefully you can understand how the understructure would work and help keep it all together.

In the last step I explained that I missed a few pictures here and there so we jump ahead to a mostly foamed creature and in the midst of getting some of the rough carving done. this step is all about patience and working slowly to create the right size and scale. You can see the yellow great stuff foam in-between spots and holding pieces together these are spots that needed to either be stuck together or gaps that needed to be filled. its a lot of cutting with blades and scraping and carving with the rasps and files to get the right shapes and contours... at the end to smooth it all its all about using sand paper in different grits. I start with 80 grit and move to 160 and then to 280, and if needed I finish with 320. sanding the final shapes takes a light hand you don't want to push to hard at this step.

The Body is mostly finished, but the most important part to this creature is still needed, the pedals! each one is carved individually from small light weight pieces of foam. this makes them easier to place and attach to the head. after getting the shape I poked pieces of wood stakes in each pedal and with a little foam glue I shoved each pedal into its final position.

next we will coat the entire structure in an elastomeric coating

I don't know the brand of coating I used for this as it was decanted down from a larger bucket I had used the Previous year. but it was a waterbed elastomeric coating for masonry and stucco applications, as long as the one you get is waterbased,latex or acrylic it can be applied to foam without harming it.

in my case I used one coat to do a general sealing of the sculpture and then I used some cheap cheese cloth like material that I purchased from a local fabric store. The fabric is used almost like a fibreglassing or paper mâché covering, once applied in tandem with the coating material it locks everything together and creates a fairly strong skin that is also much easier to paint. The skill comes in to play when you learn to really make sure you have very few seam lines or bumps and wrinkles in spots.

now did somebody say teeth?...

The blooming pedal like mouth is really the focal point of this creature and of course that means it will need teeth .... many many teeth ... but how do you go about making a hundred sharp dagger like teeth. actually quite simple really I used a 2 part epoxy putty that is self curing and really made the job quick. I took a bunch of tooth picks and broke them in half and struck them all in a piece of foam them made up a bunch of epoxy putty and speed little shape teeth on to each one. a few hours later they are cured and ready for painting. while they are in the position its a great time to give them an off white spray colour coat.

lets get to more painting.

The final step is painting this guy for the final finish. I included a shot of my work table after all was said and done its a disorganized mess but it shows some of the paints and items used for this build.

all the paint was applied with 2" and 3" chip brushes, then I went in with an air brush and added the shadowing and detail lines as well as a few veins and bloody spots. I also airbrushed some messy nicotine coloured spray near the teeth to make them feel little gross and dirty.

the final paint step is to semi gloss the whole creature up so that he feels like he is always in a wet state. I added a little more gloss near the mouth and teeth area to add to this effect.

I also added faux grass carpet to the base so that it would blend better with real grass or bush areas.

in the end this thing looks awesome and people come from far and wide to snag a photo next to this monster. halloween this year is going to be a lot of fun I can't wait to see everyones reactions when this thing is poking out of the bushes waiting to greet them.

I hope you enjoyed this instructable, and that it inspired you to go out and make something new.