CosBlog #41: Silent Hill Monstrosities By Shinka Studios

Wanting to take on a challenge grotesque in nature, this trio of cosplayers opted to avoid common Silent Hill foes for more obscure enemies. Shinka Studio Members Moonwildflower, Kuno, and Zukazan bring some of Silent Hill’s worst nightmares to life in the photos below. Enjoy!

Who: The Character

Moonwildflower: We decided to do monsters from the Silent Hill Series. I wanted to do the Lurker from Silent Hill Homecoming. Kuno was the Mandarin from Silent Hill II. My brother, Zukazan, was an Armless. His design was based off of the movie just as much from Silent Hill II.

Why: The Decision

Moonwildflower: We decided to do monsters that we'd never seen before. You can go to a convention and see Pyramid heads and nurses, guaranteed. But nothing else really.

What: The Process

Moonwildflower: Each costume took about two months to complete and were built concurrently. The Lurker came first. Most of the learning and mistakes occurred during that building period. I always laugh when I have to tell people what materials we used. Each has a bodysuit as a base, with layers of tissue and casting latex on top. Each layer was built up to look like skin. For the Lurker, the head is actually a leather mask. Cotton balls and latex were built up to make the mouth. The teeth were paperclay. I made the claws from wood. They were painted and covered in cinnamon. The Mandarin's head involves cardstock to get the correct shape. The base of the arms are large plastic bowls with plungers attached, to allow Kuno to lift and move them. The creation of Zukazan's Armless required him to be in the suit during the actual building.  The final cost for each was around $120. The most difficult task had to be moving around in them. The Lurker required me to be in a wheelchair most of the time because my legs were wrapped. All three of us had vision problems ranging from a slight-difficultly to being almost blind. Zukazan had no use of his arms at all and had to breathe from a tube that ran down his chest and out the back of his neck.

Where and When: The Debut

Moonwildflower: We debuted our costumes at AnimeFest 2010 in Dallas and won 1st in the Master's Division. The photo-shoot was done in some of the dark hallways of the hotel and the conjoining train station. The shoot was done by Mike Boike.

Links: The Cosplayer

Moonwildflower: We have a DeviantArt page where we post finished and WIP pictures of everything we're working on.

The Gallery

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