Gangle Cosplay for Halloween

This Halloween was a little bit simpler. I fell in love with the creepy face that Gangle makes in Episode 4 of 'The Amazing Digital Circus' so I decided to try to recreate it. Also rip I guess spoilers for Episode 4. 

Screenshot of Gangle from TADC ep 4

 

I knew in order to get that uncanny look I had to light up the eyes and mouth. Having recently finished putting my 3D printer together it was the perfect opportunity to grab some transparent filament and put it to use. 

Materials

• EVA Foam (walmart foam mats)
• Transparent PETG Filament
• Contact Cement 
• RTV Silicon
• Fairy lights
• Speaker fabric
• Hot Glue 
• Black/White Plasti-Dip Spraypaint

Mask Base

I started out by making some test mask cuts out of cardboard. The goal was to figure out the rough dimensions I wanted the mask to be in for when I did my actual cuts in my eva foam. 

Nothing to see here

Once I got a pattern I liked, I traced it onto a foam mat and cut it out, shaping the base with a heat gun. I also added some additional layers of foam on the inside to help the mask hold it's shape and support the 3D printed parts that would be added onto it later. The foam layers were held together by barge cement, my favourite flexible adhesive. 

Worktable with some of the tools I use

The layers were built up over time and I had to cut the eyes out after having glued it in so the holes would be in the correct position. Once I had the layers the way I wanted, I used a dremel on the inside to smooth out some edges and also build a space where my nose could rest. 

2 layers thick except in the center where a third layer was added for nose-rest and a channel for the eyes

I didn't take photos of this process, but once I had the mask shape the way I wanted, I also painted it. White plasti-dip on the outside and the spiral and star pattern done in acrylic. Then black paint on the inside of the eyes. 

Eye and Mouth Design 

Since the eyes and mouth were to be 3D printed, I had to make 3D models of them first. 

I made the eyes in Solid Edge community edition (it's free). I find 3D modelling easiest with CAD software since it was what I studied in school. 

Designed in SolidEdge

The mouth was much too organic to build in Solid Edge. So I had to turn to Blender. Although I've had blender for a while, this was the first time I'd be attempting to actually use it for 3D modelling. With a rough crash course of youtube guides and googling I managed to figure out the shape of the mouth I wanted. 

As a quick review of what I had to do, I used the base cube model and adjusted it's dimensions into a thin sheet. Then I added additional nodes to get more detail and began warping the shape to get a more rounded mouth. 

I learned how to use Blender for this

Once I got a shape I was happy with, I started using the sculpting tools that blender had. There weren't any particular ones I used, I pretty much just experimented with them all to get the rough shape I wanted. 

Note: If you do not have the 'Front Faces only' option enabled when sculpting thin sheets, then the back of the mesh will also be warped with your sculpt tool. I originally wanted to leave the back face flat but I realized this mistake too late so the back also got warped along with the front. I never ended up fixing this and just left it as is since it didn't affect the model that much anyways. 

I love sculpting tools

Once my models were done, it was time to print them! I didn't have an exact idea of the scale I wanted the mouth to be, but with my mask base complete I just pulled my ruler out and estimated the size that the teeth should be. I also printed the teeth at a strange angle since I didn't want to use any support material that might interfere with the light that would eventually shine through it. 

Printer hard at work 

The final parts looked a little like this. Foam tabs were added to the teeth so there would be something to attach them to the mouth by. A better idea would have been to have that already included in the 3D model but I wasn't going to print a whole new set in order to make this mask work.  

Pretty happy with how the transparent PETG turned out

Putting the Mask Together

Now that I had all the parts, it was time to combine them. First off, I cut some speaker fabric so I could attach it to the teeth and eyes. This is where I used the black RTV silicon as adhesive. I needed something that would not let any light through so the eyes and teeth would only shine where I wanted them to. I also used the silicon to paint in the gaps between gangle's teeth.

Once the fabric was attached, I moved on to attaching the teeth and eyes to the mask itself. This was a combination of rtv silicon around the edges of the fabric and barge cement to lock in the 3D printed parts on the mask so they wouldn't move.

Cursed back view

The final step was to add the fairy lights to the eyes and mouth. For the teeth, since I didn't want to have the lights shift if stuffed haphazardly, I glued them to a foam sheet. The sheet was cut to size of the mouth and I also used a tinfoil tape backing to help reflect more of the light outwards. 

Hot glue solves most problems

One string of faerie lights was used for the eyes, the string wrapping in and around the indents in the 3D print. It was then closed up with electrical tape and more silicon. I also printed some plastic strap holders that I glued on to the back of the mask so I could use elastic strips with velcro to hold the mask to my face. 

Despite the back of the mask looking quite messy, the front is very clean and has the creepy aspect I was going for. 

A common question I also got was if I could actually see through the mask. And the answer is yes. The speaker fabric is thick enough that it blocks people from seeing in pretty well, while at the same time still giving me enough visibility to look through.  

Completed Gangle Mask

The Rest of the Costume Parts

This cosplay was very much centered around the mask. So the rest of the outfit didn't have nearly as much work put into it and I also already had a lot of the items I wanted at hand. The clothes were as follows: 

• black balaclava to hide my head under the mask
• blue shirt
• light blue tie
• red arm-length gloves (I chose to keep hands simple instead of going for a ribbon design)
• black pants
• black belt
• red socks
• black shoes 

Nothing super fancy here. And I also made gangle's manager tag with cardboard and a sharpie. 

Best tag in all of existence

 Final Thoughts

 I really enjoyed this little project though I did end up falling to the procrastination bug partway through it. I got my idea early but once I had the teeth designed I began to doubt myself with the mask cutout and if I was making the correct decisions. Decision paralysis is something I sometimes struggle through but once the deadline started looming I was able to pull through and put the mask fully together. 

I'm very happy with how it turned out and it was a super fun project I was able to complete while also keeping up with Inktober daily drawings. 

Our usual halloween party ended up being cancelled so for this halloween I ended up going to an event held by a local bouldering gym with my sister and her friends. I was a bit doubtful at first but it ended up being a great night out.