Do-it-yourself xenomorph cosplay (2023)

About: Hello everyone! I'm Naomi and I'm an amateur/self-taught artist and cosplayer with a certain fascination for sci-fi. Follow me on Instagram at @naomiwankenobi for more art!More about Naomivankenobi »

My first foray into cosplay and creation in general was inspired by none other than the Alien movies when I was thirteen. Even though I was inexperienced, I knew I wanted a proper Xenomorph costume, dammit. After trying to model parts of Model Magic, of course I abandoned the project, but it was still my goal to one day own such a fantasy. Finally, five years later, I completed it - a Xenomorph cosplay almost from scratch!

However, unlike some manufacturers on the internet, I do not have access to sophisticated technologies such as vacuum molding machines or latex molds. The goal of this tutorial is to give simple instructions using relatively inexpensive materials and still get a great result. If you're like me and you've dreamed of doing that too, I hope this tutorial makes your process a little easier. And believe me, it's worth it!

(Note: Due to lack of foresight, I didn't take many pictures of some parts of the process, so I made some schematics.)

Let's start...

As you might have guessed, this isn't the easiest project in the world. I was able to finish everything in about three months, mostly working at night, but if you don't want to rush, I recommend planning at least four months before wearing the full suit.

First you must figure out what kind of Xeno you want to do! I decided to make a variation on the original by Giger dubbed the Big Chap, so some of the steps will be specific to that. The warrior type with the furrowed skull will be a little different from mine.

I wanted to make my cosplay as cheap as possible, so many of the items I used are found items - you can try the same! You must gather the materials beforehand. I've made a lot of extra trips to the hardware store, but to avoid this you'll need more than you think:

- Styrofoam blocks (enough to fill a 1'x1'x3' space)

- Air dry clay (from 2 lbs)

- Drawstring extras (think wires, electrical cords, laces, etc.)

-Hoses (corrugated electrical hoses with different diameters, plastic hoses, feel free to vary)

- Adhesives: Gorilla Glue, Super Glue, Mod Podge, Velcro, Hot Glue are all essentials (I ended up using four bottles of Super Glue so don't worry about getting too much)

- half naked

- craft foam! This is what makes up most of the costume. If you can, get the thin and thick varieties.

-acrylic paint (black and white)

-Lightweight flag pole support

-Tools: X-acto knife, scissors, needle and thread, candle or access to an open flame

- Black boots, pants, long-sleeved shirt, vest, belt, gloves (all in thrift stores)

-Extra pieces of black fabric

- Postcard

In addition to these items, you'll want as many reference photos of your project as possible. If possible, collect photos from all angles of the head, hands, chest and tail - these will be the most useful in all respects.

Now that we have our materials, we can start creating!

I started the project knowing I didn't have much time before the conference I was going to show it at (NYCC), so I figured if I couldn't finish the head in time, I wouldn't have this way worked so hard for nothing. This was easily the most difficult step of the entire process and required a lot of trial and error, so I cut out the parts that didn't work and left you with the steps that did.

First you need your styrofoam blocks. If you don't already have the size (1ft x 1ft x 3ft), you can use Gorilla Glue to combine smaller pieces into a block of at least these dimensions. This serves as the light core of the Xeno head.

Using reference photos of the head in profile and in front, I scraped off the Styrofoam block using alternately a bread knife (for large pieces) and an X-Acto knife (to approximate the shape of the curves to precision). I made sure not to hesitate too long to carve out more than I needed to, as the next steps would deal with that. Some tips for this step: Place the block on its end and cut the length of the dome. That way you still get the shape, but you also see all sides of the block at once, making it more symmetrical.

After this step you should have a block shaped loosely like the first image. Shading indicates recessed areas in the foam where detailing will be done later.

At this stage, you want to carve out a deep groove, almost to the other side of the foam, where your head will fit. Keep it low enough that you can still see under the Xenos' chin from the outside, but low enough that the head doesn't wobble wildly as you move.

The surface, being cheap styrofoam (to keep costs down - foam insulation can be expensive!), was rough and corrugated and flaked easily. To get the detailed texture I wanted, I had to add an extra layer of something to the foam. This was done using air dried clay. I finished this step in a couple of days, making sure to pay more attention to detail on the front of the head as that would be the focal point for the costume viewer.

First I applied a thick layer of clay to the head and mouth area. I left a gap that extended into the raw foam at the bottom of the mouth - that would be the oral cavity. Using reference photos (and plenty of alien breaks every now and then), I constructed the general shape of the front of the dome, mouth, and jaw. With this first step, try not to get hung up on details, they will come later. I was just sculpting the clay with my hands at this stage.

Once it dries and seals tightly over the foam, you can start refining the shape and detailing work. This is where I started to set the teeth (internal and external) and build layers of venous-looking filaments throughout the jaw, following the reference material as closely as possible. I molded the clay mostly with a pencil point into these shapes and for the front of the dome I flattened it by dragging a ruler across the clay. (You can see the front part of the head shining in some of the photos. This is because I covered it with a coat of Mod Podge because I was afraid it would crack - definitely not necessary at this point and I would recommend not sealing your mold early.)

Now you should start coating the rest of the dome with clay. This was a difficult step: getting the clay completely smooth over a bumpy surface required a lot of sanding and re-claying the gaps. To make your life easier, I would recommend making these layers even thicker, as the clay will often crack or shrink as it dries.

When you're finally satisfied with the clay part of your head, rub a coat of Mod Podge over the entire structure and let it dry completely - sanding Mod Podge is next to impossible, so this will basically "save" your previous work.

Now you can start on the really fun part of the head!

Hopefully at this point you still have some empty sections on either side of the head - this is where you can really try out the "found items" in your creation. I wanted to be somewhere between Giger's Big Chap and Covenant's Protomorph, but you might want a screen-accurate Xeno, or even put your own spin on the details.

For this part, I used a section of corrugated electrical tubing for the main pipe. I divided it in half and glued it to the side of the head, adding craft foam triangles to give the illusion that it was coming from inside the head. I also used plastic tubes for the smaller tubes and cylinder-rolled foam for the remaining segments. I filled in the empty gaps with craft foam cut into specific shapes. I glued a lace around the dome section of the head to give the illusion that it was an entirely separate material. I then used hot glue to coat the hard edges of these items and give the panels a more organic feel.

After adding all these elements, I covered the entire head with a few coats of black acrylic paint and let it dry. As you can see, the painting step really took the head from weirdly shabby to weirdly scary. So if it doesn't feel right before this step, try not to worry.

Then apply a single layer of Mod Podge all over the head to give it a slight glow. To make the smooth dome even more realistic, give it three or four thick layers compared to the single layer for the rest of the head.

After the mod podge dries you can go in with white and gray paint and fade in the details. This step will really make it look coherent and natural, so be as careful as possible. I also mixed a lighter gray color for the dome and painted over the black, adding more Mod Podge on top to complete the illusion of a separate material. (The test photos show a purple luggage strap securing the head to mine, but that was just an extra precaution and not necessary in the final version.)

For the neck I took an old fabric from an older cosplay and cut a long rectangle at neck height. Where my eyes would point, I cut a window in the top and left the overhanging strip as is. To ensure the neck didn't look like a more realistic piece of cloth attached to the head, I took two pieces of thin craft foam and cut them to shape, adding ribbing from thin strips of the same foam in a curved pattern. I then glued it to the areas of the fabric that would be on the sides of the neck, adding hot glue to blend the edges.

To add more detail, I glued several pieces of wire in vein-like patterns along the top and back of the neck, as well as adding some vertical strips of plastic tubing along the front glass.

I then sealed the entire piece with black paint, mod podge and white + gray accents like the rest of the head and super glued the entire piece onto the head, along the places where the neck meets the xenomorph's head, as best I could Reference to the photos I had saved.

To finish the entire harness and make it wearable, I added velcro to the protruding flap that was left of the eye panel and secured it on the other side, exposing only the panel to my eyes.

Your xenomorph head is now completely finished! Now you can start the next part: the hands.

Watching clips from Alien: Isolation made me realize that part of what made the Xenomorph so believable was the range of motion in the hands. I originally planned to make the hands and fingers a single, immobile piece, but scrapped that idea in favor of an individually articulated variant (less accurate on screen, but more dynamic).

To start, I cut pieces of the thick foam:

Each hand had a large piece for the back of the hand and smaller pieces for each wrist. I shaped them with a flame-heated X-acto knife to make carving easier. The final joint, the fingertip, was also much longer than my real hands, and I added a palm tip to each end. I also flattened the foam on each knuckle to fit snugly over the other one above the hand.

I then attached these pieces to an inexpensive pair of black gloves I owned, starting at the fingertips and working my way up the hand. This is where I had to be really careful with the superglue to avoid really snagging the foam joints - I wanted to have as much movement as possible.

I then made sure the gloves had enough room for my hands and adjusted the thickness of the foam with the knife to make sure they looked as authentic as possible.

As with the head, I used laces and hot glue to add texture and detail to the foam and the underside of the hands, then added black paint, mod podge, and white accents in that order. I tried to get as close to the level of detail as I could with my head.

(Note: you will see that there are six fingers on the hands like in the original drone, not three like in Aliens. I did this by simply gluing the extra foam next to the little finger foam. This stretched my hand out to the side a bit, but not very visible.)

In order! At this point, you might be thinking, "Oh my god, this project is taking so long, how am I supposed to get the rest done before my con/party/etc." finish?" and you would be in my place at this stage. But fearless! After this step where we finish the chest piece, the rest will seem almost easy. Hopefully.

This step requires more foam, so make sure you have maybe five sheets of the ultrafine type and two of the thicker type. You will also need one of the noodles and foam-core cardstock in addition to the vest.

Start by trimming the vest so that the front is joined together and enough fabric is left over to have sturdy armholes, but all of the back of the vest is gone. This allows you to put it on like a chest cover and expose your back - much easier to take on and off when you get dressed. Now that you've cut out the back, put the vest on and use an exacto knife to draw a line in the fabric that follows your ribcage, then cut along that line. You will have a base, which is quite small, but that's all you need for the harness.

Glue strips of corrugated tubing vertically across the vest. There won't be much of it to see, but some extra detail will really show in the images.

Once super-glued or hot-glued in place, take a sheet of thin foam and cut a pattern that folds over creating the shoulder crease and fits almost halfway through the remaining vest. This will take some trial and error - I intentionally didn't include a pattern because it will be too personalized, but I do have a photo of this completed step (with some foam stripe embellishments added). Duplicate this, but in reverse, so that you now have two foam halves of the vest that fit over the base of the fabric. Glue them in place, leaving a strip between them. Make sure they are secure as they will carry most of the foam for the rest of the detailing.

Now for the ribs themselves. Technically, the original Xeno has six ribs on each side, but I narrowed it down to five because I'm not the tallest person in the world. It will be very easy to make six if you prefer. For this, I cut ten long strips of thick foam into a slightly curved shape, like an open C, and shaved them into more organic-looking shapes. I then added dimension by cutting wider strips from the thin foam and gluing them over the thick foam to create the three dimensional bone look. Once all the ribs were ready, I molded them over a candle (be careful not to submerge the foam in the flame!) and glued them directly to the vest's foam cover. Then, to make the vest look more realistic, I used a lot of reference photos and cut small strips of foam and superimposed them on the patterns I could see in the photos. This requires a lot of patience - Xeno is certainly verbose!

For the front peaks, I cut the pointed shapes from another piece of thick foam and carved them into the 3D shapes I wanted. I also cut five foam heart shapes to serve as the base for these ends and glued them in a row to the blank strip I left on the vest. Then I glued the spikes directly to the center of the hearts.

To create the high shoulders, I cut two pieces of foam core board into tapered C shapes, making sure the inside curve sits nicely over each shoulder. I then cut and shaped two pieces of the pool noodle to place over this foam core and glued them to the ends. Also, I added foam accents and more serrated tubes to make the loops as accurate as possible. I then used lots of hot glue to attach the two loops to the shoulders of the vest - if they broke I would be in big trouble!

At this stage, make sure you have enough foam on the back edges of the vest piece to just reach the edge of your shoulder blade. If you're not sure, ask a friend to check that you have enough protruding foam here - this will also be important later on.

Once you've got all the foam where you want it, embellish it with hot glue to make everything look more organic. I've added ridges, veins and spikes throughout and blended in some edges, but what you do is up to you. Now that you've assembled the vest, paint everything black, add your Mod Podge layer, and highlight with gray and white to taste. you know what to do

Finally, attach the velcro to the aforementioned raised rear tabs and paint the velcro black. This will allow you to attach your future backplate to your breastplate when wearing your costume.

This part is pretty easy, but it took me a few tries to get it right - for this step, start with a fitted black turtleneck to save yourself too much headache. The ones I used were too wide in the arms and I had to alter them by cutting panels off the arms and sewing them back together (not much fun).

Start by cutting the shirt across the front vertically, essentially turning it into a jacket instead of a sweater. This makes dressing a lot easier. Now hem it with velcro and secure it in place - the shirt can be effectively closed and opened with ease.

Then I started working on the backplate. I formed the base by gluing two whole sheets of thick foam together, using a candle flame and scissors to shape and reshape this piece to fit my back, and finally cut five holes (one in the middle at the top and two pairs immediately after ). . These will later hold the rear tubes. So I started building the column. In the reference photos, you can see a ridge-like ridge on the front of the ribcage. I formed these by cutting a series of thick heart-shaped pieces of foam to form the base of the spirals and building them with thin pieces of foam cut into the shape of the spikes I wanted. As you move down the spine, you can see how the size of the vertebrae gradually decreases. The column goes to the base where the top of the column is placed. I then sealed and detailed each of the swirls with more hot glue, taking care to cover up any obvious sharp edges.

Now for the rear tubes! From the reference photos, there are clearly four "normal" tubes that make up the two pairs. I made this by cutting pool noodles to size, twisting and squeezing them over an open flame. This was a tricky step - I nearly burned myself a couple of times because the noodles got so hot, but I wanted to make sure I was gradually reducing the girth along the tube. In the end, I pinched the tube so that the material was almost cardboard thin. I then cut parabolic notches into the tubes at the base where some bumps are clearly visible, cut pieces of foam to size and lined these pieces of foam with thin strips of foam. Finally, I sealed everything up and added extra details with more hot glue.

If I had more time, I would have warped and shaped the top tube as well, but I was concerned about time constraints, so I just scraped it off with an X-Acto knife (and added thick foam top edges). . .

Then attach these tubes to the back plate with plenty of super glue and seal the edges with hot glue.

To attach the back plate to the shirt, you can ask a friend for help, but it is possible to do it yourself with some difficulty. Take some black thread and a needle, and while you're putting the shirt on so the material stretches like it will on you when you're done, sew the edges of the back panel to the back of the shirt. This may take a while, but it will prevent it from coming loose like if you used glue, for example. Then you can paint + seal + detail like every other part with Mod Podge.

For the arms! For this, I wanted to recreate the wavy sections visible on the upper and lower arms of the original Xenos. I made four oblong sheets of foam, with the top part longer than the bottom, and cut smaller ovals in the center of each sheet. On the back, I added an extra panel with thin strips of foam as grooves, making it look like a separate ribbed bottom layer. I cut a smaller hole at the bottom for the foam arm boards. I then glued together three pieces of thick foam and cut out two different elbow ends, essentially using the thick foam as a sculpting block. After that, I placed the ends in the appropriate holes above the elbows and glued these arm pieces to the shirt (arms facing in so the material stretches properly). Finally, I added more detail with twine, wire, and foam strips to the rest of the arm, hot glued it all in, and painted and detailed the arms like I did the rest.

This step is just a simple addition to the jacket, but it can add a lot more detail to the photos and hide openwork and solid-colored fabrics even more. I was cautious with the details in this section as it mostly fits into existing sections and also varies from morph to morph, so exact shapes are not critical in this step.

For this, I started with a base from the thin sheets of foam, which I cut into a specific semi-organic shape that would cover most of my stomach but also extend past where my shirt would end. I then added foam strips, chunks, and thicker carved foam sections as details for this panel. The center tube is an extra piece of corrugated electrical tubing that I had and I used foam triangles to give the illusion that it came from inside the body.

Then I sealed the edges with hot glue, painted everything a darker black, sealed with Mod Podge, and added accents with gray and white paint. After finishing this panel I put the rest of the jacket on and glued the belly panel (on one side of the jacket only) where it would be centered on my belly and slightly hanging off the edge of the jacket. Then on the non-glued side I added velcro on the back of the panel and more velcro on the other side of the jacket - this would secure the belly panel on both sides but the jacket can still come loose if it doesn't fit. I also added more velcro to the inside of the bottom of the belly panel so I could secure it to the front of the pants as well. Again, this part doesn't need to be super precise as most of the time it's not visible except for just the bottom half.

This is by far the easiest part of cosplaying in my opinion. If you're running out of time before a scam or wherever you want to show it off,ANDpossible to do it the night before like I did. Still, I wouldn't recommend it. If I had more time, I would definitely redo this part, but I still managed to strip it down and make it durable enough for two consecutive six-hour uses.

In the reference images, I noticed ribbed panels like on the arms, lots of raised regions with veins, and mechanical details on many of the joints - these were the details I most wanted to emulate with what I had on hand.

First, I started with a pair of black faux leather pants (about $3 at a thrift store) as a base. Since they were naturally stretchy and I wanted to make sure the details were laid out the way I wanted them when wearing the costume, I did all the work while wearing the pants. I started by cutting a strip of clear plastic tubing the length of my leg in half (the longest way), so now I had two half tubes of tubing. I then glued them to the outside of each pant leg, rounded side up, making sure they were secure enough not to bend as I walked.

I then did most of the details, like the ribbed finish and the biomechanical/veined flourishes, with my low temp hot glue gun. I used a reference photo as I worked and held the leather taut against the leg to keep wrinkles from getting in the way of the designs. This step took some hot glue, so get ready with 10+ sticks for this part.

Once the hot glue dried and I was happy with the embossed patterns, I cut long, thin strips from the thick foam and added them as embossed strips wrapping around the knee, thighs, and corrugated panels (using superglue). I also cut small circles and other biomechanical patterns out of this foam and added them (using the reference photo to guide me) over less ornate parts of the legs. Then I sealed the edges of these details with more hot glue and waited for it to dry.

Once satisfied with all the 3D leg work, I painted both legs with black acrylic, sealed the details with a thin coat of Mod Podge (which also made the fabric look brighter), and added a little fade with white and gray paint. It can also add a lot of emphasis to the undecorated parts and create a sense of depth where there might not be any.

As an added touch, I cut two small studs from an extra sheet of foam I had and glued them to the area of ​​the pants that hung down the back of my shins - the original Xeno has two of these studs.

Finally, I cut a small slit in the back of the pants, right where my tailbone is. Next, I took my lightweight pole mount and positioned it so that the pole portion protruded through the inside of the pants, creating support for the tail while still hiding the bulky metal base inside. I taped this multiple times to make sure it was safe - after all, if it ripped you'd end up showing off the entire convention! As a final step, I took a spare leather belt I had and attached it to the pole holder (on the inside of my pants). Now, when he put the pants on, he buckled the belt on the inside to keep the pole base firmly in place and didn't pull the pants down. Now that would be embarrassing!

When I was planning this cosplay, one of the most worrying elements was the tail. I wanted something that really felt like the tail on the original Xenos, that was tough enough to last many hours in a crowd, but not too heavy or bulky to make me tired or get in the way with complicated gear. I originally sawed and bolted a seven-piece hinged wooden tail in hopes that it would have a full range of motion, but that turned out to be a mistake: It weighed about seven pounds and destroyed any equipment I tried to assemble.

I accidentally discovered the method I ended up choosing while playing with one of the industrial strength noodles I bought - the noodles themselves made a great dick! Five feet long and three inches in diameter, and surprisingly flexible and mobile, it worked perfectly.

To begin with, I gradually reduced the thickness of the noodle along the length, thinning it almost to the tip. To avoid lumps and streaks, I used a candle flame to shape and melt the outer layer of the noodles. I then cut several short rectangular pieces out of the thick foam to serve as ridges in the tail - if you are making a Warrior Xeno instead of the classic you should gradually increase the height and sharpness of these ridges until they eventually become a fan, but I'm stuck with the classic and short style. I cut slits at the top of the tail and inserted the foam pieces into those slits and sealed them with some hot glue.

Once they were all in place, I used an X-Acto knife heated over a flame (to make carving easier in the foam) and cut ovals down the length of the tail, lining up with the ridges. I was then able to scrape some of the foam out of the ovals, being careful not to cut all the way to the hollow core of the noodle. This creates the illusion of an outer layer of armor over a differently structured core, which the Xenos reference photos seem to indicate. I then added small details along the tail with hot glue.

The barb at the end of the tail is made from a single sheet of thick craft foam. I cut it into the basic splinter shape and scraped off the hard edges with the heated X-acto knife so that it looks more like an organic segment than a clean-cut rectangular piece of foam. I then cut a slit in the bottom of the noodle/tail tip and glued this splinter to the tip.

I then painted the entire tail and ridges with black acrylic, sealed with Mod Podge and weathered with white and gray paint. Finally, once dry, I slid the noodle over the pole holder out of the pants and glued it in place, sealing the obvious edges with foam strips and lots of hot glue, and painting over the top. Now, when the belt is buckled from the inside while the pants are on, the tail comes off the body instead of dragging along the ground, and it stays put for many hours at a time without much stress.

Despite having done this part of the cosplay, I ended up not using it at the convention for fear of breaking or bending. I chose to wear only black aged leather boots and saved the covers for an eventual photo shoot.

These were really easy to make. First I cut two pieces of thick card stock into the rough shape of the top of my boots. I then cut four toes for each shoe from the thick sheets of foam, used the heated X-acto knife to get the exact shapes I wanted, and glued them to the card stock base. I paid special attention to the claw areas, letting them hang slightly over the edge of the card stock to give the illusion of longer claws. I sealed it with hot glue and made all the little details with hot glue as well. Once satisfied with the level of detail, I painted the shoe covers with black acrylic, sealed with Mod Podge, and finished the details in gray and white like pretty much the rest of the cosplay.

Lastly, I added velcro all around the bottom of these covers and attached removable velcro to the appropriate areas on my boots. Now the shoe covers are removable and you don't have to ruin a good pair of shoes in the process (since you can just unfasten the velcro)!

Now you can step back and breathe for a second: you've done it - basically built a complete Xenomorph costume from scratch. If you're like me, you're probably sitting in a corner or on a couch and taking up a lot of space, but you're really excited to use it.

On the day of the con/party/other you plan on using it, allow about 20 minutes to get dressed, and have one or two people nearby to help you get dressed. I would put it in this order: tailcoat pants (make sure to close the inner belt), jacket, beanie, chest cover (to prevent the neck fabric from bouncing, which was common for me), shoes and shoe covers, gloves . Through it all, your friend can help secure each of the individual Velcro sections, making sure no fur is showing.

Also: To cover my face peeking through the rectangle cut out at the back of my head, I simply cut a piece of black tights and pulled them over my head before putting on the hat.

Some things to look out for during the day:

- Its tail will be much longer than you think, but also more durable - Beware of crowds, but don't panic if you feel someone touch it, it will hold up just fine

- Bring an extra change of clothes with a friend, just in case. It can get really hot in this costume.

- Take Advil before you go. The helmet can get very heavy and give you a mild headache, and the constant pressure from the tail at the base of your spine can start to hurt if you're out for long hours. Also, the tail ensures that you cannot sit properly unless you squat. Which still looks great by the way.

- Velcro tends to come loose, so let your manipulative friend stay with you throughout the day to readjust when needed

And last but not least, have fun! They put a lot of work into it, so don't be afraid to really show off and feel confident. If you're like me, you'll have averyof people asking for pictures, and they'll look so much better if you actually start posing for the camera and having fun.

Feel free to leave a comment if you need to clarify anything!