Mask Making Techniques: Creating 3-D Characters from 2-D Designs for Theatre, Cosplay, Film, and TV

Mask Making Techniques: Creating 3-D Characters from 2-D Designs for Theatre, Cosplay, Film, and TV, introduces and demonstrates a variety of mask making materials, techniques, and styles to bring extraordinary characters to life.

A foundation reference for mask making and design, the book features over 700 color photos and illustrations of different masks, as well as diagrams of construction and finishing techniques. It provides a wealth of practical information about material options, safety, how to build large- and small-scale masks, how to build armatures for appendages, options for coverings, and finishing techniques. Readers will learn how to use a wide range of materials, including latex, paper and fabric mâché, cold foam, thermoplastics, urethane, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) foam, resin, found objects, and organic materials. The book also provides tips on topics such as how to create rigid polyfoam head forms and three different ways to create eyes, as well as step-by-step instructions to construct 13 different masks.

Mask Making Techniques is written for intermediate mask makers, students of theatrical mask making, costume crafts, and prop making courses, as well as prop builders, costume designers, and artists who create Halloween and cosplay costumes.

Mary C. McClung is a professor of costume design at West Virginia University and the author of Foam Patterning and Construction Techniques (Routledge, 2016). She has designed costumes, puppets, masks, and sets for theatre, video, and television for over 20 years. As artistic director and crafts artisan for Animax Designs, she had the opportunity to design and build for companies such as Disney, Children’s Television Workshop, and Universal Studios. Freelance work incudes productions with the Dallas Children’s Theatre, Trollwood Performing Arts School, and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.