tiggermnThis past week I got to create a halloween costume for my 6 year old. He wanted to be Optimus Prime.
Amy was able to get a mask at work petty cheap, but no costume for the rest of it. So he was going to wear a red shirt and blue pants.…we couldn’t have that…so designer dad to the rescue!
I looked at my mom and said, I need a box…I’ll do like I did when I was 6! She knew what I was talking about.
This project brought back so many memories.
You see, my dad was a Trucker and I loved to tell anyone who would listen that my daddy was a trucker (even when my TR’s were F’s as I was learning to talk!…I’d tell people, “My daddy’s a Fu…” well, you can just imagine. My dad thought it was hilarious! My mom didn’t think it was so funny when I would be in a toy store and yell out, “Mommy I want a Fu..” yeah…not so cute anymore.)
So for Halloween one year, I went as a truck driver. My dad drew on a box the image of his truck and I colored it in. He let me wear one of his hats, smudged my face with “motor grime” (I don’t recall what he actually used) and I was set! I was so proud of myself coloring in that box. In the picture, he told me I needed “snarl” so I looked like a mean tough trucker…I couldn’t quite do that yet!
So I was determined to make this “truck box” so much better for Riley.
I took reference images I found online and drew out the layout of the top, side, back, front of Optimus in truck mode. I printed them out to match the size of the box. I then painted the entire box red with Acrylics. I then used Carbon Paper (Yep, I still had some) and traced the imagery onto the box as a reference. I then outlined certain details with a sharpie, but then painted in the rest and tried to give some of the items more dimension, with some shading, etc.
I then took a wrapping paper tube and cut it in half (well, Amy cut it) and painted it, painted the exhaust holes and then used vine charcoal to give it some “soot”.
Riley loved it and wore it to his Cub Scout Pack meeting tonight and got great reviews!
