Personal project. Reference images from Gotham. I decided to base my own mask on the two that are seen in the TV show and take inspiration from them both. I loved both of their depth and details, along with their grunge-ness. I took a majority of the shape and construction of the photo on the left, with colour and details from the right.

[this photo is post having the next layer of latex to make the actual mask peeled off]

I sketched out my idea, incorporating the two versions of Scarecrow from Gotham.

I began with a wig head and drew on markers where my personal features would lie.

From there I made a latex paste out of liquid latex and flour to mould the basic shape of the mask. I covered this then in plaster of Paris so my next layer wouldn’t stick to the latex.

My aim was to create a heavy, but flat brow that leads to a flattened nose and upper lip; the eye sockets to be quite deep and pronounced: an area for the tubes to be attached.

Latex Mask

On top of my mould, I then began to create my mask out of multiple layers of liquid latex. It needed to be thick enough to hold its shape once off the base. I chose liquid latex as it is more comfortable to wear and easy to work with. It works well as a mask base as well being flexible once dried.

Once that was dry, I cut a seam up the back of it and peeled it off, cutting out the eyes and mouth.

I made sure to add extra layers around areas of tension and parts that I felt needed to be the most pronounced.

Once I had my base layer for my mask, I began to add burlap taking inspiration from my references. I cut strips to create the messy, stitched together effect and stuck them down with hot glue.

Cotton balls were used as padding to make the mask sit correctly on my head and for extra comfort. The main parts to be cushioned were the brow/eye sockets, nose and chin. I added extra along the back inside of the mask to make it more fleshed out.

For more texture, I cut out some holes in the mask. These will later be filled in with paint to act as wear and tear. The same thing was done around the mouth, giving a jagged ‘scarecrow’-esque mouth, that will be painted black.

There is also a slit cut out for the mouth to allow me to breathe as there are no nose holes within the design.

I used yarn/string and glued them on to the fabric to mimic stitching; I also made little holes at the ends of the string to look as if it has been sewn through.