Homestuck Troll Horns Tutorial 1/4

PART TWO: [link]
PART THREE: [link]
PART FOUR: [link]

Because I've gotten so many requests, I\'m crossposting this from my tumblr to here to help people out!

Disclaimer: I'm not at all saying that this is the only way to make horns. Far from it. This is merely what I\'ve found works, and what I construct all of my horns out of.


Materials Needed:

Styrofoam [Enough to make four or so cutouts of your horns. I used blocks/sheets from hobby lobby, because they weren't the pill type of styrofoam and could be sanded easily]

Crayola Model Magic [It's light and can be sanded pretty smooth if you put some time into it]

Tagboard [Or some other stiff paper big enough to draw a template on]

Exactoblade with extra replacement blades [If you have a better way of carving foam, by all means use that! I've just found that the exactoblade that I use gives me a lot of control over how the base shape of my horns turns out]

Spackling [Model Magic has the unfortunate problem of cracking sometimes, and so a sandable spackling allows you to fill in those deep cracks pretty easily. You should be able to find it at your local hardware store, or walmart or something]

Modge Podge [Not only does this help fill in little cracks on the horns before you paint, it also is used to give the horns a final glaze at the end to make them slightly more durable. It is shiny though, so if you want matte horns, go off and find a matte base.]

White Gesso [Found in art supply stores, this is a base used for acrylic paints that will even out your horns before you actually paint them. In addition, if you used colored model magic, it'll make them a clean white before you paint.]

Acrylic Paint [Now I don't remember off of the top of my head which brand I use, but I generally grab a yellow base, two oranges, and a red. I stick to Americana because I'm a poor college student, but I'm sure any work!]

Hot Glue/Hot Glue Gun [In case of any mishaps, and also to make sure your horns have depth and aren't totally flat]

Toothpicks [Once again, in case of mishaps. Will be explained later on]

Paintbrushes [Gotta have something to paint with]

Sandpaper [I used three different grits, a coarse 60, a medium 100, and a fine 150. Believe me, all three are nice to have!]

Headband/Clips/Support for the horns [Smaller horns can be mounted on headbands, sewn into wigs, and attached to clips, but Summoner\'s horns required intensive hardware to hold up]

Reference pictures [I can't stress this enough! Don't try to make the horns from memory, even if they seem simple! It just gets you super frustrated and can lead to bad results. Canon pictures from the comic are your best bet, but if you don't have many refs from the comic (ie, if you're doing an ancestor), fanart can help too.]

Sharpies [Or some type of permanent marker, just to mark things off]

Pins [You only need a few, depending on the size of your template]

Time [Making horns takes time. The clay doesn't dry quick, the sanding takes a lot of time and busy work, and it can get very tempting to just rush through to get done. Resist that urge, because the more time you put into your horns, the better they generally look]

Homestuck is copyright Andrew Hussie, as always