In the STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, Kylo Ren’s iconic helmet emerged from its own demise, but this time, evolved and seemingly pieced together with bleeding red veins of energy and altered geometries. We were instantly captivated and knew we had to put this on-screen work of art into your hands.
To answer how we made this helmet we must address the biggest question most of you had with this helmet: yes, this helmet prop actually did light up. So how did we accomplish making a lit helmet seem illuminated?
For weeks, we quite literally saw red both in the design and prototyping stage. While a lit helmet would have been an interesting prop, the structural integrity would have been compromised due to the “cracks” where the red light seeped through, quite literally acting as cracks or structural failure points for a helmet. In a production run, this would have meant servicing issues and higher than usual labor and material costs.
After pouring through all the reference pictures, we found the solution in a simple painting technique.
Many of the Kylo Ren movie set helmets employed a classic technique of layering opaques and vibrant colors. To achieve the “glow” we first laid down an opaque white-ish blend and then brushed in a vibrant red acrylic paint. This technique turned out to be astonishingly effective as the bright red “popped” against the black helmet. When contrasted against the chrome, the look was complete and think you’ll agree, this indeed evoked the helmet seen on camera.
After weeks of seeing red, we hope to see this on you!
In our next segment, we will look at the altered geometries of this fascinating helmet. While tough to see on screen (it is a black helmet after all), we will bring this helmet into 3D and compare the back to back shots of how it was altered.
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You can purchase the Kylo RenTM STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKERTM Helmet Costume Accessory here:
