Matt Fagan Art

Gus and Matt in the back yard, surrounded by autumn leaves

Gus is pretty sure there's a golden autumn day around here somewhere.

Hot Rod Carved Foam Dog Mask Hot Rod Carved Foam Dog Mask: The character of Hot Rod - an alien race-car driving dog from another dimension - was created for my Halloween costume seven years ago. The original version of that costu...

If you want to learn how to make giant foam heads, I'm probably not the best teacher. But you can see what I did and learn from my mistakes on instructables.com, which is pretty cool I think.

#Halloween #instructables #diy #maskmaker #art #showandtell #cosplay #artist

A bearded nerd with a flat cap and glasses, cheek to cheek with a huge red and white dog mask.

Halloween has come and gone, and I am left with a great big mask and no place to put it. I wish I had a second studio, to store the stuff I made in the first studio.

Or just a bigger studio, I guess.

#Halloween #artist #mask #foamcarving #art #cosplay

There's been horrifying claims made that a sequel is in pre-production

Me in my Hot Rod costume, and Bill in his silver and purple wizard costume.

If there was a contest, we would have won.

#Halloween #costume #cosplay #halloweencostume #dogmask #maskmaker #mask

The shoes for my Halloween costume which are built onto a pair of knockoff Chuck Taylors. They have "dog toes" on the ends, sculpted in foam, covered in red fleece. There are yellow claws made from a raincoat.

The shoes for my Halloween costume which are built onto a pair of knockoff Chuck Taylors. They have "dog toes" on the ends, sculpted in foam, covered in red fleece. There are yellow claws made from a raincoat.

Decided I needed dog toes on my costume shoes. Happy Halloween!

#wip #art #Halloween #costumes #artist #cosplay #costumeideas #dogshoes

Matt wearing his nearly complete HOT ROD costume, a red and white dog in fancy gear with a cape and everything!

Hot Rod is stranded in this backward dimension, but he's making the best of it. Happy Halloween!

#Halloween #cosplay #halloweencostume #costumeideas #dogsky #dogcostume

The HOT ROD costume is nearly ready! This dimension-hopping dog is here to tear through the fabric of the Halloween continuum!

#costumeideas #cosplay #Halloween #halloweencostume #hotrod #dogsky #costumes

I bet the owl is actually doing all the work!

My Halloween mask, a work in progress. A large red and white dog head, sculpted in Styrofoam and covered with fleece. Here I am showing off thr recently-painted nose.

My Halloween mask, a work in progress. A large red and white dog head, sculpted in Styrofoam and covered with fleece. Here I am showing off thr recently-painted nose.

Hopefully this isn't the last Halloween we ever get, but if it is, I'm going to really enjoy wearing my Hot Rod mask... which is almost finished.

#hotrod #maskmaker #mask #Halloween #halloweencostume #cosplay #costumeideas #dogmask #art #artist #wip #foamsculpture #foamcarving #dogsky

A mask inspired by Mother's circus animal cookies, and Hellraiser!

They're weirdly inspiring! 🤣

Thanks! Since I don't have all my old fragile paper decorations anymore, this is the next best thing.

A sideshow banner inspired by the cats from paper Beistle halloween decorations. With tentacles!

Old Beistle paper decorations are the best! I've been painting a monster inspired by these cats for a while now, most recently as a sideshow banner!

This fabulous CIRCUS ELEPHANT, inspired by the delicious aesthetic of Mother's frosted animal cookies, was my Halloween costume in 2022. I was working really hard on another project, so this was my version of half-assing Halloween because I was too busy.

#halloween #costumeideas #animalcookies

Me in full Shannon costume for Halloween in 2021. Her waitress uniform has a pink satin skirt, and a turquoise polo shirt with pink princess sleeves that match the skirt. There is a little white apron which matches a neckerchief. She also has furry brown arms and legs, and big toes bursting out of her shoes. The "GUEST CHECK" pad is actually a hand painted block of plywood, with a wipe-clean surface on top. That way I can write on it with a dry erase marker.

Me in full Shannon costume for Halloween in 2021. Her waitress uniform has a pink satin skirt, and a turquoise polo shirt with pink princess sleeves that match the skirt. There is a little white apron which matches a neckerchief. She also has furry brown arms and greenish fingers that match her face. Shannon also wears big dangly earrings that look like glittery gold chicken drumsticks. She is sitting down, probably taking a break, with a cup of coffee and a cigarette.

SHANNON is a sasquatch, a waitress, and a single mother doing her best in a difficult world. She was one of my favorite costumes ever, designed around this paper mache mask which I had made for a show in 2021.

#halloween #costumeideas #halloweencostume #bigfoot #sasquatch #waitress

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness

My flappy ears are so adorable that I might have to constantly dance on Halloween, just to keep things moving.

#halloween #wip #artist #art #costume #costumeideas #dogmask #hotrod #lgbtqartist #mask #maskmaker #foamcarving

Progress report: Hot Rod has a head and hands now. Halloween's gonna get ya!

#halloween #wip #artist #art #costume #costumeideas #dogmask #hotrod #lgbtqartist #mask #maskmaker #foamcarving

Wearing my work in progress: a red and white dog mask carved from Styrofoam, covered in fleece.

Halloween is shaping up. The new version of Hot Rod, the interdimensional race-car driving dog, is a much larger mask than his previous incarnation but it's also very lightweight.

#costume #costumeideas #halloweencostume #wip #art #artist #maskmaker #Halloween

Picture of me in my Impressionist Joker costume form 20 years ago

20 years ago, I made this Impressionist Joker costume.

This was a very early mask experiment, and I thought it kind of looked like the Joker, from Batman. So I thought, "If this WAS the Joker, what would the rest of his costume look like?"

This was the result.

#costume #halloween #costumeideas

blocks of foam that will one day become a bigfoot

Picture of me, frowning, holding a similar frown in my hand

Naked foam mask of Shannon the sasquatch, under construction

It's a VERY different process from making masks out of paper mache, but I think she turned out pretty well for a first attempt!

Last year, I revived the epic SHANNON costume. The single mother/sasquatch/waitress debuted a brand new mask in 2024; I taught myself to carve foam so I could make the mask both larger and lighter (for later display on a mannequin)

#costumeideas #halloween #costume #cosplay #bigfoot #sasquatch

A picture Bill took of me working on a Halloween mask

I love this picture Bill took while I was working on my Halloween mask

Not pictured: my Halloween mask

I do not believe the claim that you need to do other things.

Bill is scared of snakes so, while I think I could lure him with Peter Capaldi and Amanda Donohoe, the serpents are a deal breaker.

I already inflicted Ken Russell on him in the form of Lisztomania, so I consider that a big win!

Has Scott never seen it? Depressing and bleak or not, if he hasn't seen it he's in for a treat!

Personally, I've gotten Bill to watch like 5 Chucky movies this month so I'm not gonna stop.

YouTube video by Weird Backups Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) FULL MOVIE

The whole movie is free on YouTube and I've had the tab open for like three months.

I've been wanting to watch Goodbar again and I keep almost starting, but also it's bleak and depressing and maybe I don't need that right this second?

Bill and I in our Halloween costumes

Photo of our masks (the pie man and the clown) with the envelope containing our first prize!

The year of the Pie Man was also the first time that Bill dressed up with me for Halloween! We took first prize at the local contest, and repeated that win for two more years before the venue closed down during Covid!

Bill and I wearing our 2017 Halloween costumes

Our first prize costume contest envelope, with our masks (the pie man and the clown)

This was also the very first year that my partner played dressup with me for Halloween! We won first prize at the local costume contest. We would also take first prize the next two years, before the venue shuttered during Covid.