# Corpsing How-To - the Mr. Chicken Way



## SavageEye (Aug 30, 2010)

Love it! Thanks for this post!


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## The Halloween Lady (Jul 17, 2010)

Wow Chicken, as usuall you have knocked it out out park!!!!! You never cease to amaze me. Thanks for the super tut.


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## Pumpkin Butcher (Jul 27, 2009)

Fantastic! Please, please, please do more!


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## sublimewinter (Sep 29, 2014)

Awesome! Would love to see more.


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## nimblemonkey (Jan 17, 2013)

Wow- You make it look so easy. Nice choice of colors, not your everyday gray/brown zombie. Thanks for posting.


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## Ducati250Single (Oct 10, 2014)

I am going to try this...it looks amazing!


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## Skeletoncrew (Oct 10, 2013)

Love, love, love it!


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## BarryJ (Oct 17, 2009)

This looks so cool. Gonna definitely try this for next year.


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## Marza (Sep 21, 2014)

Next years job for me too. Great video, thanx.


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## annamarykahn (Oct 4, 2009)

thx for the tut mc!

please post more tuts ...

btw, i luv all ur creations!

amk


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

Thanks for the positive feedback. Hope to do some more videos soon. Let me know if there's something you'd like to know more about.
And I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's creations next year!


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## Ellie13 (Sep 1, 2012)

Wow! That was so inspiring thank you for posting a video. Maybe someday I will have a "how to" so I can pay all of you back for your guidance.
Ellie


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## shafe (Oct 4, 2009)

You make it look so easy - Great video - Please do more


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## Bluzman23 (Sep 6, 2005)

Great Video and Job. Going on my To Do list as well !! I love all the Great ideas like this with Items you already have.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

Glad y'all are enjoying it. Thanks folks!



Ellie13 said:


> Maybe someday I will have a "how to" so I can pay all of you back for your guidance.
> Ellie


That's how it works! Mwahahaha


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## sublimewinter (Sep 29, 2014)

I used your technique this weekend on a couple of cheap plastic skeletons I had lying around. This was really easy, and they look great - thanks again for posting this video!


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

That's what I like to hear! I hope you'll post pictures


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## Drakin (Oct 4, 2014)

Awsome!! Cant wait to try this.


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## HalloweenTrick (Feb 2, 2012)

Wow! That was awesome! Thanks! I love this technique.


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## punkineater (Apr 26, 2014)

...shaking my head in wonder...Mr Chicken, you either make this look deceptively easy or
possibly... could it be a technique where mere mortals can achieve greatness also?
Model Magic will be purchased tomorrow and skulls will be marched out from storage to receive
their delightful makeovers. 
Keeping fingers crossed for scenario B 
Yes, yes, please more videos!


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## StanFam3 (Oct 5, 2009)

Fun! Thank you for sharing.


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## FearingtonHouse (Oct 10, 2011)

Sir Chicken, I've been using a similar technique for years, but watching you do it gives me more ideas and confidence. And, I love how you just simply glued the pipe to cardboard...simple, effective and all that's needed. Thanks for doing this!


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

punkineater said:


> ...shaking my head in wonder...Mr Chicken, you either make this look deceptively easy or
> possibly... could it be a technique where mere mortals can achieve greatness also?
> Model Magic will be purchased tomorrow and skulls will be marched out from storage to receive
> their delightful makeovers.
> ...


I mean, it takes a little practice to figure out what looks good, but you can't _really_ mess up a corpse  I hope you post pictures!


FearingtonHouse said:


> Sir Chicken, I've been using a similar technique for years, but watching you do it gives me more ideas and confidence. And, I love how you just simply glued the pipe to cardboard...simple, effective and all that's needed. Thanks for doing this!


Yeah, it's all about not over thinking things, you know? Of course you would need to make sure the cardboard is well sealed by the corpsing if you put something like that outside.

Funny how different people come upon the same idea. I think I started doing this around 2008.


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## TheDarkRideBoy (Dec 30, 2014)

THIS LOOKS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm SO going to use this on Houdini's 'Book of the Dead'! To the drawing board!


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## Ellie13 (Sep 1, 2012)

What is this book of the dead you speak of?


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## TheDarkRideBoy (Dec 30, 2014)

Ellie13, I just PM'd you with the answer to your question.


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## Scatterbrains (Nov 16, 2008)

WOW!!! you are quite the artist


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## Hilda (Jul 31, 2011)

This is fantastic! Looks like fun!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this.


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## Paint It Black (Sep 15, 2011)

Yes. Thank you for the how-to video. I have seen your work before, and really love your characters.


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## bringjoy (Aug 28, 2005)

Great ideas and effects! I may try this paint and paper toweling. It appeals to me much more than the traditional paper mache technique. Plus, I always have tons of paint lying about=)


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## Cassie7 (Sep 5, 2007)

Wow! I was expecting you to go the monster mud route but you really surprised me! I never would have thought of paint and papertowels! Great job!


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## ladysterling (Sep 1, 2015)

Mr. Chicken I am new to making props and this made it easy for me. I was wondering if you can do a tutorial on the eyes please and thank you.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

Glad people are rediscovering this!


ladysterling said:


> I was wondering if you can do a tutorial on the eyes please and thank you.


There is one already!


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## roach (Oct 30, 2013)

WOW I can't believe the result !!


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## Nepboard (Sep 21, 2009)

Excellent tutorial! I continue to be amazed at the simple, cost effective ideas everyone comes up with.


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## aero4ever (Oct 19, 2009)

Darn you!!!!! Now I have NO desire to be at work! I want to go home and make eyeballs and zombies. Love how easy and awesome your stuff is.


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## Hauntings by Design (Jan 2, 2010)

Great way of doing it!


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## Ellie13 (Sep 1, 2012)

My zombie mount done with Mr. Chickens tutorials. Not as good as his but way fun! I have started a few more already.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

@Ellie13 That looks awesome! Glad you found it useful!


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## booswife02 (Apr 2, 2013)

Wow! Such an inspiration. Thanks so much for this post.


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## Creepcakes (Sep 9, 2015)

This looks great - I'm excited to try it this spring! I'll keep you posted on my progress. Mr. Chicken - do you have or could you recommend tutorial for building the groundbreaker body?


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

Creepcakes said:


> This looks great - I'm excited to try it this spring! I'll keep you posted on my progress. Mr. Chicken - do you have or could you recommend tutorial for building the groundbreaker body?


You'll get the gist of it from the progress pics in this thread: http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/138175-mr-chickens-nervous-tot-zombie.html


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## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Just stumbled upon this and SO glad I did! I've been eyeing some poltergeist statues from midnight studios for a while but this has given me the confidence to attempt to create my own version for MUCH cheaper. I have a half skeleton I bought from Target a few years ago. Using this technique, i'm thinking I could corpse it, put a base layer of latex paint on it and then use some fluorescent paint to highlight it. Slap a white wig on it, attach some fishing wire and I have my own hanging poltergeist!

Will definitely share pictures when I start the process! Thanks for the video!


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## Creepcakes (Sep 9, 2015)

I'm working on a groundbreaker based on Mr. Chicken's corpsing tutorial.

Got an old skull out of storage and glued the jaw back on. Built up his features a bit using clay.









Ran into trouble a few days later when the clay dried - it was fractured and falling off. It's my first time using clay, so maybe this is normal? I ended up covering it all with a layer of modge podge, which seems to have done the trick.

















Working on my PVC body before I'm ready to try the corpsing technique. Building a ribcage out of an egg carton I found in the recycling bin and masking tape and planning to build up some elbows and joints on the pvc frame. It's all looking a bit rough right now but I'm hoping it will come together.


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## Creepcakes (Sep 9, 2015)

I also made some eyeballs using the eyeball tutorial. It took a few tries with the first yellow putty substance that is shown in the video. When I tried to mold using wet clay eyeballs, the pressure of pushing the medium down around the clay caused the eyeballs to be misshapen. I think the moisture from the clay also caused problems with the interior of the mold, because it never seemed to dry and my first eyeball came out with a layer of yellow silicone on the exterior. I rolled some new eyeballs, let them dry, and finally got one successful mold Voila, eyeballs!


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

Cool stuff, @Creepcakes! Glad you're making use of the ideas. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out!


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## Creepcakes (Sep 9, 2015)

Status update. Built the body out of PVC and the rib cage from cardboard and masking tape. Applied the paper towels this weekend. His head fell off about ten seconds after I took the photo, and one of his joints is loose despite me hot gluing the joint no fewer than three times... Might be kind of tricky to keep him steady, but that's a task for another day.


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## Ellie13 (Sep 1, 2012)

Cute as a button. It's fun to do as well. Be careful it is additive.


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## Ellie13 (Sep 1, 2012)

Just a thought on the hot glue. I use the pvc sticky glue to put mine together. Or duct tape is my best friend.


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## Renfield (Sep 4, 2014)

Mr_Chicken said:


> Hey, look, it's a video!
> Corpsing with house paint and paper towels. It's how I've been doing it for a while.
> 
> Let me know what you think. I'd like to shoot more of these, if folks enjoy it.


Mr. Chicken, I think I love you!


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## DogRedScottie (Aug 22, 2016)

This is ART... and it takes a little patients and practice.

Nobody STARTS good at it.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

Creepcakes said:


> Status update. Built the body out of PVC and the rib cage from cardboard and masking tape. Applied the paper towels this weekend. His head fell off about ten seconds after I took the photo, and one of his joints is loose despite me hot gluing the joint no fewer than three times... Might be kind of tricky to keep him steady, but that's a task for another day.


Looking good!
Yeah, hot glue won't do much to bond PVC. You can get PVC cement from the plumbing section, or put screws in the connectors. I generally work with connectors only where I need to branch off multiple pieces of pipe. For shoulders and elbows, I use a heat gun to create the bends. It's stronger and cheaper than PVC connectors, and it gives you more flexibility in the poses.


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## viltemtress (Sep 4, 2016)

Amazing! I'm going to try this technique out this weekend on a ground breaker I'm working on! Thanks for the video! Keep em coming!!!


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## Eigengrau (Sep 4, 2013)

this is amazing. i was searching for a way to make a few Aliens (Greys) i think i could try this. does that clay dry hard?


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## ZombyWoof (Sep 10, 2016)

I've been using this technique with shop towels and outdoor latex paint. Any tips on how to get the shop towels to eat up the paint? I have to work the paint over it with my fingers and it's really tedious. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


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## The Skeleton Crew (Aug 2, 2016)

Try using cotton t-shirts instead as they soak-up the latex paint much easier.


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## sharms2010 (Aug 20, 2016)

Thank you Mr. Chicken! This is the best technique ever! I tried using this technique on my coffin popper and it turned out great. It's hard to tell in the pictures but the highlighting/dry brushing is green-yellow. I used a cheap extruded pop together skeleton as the base.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

Eigengrau said:


> this is amazing. i was searching for a way to make a few Aliens (Greys) i think i could try this. does that clay dry hard?


It takes a while, but eventually it's rock hard.



ZombyWoof said:


> I've been using this technique with shop towels and outdoor latex paint. Any tips on how to get the shop towels to eat up the paint? I have to work the paint over it with my fingers and it's really tedious. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Yeah, shop towels are much slower at sucking up the paint. You could spritz them with a little water first to see if that helps suck the paint up. Even with the regular paper towels, you have to do a little massaging to get it all through.



sharms2010 said:


> Thank you Mr. Chicken! This is the best technique ever! I tried using this technique on my coffin popper and it turned out great. It's hard to tell in the pictures but the highlighting/dry brushing is green-yellow. I used a cheap extruded pop together skeleton as the base.
> 
> View attachment 315994
> 
> ...


That's awesome! Reminds me of those South American mummies.


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## ZombyWoof (Sep 10, 2016)

Since I'm using outdoor latex paint, how well will this stand up to the weather? I usually have my yard set up the entire month of October.


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## brimagic (Nov 2, 2014)

I found this thread last week and I had to try it. Have to say, it was an easy and fun process. It took a bit longer than I thought for the model magic to cure, but i'm pretty happy with the results. I'll have to get a bit more creative with the next ones! Thanks for posting the how-to it was great!


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## LittleMy (Oct 25, 2015)

My Mr. Chicken-inspired groundbreakers:
- I cut the eyehole out of a dollar store skull and cut the jaw open.
- I made Mr. Chicken's hot glue gun eyeballs. They have LEDs hot glued to them. The LED wires run down the neck to a battery pack under the foam.
- I didn't have Model Magic so I used cotton balls to add eyebrows and a nose. 
- For the base, I used half of the top of a styrofoam cooler. I used the top of a waterbottle for the neck. 
- I used newspapers and tape to fill in the body and then corpsed it per the tutorial.

These guys came together so easily and were so much fun to make. I can't wait to put them by their tombstones. The only place where I really screwed up was that I got some gray paint on the eyeballs so when they light up they have a couple of dark blotched. Drat.

Thank you, Mr. Chicken. This was the cheapest, easiest, and most fun build I've done for my yard.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 30, 2008)

LittleMy said:


> My Mr. Chicken-inspired groundbreakers:
> - I cut the eyehole out of a dollar store skull and cut the jaw open.
> - I made Mr. Chicken's hot glue gun eyeballs. They have LEDs hot glued to them. The LED wires run down the neck to a battery pack under the foam.
> - I didn't have Model Magic so I used cotton balls to add eyebrows and a nose.
> ...


Glad you had a good time, and _really_ glad to see you improvising on the techniques! Nice work!


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