Moondog was born around 2018, when I made a paper mache mask of “a dog that's also the moon.” My partner Bill really dug the mask, so I made him a copy to wear for Halloween. While I was making the Hot Rod costume, Bill developed Moondog's first look: boots, a dark green flight suit, and a modified women's coat in black velvet (trimmed with bright green fun fur).
In the intervening years, the characters of Hot Rod and Moondog have appeared in several of my paintings. In 2027, I'll be showing the paintings (as well as the costumes) in a big gallery show at the local art center, but here’s a twist: Moondog's look has evolved significantly as I continued to paint him.
The past couple of Halloweens, I've focused on rebuilding the masks for Shannon and Hot Rod out of foam and fleece, to make dramatic and oversized heads that I can safely display on mannequins in the gallery. This year, I did the same with Moondog! The difference is that I also had to make the whole rest of the costume as well. Because I can’t put it in the show unless it’s my own work, and the original costume wasn’t mine. It was Bill’s!
But more importantly, Moondog looks different now. I had to remake the costume so that it would match the paintings.
While I had come up with something of a backstory for Hot Rod, I hadn't put as much thought into Moondog. He wasn't really mine, you see, he was for Bill! And I didn't want to stifle Bill's thought process.
But in the paintings, I had sort of generalized an idea that Hot Rod was “science” and Moondog was “magic.” And that notion was reflected in the evolution of his costume.
Moondog still dressed in black, but with more of a squared-off tunic instead of the coat. And the bright green fur on cuffs, collar, and hem had become clouds of green smoke, which were fun to paint but might be hard to make in real life. There was something mystical about him, and I wanted to try to capture that feeling.
The result is peculiar, a bit magical, and stands out in a crowd. Check out the Instructable (linked above) for a more detailed process, including how I made the boots and gloves. Honestly, I thought the costume was going to be more difficult to wear. It’s heavy and hot, it has big fake boots, and the eye holes in the mask are not where the eye holes in my skull are located. Ultimately, though, it was the weight of the mask that proved to be the biggest problem.
That surprised me, since the foam doesn’t weigh that much. But, it is quite front-heavy, and over the course of a couple hours that takes its toll. In any case, Moondog is a beautiful creature and he made everyone’s Halloween more magical. Especially yours.
