When it comes to bringing your costume to life, the details can make all the difference. Whether you're aiming for a whimsical, eerie, or fantastical appearance, creating custom eyes can enhance your cardboard costume's overall aesthetic and draw attention to your character. This tutorial is to help beginners, with simple but easy techniques that can be used to create the perfect eyes for your cardboard costume.
When designing costumes like dragon, wolf, dinosaur, or lion masks, choosing the right eye design is essential to achieve your desired look. Here are some simple costume eye techniques that will look fantastic in your costume.
1. Basic Pac Man Eyes
The Basic Pac Man Eyes are an excellent choice for enhancing this cardboard Dinosaur costume, as they are not only straightforward to create but give a friendly appearance to a child's dinosaur costume. These eyes, characterised by their iconic Pac Man shape are reminiscent of the classic video game character, make the perfect eyes for your child's dinosaur costume.
To learn how to create these Basic Pac Man Eyes, watch the video below. Here are the materials used, along with links to Amazon products (they might differ from those in the video).
- Polystyrene balls 2 inches 5cm https://amzn.to/40VXm3V
- Black fine and ultra fine marker https://amzn.to/40T9YZM
- Craft Blade https://amzn.to/40GfQUR
- Watch the video below for the tutorial
2. Basic Large Pupil Eyes
The Basic Large Pupil Eyes are perfect for a range of costumes and help bring a a touch of charm to what every character you have. These oversized eyes are designed to create a cute and friendly appearance to your child's cardboard costumes.
Basic Large Pupil eyes for a cute dinosaur costume
To learn how to create these Basic Large Pupil Eyes,watch the video below. Here are the materials used, along with links to Amazon products (they might differ from those in the video).
- Polystyrene balls 2 inches 5cm https://amzn.to/40VXm3V
- Acrylic paint https://amzn.to/3WvPTGq
- (we used Reeves Acrylic however have found these to be very similar)
- Colours used: Black & Titanium White.
- Paint Brushes https://amzn.to/3WJ8oqW
- Craft Blade https://amzn.to/40GfQUR
- Cotton Buds https://amzn.to/3CzZCEO
- Various lids found around the house we used a soda stream bottle lid for this one.
3. Simple Wolf Eyes
Here we are using a larger eye ball size for this Simple Wolf Eye, this gives the eye a less beady lookings as it sits in the eye space of this cardboard wolf head mask. This simple design is great when you are wearing this wolfs mask open like this and using the mouth for seeing through.
To learn how to create these Simple Wolf Eyes, watch the video below. Here are the materials used, along with links to Amazon products (they might differ from those in the video).
- Polystyrene balls 3 inches 7.5cm https://amzn.to/4gnvPwI
- Acrylic paint https://amzn.to/3WvPTGq
- (we used Reeves Acrylic however have found these to be very similar)
- Colours used: Black, Titanium White & Yellow Orchre.
- Paint Brushes https://amzn.to/3WJ8oqW
- Craft Blade https://amzn.to/40GfQUR
- Cotton Buds https://amzn.to/3CzZCEO
- Various lids found around the house we used a glue stick lid and a marker pen lid.
4. Dragon Eyes with Diamond Pupils
These costume dragon eyes with diamond pupils are easy to achieve and are really simple to make. The diamond shape gives the perfect whimsical look perfect for our cardboard dragon costume. Once again we are using a larger eye size in this dragon head due to the bigger size of the dragon build.
Dragon Eyes with Diamond pupils for a large cardboard dragon mask costume
To learn how to create these Dragon Eyes with Diamond Pupils, watch the video below. Here are the materials used, along with links to Amazon products (they might differ from those in the video).
- Polystyrene balls 3 inches 7.5cm https://amzn.to/4gnvPwI
- Acrylic paint https://amzn.to/3WvPTGq
- (we used Reeves Acrylic however have found these to be very similar)
- Colours used: Black, Titanium White & Yellow Orchre.
- Paint Brushes https://amzn.to/3WJ8oqW
- Craft Blade https://amzn.to/40GfQUR
- Cotton Buds https://amzn.to/3CzZCEO
- Various lids found around the house we used a glass jar for this one.
5. Dragon Eyes with Eclipse Pupils
These dragon eyes, featuring eclipse-shaped pupils, create a charming appearance for this smaller-sized cardboard dragon head costume. The unique design of the pupils adds a playful touch gving a sense of cuteness to the dragons character.
To learn how to create these Dragon Eyes with Eclipse Pupils, watch the video below. Here are the materials used, along with links to Amazon products (they might differ from those in the video).
- Polystyrene balls 2 inches 5cm https://amzn.to/40VXm3V
- Acrylic paint https://amzn.to/3WvPTGq
- (we used Reeves Acrylic however have found these to be very similar)
- Colours used: Black, Titanium White, Orange Yellow, & Sap Green.
- Paint Brushes https://amzn.to/3WJ8oqW
- Craft Blade https://amzn.to/40GfQUR
- Cotton Buds https://amzn.to/3CzZCEO
- Various lids found around the house we used a soda stream bottle lid for this one.
6. Easy Lion Eyes
These adorable lion costume eyes are super simple to create! If you want to give them a less beady look, feel free to try making larger-sized eyes (3inch). This cardboard lion headdress is a popular choice for school productions, and with these quick and easy techniques, you can whip up a bunch of costume eyes in no time!
To learn how to create these Easy Lion Eyes, watch the video below. Here are the materials used, along with links to Amazon products (they might differ from those in the video).
- Polystyrene balls 2 inches 5cm https://amzn.to/40VXm3V Although would also work well with the polystyrene balls 3 inches 7.5cm https://amzn.to/4gnvPwI
- Acrylic paint https://amzn.to/3WvPTGq
- (we used Reeves Acrylic however have found these to be very similar)
- Colours used: Black, Titanium White, Yellow Orchre & Burnt Umber.
- Paint Brushes https://amzn.to/3WJ8oqW
- Craft Blade https://amzn.to/40GfQUR
- Cotton Buds https://amzn.to/3CzZCEO
- Various lids found around the house, we used lids from a soda stream bottle, glue stick and a marker.
Cardboard costumes offer a creative and budget-friendly way to stand out at any event. With just a few materials, you can use six easy eye costume tricks to enhance your look. These eyes would look great on a lot of our cardboard costume templates that we provide. To see the techniques used to create these simple costume eyes, check out the video tutorial below!
We use polystyrene eyeballs, although we prefer not to due to their environmental impact. We strive to do our best for the environment by upcycling as much as possible. However, we find it challenging to replace hot glue and polystyrene balls. We haven't found 2 and 3-inch paper mache alternatives that are readily available. You're welcome to make your own. If you do find any, please inform us. We also reuse and touch up our eyes whenever possible.