Pinhead Makeup Designs and Tutorials

Pinhead was the lead character from the horror series Hellraiser, where he led a group of beings called the cenobites, which had formerly been human, but now traveled back and forth through what was called the Lament Configuration.

The Lament Configuration was one of a number of devices called a Lemarchand box, which was a key to a door to travel to other places.

It was a puzzle, which when solved, opened a door or created a bridge which being could then travel back and forth between dimensions or worlds.

All of that is interesting to fans, but for our purpose, we want to look at the very unusual and compelling face of Pinhead, which is great source material to use makeup and objects to create a fascinating look.

This mask and makeup is definitely not for the faint of heart, as you can see and confirm in the photo.

Before we get a little into the makeup of Pinhead, it must be understood by those that aren't real familiar with the series that the look of Pinhead changed later on, with a more bloody and scarred face than the original Pinhead.

In this article we're going to look solely at designing a look of the first Pinhead face.

You can see the first and second look of Pinhead to the right to get an idea on how the look was altered over time.

There will be a couple of video tutorials later in the article to give you some visuals on how to create this awesome look, but now I'll give you a brief overview.

The key to creating the look is to create a type of lattice work that can be placed over you head to cover your face, just like you see in the photos.

Before you place in over you head, you will have to have a white foundation to recreate the pale face he has. That includes the eyelids.

From there you have to patiently apply either nails, or some even choose to use pins. You use an adhesive of choice to adhere them to the lattice, and then you can pull it over your face. Some have another person do it while the lattice is on the head. Either way works.

To really look the part, you can add a black trench coat to give a totally realistic look. How cool is that?

What is so compelling about Pinhead is that he is so recognizable, and there is nothing like him in the horror genre which could even be confused with another.

After all, there aren't too many Halloween or themed parties you go to that have two Pinheads at them. You're lucky if you were to see one Pinhead, as most people won't go through the trouble to create an image of him.

This first photo of Pinhead is a good look at the latticework and accompanying pins or nails which were used to design the interesting face.

Notice how the white or pale foundation accentuates the Pinhead look, as does the covering up of the eyebrows. This is why choosing a Pinhead face for a Halloween or themed party would be so awesome and unique.

By the way, those who create this look will usually cut the tips of the nails off.

Now we'll look at a couple of Pinhead video tutorials to see how others created and designed the horror character's face.

After watching them, and if you still want to dress up as Pinhead, you'll know if you want to use makeup to create the face or go the easier route and buy a mask.

I like this Pinhead look the best of the lot, primarily because of the overall look to the face, including the yellowed teeth, which adds a little more to the evil of the face. It also doesn't hurt that he decided to give a scary look along with the face to give an idea of how that would look when expressing himself that way at a party.

Also nice is the tiny touch of blood in strategic locations, as is the dark under the eyes, as well as the bloodshot eyes themselves. It all adds up to a pretty scary face.

For those who like the horror genre, Pinhead is one of more iconic and recognizable characters out there, obviously based upon his unique face.

But even if you're not a fan of horror, Hellraiser, or Pinhead, if you want to make a big statement at a Halloween party, or some other themed party, going as Pinhead will definitely do the job.

He is mean looking, has a great face to copy, and bears a reputation that will transfer to the amazing way you look. Imagine the looks you get with those pins sticking out of your face. What more could you ask for in a Halloween costume disguise?