Pyramid Head wears a large metallic helmet over top of his head and shoulders. While the helmet is red it is not a bright red and is actually made up of several different tones. Several shades of lacks, browns, reds, silver and copper can all be found in the helmet.

When looking closely at his helmet, facing him, you can see that there is a significant bulge on the left side of his helmet. Often in the game it can be seen reflecting a lot of light over its curved surface. Each triangle panel of the helmet on the front and sides has strips of detailing going along the edges. A small pipe with a flat hexagon shaped cap protrudes from this side of the helmet too. The back of his helmet has a large opening down the center. Nothing but darkness can be seen inside.

Beneath the main structure of the helmet you can see two blade like structures sticking out from underneath. Also a large flesh colored sack sits under the back of the helmet just above his shoulders. A small piece of piping similar to the one on the helmet can be seen sticking out of the flesh bag on the back right side.

Pyramid Heads robe is much more than just a butchers apron. His robe stays close to his body, is tight to his form, but loosens up a bit toward the bottom allowing him to move. The bottom of his robe is sewn shut, except where his legs come through. The material can be seen to stretch as he walks. His robe has absolutely no red blood to be found on it. If blood is there it's long since dried up.

The colors seen on his robe are shades of brown, a little orange and black. This is certainly an old dirty robe, not one covered in fresh blood. Three leather straps can be seen on his left side of his chest. These seem to be binding the robe together somehow.

On the back of his robe two leather straps complete with buckles can be seen handing from below his flesh bag. Coming down from that a zipper can be seen in the middle of his back, reaching down to just above his butt.

His boots are mostly black with a bit of wear and tear to them. They have a scuffed and stained appearance as well as a dirty white highlight around the top of the sole where the fabric of the boot connects. A zipper runs down the outer side of the boots as well. His gloves are a bit cleaner than his robe, and have only three fingers. If he has a normal human hand inside the gloves, only his thumb and pinky finger are left free to move. The three fingers inbetween are contained together in the middle section.
Pyramid Heads arms are colored with grey, black, and brown. The base color of his arms is a light grey which is shaded over with dirty brown spots and toward his wrists the color goes into a dirty dark brownish black.

Pyramid Head also has his large Great Knife.
The Great Knife has no blood on it. Once again it is more dirty, rusty, and worn down than anything else. The only colors you will find on it are again browns, metallic silver, and black. The handle of the knife is made of wood and should be colored brown or stained properly. A small circular detail can be seen only on the right side of the knife handle.

It cannot be stressed enough that this is an extremely detail oriented costume. Remember to take your time when constructing it and always remember you can never have enough reference images.
There's so much you can overlook.

I first started working on my Pyramid Head costume back in 2005.
I began by getting my hands on the texture files of Pyramid Head. I used those to make a cardboard prototype of his helmet. After some trial and error I got the shape of it relatively accurate to the helmets shape in the game.

Once the main shape of the helmet was complete, I cut the helmet up the back and unfolded it so it would lay flat on the floor. After this I purchased several sheets of plexiglass and layed them over top of the helmet template. I drew lines onto the plexiglass as guides for cutting the plexiglass into shape. Glue and tape was used inside to hold the pieces together.

I then used cardboard to make a template for the brim of the helmet. I then used that as a template for cutting the proper shape out of plexiglass and heated it to bend it to shape. I attached it to the main section of the helmet using tape.

I used wood trim for the edge details of the helmet, which also added more supporting structure to the helmet itself.

Returning to the brim of the helmet, I added strips of cardboard on top of the plexiglass, taped together in bundles to add thickness. On top of this I added the final layer, thin styrene plastic. I added this to the sides as well.

The robe of my costume was originally made from muslin fabric. I had a pattern for a jacket laying around and used that to make the robe. I just left off the arms and made the jacket even longer. It was then painted rather quickly with spray paint.

For the boots of the costume I just wore some old black rubber boots that used to belong to my grandfather.

Room for improvement:

Eventually I decided to improve my costume in 2008. One of the things that bothered me a lot about the first try was the back of the helmet was far too long and screwed up the look of the whole thing. The thought of properly fixing this part of the helmet made me nervous. I would have to cut the entire back of the helmet completely off. Finally I took the plunge and did it. I had to rebuild the entire back but it was totally worth it. I also added a camera to the tip of the helmet to allow me to see at least some of the outside world. While it worked well enough it still left a lot to be desired, especially in low light conditions.

Another thing I wanted to improve upon was the paint job of the helmet. The first paint job was a rush one and no detail was added. This time I went crazy on the details. I used the texture file from the game helmet once again. This time I measured my helmets dimensions out and then blew up each section of the helmets texture file to the proper dimensions using photoshop. I placed transfer paper between the helmet and the blown up texture file print out. Taping them in place I drew over each and every detail I possibly could on the texture print out to transfer the image to the helmet. The details did not come out crystal clear as the transferred image didn't take well to drawing out on the already painted surface of the helmet. It came out well enough to be a decent guide for me to follow when I would take the next step of painting the helmet details.

I worked hard to give the helmet several different layers consisting of red, copper, silver and black, using reference screencaps of the game and of the full motion video. You can never have enough reference. The end result allowed the details of the helmet to pop out. I added some dust to the helmet and clear coated over it to give the helmet a rusty texture. One "fun" thing to note is that I had to paint the right side of the helmet twice. Never ever leave a can of clear coat and a can of black spray paint sitting too close together. Lesson learned there. I managed to save the right side of the helmet by placing a bright light inside the helmet. This allowed the details beneath the layer of black spray paint to pop through again. With the light guiding my way, I then redrew the texture of the helmet hidden beneath the paint and repainted the entire side again.

The robe this time around was made out of a cotton spandex material. It started out much like my original robe, in fact the original robe was used as a pattern for the basic shape of it. I sewed the seam up the back of the robe together but needed help with sewing the front together. Pyramid Heads robe fits nice and tight to his upper body and his butt, but to accomplish this myself I would have needed to sew the front of the costume closed on a dress form. I do not own one and did not have the time to make a duct tape dress form. My wife Alessa assisted me by sewing the front seam of the robe shut while I was wearing it. It took a long time and a few pricks of her fingers but it came out well. Alessa also helped pin the bottom of the robe shut so I could sew it shut at the proper height and allow it to sit just above the boots. She did a great job and I'm very thankful for her help. I later added the leather traps that hang from the back of the his robe, and the zipper running up the upper back as well.

I made the gloves myself using the same fabric I use for the robe. Using acrylic paint and spray paint for some splatter effect, I painted the robe based on the game texture file and reference shots from in game and full motion video.

For Pyramid Heads boots I ordered some costume boots online and painted a white line around the top of the sole of the boot. If you look closely at him in the game you can see this detail. I'd like to eventually add zippers on the outside of the boots which would make them more accurate. At this time the boots have a zipper on the inner calf area.

The Great Knife is made from one long piece of pine wood for the handle and core support and skinned over with light weight wood to give it its angular blade. I also studied the texture files of the Great Knife from the game and painted it as close as I could to match the file.

For the spear Pyramid Head uses, I'll admit I made it in a rush the night before Animazement 2008 at 3am and I made it in about 1 hour. It's made from some pvc pipe I had laying around from another project, some foamies for detailing at the base of the spear tip, and aluminum tape over an orientation folder I had from a job years ago. It turned out rather well for something done so rushed and for so cheap. I do plan on making a better one now though as the top section is ready for the trash now.