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DIY Disney Villain Tombstone

Halloween is the perfect opportunity for Disney villains to get in the spotlight! Let’s make some of our favorites the stars of our Halloween display with a DIY Disney Villain Tombstones.  

Halloween tombstones made from wood featuring Disney Villains Gaston, Ursula, and Dr. Facilier

Here’s a step by step guide to how I made these Disney Villains tombstones.

Every year part of my front lawn becomes a spooky graveyard for Halloween. And every Halloween graveyard needs tombstones.

View of my Halloween Graveyard display from across the street.

  In the beginning, I used mostly the store-bought Styrofoam tombstones, but it’s so windy in our neighborhood that they would end up getting blown down the street or ripped apart. Over the years I’ve been slowly upgrading to heavier, sturdier decorations.  Heavy store-bought tombstones are pricey, so I started making my own.   Being a Disney nut, I drew inspiration for the first set from Disney’s Haunted Mansion. But then the idea hit me to create another section just for Disney Villains. And that’s how, the Disney Villains graveyard was born.

Here’s how I made them:

Step 1: Choose Your Disney Villain

I made a list of Villains I could make gravestones for, and first up was Gaston, from Beauty and the Beast. He, like many Disney Villains, falls to his death at the end of the movie.

Step 2: Cut Tombstone Shapes

3 tombstone shapes cut from plywood and painted gray with stone texture spray paint

I chose to cut these tombstones out of plywood like I did with my Haunted Mansion tombstones. In fact, I already had cut out and painted a few generic tombstone shapes, so I saved time by using one of them for Gaston.

In hindsight, this was a missed opportunity. If I ever remake this tombstone, I think I might have some fun with it and give it a more unique shape.

Step 3: Paint Your Tombstone

When you paint may depend on how you are going to add your details. If they are also being painted on, you’ll want to at the very least apply a base coat of dark colored paint. DryLok is a good choice to protect your tombstone from moisture. A gallon of white is very affordable and you can tint it by adding black to make a grey color.

If you are etching in the details, then waiting until after that step might be better. As it turned out, my tombstone was already painted with a base coat of grey paint, plus a touch of stone texture spray paint before I even thought about the rest.

Step 4: Gaston’s Portrait

If I was an artist, I might have tried to just draw on his picture. But I know my limits. So I decided to do the next best thing and trace it.

I found an image I liked online, and used GIMP to make an outline of it.

  I printed out the template, then taped it to the tombstone so I could etch it into the wood.  

Outline of Gaston on paper taped to wooden tombstone and dremel laying next to it after etching the picture.

I used a dremel to trace the lines of the picture, etching them into the wood.

Side by side comparison of Gaston printout and etching on tombstone

  After tracing the entire picture, I went over the lines with black Sharpie marker.  The result was pretty good. There was some chipping of the paint, but I can touch that up later.  

Gaston image on tombstone after filling in with black acrylic paint

I used some black acrylic paint to fill in Gaston’s hair and eyebrows.

Step 5: The Epitaph

  I used the same technique to etch in the epitaph underneath, as well as the RIP over his head. This was another opportunity to get creative. I used Gaston’s song from the movie as my inspiration.  

Step 6: Add Fun Details

RIP on the top of the tombstone with antlers to honor Gaston's love of hunting

Since Gaston used antlers in all of his decorating, I thought he should have some on his gravestone as well. It’s fun touches like this that complete the tombstone.

The Finished Product:

Finished Gaston tombstone on my lawn

It came out pretty good.  This gives me hope that I can complete a few more and have an entire section of Disney Villains residing in my Halloween graveyard this year and for years to come!

Now, Whose do you think I should make next?  And who has ideas for a good Villain epitaph?

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Ana Koch

Thursday 1st of October 2020

LOVE this idea, would like to see what your Ursula tombstone looks like and what it says any chance you can post a pic?

Amee Patel

Thursday 20th of September 2018

These are awesome. I'm obsessed with Disney Villains. I noticed in another post from you what looked like the beginnings of Evil Queen's Tombstone. I'm wondering if you would share the final results or even a tutorial for it and any others you've created since Gaston? Thanks!!

Nykole Berry

Friday 25th of December 2015

How did you make the outline? I also use gimp but I can not figure it out :-/

baseballmickey

Friday 12th of February 2016

I did it in two steps. 1. Filters>Edge Detect>Edge (If the image was colored in, it will now be filled with black). 2. Colors>Invert

Anonymous

Thursday 23rd of October 2014

Hi hope you don't mind I made this for my yard. Love it. Just wanted to let you know that if you print out the picture and then cover the back in white chalk then pencil trace it you can see an outline to fill in with your paint. The same could be done with the letters if you printed them out bigger then traced them.

Michelle

Tuesday 19th of October 2021

How do you cover the back in chalk??? (Regular stick chalk? Do you just color the back like you would with a crayon for coloring books?

baseballmickey

Wednesday 29th of October 2014

I don't mind at all! I'm glad you liked it enough to do it to! I didn't think about using chalk. I may try that for some new ones I'm making! Thanks for the tip!

Anonymous

Sunday 7th of September 2014

This is the most awesome thing ever!

baseballmickey

Wednesday 24th of September 2014

Thanks!

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