While this is a short list, there were just too many cosplayer's to list. So I wanted to share with you the 6 cosplayer's who started me on this journey and inspire me every day to keep going!
1. Behind Infinity I started following Jin when Deviantart was the platform you had to be on, before I even knew what cosplay was. I fell in love with the Death Note photo shoot they did as a group and thought how cool it would be to be able to do something like that. Today I'm inspired every time I see new progress shots of their costumes and props. 2. Yaya Han I discovered Yaya while watching the series Heroes of Cosplay on space channel. I was mesmerized by the detail and care she put into each of her costumes. At this point in time, I was getting into cosplay myself, and I knew that if Yaya was able to make these incredible costumes and she was self taught, that I could do it too. She was my main inspiration for pushing myself and making each and every cosplay better and better. I've also had the honour of meeting her twice, and just talking to her boosted that inspiration even more. 3. Maul Cosplay Best Geralt EVER, 'Nuff said. Ok seriously, I love how genuine Maul Cosplay is in all of his posts and stories, and how he shows you that making a cosplay is a passion project and you have to put real time and dedication into things, but you can still have loads of fun doing it! My cosplay mantra is the cosplay song he posted on social media. 4. Kamui Cosplay I own almost every single one of her books, and patterns as well as watch all her tutorials. Svetlana and Benny are such amazingly talented people and great teachers! I love their positivity, creativity and dedication to their craft and their fans. Plus, Midna and Zelda (their corgis') are adorable. 5. Leon Chiro Leon Chiro, is the best Sephiroth I have ever seen, and that stands true to this day! I followed him on Deviant Art back in the day, and just realized recently as I'm looking through his instagram posts that yes, I've been a fan since I was fresh out of highschool! I love how upbeat and positive he is even during tough times. 6. Alyson Tabbitha I have never seen a cosplayer who is literally a chameleon. She doesn't just put on a costume, she becomes the character. Every time I see Allison's work I am just blown away. My all time favourite costume I saw her make was Edward Scissor Hands, I actually thought it was Photoshop'd. This girl is insanely talented!
0 Comments
Here is how I started out in Cosplay... Soi Fong This was the first costume I had ever made. I was still in Highschool and wanted something cool to wear to the local anime convention. At the time I was really into Bleach and wanted to dress up as one of the characters. Now my favourite characters in the anime were all guys and I didn't really have any female characters that I thought were super cool. I chose Soi Fong because she was one of the few Captains in the Soul Society with some kick ass moves and an awesome Zanpakuto (sword). So I thought, why not? I knew nothing about sewing costumes, using sewing patterns, foam work...literally I knew nothing. So I got my Mom's help with picking out some fabric, folding it over my head and marking where I should cut a hole for my head, and pinned where the sleeves should go. Even the pants, I just cut out rectangles and thought...that looks right. Sewed them together, added a drawstring and voila! Pants! For a first time costume I was pretty pleased with myself. It all fit, it was comfortable and it looked the character, overall a win. I even made her zanpakuto in it's final form which was painted craft foam and sat nicely on my hand. I tried to style a wig, but it turned out pretty horrible so I opted not to wear it...ever. If I could go back and do this all again, I would use a proper pattern and finish my edges nicely. Link This was the costume I wanted to make my whole life! Legend of Zelda has always been my favourite game series and I so badly wanted to dress up as Link. Again at this point I knew nothing about using sewing patterns, so I bought my fabric, pinned the edges around my arms and side, and cut out a head hole. I added small fabric details and such which were all hand sewn on, because I drove my sewing machine like a Ferrari...way to fast...and it would eat fabric. I bought the pants, shirt and boots to match as best as possible, bought a cheap wig and sewed some brown fabric to brown 99 cent gloves. The first sword I had I made with my dad out of wood, and painted it myself. The one in the picture I bought at a convention along with the sword. This was my favourite costume and got me into cosplay. There are so many things I would do differently if I ever re-do this one, like using sewing patterns, making each piece rather than buying and definitely get a better wig. Hexidecimal Growing up ReBoot was the cartoon that brought the whole family together. We would sit together in the living room, have dinner and turn it on. It inspired me to get into video games and 3D animation which later in life would lead to my career in Visual Effects. Hexidecimal was always by far my favourite character. I loved how crazy and maniacal she was, but at the same time super sweet, misunderstood and wanting to do the right thing (even if she didn't know how). I found this amazing mask at a Halloween store that looked similar to her and thought, well now I have to officially make her outfit :) I bought everything from dollar stores, halloween stores and thrift stores and pieced it all together. The only thing I made here was the red cowel to cover my head and neck. This one is definitely on my do it again list, and this time it will be 100% from scratch including the mask Zelda This was the first real challenge I ever faced in cosplay. This costume had so many firsts. The first time I used sewing patterns, the first time I painted fabric, made foam armor, made my own sewing pattern, used appliques. I had zero real sewing experience and so I picked out a sewing pattern for the dress and started cutting out the pieces, adding in extra seam allowance, and piecing them together the way I thought they should go rather than they way they were meant to go. I ended up getting help from the costume designer on the show I was working on at the time. She taught me how to read sewing patterns and had me go home every night and work on the dress until I got each bit correct. It was a lot of fun and I'm super grateful for it today! I was really happy how this costume turned out and how easy it was to wear around a convention. If I were to make this one again I would use worbla rather than foam for the armour, use actual fabric paint on the talberd, and make a new vest with a proper sewing pattern. Aerith When I started working on Aerith I finally had a bit of sewing instruction under my belt. I was able to follow the sewing patterns I picked out and even alter the jacket a bit to add a collar, pockets and belts on the sleeves. The wig was the hardest part for me, as it was the first time I had to style a wig. I knew I needed heat and lots of hairspray, but I had no idea that there was such a thing as too much heat. This led to me melting the front of the wig.
Since the debut of this costume I have had to style two more wigs for it. Both didn't turn out the way I wanted them to either being super heavy or not fitting right. I love how comfortable this costume is and how easy it is to look after. If I were to make it again I would order a pre-styled wig and make the bracelets from foam. There are so many things that can get someone inspired. Firstly you'll want something that ties into your interests. Are you more into Anime? Video Games? MMO's?
I find there is nothing better than a great piece of concept art to really get me fired up. Of course there are more things than just a fabulous drawing that goes into choosing that character for a costume, but the biggest inspiration I find is seeing how an artist rendering can bring a character to life. It makes you really look at what they are wearing and think...how can I make that? One of my favourite websites is creativeuncut.com. This website houses concept art from almost every video game ever designed. Of course I also spend a lot of time on DeviantArt and Pinterest as well, looking at Cosplay's other people have done and fan art of the character I am looking for. Following professional cosplayer's on facebook, instagram etc is also great! You can take a look at what they are doing, and the tutorials they post to give you ideas on what you can do for your latest and greatest project. It's also super important that you can visualize yourself as that character. For example...Just recently I started looking at the concept art for Kingdom Hearts 3. Now I've always been a fan of the series, I've played the games (I haven't finished one yet...but I've played through all of them). I always thought the series was the greatest idea since Disney is amazing and super popular, and Final Fantasy is amazing and super popular (two of my favourite things in life) and now you've combined them into one world. Well, as I was flipping through the images I stumbled upon Sora dressed in his Pirates of the Caribbean outfit. I could literally hear angels signing and fireworks going off. My brain went nuts and this overwhelming excitement hit me! The inspiration was going and the creativity started flowing. This is the reaction you want to get when you see a character. It means you're passionate about the design you have found and it's going to be a successful project. How do you get inspired? |
Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|