The thing I love most about Cosplay is the learning experience! With each costume comes a new puzzle to solve and new skills to learn.
The most common skills that you'll find cosplayer's working on are sewing and working with EVA foam or Worbla. Most people will start here and then branch off into something more complex such as casting, making custom molds, metal work, etc. Of course some of the more complex skills also require the work space and certain machines and tools to do them. Personally, I am always trying to expand my sewing knowledge. Since sewing is the area I am most comfortable with, I like to start here, and push myself with each costume to try something new. Whether that is using a new material that I've never used before, trying new stitches, or lately it's been altering existing sewing patterns to better suit what I need. Eventually I want to be able to make sewing patterns from scratch! The skills I really want to learn are working with EVA foam and Worbla. To be able to make armour suits and props. I want to learn how to embroider clothing, both by hand and by machine. I would love to have an embroidery machine that will make all the designs and patches that I need for costumes, but since they are so expensive, that will be farther down the road. Starting with hand embroidery is a good way to get familiar with the craft. I would also like to try my hand at making silicone molds and casting resin for details on my costumes. If you could do anything with your costumes, what kind of skills would you like to have
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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! Disclaimer: I'm sure this is opening a big can of worms, but please note that anything written here is my opinion and is not meant to be offensive.
Over the years I have met many a cosplayer who claims to be a costume designer, and as someone who works in the film industry, I've met many a costume designer who gets super peeved when they hear about cosplayers claiming they are costume designers. Now I've also met costume designers who don't really understand cosplay and use the term interchangeably with "costume" like for a halloween or costume party...but that's another story. There is a HUGE difference between being a cosplayer who designs their own costumes of their favourite characters, to actually being a costume designer. Costume designers go to school for years learning to create patterns from scratch, learn how to tailor clothing to different people's bodies, learn sewing and draping techniques for all different styles and eras. They create costumes that are historically accurate, they create costumes from their own imaginations. While some cosplayers, also have these skills or have gone to school for costume design, many cosplayers have not, and those are the ones I'm talking about. When I started out on my cosplay journey, I learned sewing techniques and how to read a pattern from a very talented costume designer. She used to make cosplays for herself as well, but seeing as the film industry has extremely tight turn around time and long hours, she didn't have the chance to make a lot of costumes for herself any more. She explained to me how designers like herself were rubbed the wrong way by a lot of cosplayers, as they claim that they designed their costumes when they didn't. Most cosplayers take concept art from video games, anime and comic books and "design" their costume by using existing sewing patterns, tutorials, duct tape patterns, or salvaging clothing to transform from thrift stores. THIS IS NOT COSTUME DESIGN. This is turning someone else's design into a costume for yourself. If you were to create an original character, design all the sewing and armor patterns yourself (not based on existing patterns) and then create from scratch, THAT is costume design. One year at a convention, I had a cosplayer hand me her business card and tell me she was a professional cosplayer/costume designer. I looked at her costume and went...um NO. That costume you are wearing is something that someone else designed, for someone else, on a well known TV show and all you did was replicate it. You're not a costume designer. Be very careful when you are walking around a convention in costume and telling people you are a costume designer, it may be taken the completely wrong way, and especially if you are in a town known for its film industry. Please just be aware that while you may be super talented at sewing, or making armour suits, props and the like, unless it is an original character, you didn't design it. You are replicating someone else's design to show your love for that fandom. Be proud that you are a cosplayer, but don't claim you are a costume designer unless you actually are and it is your living. Halloween is my absolute favourite holiday!
As a kid I would start prepping months in advance, what I wanted to wear, how I would decorate, how many pumpkins I could carve (which was never many with my tiny arms and hands). And after Halloween had passed, I would put my costume back on and pretend trick or treat to all the rooms in my house. I wished Halloween could be every day of the year, this is why I got into Cosplay! Now I could dress up as my favourite characters all year round! But it just doesn't feel the same. For the past few years I have found myself missing making a costume for the purpose of wearing it just for Halloween so I have promised myself that next year, I am going to take the time and make a costume just for that! What do you enjoy about Halloween! We've all been there, the night before the con, gluing and sewing some last minute details to our costumes. Staying up super late trying to get it done. Getting up early the next morning for a final touch up.
How do you avoid this?? Planning, planning, planning! If you want to avoid hitting con crunch, plan accordingly! Start early! Once you know what you are making, get your fabric and supplies as early as possible to give yourself enough time for putting it all together. Schedule days on weekends to allow yourself nothing but costume time. Plan your social events around costume days if you can. And fit in as many mini crafting sessions as you can on weeknights and around seeing friends and family. Get help from friends! If you have friends who are crafty, even if they don't cosplay, they can help you out with your costume! See if they are willing to make a trade, ie "i'll buy you lunch if you can help me glue this" So you're at the convention and things aren't going as planned...what do you do?
1. My costume ripped - Bring a cosplay repair kit, and make yourself familiar of where the cosplay repair station is on the convention floor. Since cosplay is becoming more and more popular at conventions, it's very rare that you don't find a cosplay repair spot. 2. I'm feeling faint, dizzy, sick, all of the above - Drink water, take a seat, get some fresh air, tell a buddy. Sometimes conventions can be overwhelming, and when you are in a costume they can be a lot harder to handle. You are your number one priority, not your costume, not your character. If you are not feeling well, do everything possible to remedy the situation you are in. Peel off some layers, remove your wig, find a chair to sit down, get outside away from the crowds. If you still aren't feeling well, find the first aid table and see if there is somewhere you can lay down for a bit. 3. Someone won't leave me alone, I don't feel comfortable. - Go find convention security!! This is an absolute must! Doesn't matter if you are in a costume or not, if someone is harassing you, grabbing at you or confronting you without your consent, report them! It's super important to be safe at a convention! This is another reason to bring friends with you. When you travel with multiple people, bad things are less likely to happen. Conventions are supposed to be fun for everyone, and you should feel comfortable and safe at all times. 4. My wig came apart / un-styled itself - Check out the vendor hall for the wig vendors. Usually big companies like Arda wigs will have the tools and specialists on site to help you fix your wig or re-style it. 5. My makeup is all coming off my face. - Sadly, it's hard to find vendors that sell face paint and body paint at conventions, so make sure and bring some with you in case you need a touch up! This can be a pretty simple oversight. Once when I was at a convention, my entire face and mouth was painted white. I didn't even think about this as I chowed down on a hot dog and all the paint around my mouth came off. Luckily there was one vendor that had face paint for sale, otherwise I would have been heading home early to fix my face! Convention is coming up and it's time to get ready! Here are some things you should think about before heading out.
1. Costume days! How long is your con? Do you need your costume for the whole convention? Or just specific times and events? I've found that if you have multiple days to check out the convention, it's a much better experience if you wear your costume for only half of the time you are attending. When you are in costume people will come and stop you to take photos and talk to you, so it's hard to wander around the vendors and artists alley and enjoy your time browsing or listening to that panel you wanted to see. If you plan out days for your shopping and panels and separate time to wear your costume, you'll definitely have more fun and get to see more! The plan that generally works for me is, first day: wander around and scope out the vendor hall and artist alley, figure out where the celebs are going to be sitting. If I need an autograph grab em today or on the last day if possible. Day 2: This is usually the busiest day, definitely a costume day. More people means more exposure for that incredible outfit. Day 3: If this is the second to last day of the con, I would try for wearing a costume. If it's the last day of the con, I find I won't wear a costume because I may not stay for the whole day. Find a plan that works for you! 2. What do I bring? - Without a costume: Make sure and bring a backpack and a water bottle. It's important to keep hydrated! Take some cash with you. This will limit your spending a bit to what you really want, and help you avoid those nasty banking fees from the convenient ATM's on site. - With a costume: Bring everything you would as if you didn't have your costume, but also bring a spare pair of shoes to change into, even a change of clothes if it's more comfortable. 3. Comfort You're going to be at the convention for a long period of time, at least a few hours a day. If you're going in costume, make sure it's comfortable! Ask yourself these questions: - Can I wear this for a long period of time? - Do I have good visibility? - Can I use the washroom easily? - Will my feet be sore after a short period of time? - Will I be too warm? or cold? - Do I need a "Handler"? It's always important to make sure you can get around the convention with as little assistance as possible. If you can, bring a change of clothes and shoes for yourself so you can get changed after the con, or as soon as you start feeling uncomfortable. If you are signed up for a costume contest and know that your costume will require assistance, I recommend only wearing your costume for part of the day right before the contest, so you don't tire yourself out too quickly! 4. Buddies Go with friends! This makes the convention so much better! And if you're in a costume, this gives you more people who can help you out throughout the day. 5. Transport How are you going to get to the convention? Transit? Driving? Walking? Jetpack? My advice? Choose the easiest most convenient way for you to get to the convention. If you know that you can get there on transit and comfortably wear your costume, do that. It's cheap and direct, vs driving which will cost you a bunch of money to park for the day. Make sure and plan this out long in advance and take weather and traffic into account on the day! 6. Accommodation Is your convention local? Or do you need to find hotels or an air BnB? If you need to find somewhere to stay, make sure you do it long in advance of your con. Also as a little forewarning, if you are local, but want to stay at a place that is closer to the convention centre, try to steer clear of Air BnB. A lot of them have a "no locals" policy. (Found that out the hard way for Calgary Expo). This is a great blog post I found with more awesome advice on getting yourself con ready! https://calscrafts.com/2014/06/30/troubleshooting/ Now good luck and have fun! I've mentioned before in previous blogs that Sewingpatterns.com and Printsew.com are a great resource for getting digital patterns. Well I'm here to tell you to STAY AWAY.
Printsew.com has had multiple server issues over the past few months, and just the other day the whole website seems to have been taken down. There is no "under construction page", there is no way to contact support, and if you had purchases through them, like I did...there is no way to access your account OR use the patterns you have downloaded previously because they are all locked to the printsew.com server. DO NOT BUY DIGITAL PATTERNS FROM SEWINGPATTERNS.COM Here is my first in depth look at progress on my Evie Frye costume. This one is a beast!
I've had this costume planned for a few years and collected material along the way, but it wasn't until now that I felt I had the knowledge and skills to take this on. So far I have the jacket almost completed, and I have the pants almost completed. I have mocked up the shoulder pauldron and made the cape, which has been handed off to a friend for embroidery work. The fabric is all cut out for the blouse and the vest, now they just need sizing and sewing. The belt buckles are painted and need weathering, as well as I will attach them to the belts. Finally I need to stitch up the sides of the cummerbund and add some velcro to the back to attach it nice and neat. So rather than discussing what has to get done, let's talk about what has been done. This jacket has been a monster to work on. I started by picking out a pattern that I felt was similar to what I needed for the completed design. I made a muslin of the original pattern, then took a marker to the fabric, drawing out my new pattern pieces. I cut up that mock up, and made a second mock up with the new pattern pieces making sure everything fit together correctly. Even with the draft jacket I still ended up making sizing changes to the final jacket and adjusting how the skirt falls, moving seams around and also adjusting the lining to fit the outer jacket. This has been an intense learning experience, but I'm happy how it has turned out so far. My final challenge will be to figure out how to keep the pauldron and cape on my shoulder, preferably without having to attach and snaps or velcro to the underside and the jacket shoulder. I'm aiming to have Evie completed for October 27th 2019 to debut her at Assassin's Creed Symphony! Whether this is your first cosplay, or your millionth cosplay, chances are you've had to style a wig or will need to style one in the near future.
Wigs can be challenging, I know this is personally my least favourite thing to do because it's not something I've had a lot of experience with. But by following tutorials and with lots of practice I find ways to get the job done! I wanted to share with you the few things that I have learned about wig styling and also give you a few resources that you should definitely check out! 1. Should I use product on my wig? - Absolutely! You will need to use products on your wig in order to get it to hold it's shape and also to detangle it. You won't need to use a lot of products like moose, or volumizing spray or anything like that, but you will need a good strong hairspray and a good detangler. I would recommend getting yourself a can of Got2B Glued and also Mane and Tail detangler. 2. How do I get my wig to "defy gravity"? - In order to make those awesome spikes or gravity defying bangs, you will need strong hair spray, a blow dryer, a flat iron or curling iron, a comb and a lot of patience. You will need to do a lot of back combing on the wig in order to get the fibres to bunch at the bottom and make a strong base. Don't be afraid to use a lot of hairspray either, but also try not to cake it on. If you spray too much in one area, it just starts to make the wig look like plastic. 3. How do I get my ponytail to look right? - If the wig you are using isn't built for a ponytail, as many aren't, you may either need to make your ponytail lower on the wig, or you will need to sew more wefts into the wig in order to cover up the wig cap. You can check out this great Arda Wigs tutorial here. 4. My wig is too big help! - If you are buying a bagged wig, chances are you won't be able to choose the size of wig you are buying, you just have to hope it fits. If you need to make the wig a bit smaller to fit your head, you can trim some of the elastic out of the wig cap and stitch the gap together. But this is definitely something you should do with a tutorial, don't just wing it. Last thing you want is to cut the wig and not be able to fix it! This is the tutorial I would recommend for resizing your wig. You can also size a wig larger if needed, but again, it's best to follow a tutorial. 5. Heat on synthetic fibres? - Synthetic fibre loves heat! But be careful how much heat you use! If you use a heating iron or blow dryer on medium to low setting, the fibres of your wig will become more relaxed and easier to handle and style. DO NOT use a heat gun! I tried this years ago on a wig, and managed to melt the front of it together. Needless to say, it's a bad idea. So stick to hair dryers, curling irons, flat irons and low to medium heat! 6. My wig isn't the right colour, can I dye it? - You can definitely dye a wig! There are a few ways to do it as well. You can use markers like a Sharpie, or you can buy fabric dyes such as Rit. Each of these have different methods to get the colour you want and there are lots of tutorials online to show you how! 7. How do I wash my wig? - This is a tricky one. Cosplay and costume wigs are not made with real human hair, and so if you wash them with regular shampoo, the fibres will deteriorate quickly, or become frizzy, or lose their colour and sheen. It's best to use a synthetic fibre shampoo to keep your wig in good quality for a long time. The only problem with synthetic fibre shampoos are they are either expensive or hard to find. This isn't the typical product you will find at just any drug store or grocery store. You'll need to go to a wig shop or somewhere that sells wefts and wig products most likely. As an alternative, you can use a very mild detergent or soap on your wig. You can use products like sunlight laundry detergent, or very mild shampoos such as suave. I personally have not tried the sunlight or the suave, but I have seen tutorials and blogs that do use these products. Arda Wigs & Kinpatsu Cosplay are my two favourite go-to's when it comes to styling wigs. They have fabulous tutorials, step by step instructions and Kinpatsu's book on wig styling is a must have for any cosplayer!! Good luck on your hair styling endeavours! |
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