Time for some (un?)qualified advice

Hi!

I'm going to answer Rachel's cosplay question since that will take up the majority of this post and it's the one I can most adequately answer.

“What's the process for making a cosplay outfit? I've always really wanted to try, but it feels so overwhelming.”
It's really just figuring out how to begin in my opinion.

Step 1 Who or what do you want to cosplay?
Make sure to have a couple of options available to yourself. Are you planning a monster? Average television character? Superhero?

Step 2 The purpose of your cosplay.
Is it for a specific event? If so, what are your time constraints? Also take into consideration how accurate you want your cosplay to be also your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to sewing, sculpting etc. Of course this is not really important if you can persuade a friend or family member to do all the difficult tasks for you.

Step 3. Process of Elimination.
Knowing your time limit, skills and accuracy to the character goal eliminate the cosplays that you absolutely know you cannot produce in your allotted time. For example, there’s no way I can make a Silence cosplay in time for Anime Boston in April, so that’s off my list. Way too complicated.


This also reminds me to tell you that you also need to know the materials you will need for your cosplay, animated characters are a little more difficult but then again they allow you some room to choose a material you’re comfortable with. And it’s more than likely that someone has already done the cosplay and has posted about how they made it online, you can find specific tips quite easily when you’re at a loss.

If you know your cosplay requires a specific material and it’s too expensive for you at the time, it might be a cosplay to work on over a longer period of time and not on a time constraint. The materials for my Weeping Angel cosplay amounted to over $200 with the foam, cloth, paints, wig and stockings.

Step 4 Get Started.
Once you’ve selected your cosplay and made a list of the necessary materials you can begin to get started. You might need some sewing patterns to plan it out, which are no problem to find online, you might need to modify or pay for them, but they are definitely worth it. Also, never underestimate the values of cardboard, pvc, scrap wood, and other various items you can find in an arts and crafts store, you don't need to break out the fiberglass. And as I said before, you have the internet, people have more than likely posted specifically about the character you're working on or cosplays similar.

That’s how I go through my cosplays, I always check for what I’m able to do with the time I’m given, when I start really early I can do more complicated and difficult cosplays because I have more time to learn and practice new skills. I have to save up for materials and plan how I’m going to make my cosplay. Working a little bit every day or week, spreading out the workload, makes the process a lot less overwhelming and a lot easier.

I hope this helps you at least organize your steps and planning. If not I can get more specific.

2. That was awful long so I don't think I'll be writing much more. Can't wait to see the rest of this week's posts. Bye!