Starting Out Slowly

Picture took from humorsharing.

Creating a cosplay outfit is not easy, especially when you are just starting out. Most of the time, people buy their first few cosplay outfits because they don’t know how to start. Some times when people can’t afford to buy the full outfit, they use their creativity and imagination to create a low budget outfit!
These are some of the creative outfits people made!

These outfits are quite creative, but I will try my best explain the process to help make better ones!

Before you start planning you’re next cosplay remember to always do a little RESEARCH on the character!

 Most people tend to skip this step because they think they already know it all.  It is a huge mistake. Doing research not only help you see the details of the outfit but also help you realize the background information of the character and their usual pose. These little details help you a lot during preparation because you will know what to buy and during convention you will be able to easily explain who you are when people ask you. 

Here is a picture of my Luffy cosplay that I did
 not make a pattern for. It was sloppy. 

After you research, it is time for you to prepare the material for your outfit. Having a picture of the character printed or in your phone helps a lot during preparation. Before you go shopping for the cosplay, try looking through your closet and see if there is any old clothing that you don’t need and can be modified.  It will surprise you to see how many items you can use!

Now it’s time to decide whether there are enough materials.  Also, ask yourself if you want to start from a piece of fabric or buy similar shirts to modify. Now, keep in mind that not all outfits are easy. I started cosplaying by modifying my old clothing most of the time or buy from thrift stores. (Yes! It is my new favorite place to go) Most of the time I will find what I need in the thrift stores or at Goodwill.

Here is a picture of the Luffy outfit made with a pattern.
See the difference?

Having all the materials gathered up, now it is time for patterning and sewing or modifying the old clothes. Getting a few angles of the character’s clothes that you are trying to create helps a lot because there are times you might not notice the details of the clothes from just one picture. The patterns are a must for me! When I create the Luffy shirt from OnePiece, I did not even measure my own size and I just started cutting the shirt I brought from Goodwill. It was a horrible idea. The shirt ended up unfit and sloppy, I thought the measurement wouldn’t have been so off because the shirt didn’t seem that large. Boy was I wrong. Creating a pattern not only helps save fabrics but it also saves time because all you need to do is just put the pattern on and start sewing. On Cosplay tutorial  there is a big more detail of explanation on how prepare. 

Creating armor and weapons is another interesting and difficult process that I will explain in the future posts!

It Builds On

I would like to start with introducing some professional cosplayer so you can see their amazing craftsmanship. I look up to these cosplayers from time to time.  Most of time they handcraft the whole outfit completely custom and it looks amazing. At times, it seems like the costume came from right out the anime.

Picture took from flipgeeks.
Alodia posing for photoshoot.

First person I am going to introduce is AlodiaGosiengfiao aka cosplay queen, she is a cosplayer in Philippines. Her hobbies are art, cosplay, fashion, video games, photography, collecting toys and figures, gadgets, and playing the piano. Alodia is known as the cosplay queen because of her amazing cosplays. Alodia did not start as a cosplay queen but she worked her way up there. Alodia became involved in cosplay because of anime and video games, and later she was encouraged by her friends to start cosplaying at the age of 15 in 2003. She has joined many competitions, and her first cosplayed character was Priestess from a game. She started to get attention when she won 3^rd place in a C3 Convention as Gun Mage Rikku. Later, she and her sister were featured in magazines, after that she continued her cosplay journey and made her way of being the cosplay queen.

I admire her because she brings the characters to life. You can check out the cosplays she has done and every single cosplay she’s does has amazing detail. However, what shocked me the most was that she created all these beautiful costumes even though she has a busy schedule.

Sometimes you can tell who puts effort and time into their cosplay just by looking at the outfit itself.

Worbla. You can use heat to shape any thing you want with it.
Picture took from Worbla's Finest Art post.

Cosplaying consumes many hours. When you start the project of creating your outfit, you don’t even realize how much time you have to spend on it. I remember I had to make a sword for my outfit and it took me around 2 weeks to finish it. When I was half way through it, I almost gave up on finishing the sword because how time it took. However, after I have completed my sword I was super satisfied with it. Below is a picture of the sword, I used cardboard, paper, hot glue, and paint. I used very cheap materials because I could not afford worbla, a thermoplastic modeling material that can be any shape you mold it to. Many cosplayers use worbla or spray foam to make weapons because it is stronger and cleaner.

Making the weapon prop is the most important part of a cosplay for me because it represent the character you are trying to cosplay. However, making the weapons is the hardest part of the process of creating the cosplay for me. Crafting the weapons requires close attention to the detail because every little detail counts. The shading and color paint for the weapon is important too because shading creates a realistic feel for the weapon. Maybe in the future blog I will show you some prop making process. 

                                                           Stay Tune!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Passion

            Do what you feel is comfortable and do not let anyone tell you otherwise.  Doing something different might lead to negative attitude from people. Cosplaying is not normal. Cosplaying is something that requires courage and positive attitude.

My friend Anna was cosplaying Nami from One Piece.
I was Teemo from LeagueOfLegend.
My friend took the picture and we had no pose,
 so we just didwhat ever we felt like.
The picture was during a Animefair at Japantown.

            When you first start to cosplay you might be afraid, nervous, embarrassed, and ashamed because you are doing something different than other people. Let me tell you! Don't be afraid because there is whole community of cosplayer standing there with you. Cosplay may not be a normal thing to do, but we still love it. Cosplay helps us stand out, enjoy our moments and meet many more people with this hobby.  

Majority of people think cosplayers are fans dressing up for anime, movie, books, and comic character running around conventions and taking flashy photos.

Well… For me is more than that.

As Patricia Hernandez said in the article "Cosplayers Are Passionate, Talented Folks. But There's A Darker Side To This Community, Too." Cosplaying is a passion. Non-cosplayers only see the end results of each cosplayer. They do not know who is underneath the costume. Many cosplayers have their own stories, their reasons on why they chose that cosplay. They have reasons on why they put their self on the spotlight for everyone to see their art.

            Being a cosplayer is like being a #1 fan, you need to have knowledge about your cosplay. You need to learn their actions, lines, postures, and every little details of the costume. Just randomly throwing on something that might look like the outfit of the character is not really considered cosplaying for me. No one is asking you to be a professional, however please respect the character you are cosplaying.

When I go to the convention with a cosplay on, I tend to wear my whole outfit the night before and try a cosplay test aka costest to check if there are anything wrong with it. Most of the time I would find button, string loose, makeup wrong and some other small details I would not notice before trying on the cosplay. Most importantly I practice my cosplay posture because most of the time when you go to convention with a cosplay on, people will ask for pictures. 

Believe me, practicing the pose beforehand helps A LOT.

No practice = no posture, expression, unprepared for random shots.

 Let me tell you the how big the difference of having practicing posture beforehand and no practice is. The picture above was taken by my friend when we were at JapanTown. I’ve cosplayed as Akali from LeagueOfLegends for JPOP summit, an small anime fair. I did not practice my pose beforehand because I was rushing the outfit the night before. On the day of the event I did not know how to pose and when people ask me for a picture all I did was standing there with a dull face and clinging on to my prop. When I saw the pictures my friend took, I wanted stick my head in the sand and never come out.

In this picture, I had the right position and expression.
 Both of the cosplay is from LeagueOfLegend.
He made the costume all by him self.

Here is a picture of me at Japan Expo. I cosplayed as Akali again for this convention but, this time I  had practiced the poses and makeup the night before. The practice made my trip to the convention smoothly, I knew what pose to use when people went up to me for pictures. When I saw the pictures my friend took of me during the event, I was satisfied.