Here is my personal guide to a good cosplay. I want to cover all the aspects to having and creating a good cosplay. Going over the subject of wigs, poses, good costumes, and so on.
I've been cosplaying for about 5 years now. From my very first cosplay, I've always done my best look look, act, and give off that feeling of the character to the people around me. Cause there is more to cosplay then just looking like the character.
I will take you through the steps that I personally go through when I put together a cosplay, and how I do it. So I hope this is really helpful to those who are really serious about what they want to cosplay or for those who just want to have lots of fun and look good while doing it.
If you have never been to a Anime convention before, there is more to expect then you would ever imagine. And the experience only gets better when you are actually a part of it through cosplaying.
If you want to know more about what to expect from a convention, I recommend you do some research. But something I can tell you upfront is that when you do a cosplay, there are two things you must expect: Fangirls/boys and Photo requests.
First things first.
Choosing a Character.
I know there are a lot of people out there who really want to cosplay, but just don't even know where to begin. Well, the first thing you need to do is choose your character. Choosing the character that you will be cosplaying is of course the biggest decision to make.
A few good ways to choose which character is first thinking of what characters you like. You wont have fun as the character unless you actually like them, so choose which character makes you happiest!
The second thing you need to think about is.. "Will I look good as this character?" There are a lot of different ways to tell if you can or can not pull off a character.
Do you have their face structure? A face structure is almost key when pulling off a character.
Something that I frown upon more then anything is someone taking a character and making them the opposite gender. I.E Taking a male character and making a girl version of them. Or putting them into something they normally wouldn't wear. To me that's bad cosplay and a disgrace to the character. If you think you would look better as a girl character then do a girl character, don't take a male and make them a girl.
(Naruto characters don't count as they do that in the anime anyways.... : / )
It doesn't matter if you are a male or a female. Cosplay is available to all gender and should be considered if you really want to cosplay.
Am I in shape for this character?
If your body is not in proportion for the character you wish to do, you unfortunately wont look exactly like the character you want. But don't be discouraged from doing your dream as a cosplayer, because there are more ways to look like your character then being in-shape.
"I'm a girl and I want to cosplay a male....what do I do about my boobs?"
Don't be shy girls, all girls cosplaying as males have this problem! And believe it or not there is a way to get around it. In the cosplay world there is something we like to call binding. I do it and almost every good girl cosplayer does it if they want to cosplay a male character.
Here is an amazing forum on how binding techniques.
http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=15709
More about crossplay:
If you are a girl planning on doing a male character, pay attention to the face. Luckily for us, most anime male's already have a feminine shaped face. But just because their male doesn't mean you don't wear makeup. (Please refer to the makeup section for more information.)
Does this character fit your personalty, if not, will you still have fun playing them?
We all know that anime characters have their own individual personalities. Choosing the right one for you all depends on your diversity, open minded-ness, acting skills, and what you consider "fun".
Being in character beings more to your cosplay then just looking the part. Acting like the character actually makes you be the character. While at a cosplay convention, fangirls and boys will spoil you with pictures and hugs. And most of them expect you to be in character.
Being in character reflects on how well your cosplay is, and how well you take pictures.
My personal personality is generally happy and fun-loving. But most of the characters I like aren't in any way like me at all. Changing your personality can either be a huge challenge, or not a challenge at all. From the very beginning of my cosplay, I went from happy-go-lucky me, to Gaara from Naruto. And I'll tell you what, when people wanna flatter you so much, its really hard to hold back a huge smile!
If you wish to be in character, I recommend that you practice a lot with their personality. Study the character and act out as them. So that when you come in contact with your fans, they can come in contact with their favorite character.
Remember: Practice makes perfect!
Of course not everyone prefers to be in character all the time. So just do whatever you feel comfortable with.
Buying the costume.
Now that we have chosen a character. Its time to buy the outfit. There are a lot of places to go to start looking for the right outfit for your character.
I personally always look on Ebay.com first for the best offers and prices. Ebay also has a lot of amazing wigs to choose from so look through them all to find the best looking one with the best price. A good wig should never cost more then $70. Chances are, you can find a better wig for a cheaper price always.
Another good place to buy wigs is cosworx.com. They provide all sorts of wigs in different sizes, shapes, and colors.
"Why cant I use my own hair?"
If you don't have the hair for the character, I RECOMMEND you purchase a wig for the cosplay, or you will fail.
I cant stress to you enough how the hair makes the character. If your hair is too long or short, the wrong color, too wavy or too thin. BUY A WIG. It's a must.
If you are having a hard time trying to find your cosplay on Ebay, and lost all hope looking around on Google. There are a lot of people out there who are willing to make your costume for you for a price depending on how good they are, your location for shipping prices, and how elaborate the costume is.
A good place to find these people are in the Marketplace at cosplay.com.
Don't forget to take your body measurements to give to whomever your ordering from.
If the costume fits your body the way it should, that means you'll look all the better.
Another part of the cosplay costume is the eyes. Your eyes will bring out your character more then you may think. Look into getting colored contacts if you don't have the eye color for the character you're doing.
Make sure you have all the parts to the costume. Missing shoes, or gloves can really set your costume off. Especially for the people out there who are really looking at you! And Let me tell you, they will be.
Looking good!
Now that we have the costume, and it fits perfectly. What about the wig!?
I hate to see a cosplayer with a wig they didn't bother to style. I see this way to much, and I wanna tackle it first.
Through these next few sections I want to go over styling your wig and altering your costume so that you can look perfect!
Wigs.
Just because you have a wig doesn't mean we can just put it on our heads and be ready to go. Almost all wigs require treatment prior to wearing them before they will actually look like the characters real hair.
It's really easy to tell when someone didn't take any time to make their wig look good. And really easy to tell when someone just took a wig out of the package and plopped it on their heads.
Here are some tips you can use to make your wig look close to perfect. I know there are some other products out there, but this is all I know for now.
Required items:
Hairspray
Flat iron
Scissors
Blow Dryer
With these you can almost take any wig and make it look perfect!
For example...
I took this wig > [x]
and made it into this > [x]
Or this wig > [x]
Into this > [x]
^Before^------------------------------------^After^
Styling wigs is actually a very simple, but a time consuming process. The first thing you need to do is get a few pictures of the character you've chosen that will allow you to view all side of the hair. Having a 360 view will allow you to make the best cut.
Make sure you have a sharp pair of scissors so that you can make the best and precise trims.
If you need to use a flat iron, make sure you use it on very low heat and not to keep it on the hair for too long. If you mess up and keep it on for longer then you should, there is a very high chance that you will ruin your wig. So do so with caution.
Hair spray is the best product out there. make sure that the spray is very strong holding, and long lasting. But make sure not to use SO MUCH that you completely ruin your wig. If you happen to mess up, there are plenty of easy tutorials online on how to wash out a wig.
Shopping for your wig.
While looking through websites to find your perfect wig. Here are a few things to keep in mind and ask yourself before buying:
"Is this wig the right color?"
"Could I style this wig to look like the characters hair?"
"Is this wig long enough to make sure I have space to style it how I want?"
It is helpful to keep a picture of the character by you at all times so that it is easy to compare the wig to the actual hair of the character you choose.
Styling.
To start styling your wig, choose a part of the wig and style it with your hands, hold the piece in place and spray it with hairspray. Don't apply to much hairspray all at once or it will never dry right.
Next, still holding the hair in place, put down the hairspray and use your hair dryer. Make sure the power is on low so that it will dray the hairspray evenly and wont mess up the wig. If the hair dryer is on high, it will blow your wig everywhere and possibly ruin what you are trying to style.
Repeat the process throughout the rest of the wig until you have the desired look.
It is best to purchase a Styrofoam wig head to store and style your wig on.
Cutting the wig as you go, or before actually styling it is completely up to you. I've done it both ways so it really depends on what kind of style your going for, or whats easiest for you.
Makeup.
Make up is a very important part to looking good for all those photos! Being presentable in a picture is being able to achieve that almost flawless skin.
What? You don't have flawless skin? Well truth is, no one really ever does.
Here is a video I found most helpful to achieving that skin we all wish we had.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmkRR9WlFKs
Preparing your eyes goes beyond getting those contacts we talked about. Eyeliner is a really good way to make your anime-eyes pop out and give off that look you want.
Using eyeliner can also define your characters eyes. Usually anime character always have a define black line around the white of their eyes, and that is what you should try to intimidate the best you can. An easy way to go about doing this is to get a picture of the character you are doing and copying the defining black lines they have around their eyes, onto yours.
Make up is also a good way to transform your face a little bit, by tweaking your face to look like the character's. Please remember that eyes play a huge role in giving off that essence of who your trying to be. So its important to pay close attention to what you are doing here.
Contacts.
Buying contacts are an extra step in making your cosplay look amazing. While there are many different contacts to choose from, lets answer the question of where we begin.
You cant just go out and buy contacts. There are a lot of risks of not knowing what to do with your contacts if you are a first time user. Also, legit contact sellers wont even sell you the contact unless if you have a prescription from your doctor.
But no worries! The process of getting contacts is not hard at all.
Fist thing you need to do is make an appointment with your eye doctor. Make sure you tell them that you need an appointment for a contact fitting. Even if you can see perfectly, they will understand since colored contacts are normally used to chances someone eye color anyways.
The fee I personally had to pay was $35 for the whole visit. They will check out your eyes and vision while you are there, and once they are done they will set you up for contact classes.
Classes are very helpful. They take you through step by step of how to put in, and take out your contacts. How to care for them and what to watch out for while you are using contacts.
They also let me take home a demo pair of colored contacts to text out on for a week!
After the classes, they will have you make a follow-up appointment. This is so that the doctor sees that you are doing well with the contacts, and then will write you a prescription so that you may buy contacts anywhere! yay!
Anime Eyes.
Other then normal contacts. There is a way to make your eyes look bigger just like some anime characters. These contacts are called "anime contacts" or better known as "circle contacts".
Before considering these I'd suggest researching some things about them.
Here is a link to get you started.
http://medicalfunda.com/what-is-circle-contact-lens
Pictures and Poses.
Nothing screams you look good more then having a group of people wanting to take your picture. Now that we have our costume together, its time to learn how to really awe your audience.
Here is a really helpful guide on how to look good IN pictures. And all ABOUT pictures.
I post this cause I couldn't say it better myself!
http://behindinfinity.deviantart.com/journal/21030596/
Props.
The last thing I want to go over is props. Props can be a major asset to your cosplay and also make your pictures a lot more interesting.
First, choosing a prop is never really that hard. Though it could be intimidating depending on the size of the prop that you choose. To find a prop, just look at the character that you want to be and choose something that they carry around often. Like a weapon they use, or a candy that they eat.
Props aren't necessary but if you have the extra time and money to have one then they are definitely something you should think about taking along with you.
Keep in mind that most conventions have prop requirements and rules. So before picking the prop for your character look over those first.
The basic rules are: No steel or metal-made objects. Most large props must be made from wood or plastic. If realistic, guns must have an orange safty tip to indicate it not being real.
Props can come in all sizes. Most sizes are accepted into conventions as long as they are safe.
Once you choose your prop the second question you can ask yourself is where to get it. There are a few different ways you can go about doing this.
1.) Making the prop yourself.
If you have the skill and time to make your own prop then this could be a very fun project to do. It is also a way to save some money.
2.)Looking online/commissioning
Sometimes people can be selling the prop that you are looking for. If not already pre-made, you can ask someone to make it for you much like how we talked about someone making your costume for you.
Making a prop can be easy or difficult to do. So research your options before making your decision.
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The last thing to remember is to have confidence. If you don't have confidence and are feeling unsure of yourself, it will really reflect in your cosplay. So make sure to have fun and feel good!
I really hope all this information helped you out in some way. If you have any questions about anything at all, even something that I may have missed, please send me a message and I'll reply to you and add it in.
Leave a comment and tell me what you think about this guide!
Thanks so much for reading.
Happy Cosplaying!
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