10 Steps of Preparing Your Next Cosplay Project

With Syfy's new show Heroes of Cosplay on the horizon, I've been thinking a lot about my relationship with costuming and what I think goes into creating a successful project and an enjoyable experience for the creator. For some people (like the ones on this upcoming reality show), cosplay is more than a hobby. It's a way of life.

I'm not to that point quite yet, but I've put together 10 basic steps that I can apply to any costuming project in order to ensure it's as rewarding, challenging, and educational as possible. 

1. Love it. If you don't love your project, you are WASTING YOUR TIME. You will spend a lot of time and money working on it. You will make mistakes and problems will arise that you never expected. In order to push through it, you have to love the character and the process so much that it overshadows the more stressful aspects of the experience. 
2. Do a lot of photo research before you begin. Before you settle on a project, make sure you research the character from all angles and put together a bunch of pictures. Get close-ups of the material/armor details whenever possible. All of this will help you begin to put together how you'll have to construct the piece and you'll know pretty quickly whether you have the skills to pull it off. 
3. Draw up your design and think about every single element before you get started. After you spend time doing research, draw up your own design for each of the separate pieces that make up your costume and make a list of materials you'll need. You can also start putting together the steps it will take to construct the costume. Having this determined ahead of time can save you from a lot of headaches later on.
4. Make sure you have access to all of your materials before beginning. I don't like to start constructing the costume until I have ALL of the elements. It would stink to start and then realize halfway through that you still need worbla and have it out of stock or take too long to get to you to make it to the event. Organization is the key to success.
5. Leave enough time. Once you know when the event is, make sure you have enough time to pull off your costume. More than likely you have a job, or school, or some other aspect of life to plan around. You don't want to let your costuming overshadow your other commitments and you certainly don't want to have to rush the process. You're putting your time, energy, and money into this venture. Make sure you can make the most of it or it's not worth it.
6. Don't do "halfway cosplay." Maybe I sound stuck-up, but there's nothing sadder than seeing someone with badly constructed cardboard armor held together by duct tape. Obviously, you should do what makes you happy first and foremost, but I can't imagine that those people see themselves in pictures afterwards and think, "Nailed it." If you're going to do something, go all the way! If you can't afford to go all the way on a particular project, then I suggest scaling it back to something more manageable. Personally, I want to feel like I did the absolute best I could every time. The artistry of cosplay is in the execution, the polish, and the details. Anything less than that just seems like a waste to me. I don't mean that you have to do a full set of chain mail every time. I just mean that you should pick a costume that uses materials you can make look good. Again, I might be alone in that opinion so feel free to disagree in the comments. I just know how I feel about it!
7. Make sure it's something that will make you feel confident. If you are self conscious about showing your belly, don't wear a costume that forces you to do that. If your friends want to do a group costume project and you don't feel like you can pull it off and have a good time, chat with them about trying something else or get them to help you you brainstorm ideas to adjust the costume design without destroying the recognizable silhouette of the character. At the end of the day you want to be standing tall and proud (or short and proud in my case!). Personally, I try to pick something appropriate to my stature and body-type but it all comes down to your preference. You're putting a ton of time into this. Make sure it's something that's going to make you feel like a million bucks when you finally get to debut it.
8. Make sure you have the necessary skills to pull it off. If you don't know how to make armor, don't start out with an N7 suit from Mass Effect. If you don't know how to sew, don't start with a ball gown. My rule of thumb is that every costume has one element that I've never done before and the rest are skills I already have. That way I can minimize any mistakes in the execution and therefor I can avoid wasting time and money I don't have to lose. When you make a challenging, but attainable goal, you get to learn something and continue to grow as a cosplayer without setting your sites so high that you fall short and give up in frustration. 
9. Choose an appropriate venue for the costume. BronyCon is a kid friendly event. I definitely would not have gone with a super sexpot character design for that particular convention whereas donning a corset and thigh high boots for my Sindel costume for Halloween was totally fine with me. It all comes down to what you're comfortable with but it is something to think about. I also think you can make yourself stand out if you wear the right costume at the right venue. There weren't a lot of MLP cosplayers at PAX East, so my boyfriend and I really stood out from the pack there and got a lot of attention, whereas we were just more ponies at BronyCon. My Appa costume was hot on the heals of the release of the first season of The Legend of Korra so it was a big hit because the show was experiencing a renaissance in fandom at the time. These are all good things to keep in mind when it comes to making the most of your costume. 
10. Make a budget. This is so important. It's so easy to get into the middle of a project and find that you've spent hundreds of dollars. Be clear during the design process about how much money you have to allot to the project and figure out whether it's feasible to create your costume for that amount. For instance, I just looked at my bank account and even though I want to do a Xena costume really badly, I realized I couldn't possibly pull off paying for the armor materials or the leather/pleather and rivets it will take to make the dress. I will definitely be making that costume at some point in the future but when I sat down with my budget and my time line, I realized very quickly that it was a pipe dream at this particular point in time. Do not get yourself into a financial hole! Pick a costume that you can pull off for the right amount of money and you'll be much happier in the long run. 

Once Upon a Time Is Now

http://mareishon.deviantart.com

I have this wall of heroines in my room. They're heroes and villains from my favorite video games, books, movies, and tv shows. I decided to collect them because I'm a big fan of strong female figures in geek culture and when I find them, I latch on for dear life. There's just so much, well, crap when it comes to female characters in genre fiction. Even those we hold dear for nostalgia's sake; Buttercup, Princess Peach, Princess Zelda, Sailor Moon circa season one- All these ladies are just sort of waiting for some guy to come along and rescue them.

I never meant for this wall of action figures to become "thinspiration," but the closer I get to my goal, the more I look at them each morning and think, "Hello ladies, how we doing today?" rather than "Damn. I'll never be as badass as Starbuck. Womp Womp." It's corny, but I'm becoming a bonafide heroine in my own adventure now. I haven't quite cast the ring into the fires of Mount Doom yet, but SOON.

As of this morning I'm 84 lbs down and it's just 40 lbs until my goal weight. My next mini goal was for March 20th when I go to PAX East, and I'm just 4 lbs away from it. I hate counting tribbles before they hatch, but it looks like once again I'll be crushing my cosplay weightloss goal. 

I've spent the last week learning to embroider and working like crazy my Rainbow Dash and Soarin cosplays. Brandon's Wonderbolt costume is done! I just need to buy him a white t-shirt and then my costume just needs a few last details on the shoes. I couldn't have done any of it without my friend Annie. She was invaluable and did a TON of problem solving on how to get the cutie marks onto the costumes in the best way. She's ALSO and amazing artist, so check out her work at Squid Salad!

I found a great groupon deal for the Harry Potter Exhibition so Brandon and I went last weekend. It was SO AWESOME to see all those costumes and props up close. The incredible amount of detail that went into them was really impressive. I was also shocked to see how SMALL those costumes were. Obviously, they started out as young kids, but even the Deathly Hallows pieces for Hermione were shockingly tiny! In any case, I brought my wand from the "Wizarding World" in Florida and they took a picture of us in our house scarves. I was surprised to find MYSELF shockingly tiny in the photo! 

The picture is hilarious because it looks like the cover of a Harry Potter romance novel or fan fiction. For bonus points, leave the title in the comments!

Yip Yip! It's My First Cosplay!

Well I had my weigh-in yesterday and I was pleased to see that I wasn't derailed by my weekend at New York Comic Con with my friends. I really did my best to stay on track. I packed a bunch of meals and looked at the menus for the restaurants we normally go to in order to prepare myself for what I might face. I did end up losing 2.8 lbs this week which is great. I was prepared for the scale not to move at all. Even though I brought Nutrisystem food with me every day for lunch and my afternoon snack, I was in costume, so I had to hunt down my friends in order to retrieve it since I didn't have a bag with me. The only day that went south was Saturday because a friend I was with got really sick and she had to stop walking around. I didn't want to leave her alone so I had to get a hot dog for lunch because that was all there was in the vicinity. It was one of those situations where I did my best to do the least damage possible with just a dollop of ketchup for flavor, but I felt kind of cornered and guilty about it afterwards. I ended up skipping my afternoon snack because of the hot dog and had a salad with grilled chicken, low-fat balsamic vinaigrette, and avocado when we went out for dinner. I guess I was just trying to minimize the damage while trying to enjoy a "special occasion" night out with my friends. 

All in all, it was a successful, healthy week and I still met my goal of at least 2 lbs lost per week WHILE having a ton of fun at the convention. 

I've always been afraid to cosplay because of my weight. I just didn't think I'd be able to become a character that would be recognizable. Most of our heroes and heroines in fandom are quite svelt and the idea of fitting my pudginess into that mold seemed like a lost cause. Plus the internet can be a cruel place where people lampoon photos of "bad cosplayers" or "fat versions" of characters and mock them mercilessly. I was really afraid of becoming a target for that. 

However, when I started this journey, I really wanted to plan a cosplay as a motivation because it's something connects my personality and my geekdom with my health (two things that have been in opposition or just not related at all for most of my life). I chose to create an anthropomorphic version of Appa, a flying bison, and one of my favorite characters from Nickelodeon's animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender. With help, encouragement, and advice from friends (as well as learning how to hand sew on youtube!), I think I was able to pull off a pretty great look. I wanted to share it with you all here! Some of my best friends agreed to reprise their Toph and Man-Toph costumes so that we could all go around as a group and enjoy the convention together. I really appreciated their support and show of solidarity. <3

Yip yip! Appa takes to the skies!

This was the first Aang that I came across at the convention. For those who don't know, Appa is Aang's spirit animal companion and the creature that carries Aang and his friends around the world on the show. I made it my goal to get pictures with every Aang I could find (one of whom was 6 years old and ADORABLE), but this one turned out the best. Although, it sort of looks like "Appa and Aang go to the prom." Ha!

Here's a view of the back of the costume. Appa has a very distinct look and people wouldn't necessarily recognize me from the front immediately, but as soon as I passed by, they would shout "Appa!" It was really funny. 

Moreso than anything else I learned from this experience, I found that cosplay brings people together. We met so many other fans of the show we love, some were even dressed up as other characters. When we all posed for pictures together it stopped traffic. People swarmed us like paparazzi. We all got to talk about why we loved the show and how we made our costumes. Everyday as I passed through the crowd I just heard a continues melodic strain of "Oh my god! It's Appa! Appa, look! Wow! Look at that Appa! Dude! Amazing, it's Appa!" It was just such a rush to feel people's support for all my hard work and of course to get to share our common love of the show in the process. One artist in artist's alley told me a story about how Avatar brought him and his girlfriend together and how Appa was their favorite. He was telling me this like I WAS Appa and I was personally responsible for his joyous relationship- which was hilarious and touching at the same time. The whole time I was nervous that cosplaying with be a degrading experience, but now that the convention is over, I can not only say that we made a great impression (as evidenced by all the pictures I've found of us that are now floating and garnering positive feedback around the internet! Haha), but I can also say that my experience was completely positive and even empowering. After the con was over, my boyfriend and I started planning a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic cosplay for PAX East in March. Now I have another goal to achieve and the best part is that he's going to participate in it with me so we can share our love of the show with other fans. :) 

And for those of you who know what "Gangnam Style" is, here's a "Heeeeey Sexy Appa" pic. You're welcome. This happened because my friend yelled at the other cosplayer, "Hey man! Hey! I need you to come yell at my friend's butt." To which he responded, "Sure!"

Cosplay Progress and Halloween Hullabaloo

My Appa cosplay for New York Comic Con is coming along pretty well and I've also started preparing for Halloween too. Lot's of sewing, which I didn't know how to do before so hooray for learning how to do new things. Just need to attach the false arms to the bracers and run an invisible line between them so they'll move along with my regular arms, remake the horns a lot smaller, and then maybe sew an elbow joint into the arms to make them move more naturally. Lots of work but it will all be worth it! As far as Halloween goes, I'm lucky enough to be relying on the immeasurable skills of my friend Agatha who makes our group of friends themed costumes every year. This year's theme: Mortal Kombat. I wish I could say that I'm super into it. I love video games, but I'm not really a huge fighting game fan. I'm going to be Sindel, the banshee! She wears purple, which is my favorite color, so I was willing to capitulate to the overall desire of the group to do that theme. I know Agatha will alter the more naked aspects of my costume that make me nervous so that I'll be comfortable. It's not that I don't like nakedness. There are just still parts of my body that I'm really uncomfortable with exposing to the world! This is mostly about having fun with everyone and taking awesome pictures and I didn't want to be the thorn in anyone's side just because I was afraid of not looking like the character and not being able to show enough skin to do her justice. When we're all dressed up, I know we're going to look amazing. Agatha always makes sure of that!