The Beginner’s Guide to Cosplay

So what’s the inspiration? Got a convention coming up? Did you maybe see your friend’s awesome Halloween costume this year and want to do something just as cool next year? Maybe you just want to dress up as your favorite character? Whatever the reason may be that you’ve taken an interest in cosplay, you’re not sure where to begin.

Well, I was, and very much still am, in your shoes. I’ve been going to the anime convention Otakon for a few years now, and everytime I went just as myself I was enamoured with all the costumes and cosplays that people were wearing and had created. I wanted to get in on that fun so badly, but like many first time cosplayers, I had no clue how to start.

So let’s get something out of the way here; Cosplay isn’t just about how extravagant or obsessively accurate you can make your costume. It’s about having fun wearing a costume based off of something you love, and showing your support for that TV show, anime, or video game. At no point should you feel pressured or like your costume is terrible. Yes, there are people who make astoundingly impressive cosplays that are either beautifully complex, or perfectly accurate to what they’re representing, but those people have likely spent hundreds of hours on that costume alone, and probably thousands of hours increasing their skills to that point. But as long as you’re having fun and enjoying yourself, your cosplay isn’t worth any less than what theirs does.

With that stated, let’s begin with a first timer’s guide to cosplay. This isn’t going to be some comprehensive guide on how to make or put together a specific cosplay, but rather is just a simple layout on how I personally went about my costumes, and some of the hardships you can expect to encounter before the big convention of your choice.

 

Part One: Costume Idea

Probably the most basic part of beginning your cosplay is coming up with your idea or concept. Who do you want to be for a day? Or multiple? You probably already have something in mind. That powerful main character from your favorite game, or the eccentric bad guy from your favorite anime.

Well, if this is your first time, you need to remember to think practically. Remember, you’ll likely be wearing this costume for most of, if not the entire day. Many conventions take place during the summer, usually in crowded cities with lots of people. If you’re not prepared for it, you could end up very uncomfortable, or even be putting yourself in danger.

If you’ve never done a cosplay before, you will want to start with something simple. For example, my first cosplay ever was of Nathan Explosion from Metalocalypse. If you’ve ever seen the show, you’ll know that Nathan’s design is very simple. Long black hair, a large, beefy body, with a black t-shirt, blue jeans, black boots, and black nail polish. And that’s it really. If you’re a bit more committed, you could even do some face and body makeup to fit his on stage look.

If you think you’re more comfortable though, you can do something more complicated, and starting with something simple is merely a suggestion in an effort to get your more familiar with the concept of cosplay.

Another important step, and I cannot stress this enough, BE SURE TO KNOW YOUR CONVENTION’S RULES AND REGULATIONS. If your costume is going to consist of a weapon, be sure to know what kind of materials and props the convention allows. You should be able to find a list of these rules on the convention website. This is important because you don’t want to have spent all this time and money on something only to be turned away at the door because you were infringing on one of the site’s rules.

 

Part Two: Budget

This is arguably just as, if not more, important than any other step. How much are you willing to spend in an effort to make your cosplay to the way you want it? If you don’t have much experience with making your costume yourself, you may end up having to buy premade clothing and pieces entirely. And remember, there’s nothing wrong with that. Again, there are people skilled enough to make their entire costume by hand, but it’s an acquired craft that takes quite a bit of practice. Making your entire costume by hand is really only something to consider if you plan on entering some kind of contest, as it’s best to show of what you can do rather than taking credit for someone else’s labor.

You can even purchase the entire costume from certain sites, but you may be spending quite a bit more by doing so. High quality costumes can go for prices of about $1,000 and much more. But even modest costumes can cost a few hundred when all put together. The best I can recommend if a combination of both processes. Make a list of what you’ll need for your costume, and check anything that you’re sure you cannot do yourself. Then, research online how much you can expect to pay for these pieces.

 

Part Three: Try to use already available resources

Does that shirt you already own look very close to what’s needed with a little tweaking? Use it! Get creative. Does your grandmother own a sewing machine? Borrow it! Know someone who is really into fabrics? Call in a favor! Use all the resources you already have available to your before you spend a penny on anything. Maybe even pay your friend’s for their time as some incentive to help you. It would likely be much, much cheaper than commissioning someone online to help you.

You probably already have lots of old clothing that you just don’t wear anymore that could prove to be very useful towards your cosplay. Maybe something you have is made of fake leather you can reuse. This is your chance to be resourceful.

 

Part Four: Wigs

Do you even need a wig? Well, it depends on your character. Do they have longer hair while you naturally have short hair? You may need a wig. A lot of our favorite characters usually have some sort of outlandish colors of hair, or even styles and shapes that can be almost impossible to pull off with just gel and hairspray.

A decent wig is expensive, however. If you want a wig that’s been specifically tweaked so that the hairline looks almost natural, you’ll be looking at anywhere between $60 to $110+ depending on where you look. I get my wigs from Arda Wigs, which seem to be fairly priced and great quality.

While you might be able to find an exact wig copy of a specific character’s hairstyle, most likely you’ll come across more “generic” hairstyles, ones that might look close to what you need but may need some tweaking in order to look just right. I actually don’t have much experience with cutting hair, wig or otherwise, so you may need to look for someone with actual experience to cut it for you.

What’s important however if to get your exact measurements. You can simply buy a standard size wig and take a chance on it fitting properly, but you may find that your head is too large or the wig doesn’t quite cover your actual hair line. I’ve made this mistake. Luckily, with an overabundance of spirit gum I was able to make the wig work, but it was a tight squeeze and quite the pain to put on every time I wanted to wear it.

 

Part Five: Clothing

I’ll circle back around to my recommendation of looking for clothing you already own first before you jump out and buy all new stuff, but depending on the character and style, you may find it’s impossible to find what you’re looking for in your closet or even at stores locally. Thankfully, the internet is a massive place that will have what you need. You just need to find it. So where can you look and what should you look for?

If you’re planning on making your own clothing, your local fabric store should have a few of the smaller pieces you may need, such as smaller bits of leather, string, buttons, thread, etc. This will require quite of bit of knowledge on working with these tools though to do this.

So let’s assume you’re planning on buying most of the costume pieces. There are a lot of sites that say they have fully complete costumes of “high quality”. This truth of this will vary, of course. If you have the funds, you could commision an entire costume from someone on Etsy or Cosplay.com

If you’re on a budget, your options may seem varied, but many of these “pre made” sites typically sell costumes made on the cheap, with low quality materials. Sometimes even materials comparable to a $20 costume you can buy at retail shop, usually thin and very weak. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing however. Since they are made cheaply, you can buy them at little cost. Meaning you got a great foundation for a better costume, since most of the pieces are already laid out for you, and you can make them better with supplies you can pick up at a fabric store or online.

And while you might be changing many things about this pre made costume, it’s still a good idea to give the manufacturer your exact body measurements, in case anything they do give you, you actually still want to use. In some cases, you may even want to go slightly larger than the measurements you get from yourself, as even something being slightly off can cause your costume to be tight and risking you discomfort or possibly tearing.

So you have your base costume, and you’re ready to improve it. How should you go about this? Well, first off, check and make sure if there’s anything you’re sure you absolutely cannot improve. Maybe they gave you some really cheap gloves, or something trying to pass off as “boots”. Don’t necessarily toss these things in case you can tear them down for resources, but do look for replacements online. Remember, you probably got this costume for a really low price, and can probably afford better quality shoes. Is your cosplay missing any necessary accessories? Look on Etsy. There are tons of fanmade items for countless entertainment mediums that you can purchase.

But the best advice I can offer you is to just look online at sites typically dedicated to these kind of crafts. You may even find the exact costume you’re working on, with detailed instructions of how to make any part of the cosplay.

 

Part Six: Makeup/Cosmetic Contacts

Makeup can be key to making a cosplay authentic. Many of our favorite characters have scars, burns, stitches, blemishes, and just general facial makeup. The simplest way I can say about getting a pretty decent looking scar is purchasing “rigid collodion”, or “scarring liquid”. This is a very inexpensive product, whether purchased in store or online, and is very easy to use. One thing most of these products generally warn about is to keep it away from your eyes, and while I can’t recommend you disregard that warning, if you are careful you should have no problem applying it near your eye for scars that require it.

Application is very simple, and just involves putting a coating or two of the liquid in the appropriate area and in the shape of the scar you’re trying to produce. After waiting for the liquid to dry briefly, you should have a slightly crusty, tight spot on your skin which should look like a very old, healed scar. If you want to make it look even more genuine, you can take something like reddish eye/lip liner and trace lightly over the scar, possibly with some light black on top of that to give it a more natural look. If you’re inexperienced with makeup, don’t be afraid to ask someone who is familiar with it to assist you.

As for cosmetic contacts, be very careful about who and where you’re buying them from. Under no circumstances should you ever borrow contacts that have been previously worn either. If the contacts are cheaply manufactured, they could pose a threat to your eye and cause damage or infection.

Because of the nature of these contacts, it’s recommended that you do not wear them for very long periods of time, usually around 2 hours, but I would inquire your eye care doctor to get more information, and possibly a prescription if you’re ready to buy a pair. Many of the websites that sell cosmetic lenses will require your personal prescription and what eye doctor you visit so they can call and get an approval.

When shopping for lenses, it’s best to do your research about the company you’re purchasing from so you can find out if they are safe and abide by your eye doctor.

 

Part Seven: Preparation, Safety, Practice

Once your costume is near of fully complete, it’s a good idea to try your costume on completely assembled, and maybe get a decent picture. Why? Well, honestly, this is when your costume is going to look the best. Remember, at a convention you’ll be walking around all day, surrounded by people, probably bumping into one another, and this can cause piece of your cosplay to shuffle, fall off, or even break.

And it’s because of that possibility that it’s best to go prepared. Make sure you, or someone with you have an emergency repair kit. This kit should contain sewing supplies (Threads, needles, scissors, safety pins), cosmetic supplies (liners, chap sticks, lip sticks, contact cases, contact solution, nail polish, tissues, wet wipes), glue, tape, hair products (combs, bobby pins, wig caps), and first aid (bandages, tissues, pain relief products). You should also either bring or be ready to purchase (though be warned of absurdly high convention prices) bottles of water. You do not want to overheat or dehydrate yourself. I realize this sounds like a lot to lug with you, and I understand that. Many people are guilty of either forgetting or neglecting to take these supplies and still recommend other people do so. But do as I say, and not as I do. Trust me, if possible, you’ll be glad you have these supplies with you, even if you never use them. Maybe you can end up helping someone else in need.

Practice posing, walking, sitting, standing in your costume, so you know how it reacts, how it will feel to walk in all day, and if you need to make any last minute adjustments so you can remain as comfortable as possible. And this should probably be done with quite a bit of time between then and the convention date, as you don’t want to end up with any accidents or negative surprises and not have time to fix them.

 

Have fun!

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Remember what all this is for. This is so you and your friends can enjoy yourselves and share in something you all have in common. It’s certainly fun to show off and make a fantastic costume, but don’t feel down because you couldn’t this year or didn’t pull it off as well as your hoped. In my personal experience, convention people are great and very friendly! I’ve felt down about the quality of my cosplays, but I still end up with dozens of people asking to take my photo and compliment my work. And you should do the same for others! I guarantee everyone else there is just as nervous about their costume as you are, and it does wonders to boost their confidence with a simple compliment, even just a “Hey, that looks great! Nice job.” goes a long way.

And there’s always next year. Conventions aren’t going anywhere. As long as there is a fandom, there is a convention that fandom can call home.