#cosplay process

At first I was planning to make a female Vergil cosplay just for fun, but then I decided to enter the cosplay contest of the con I'll be attending, so I had to change it to male Vergil because of the contest rules. They don't accept genderbends/non-canon versions of characters.

However, the only thing that changes between the two versions would be the hair: I'd use a longer hair for the female version. So I tried to cut and style my wig to make it shorter and... I ended up ruining it (╥ω╥) I didn't even take pictures, but it looks VERY weird when I put it on my head. So I just gave up styling and ordered a new one, more similar to Vergil's hair. Thankfully there's still almost two months before the convention, so the wig will probably arrive in time.

Now for the costume itself. I was planning to wear a blue waistcoat that I had laying here because I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out a pattern for Vergil's vest. Everytime I tried to make a prototype, I failed. Until I burned some neurons trying to draw it and FINALLY I managed to make something that worked!

I just feel so smart for creating this from scratch! LOL I mean, I made my own pattern! It looks very clean and I love the result.

I also have been working on the coat's embroidery, since it's a lot of work I try to make little progress everyday. Today I sewn the lapels and it's starting to look more like Vergil's coat. The vintage buttons that I'm going to put on the lapels and sleeves also arrived today, so I probably will be working on these details next.

Here's how the cosplay looks like so far:

Sorry for the low quality photo, my phone's camera is shitty sometimes.

So that's what I have so far. Like I said, sometimes it feels SO frustrating that I feel like giving up, but then when I remember I'll get to be THIS ↓ man for a day, I feel MOTIVATED:

The mask is kinda the main thing, which is what I started with. (it's probably my favourite part of both cosplays, and it's probably the thing that was the cheapest, materials-wise. $2 mask, $3 magnets, plus paint etc I already own)

I started with one of those cheap papery masks from looksharp and cut off the lower jaw, gave her some nose brow and eye surgery with paper mache, reconstructed the jaw/lips...

For the main eyes I used mesh that I cut off my hi vis jacket and painted a slightly less neon yellow 👍

the jaw is attached by a piece of elastic at ear level, with magnets where it connects to snap in place

These are my initial simple teeth I made to finish it to wear at a con, which I've since redone

And below is what the inside looks like now. The teeth are made of clay, and very intricately placed so they fit together. As you can see they curve inward a lot...the tusks kinda stick in my nostrils and after cosplaying this three days in a week I had marks on my chin from the fangs....

there's blue fabric so my mouth doesn't show through

The red is some drips I made for a specific photoshoot (preview at the end!), and it's the same stained glass window paint I used in my red visor, so they can stick temporarily and be removed. I pulled off most of the drips down the chin but kept it on the teeth for now....I might actually make that permanent though!

everything else:

for the initial 2022 version, I made the shirt, which was a mission to get shaped that way and also is hard to put on and take off. I do prefer its shape to the version I have now, but the current one's easier to put on (and colour matches the skirt). this skirt was from an opshop

The arms.... I made them out of thin tights, which meant that the dye/paint didn't work very well. The darker blue on the hands here is a double layer. I used bodypaint on my arms underneath to make it look better in photos.

I also made the nails/thorns out of hot glue which is a beautiful substance but ends up Too pointy and sticky and my hair kept getting stuck in it, not to mention the tights fabric itself, meaning....lots of holes. every time I put the arms on (they're one connected thing over my torso) they broke more

So I had to remake those. this time I bought some sturdy skating tights, which I can actually paint on, meaning way more detailed plantyvein patterns

I made the thorns (and some leaves) out of foam and used different glue, so they're way less likely to catch on things.

I also made the nails out of foam clay, which are also less pointy, and I could make them a bit longer. There's wire inside that loops around my fingertips to kinda...anchor them to my fingers, so I can Do Things.

Just before this I was also in an opshop and found this - I think it's called an infinity dress? - for $7. which is near-perfect, and way easier to put on

the top part isn't quite right wearing it normally so I cut off the ends of the tie bits and attached them to my arms-thing under, so it has more of the shape I wanted around the shoulders/neck.

I did a lot of taking photos & drawing over to figure out the veiny patterns, as well as the shoulder scar (which I made star shaped. I had that idea while drawing this fanart)

I didn't really need feet since I can make my skirt cover them almost, but I wanted to try making some!

I got some $5 slip on shoes from an opshop (wanted a solid base, if I'm gonna be walking around in them a lot), put the offcuts from the arm tights over them + some fur on the top, made some toes/claws out of foam clay, then painted it all blue

was kinda going for having a slightly backward knee effect (like when people make faun feet) but I didn't really make the toes long enough for that - and any longer and I'd be tripping over them. I like they're kinda silly and weird though.

Having my hair completely out was a bit unruly, so I wanted to clip back everything but the first section (which covers the side of the mask) - I have this butterfly claw clip, but it's green, so I made a similar dragonfly bug thing! i love how it turned out. and there's some little dangly beads to hang off it.

Also between the two shoots in the above picture I had the sudden realisation I can not only put the bodypaint on my neck/hairline....but also just in my hair. it's water based. crazy how just a bit of that + different lighting/editing makes my hair look so much darker!

since I had a Red dagger, I thought I might as well make a Blue one too. The blade is made of petg/worbla plastic offcuts from when I was making my Red visor all swirled together into a point, the handle is foam clay, the crossguard bit is a heatmouldable plastic stick I found in my dad's heatgun kit

in comparison to my Red cosplay, this one cost me around $64nz. (this doesn't include the original shirt/skirt/armtights, since I can't remember, or like, the ears (already owned), but I don't think that would have been much more). much cheaper! many, many hours of labour though

If you've made it this far here's some previews of shoots I haven't posted yet!!!!!