#cosplay101

Closet cosplays

Closet cosplays are cosplays consisting of clothes in your closet, they’re super easy and an interesting way to get into the mind of the character your cosplaying and seeing what they would wear casually, now it’s not as popular as normal cosplays, but if your cosplaying a character that has a lot of costume changes or dresses like you this can be your best bet, with closet cosplays you can add accessories that can tie into the character like colors or something that symbolizes them so people can recognizes you, this is honestly the cheapest way to cosplay and an easy start to cosplay too

2. Buy second-hand

There are many cosplayers that either scrap their cosplays or have old cosplays they would like to sell. You can find second-hand cosplays on etsy, facebook groups, and websites like lumikha, whose sole purpose is selling scrapped or old cosplays! Now I dont have too much experience buying second-hand cosplays, but friends have told me it's a great way to save money. Prices may vary depending on the seller and the make of the cosplay, whether that be handmade or bought previously, so I would keep that in mind.

3. Borrowing cosplays from friends

If you have friends who cosplay as well, you can ask them if it would be ok to borrow their cosplays. If they say yes, congrats, you have a cosplay! Just keep in mind that it's borrowed, so it might not fit well and take good care of it.

4. Recycling old cosplays

Now if you have older cosplays that you dont wear anymore you can totally recycle it into something else, if two characters have a similar style or have the same articale of clothing like a shirt or pants, you can definitely resuse it, cosplay is about being crafty, so working with what you have is all apart of the craft.

5. Thrifting

Thirft stores are going to be your heaven as a cosplayer. I've thrifted so many pieces for my cosplays throughout my cosplay journey. As long as you have a photo of the character, you can find pretty much anything that your character needs, if your character has a specific piece that you can't thrift you can diy a clothing item into it, for example if a character has a vest that has a specific pattern on it you can buy a vest thats the base color and paint on the details, almost every cosplayer does this for every cosplay.

Pick a character

Now this is easier said than done, believe me, but the best way to pick a character is to find a show, movie, or game that you completely love and find a character that you like or resonate with a lot, also dont feel like you can't cosplay a character because you feel like you can't do them justice or you dont look like them, were all here to have fun! for example when I first cosplayed Loki, I felt like i couldn't do them justice because I was short, chubby, and just didn't look like them at all, but when I did cosplay them, everyone loved it and I felt so confident in myself, so lesson of the day, cosplay whoever you want if it makes you happy.

2. Buy or Make

so you picked your character, awesome! Now you need to know whether to buy or make your cosplay, now there's kind of a debate on whether you should buy or make your cosplay and I'm here to say:

it doesn't matter! unless you are going into the masquerade or cosplay contest, buying is not the worst thing you can do, believe me, buying or making your cosplay is completely up to you, whether you don't know how to sew or you need a cosplay ASAP, buying is fine, or if you like the challenge or your character is niche sewing is the way to go.

3. Improve your makeup skills

If you want to cosplay for fun or your cosplays don't need makeup you can skip this part. Still, suppose you want a professional look or want to cosplay a character that doesn't have a normal skin tone you should listen, now depending on your character and where they're from. In that case, your makeup should make sense for them, for example, if your character is girly do a girly makeup look with soft features and pastels for the eyes and lips, if your character is edgy do. Edgy look with dark colors for the lips and eyes, you can even add accessories that you think your character would like, with makeup you can even transform your face, for example, I usually cosplay men. Still, I'm afab and have a naturally soft face, to fix this I do hard contour on my cheeks, I can do a more in-depth post about cosplay makeup if anyone requests it.

4. Prop making

Most characters whether theyre from an anime or game, most likely have a prop with them, whether its something small like a Tesseract for Loki or something huge like a Keyblade for Sora, now like with buying or making your cosplay this applies to your props too, if you want to buy a prop that's fine and if you want to make it that's fine too, it all depends on your character and your skill level, I will say personally that you should have some skills in prop making because depending on how niche your character is a prop for them will most likely be hard to come by, this also applies to the whole cosplay as well.

5. Having fun!

Now this is the most important thing you can do as a cosplayer, having fun and being a good sport, when you first cosplay you'll see people whose cosplay looks great, but it might make you feel small, but the thing is that they most likely started out like you, ill be honest, your first cosplay will not be your greatest one, but having a great cosplay doesn't equal to happiness, what does though is the fact that your cosplaying your favorite character and making friends who also are cosplaying their favorite character, with cosplay comes community and making friends and just connecting over the things we all love is the most important thing you can do

Well I hope you learned a lot from this or at least the basics, if you have any questions or just want to add more on to it my ask box is open all the time so feel free to pop in

Cosplay is not Consent

this is a common saying in the cosplay scene because sadly some people have either taken roleplaying too far or think that the person cosplaying a character is the actual character. this has sometimes unfortunately caused things like sa and/or stalking happening at conventions, this is why we say cosplay is not consent whether that be touching, role-playing, or even taking pictures without consent, so that things don't escalate to this, so remember that when seeing someone cosplaying your favorite character do not;

X Take pictures without asking

X Make rude comments (saying anything sexual, unwanted criticism, etc)

X Touching that person without asking

instead;

✔️ Ask to take pictures

✔️ Ask about their cosplay process

✔️ Ask if they're comfortable being touched

All you have to do is ask! the worst they can do is say no.

2. Be nice to the venue

Most conventions are held at hotels or convention centers, so please be courteous about the venue its being hosted at, for example;

° keep the venue clean

° be nice to staff and non-convention attendees

° don’t destroy or break anything

remember, you are also representing the convention (at least to the hotel or convention center) if they find people destroying or being disruptive to the venue they can take away the convention and obviously we don't want that.

3. being rude and not respectful

I know this sounds super vague but hear me out, were all here to make friends and have a good time so lets be kind by；

° not disrupting people (budding into random peoples convo, being loud at panels, etc)

° Having common manners (saying excuse me, not blocking the walkway, saying please and thank you)

I know it's very basic but kindness goes a long way.

4. Not being a good sport

sometimes we see a cosplayer who cosplays the same thing as you but you might feel like they did a better job, the one thing you should never do is be a sourpuss about it, whether that be talking behind their back, being rude to them directly, or making it a whole thing, I’m not saying you shouldn’t feel these feelings, we all do from time to time, but you shouldn’t act out from those feelings.

Food/water

believe it or not but most cosplayers and con-goers forget to bring food and water or flat out just don't eat or drink anything during the days of the convention, this can be very dangerous, especially in crowded and hot rooms of the convention floor, so please bring a bottle or two of water and a snack, depending on the convention there will be water stations or even food stations, however you might have to pay and they can be very expensive so I would recommend bringing your own from home.

2. A sewing or mending kit

No matter what someone will always end up ripping or breaking something, but don't worry! depending on what's broken you can fix it with a mending or sewing kit, now this is very easy to make, all you need are sewing essentials (needle, thread, pin cushion, pins) or you can make a mending kit (glue, tape, paint) and you can be prepared if something breaks or rips, again depending on the convention you're going to they might have a cosplay medic or a whole room dedicated to fixing cosplay and props, so if you want to save space or you're not confident in your mending skills you can definitely skip this and just go to your local cosplay medic if your convention has one.

3. Makeup

now this is kind of a no brainer, if you're wearing heavy makeup you need to bring some makeup with you for touch-ups, but you don't need to bring all of it, I would bring concealer, eyeshadow, powder, and setting spray, this also applies to body paint as well.

4. A fan

You might be wondering if you really need a fan, you're probably saying "It's inside" or "The con isn't during the summer" but I'm here to tell you, you absolutely need a fan, I can't even count how many times I was overheated just from being inside with air conditioning if you are in a cosplay that's very involved and has a lot of layers and with a wig, you need a fan you will thank me later, most fans are very cheap to come by, just search hand fan on amazon or wherever you shop and you will find one that's probably $5 or less.

5. medicine

Con sickness is a very real thing, and ever since the pandemic you can never be too cautious, so I would recommend bringing medicine that works for you, I would also recommend bringing a type of migraine medicine because you will most likely get a headache within the first two hours especially if you have a wig on.

And thats the 5 things you will need for your first convention, let me know if I missed anything

Sewing

I know I said before that it doesn't matter if you make your own cosplay or buy it but having basic sewing skills will go a long way, just in case something happens at a con or your cosplay doesn't fit right you can always use your basic sewing skills to fix it! to get started I would say get comfortable with a sewing machine, nothing to fancy since we're doing basic stitches, but once you're comfortable you can always experiment with different techniques!

2. Basic prop making

Prop making might seem a little daunting at first but once you get the hang of it it's like second nature, there's many tutorials on how to make certain props or make textures for your props! (I might make a whole blog post about this) I would say to start off by getting comfortable with Eva foam, you can get this at any craft store, or you can start off with cardboard, start practicing different techniques, and make textures in the foam or cardboard to get a feel! but why should you get into prop making? well sometimes in cosplay you have to DIY some props because sadly you can't buy everything, but that's the fun of cosplay, to do your cosplay!

3. Makeup

makeup makes a big difference in cosplay, when done right you can look like a professional, to get started just experiment with makeup, makeup is unique to each person so finding your technique is key, make sure to try different techniques because each character is different!

4. Basic wig styling

im not going to lie to you but it is a little hard to get used to styling wigs, it can be a little scary at first but hopefully, you'll get the hang of it and be a wig styling pro! what really helped me was styling with hair wax, It is a lot easier than gel or hairspray, you can control the stickiness, and it's easy to mold the hair into your desired shape, it also helps with stray hairs, and also get comfortable cutting hair, I know it seems scary but it'll help you trust me.

5. Basic craftiness