#dratz replies

1) Plan in advance–this goes from everything big and small!

For example, if you want some particular part to move/be able to move with you as you walk around, you need to draft this from the beginning. If you want a particular part to be very solid and/or used as a place to anchor stuff or as a base, same thing. You’ll want to think about each part of your costume in the long run: for example: can I go up and down stairs, or will I need to use an escalator/elevator? Will I be able to see? Will I be able to sit down? How many pieces am I able to take on/off myself, or will I need assistance getting in and out of my costume? (Think: restroom breaks, eating food, drinking water, etc.) Something you really want to consider is how heavy the entire thing is going to be, and how you are going to transport it/how the pieces can be taken apart and put back together again. To carry mine, it took two large laundry bags for all the armor pieces, a grocery-kind of plastic bag for the shoes and mask (and the wings wouldn’t fit in anything and had to be carried on their own).

I spent a lot of time trying to re-proportion the character to fit my body–I would highly recommend doing this before you start working on any physical pieces, just so that you can try to match things the way you want to fit yourself! Transformers in general have humanoid body shapes, but definitely not exactly human in their proportions–ex: really small heads, exaggerated limbs and features. Some things are going to require extra work to try to scale to something that is wearable; for example, I’m 5′4″ and weigh around 104 lbs, something that presented a bigger problem was the shoulders, since they had to be built up a lot on either side to be more accurate. Starscream’s also very thin and has a much longer torso, so trying to fit the chest plate and all the pieces between there and his waist into a human shape was also a challenge.

To try to re-scale things to fit my body, I just took some pictures of myself in a mirror (front-facing, profile view, from the back), and then washed out the image a lot (you can do this by just loading the pictures into Microsoft Word or a similar software and just upping the brightness a lot and playing with the contrast, or using a photo editing software like Photoshop), printing out pictures (or using a tablet to draw directly ontop of them is fine too), and then drawing over top of them with pencil. I also made color-coded reference sheets on Photoshop for all of the armor pieces (views from each angle, etc.) as a jumping-off point, to give a starting place and rough idea.

Give yourself plenty of time to do this if you can! From start to finish, Starscream took about 6 months, all the way from the drafting stages to the finished product. It not might take you as long (I’d never done something like this before and had generally no idea how to go about it), but I wouldn’t suggest leaving anything until the last moment! (This becomes particularly important if you want to have time to try things on/get a feel for your costume.)

I would definitely recommend that if you are going to make a mask/helmet, that you make it easy to take on and off by yourself. They can get hot/stuffy really quickly, and you want to be able to breathe and to be able to get a sense of your surroundings/check up on what’s around you! Just a quick flip up of the mask or taking it partially off and having a look around can help a ton with your spacial awareness, and also if you need to take a break to catch some fresh air.

And of course, be safe and take the necessary precautions when making your costume, including but not limited to: cutting away from yourself if you’re using something like a knife to slice up materials, not breathing in fumes from paint and glue, etc. (Speaking of glue, my costume has a variety of glues depending on what was being glued together and how: hot glue gun, rubber cement, wood glue, gorilla glue were all in there somewhere. The hot glue gun was the hero of the costume hands-down–it’s strong, it has good mass and hold all on it’s own, and it dries really quickly and sets in place so you can continue working, rather than having to wait long periods of time for the glue to dry.)

2) Create a mock-up if you can.

I’d suggest this just to get an idea for how many pieces you’ll have/how it’s all going to fit together. You can just cardboard boxes and cartons and things that were going to be recycled/thrown away, even like milk/juice boxes and stuff like that (if you can find cheap rolls of parchment paper or that throw-away stuff for spreading over tables, that can work too, and is especially helpful for bendy bits/pieces that have to curve–my costume ended up using this stuff in the final version too) and made a rough draft of the armor. You don’t need to do all the details at this point, it’s just to see what goes where and how it fits and if it works or not. Some pieces may take more work or trial-and-error than others (for Starscream, the shoulder pads were really hard to try to figure out how to balance with the rest of the costume).

The sky is the limit when picking your materials! Stuff like warbla was far too expensive for me, so again my costume is mostly made up of craft foam (lots of the armor) and foam board (wings), canvas, and that throw-away paper stuff. I again recommend a mock-up before hand so that you don’t end up wasting or messing up the actual materials you’re going to be working with, especially if you have the time and resources (stuff you’re going to throw away anyway is a really good bet, it helps keep the costs down and is easy to dispose of/recycle afterwards).

3) Practice your poses.

In the long-run, you aren’t going to be able to control what angles people take your picture from and that’s fine, but it’s nice to have a few poses in mind and an idea of how to position yourself initially regardless. You’ll want to know your costume, what angles look good, what angles don’t look so good, and how to really showcase the detail and different parts. Also it’ll help you get a sense of how mobile you are, how far you can raise your arms, if you can cross them, how much you can bend your knee, if you can bend over, etc.

This is not only useful for really bringing out your character in pictures, but knowing how much room you need for photos. You don’t want to accidentally bump into someone or create a safety hazard for the people around you.

I had one primary pose that I used when stopped for pictures, and several other poses I’d practiced for my character as go-tos, including if I had to change poses or if people wanted multiple poses. Holding one pose, especially for a long period of time or over and over again, is not such a good idea (especially in heavy armor, even moreso for this one because I was also in heels)–my knee actually nearly gave out on me the first day because of the weight and strain I was putting on it. Changing up poses every so often or cycling through might be a good idea to try to avoid over-stressing certain parts of your body.

I wasn’t able to practice my poses in full costume because of spacial restraints (even having the shoulders on made my maneuvering room very tight in front of the mirror), but was still able to get a good idea of how to pose. Even if you can practice with some key pieces of your costume, it can be very beneficial for photoshoots or for that extra wow factor when posing!

4) Get a feel for your costume before-hand.

I really can’t stress this enough, especially for safety reasons! These things can be big and bulky, and it’s hard to get a grasp for your surroundings, especially if you are wearing a mask or have lots of bits and pieces sticking out from your costume or blocking your periphery vision. Know where your blind spots are, know your general range of motion for your head, your arms, legs, etc., and how much room your costume takes up. (For example, I know I am not able to see that well to either side of myself because of the mask and the shoulder pads, and cannot see about ¼ to 1/3 of the area below me, including from my chest down to my feet, when my head is held straight in my Starscream costume. If I want to look down, I have to bend over and turn my head sideways–doing this requires pitching forward, so I have to recognize that the wing tips are going to move down and forward, and that the pointy bits in the back/my elbows could very well change position when I do this. One of the reasons knowing this is really important is because sometimes, little kids would want a photo with me, and oftentimes they would stand next to me in one of, or be walking through, my blind spots, and I didn’t want to accidentally bump into them. Also if I was using an escalator or going up and down stairs!)

Try not to make any sudden movements–this is for your safety, and for the safety of those around you. Motions which would generally be okay out of costume can cover a much larger space and swing bits of the costume that other people aren’t necessarily looking out for/going to consider/might be hard to see and avoid (ex: wings, claws, doors, horns, etc.).

Blunt the edges of any of these pointy things. Even then, you still might want to cover them or make sure extra precautions are in place. For example, I put rubber caps on the ends of the elbows of my costume even after they were blunted (there are long, slender, pointy bits that stick far out from Starscream’s elbows that kind of resemble pile-bunkers). You can use the rubber ends of coat hangars, putty, hot glue, etc. to make edges and points softer. You might be able to take stuff like this (ex: rubber caps) off for photoshoots but I really value safety over any kind of aesthetic appearance, so I left them on the whole time. Check behind/around you (slowly) when you stop and start walking, are asked for pictures, and before you pose. A lot of conventions have rules about props/costumes too that involve sharp edges or anything that could potentially cut/poke someone, so if you are planning on wearing your cosplays to events like this, check the rules and guidelines so you know how to incorporate that into making things like armor.

Re: you want to know how heavy it is–if at all possible you want to spend at least a consecutive hour in your costume before the convention/wearing it for a long period of time, walk around, try to do some basic tasks, etc. I did a “trial” like this for three consecutive days before Otakon itself, wearing the costume for about an hour each time, and walking around outside in the summer. Having on something heavy/restricting your movement or ability to walk, see, etc., may be fine for a little while, but you will want to know how it affects you and what it feels like for a long period of time. Other things to consider–are you going to be in stilts, heels, or any other sort of non-typical footwear? (I already have experience being in heels all day, am comfortable walking/standing in them, etc., but if there is any aspect of your costume similar to this, you are going to want to practice.) Are you wearing gloves/finger extensions? (Can you pick things up and hold them such as a convention badge, can you write with a pen or pencil, can you pull/push open or hold open doors? Remember to be aware of these extensions especially when pointing, waving, etc., you don’t want to poke someone in the face by accident!)

5) If possible, travel with a handler.

This person can not only help you in and out of costume, but will be invaluable for helping you get around! Your handler can guide you from place to place and give you a heads-up if you are about to collide with an obstacle or person! Even if you have practiced walking around in your costume and have a good sense of spacial awareness, you can’t control what other people around you are going to do. I had several cases where someone would try to short-cut behind me or dash really quickly by, probably way too close for comfort (conventions can be packed spaces!). Sometimes, I caught them out of the corner of my eye and could freeze/move out of their way, but sometimes I couldn’t see them coming at all, and my handler could tell me to move, and where to move to.

For this reason, among others, I recommend having callouts (or signals) with your handler. Things like “clear,” and “freeze” are quick and easy to say/hear, or if you need to, you can coordinate hand signals or something of the like for the both of you. (Just be careful if you have your own signals that you aren’t going to accidentally stab/run into someone).

Again, you want to be wary of your surroundings and the people around you. If you have large pieces sticking up on your back, out the side, etc, or any sharp/pointy bits, you need to be careful about where you are, and who and what is around you. Move slowly, give yourself space away from objects and people when at all possible, and if someone stops you for a photo at a convention or something, move out of the way of traffic/getting in the way of others. You may want to practice or have a brief discussion with your handler about how to approach situations like this, and how you are going to get around.

Be honest with yourself and with your handler about how you are feeling! If you need to take a break, if you need water or a few minutes to cool down, if you need to remove part of the costume, etc. Walking around when your skin isn’t able to breathe and your body is under stress is not a good idea.

6) Keep yourself hydrated, cool, and safe!

I also really want to stress this one for safety reasons. I got pretty hot in mine pretty fast, and the time frame shortens if walking around and the temperature/humidity is high. To prevent yourself from overheating, take breaks and allow your body to rest and cool down. There’s no shame in taking off a mask (especially if you have trouble breathing) or parts of the costume (even the whole thing, if you need to–I had to do this at various stages throughout the convention).

I would highly recommend bringing one of those portable battery-powered fans (with the soft, non-hazardous blades–you can get them for pretty cheap), especially if you are wearing a mask/helmet/something that’s covering your head. I’ve upgraded my mask so that there is a small cooling fan on the inside (I did not have this initially), which will help with keeping my face/head comfortable and with fogging up of the mask/stop it from getting too sweaty and gross.