The Cosplay Survival Guide!

A panel by Raiphin and Vera

Why Cosplay: Everyone has their reasons, what’s yours?

Cosplay is: Re-envisioning yourself, selling a 2D dream in 3 Dimensions.

Dedication: Knowing how far you are (or are not) willing to go to make a costume happen.

The “Me” Factor: What’s going to make your cosplay special?

What Makes Cosplay Effective?
Pattern Recognition
Visual Expectations- yours, theirs
Cosplay as improv (and not as a pain the…neck.)

Picking Your Costume:
What will suit your body type? Flattery will get you everywhere.
Easy to make, easy to recognize!
Make sure you can actually enjoy the convention.

How to Achieve Cosplay:

Costumes!
If they made themselves, it wouldn’t be as fun.

Commission                                Assembly                        Create
Local or Online                          Resale shops                   The “Do It Yourself” Option 
                                             And cheap clothing

Body Modification!
(Make-up, Prosthetics, Waxing, Contacts, Wigs!)
Many options, you can pick and chose. Some give a bigger effect than others.
Know how dedicated you want to be to your changes, what kind of change (realistic, or not) you’re going for.

Sewing!
Style- Hand sewing, adhesives, and machines—each has something it’s good at.
Fabric- What do you need it to do/be? Will it fight you? Remember finishing details.
Construction- Patterns will lie to you! Mock-ups are awesome.
Don’t forget your underpants.


Props!
Be realistic about your expectations of realism.
Existing- Can be easy, awesome. Can be expensive, rare, or impractical.
Assembly- Looking at the world as a series of colors and shapes.
Access- Tools, knowledge, time, money. How much of these do you have?
Experiment as much as possible!

Cosplay Philosophy: Making It Real

Costume Breakdown- How do all the bits fit together? Do your research!
Drawing the line- Perfection has a cost. Are you willing to pay it? (Cuz you don’t have to…)
Applying a Critical Eye- The first step is realizing you have a problem.
Failure- It’s an option, not an ending.


At the Convention:
Before you leave- INVENTORY! And Emergency cosplay kit.
On the Way- Your stuff, how will you move it? Also, rain. We’ve got some.
At the Con- You’re still human, even if you’re dressed like a pretty ninja vampire.

Posing & Photography:
Be Aware- Know where you are in relation to the camera, props, people, and your own body.
Interact- The more unique your picture is, the more awesome it’s likely to be.
Self-portraiture- Remember--pics or it didn’t happen.

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!
Flaws become meaningless beneath the power of your awesome.

Remember Your Emergency Cosplay Kit!

Bobby pins

Wig Brush

Safety pins

Hot glue gun & glue sticks

Scissors

Needle & Thread

Charged camera

Nutrients

Your future self will thank you.

Love, Raiphin &Vera

Contact us! We welcome questions and friends.
Raiphin (Holly)- Raiphin on Facebook, dA, Flickr, Pinterest, Twitter
Via email: survivecosplay@gmail.com

Vera- Via email: ImpulsiveIngenue@gmail.com
Via Twitter: K0npeito

The Great Big List of Links:

http://survivecosplay.blogspot.com/2011/04/links-gathering.html

New Project: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

So I'm going to try updating this more regularly again as I start my newest project! My next big costume is for debut Kumoricon/Akicon 2011, and I'll be doing Kaname Madoka in her mahou shoujo form with her rose bow.



I have currently purchased
the wig (arda wig's Chibi in rose pink 50$ shipped)
the petticoat (I may have to alter shorter) ($20 on Amazon)
materials for the rose (Ugh, you don't even want to know how much that crap cost me.)

I'll be doing a post on how I made the rose when it's done, but it'll be a seeecret until then! ^ - ^~ Either to be the first one to do it, or because it totally won't work. Time will tell!

Figma pics have finally come out, so I have better reference pics to work from.






Trouble areas from other interpretations of the costume seem to be:
1) makes you look chunkier (placement of the yellow in front? length of bodice before skirt? petticoat riding up?)
2) petals on skirt don't lie flat (I think these need to be gathered at the waist. I have a plan for that.)
3) gradiation on the petals from white to pink (I think hand-dying is the only solution here, and I don't have experience with it. Not sure if the kind of fabric I want is dye-friendly.)
4) Getting hair-bows to sit straight (I'll probably not make them bows, honestly--just bow-looking objects)
5) the slight-scruffy hairstyle (yeah...we'll see how I do with that.)
6) lace on the socks (I've got a stitch for that, and nice enough legs to not be worried the knee-high ness will make my legs look chunky.


personal worries:
SHOES-- you know what they call red patent round-toed shoes in size 10?
Clown shoes. No lie. Some interpretation will need to be done. ~_~;;;

More updates and pictures as I get further along! Also, next post will be called Body Shots, because I'm intending to take staight up pics of me out of cosplay so I can look at my own proportions for figuring out Madoka's costume parts.

Links: The Gathering

Here is a moderately organized collection of every link I've used or thought looked helpful in all my years of cosplay. This will be updated as new sites are found, and please email me if you discover a dead or broken link!

Links: The Gathering

General Resource Sites:
http://cosplay.com/
http://www.acparadise.com/
http://www.deviantart.com/


Make-up:
For Beginners:(application for beginners) http://www.helium.com/items/934182-basic-make-up-tips-for-beginners
(Clinique--skin-friendly, reasonable prices) http://www.clinique.com/index.tmpl?ngextredir=1
has tips & trends pages/videos

BRANDS WE LIKE: Clinique(allergy/sensitive skin friendly), Loreal(Because you're on a budget!)

Crossplay Make-Up:(Female-to-male make-up tutorial) http://www.girlsentertainmentnetwork.com/how-to-gender-bend-for-cosplay-crossplay-makeup-tutorial/

Advanced Mak-up:(Intense, for(done on) Asian skin tones/features) http://the-sushi-monster.deviantart.com/art/Cosplay-Makeup-Tutorial-Part-I-180970967

Body Paint:

BRANDS WE LIKE: Ben Nye



Wigs:
Buying/Selling:(new)http://shop.cosplay.com/wigs/cosplay-com.html
(new, some Japanese reading required) http://cyperous.com/english/
(new, some used available) http://www.amphigory.com/
(new) http://stores.ebay.com/COSPLAY-WIG
(used) http://www.cosplay.com/marketplace/showcat.php/cat/1
(used, some new) http://community.livejournal.com/cosplay
(new, US based) http://arda-wigs.com/
(new, US based) http://thefivewits.net/

BRANDS WE LIKE: Arda Wigs (US based, big hair caps), Cyperous ($$$! But gorgeous.)


Wig Caps:http://myworld.ebay.com/darcinut/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

BRANDS WE LIKE: More type than brand, we like net wig caps better than the nylon kind because they stretch more and you can bobby pin anything you like!


Styling Tutorials:(cutting bangs) http://www.tristencitrine.com/tutorials/wigbangs.html
(styling with scissors, natural cutting techniques) http://behindinfinity.deviantart.com/art/Wig-Styling-with-Ishida-Uryuu-70861455
(odango) http://charmedseed.livejournal.com/10260.html
(spikes) http://gambit13.deviantart.com/art/Cloud-Wig-Tutorial-80842355
(softer spikes) http://cattypatra.deviantart.com/art/Wig-Spiking-Tutorial-143983384
(Straigtening w/ Hot Water) http://www.katiebair.com/wigtutorial_straightening.html
(Making Wefts) http://www.katiebair.com/wigtutorial_makingwefts.html

Cleaning & Care:http://www.epiccosplay.com/wig-care-and-styling-information.html
http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=9559


Costume Resources:
Used/New Costume Buying:(used) http://www.cosplay.com/marketplace/showcat.php/cat/14
(used) http://community.livejournal.com/cosplay

Retail & Resale:(resale)
Goodwill
Salvation Army
St. Vincent de Paul
(cheap)
Ross
Marshalls
American Apparel

Online Resources:sock linkshttp://www.sockdreams.com/_pages/index.php
http://www.joyofsocks.com/

shoes:makemechic.com
zappos.com
amazon.com
shoefly.com
ebay

shapewear:spanx.com
ebay

Spikes & leather
http://myworld.ebay.com/spikesandleather

Gloves
(white) http://myworld.ebay.com/thedaycasa/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

Ears:http://yayahan.bigcartel.com/

Feathers:www.rainbowfeatherco.com

Beads/Jewels:http://www.shipwreckbeads.com/
www.firemountaingems.com
www.plasticbeadswholesale.com
(Some on Etsy & Ebay too)

Corsets:www.farthingalesla.com
www.corsetmaking.com

Retail Fabric Sources:
Fabric Stores in King County:
Fabric stores (Seattle/Bellevue area):
JoAnns (various)
Pacific Fabric (various)
Hancock Fabrics (various)
Seattle Fabrics (Seattle)
Stitches (Seattle)
Emerald City Fabrics (Issaquah)
Fabrics for Less (Renton)

BRANDS WE LIKE:: JoAnns is cheap & everywhere, Pacific Fabrics has more interesting variety--also, each Pacific Fabric specializes in certain areas so check their website to see if one's better for your needs. Fabrics for Less has cheap per yard and specializes in saris for lots of bright chiffons and trims and such.

Online Fabric stores:http://www.hancockfabrics.com/
http://www.joann.com/joann/home/home.jsp
http://www.denverfabrics.com/
http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/
http://www.fabric.com/

Online Craft Stores:
Michaels.com
JoAnn.com*
http://www.bestfromjapan.com/index.cfm (this is where I got my Sukerukun air-drying transparent clay from. They sell several varieties of Japanese resin clay & lots of beads. Best pricing I found, but int'l shipping takes a while! Be aware!)

*if you're having trouble finding craft supplies at JoAnns, try Michaels. Many things (like paper clay) are only at Michael's.

Hardware Stores:Home Depot
Lowe's
McLendon's
Ace Hardware

If you can find it at a hardware store, it's probably cheaper and the glue is definitely better. Their customers want results, not pretty--you can benefit from this.

Plastics/Plexiglass/Etc:
www.tapplastics.com

Wonderflex:
www.cosplaysupplies.com
www.dazian.com

Electronics:Radio Shack
Fry's
EL-stuff- Amazon.com
www.coolight.com
www.lighttape.com
....think about flashlights, and how they may fit into your life.


TUTORIALS!!!!Sewing:
Pattern Tutorials:sewing & costuming, LOTS of info & some tutorials: http://www.costumes.org/advice/1pages/howtopat.htm
http://taeliac.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-Circle-Skirts-90497598
http://sarcasm-hime.net/bootcovers-tutorial.html
http://firelilycosplay.deviantart.com/art/No-Stretch-Boot-Cover-Tutorial-161626176




Prosthetics & Shapewear:

Horns:

Wounds:
http://sporkbotic.deviantart.com/art/Wound-Tutorial-101897561

Lady/Man bits:

Props:General Resources & Tutorials:
How to Glue Anything to Anything: http://www.thistothat.com/
AWESOME tutorials for Armor/Jewels/Wings/Etc: http://cosplayconstruction.wordpress.com/tutorial-list/
working with craft foam: http://windofthestars.com/cosplays/craftfoam.html
pros & cons of craft foam: http://www.fullmetalsam.com/general-craft-foam-tutorial/

Sculpting & Casting: (jewelry, emblems, sigils)
http://amethyst-angel.com/castingguide.html

Jewels:Polyester resin: http://www.whatishcc.com/tutorials/polyesterresin.php

Other jewel options include:
model magic (and paint)
sculpey
xmas ornaments
plastic toys/candy containers
button covers

tips:
nail polish or enamel paints can give good glossy shine, but can have paintbrush marks if you're not careful.


Armor:(foam+heat gun) http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html
(vinyl over craft foam) http://gaogaygar.fc2web.com/EnglishMake01.htm
(foam & fiberglass--ADVANCED) http://www.thetworivers.com/avatrix/sword/sword.htm
(general armor-making tips) http://www.squidoo.com/costumearmor

Wings:(feathers, big) http://etaru.deviantart.com/art/Cosplay-wing-tutorial-56518340
(feathers, small & fluffy) http://www.paper-wings.org/tutorials/wings/wings.html
(fairy wings, pantyhose+wire) http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=60297.0
(fairy wings, cellophane) http://j9crafts.livejournal.com/16998.html
(wing harness) http://www.whatishcc.com/tutorials/wingharness.php

Swords:

tips: the substructure of the sword is hella important. Get that right before you do anything else.

Guns:

tips: Can be sculpted from styrofoam or built up from wood.

Staffs & Wands:

tips: subsctructure is again super important, as is knowing if your staff is going to be top-heavy, and how you need to move it. (Will it need to fit in a car, suitcase, etc.)

The long dark cosplay of the soul.

So, this isn't much of a post because I'm taking short lunches all week so I can leave early for pre-reg badge pick-up on Thursday. But what the hell.

While it will be many more blog posts until all the information is up, I have finished my Haruhi costume. And 4 days ahead of time! Hurrah.

Wow. That was...daunting.

There was a point in time this Friday night as I struggled to finish the top that I wasn't sure I was going to make it this time, that I'd set my hopes too high and the costume was beyond my ability to make not look like fugg.
A dark time, since a detail-oriented obsessive personality like mine usually means I've planned every last detail (or tried to) before committing to a task. But there you are.

Still, I bucked up because really--what else was there to do? Not finish? Give up and accept a bunked-up result? Hell no.

This was by far the most difficult costume I've ever put together. It is leaps and bounds the hardest sewing project I've ever done. But it's completed now, and the rest is candy.

Bring on the candy.
~Raiphin

This is how the magic happens, people. Pay attention.

I've been sick, which was super-great. It's now one weekend until the convention and I still have some serious work to do, not my favorite place to be. But I'm at work on my lunch hour, so while I can't catch up on that I can get started with how I made the top of Haruhi's outfit.

As you can tell from my pictures about the straps, I'm basing all this on that bra. BUT I want the top to be bigger than the bra, so I had to draft out how I wanted it to look. I put the bra on me, for starters, and took a look at where my curves are--waist, and such. In most of the pictures available Haruhi has the world's LONGEST TORSO EVER and, well, I don't.

I do, however, have a lovely hourglass figure and I want to use it to the max.

As such, I wanted the end of the top(ruffle bottom included) so stop high enough above the smallest point of my waist that the difference would be visible. Reference pictures seem to put the top just at her waist, or at least where it would be on me--but that makes me look stumpier than I need to. *

*a point of philosophy, if you will: One of the rules I have in cosplay is that I will modify the proportion of a costume in order to better suit my body. I think this gives a more purposeful, realistic feel than if I tried to be 100% accurate. On your own costumes, you make the call.

One of the things to note also is that by making the top shorter than the reference pictures, I had to change the number of criss-crosses in the front of Haruhi's top to avoid having the area look scrunched. I'm doing 2 crosses instead of three.

So, in the mirror I gave a good hard look at my bits and pieces and came up with about where I wanted the top to end. Then I put the bra back on my dress-form and took bits of muslin and pinned them all around where the top would be. I then cut away the exess muslin and drew in where I wanted to put seams on the top. The result looks like this:



The result is a bit hap-hazard, but not bad for my first attempt, eh? If you don't have a dress form you can get someone else to pin & draw, just be careful not to stab or be stabbed. You want to get a close but not TOO close fit--this is to get an estimate, and you need to be able to breathe. You should probably use one long piece of fabric for this rather than bits of pieces, but either way it works out.

After cutting the muslin down to size & drawing on the seams, I un-pinned the fabric and cut along the seams to make separate pieces of fabric to start my pattern.



As you can see, it's all rough right there. I labels the pieces to helop tell them apart--(Right Center Back, Right Back, Right Front, Right Center)
You only really need 1 set of the pattern, it's not like your right and left side are all that radically different from each other. AND it helps prevent wobbly boobage, which is not the goal.

Then I did some MATH.



I looked at the pieces and measured out (to the nearest .25", anyway) how big each piece was. Then I added .5" to all sides to account for seam allowance. Usually you do 3/8" for seam allowance, but who wants to measure that out? Bleh. So I get 1/2".

I then got a DIFFERENT piece of muslin and cut out the pattern AGAIN. Isn't this fun? It looks like this:

href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/37157244@N03/4418676882/" title=" by raiphin, on Flickr">

Lovely. I sewed those pieces together to make both sides of the top (but am not sewing it together in the back. I want to use the bra clasp for security & a zipper or snaps or something over the top of that.) I then pinned the result to the dress form.





And that's when I noticed 2 things.

1) part of the front is sewn the wrong way. Make sure you know, really KNOW which side you're working on, because they look very, very similar if you're not careful.
2) Gap-age. There are gaps. Why are there gaps?

Ah, that'd be the hourglass figure I mentioned. Unfortunately--where sewing is concerned--I am not shaped like a tube. It would be a whole lot easier if I were, but there it is.

So. Now what? Now it gets interesting.
What I did was veeery careful put the whole concoction back on myself, and stare at the mirror again. Then I pinned the top on both sides in as close to an even manner as possible. It was also jutting down in a weird way, so I grabbed a Sharpie and drew where I wanted the bottom to end.

This is all a bit fiddly, I realize. I have a good eye for proportion & knew exactly what I wanted to achieve. If you have problems with this step, take a deep breath and figure out how what you've got differs from what you want and work from there. It'll take time and pain, but will be worth it.

In the end I got this:


You can see the sharpie lines, and how some of the edges are now curvier. I ended up straightening the seam that's under my arms from a curved seam to straight after this step, and that seemed to work fine.

Then, FINALLY, I cut my fabric. I used the black suiting I like so much at first, but it was too stretchy and I went back and got a nice easy black peachskin fabric instead and used that. After all that work on the pattern, I didn't *need* the stretch.

Whew. After all that, draping the white part should be a piece of cake right?
Right?

~Raiphin
hint: wrong.

Strap in, it's gonna be a tough ride.

So, this is Haruhi's top. This image has the ruffles going up the sides of the black in the front, but usually it's just a solid line across the bottom--that's what I'm doing too.

First thing I did was get a strapless bra to base the top on. This was a Le Mystere brand "Shameless" bra in nude. It had a thin layer of nude spandex on top that I caaarefully cut away to reveal the underneath. Then I stuck guidelines on it with quilter's tape to help me get things even...this was mostly useful for straps and such.



You'll see I already added the straps on. Haruhi had two sets, one slightly longer than the other. I originally made the longer ones an inch longer, but .5" is probably better so that they don't just slide off your shoulder constantly.



Note that the straps are racerback in the front (more toward the center line of back than straight down.) This means you can't just stick straps where the strapless bra wants them. This is good, because that shit's almost always uncomfortable & gave me weird armpit pooches. BAD.



You can kinda see in that picture that where I have pinned the strap in the front there is a mark. That mark came from making a strap out of muslin and pinning it places in the front until it looked right. You can also see a small nude seam slightly further right which is where the strap originally went.



See how much sexier the racerback straps look, even just pinned like that? MmMMm. Make sure to get them even, and take the back of the bra into consideration--which hook are you using? Try to maintain as much stretch there as possible, you don't want it to pull on itself or get stiff. I did an up-down seam instead of left-right for that reason.

You can wait and sew in the straps after you do a lot of other things, just try not to stab yourself with the pins too many times. (Like I inevitably did.)

As for how to make the straps--I figured out the length and thought that I wanted them to be 1" wide at the ends and 1.5" at the middle, for extra sexy and because I like pain. I did a rolled edge hem like I did on the bottom of the skirt, but it was a lot harder and didn't turn out as nice. I'm not sure if rolled hem just requires more fabric, or what I did wrong. So be careful. I tried to go back and make double-sided straps, but sewing shiny/slick to shiny/slick was...unsuccessful, shall we say. You can also probably just use ribbon and sew the ends together, but I wanted some stretch to hold up, y'know, my bits.

Next up, pattern-making. If only we were shaped like tubes.
~Raiphin

The four horsemen of my apocalypse.

TOOLS. They are important.
Without these 4 things, I would die. And by die I mean screw up this costume royally.

1) A good sewing machine.
Are you serious about this? A lot of cosplay you can get by on just a straight stitch and a zigzag here and there. I soldmy car last July and dropped 600$ on a middle-line Huskvarna Viking Emerald 183(I think). I'd been using my grandmother's sewing machine, the one she used to make my skating costumes back when I was like, 10. That was a while ago. I knew what the machine could do, but no damn idea how to make it do them. These are the perils of being self-taught. (Grandmother is 83 and lives 2 time zones away. So I couldn't really ask her.)

Wow, things have come a long way since...the 80s, maybe? Early 90s at best. My new machine is lovely and automated and smart. It tells me when there's something wrong with it, and what foot to use with what stitch. Genius. Also, the JoAnns in Southcenter (Tukwila, WA for reference) had a Viking center--where I got the machine--which got me a complimentary hour of training on my new machine, and that hour has been PRICELESS.

2) GOOD SCISSORS. This seems easy. I got a spendy rotary tool this weekend and we'll see if it's that much better than scissors (it was 50% off due to a coupon, anyway) but good scissors make your life easier. Remember those child-scissors that bent construction paper all the time? And how nice it was to have scissors that could cut shit? Scissors aren't that expensive, get some good ones. Gingher is a good brand, but most that're 15$ or so should be fine for cosplay use.

3) Chalk pen. GENIUS. I'm very, very bad at cutting straight lines. I blame astigmatism. Anyways, my chalk pen (5$ at Pacific Fabrics, I think) lets me draw all over my dark fabrics and then I just cut along the lines! No more pinning my fabric to patterns, or weighing stuff down with books while I cut around them! We life in the future.

4) Disappearing ink pen. STILL GENIUS. This is the same idea as above, but for light fabrics. You can draw and make marks, and they just dissappear! I used this making button-holes for the top of Haruhi's blouse, and it is generally awesome.