Cosplaying 101- Step 1: Selecting a Character
Welcome to the start of my new series, Cosplaying 101, a beginner's guide to the basics of cosplaying. For those who are wondering, "cosplaying" is basically the art of dressing up as and pretending to be a character. That's it! So remember when you dressed up like Batman on Halloween? Well that was cosplaying! Good job on that by the way.
Costumes or cosplays can be home-made or store bought, and both options are great. See example below with my Star Wars obsession. On the left is my home made cosplay and on the right, store bought.
Cosplaying should be inclusive and non-judgmental so whatever your current skill level, whatever your interests, whatever your budget, cosplaying is for everyone (yes, that includes you). So anywho, throughout this series we will outline the basic steps involved in cosplaying and go into a little detail about each step. I am hoping create some YouTube videos that follow along as I go through each step and prepare for one of my upcoming cosplays (so stay tuned for that... hopefully).
Okay, without any further delay, the steps for a successful cosplay are:
1. Selecting a Character
2. Research
3. Designing Your Cosplay/ Listing Materials
4. Reconnaissance/ Gathering Materials
5. Making Your Cosplay
6. Test Driving/ Revisions
7. Extras and Props
8. Posing
9. Wearing Your Cosplay
10. Cleaning and Storing Your Cosplays
The step I will delve into here, is step 1, Selecting a Character. You can watch the video below if you would like to see the companion video for this post.
Before you begin you may want to have the answers to the following questions in mind:
1. Time: How much time do you have to complete this cosplay? How much time do you have to devote to making the costume (30 minutes each night, 1 hour per week, etc)?
2. Skill set: What strengths do you have? Do you know how to sew? Are you crafty? Are you a boss at special effects makeup? Knowing your strengths will help you determine what characters you will have the most success creating. Now what weakness do you have that you can overcome with the help of YouTube and Wikihow? What weaknesses do you have that you will want to avoid? Does part of your soul die every time you attempt to sew something? Then you may want to think about that before you decide to make a costumes for that wizard with the billowing robes.
3. Resources: What resources do you already have or have access to? Do you own a 3D printer? Do you have a place you can get tons of old cardboard boxes (cardboard can be a very useful tool for making costumes)? Do you have a closet full of old clothes/soes that can be used for costumes?
Resources can also be people. Do you know anyone with a particular set of skills, skills they have acquired over a very long career, skills that... wait, do you know Liam Neeson? For example, my mommy is a makeup artist and that is a HUGE resource! What resources do you need?
4. Budget: How much money do you already have to devote to this? What amount would you like to stay below?
5. Recognition: Do you want people to be able to recognize your character? This is important to consider because if you do want people to recognize your character, and they don't it will be a long and rather disappointing day so, yeah... It is good just to take this into consideration, because if you make up your own character, no one will recognize you, but that doesn't mean that they won't appreciate your cosplay. Check out the picture of my fall fairy below, she was completely made up, but people still liked it and asked me for pictures (please excuse my awful pose, this was my very first day at a con before I learned that you needed to have a good pose, my fiance on the otherhand looks like a pro).
The answers to these questions will dictate the type of costume you can make if you select a specific character. So if you select a character like let's say, Iron Man, for example, but you have a small budget, not very many skills, an adequate amount of time, and your resources are cardboard, then you can still be Iron Man. However be aware that your limitations may show up in your final costume (people may recognize you as a red and yellow Box Troll instead of Iron Man). If you are cool with that, then press on, otherwise, you may want to consider choosing a character with a less advanced costume (fyi, any costume that is full armor, is going to be pretty advanced, armor can be a butt)
Now that you have thought about the answers to those questions, let' go over the 2 main types of characters you could cosplay. Those are:
A character you have made up
or
A character from media (tv shows, movies, comic books, etc).
A Character you've made up:
If you create your own character, think about creating an origin story. The details you come up with can help you develop the character's costume and give you details to add that will make it stand out. Here are some things to think about:
What is the character's family history (only child, abusive parents, large family, blended family)?
What hardships have they overcome (disability, bullying, traumatic event)?
Do they have any special talents (dancer, artist, fashion designer)?
What sort of personality do they have (shy, charismatic, socially awkward)?
Do they have any powers and how did your character develop them (a skill developed through practice, an accident, hereditary, an object)?
Where does your character live predominantly (warm climates, North Pole, Wyoming)?
When does your character live (present, recent past, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away)?
Is your character a villain? Hero? Anti-hero?
*Be aware It may be difficult to get noticed at a con or event if you cosplay a character you've made up. However, if you make your details awesome, you can still be hit up for pictures (and get lots of fans!).
A character from media:
When making a decision you can select:
A character you admire (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Storm)
A character who is similar to you (Professor X if you use a wheelchair, Hinata if you're quiet, Hulk if you're big and temperamental)
Someone who it would be fun to be for a day(Joker, Deadpool, Star Lord)
Someone with a cool costume (Iron Man, Black Widow, Batman)
Someone who is just cool (Dick Grayson, Michelangelo, Wolverine)
*Think about it If you are selecting a character from media, think about which version of them you want to be (for example the 50,000 versions of Harley Quinn)?
Or you can make up your own version (see my Harley Quinn below).
Things to keep in mind:
Will you still like your character several months from now when you have to wear the cosplay? (This happen to me with Zabuza, I was gung-ho about being him when I started watching Naruto, but as time went on I realized that Kakashi Sensei is my all time favorite character from anything in the history of ever. I like Kakashi... a lot)
Make sure you like your character... I mean REALLY like your character, because you will question your choice several times, especially when the more labor intensive parts come up (This was me with Darth Revan, I eventually decided that I did really like Revan and kept going despite all of the hardwork, Zabuza was not so lucky though).
And those are the basics I have discovered in selecting a character to cosplay. But whatever you choose, just remember to have fun and you can always re-do it a few years later. See my Poison Ivy from 4 years ago versus Poison Ivy from last year. Oh the original was so embarrassing. Even my pose... ugh. I look like a gloob. Oh well.
Thanks for reading and be sure to check out my companion video for this blog post (Cosplaying 101- Step 1: Selecting a Character) I would also love if you head t my Facebook page and let me know what character you are thinking of being.
