Cosplaying 101- Step 3: Designing Your Cosplay (and Listing Materials)

Welcome back to the Cosplaying 101 series, a beginner's guide to the basics of cosplaying. And let me add, "Whoa! You're on step three, already?! Great work." Now is when you get your hands dirty and actually start making something (cue Mulan song: Let's Get Down To Business). Step 3 in the Cosplaying 101 series is designing your cosplay and subsequently coming up with a list of supplies you will need.

Here is a list of all the steps in this series (the current step is highlighted):

Cosplaying 101 Steps

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

Also if you would rather watch the YouTube video that accompanies this blog post, click on the video below. This step has a lot of visualization in it, so you may find the examples in my video helpful.

So let's review. You've already selected a character and the specific version of that character you want to be. You've researched your character's story and other people who have cosplayed your character. You've already fallen down the internet wormhole, gone through cosplay envy, and come out on the other side. Now it's time to do something with the info you have meticulously gathered (I don't know why, but I'm imagining Golum crouching over a shuffled pile of papers rocking back and forth in a dark room repeating, "my precious, my precious" whilst rubbing his hands together. Don't be Golum in the dark room; it's not a good look).

This is a pretty big step, so I have divided it into three mini-steps:

1. Drawing your cosplay

2. Listing the materials needed

3. Breaking down the list by source/ store.

1. Drawing your cosplay

I can hear you saying it, "I'm not a good artist. Do I really need to draw it?" The answer is YES and no, but mainly yes. You don't have to do anything, but I find it helpful to draw out my cosplays. Drawing it helps me to begin thinking about how I can make the costume in real life. What do I think that belt is made out of? How does the hip armor connect to the rest of the costume? Are those gloves attached to the gauntlets or are they 2 separate pieces?

Also, if and when I make mistakes while drawing, I can (sometimes) see opportunities to create something else for the cosplay. For example, I added knee pads to Poison Ivy because I accidentally drew the legs weird in one of my sketches.

*Remember Don't worry about how awesome or sucky your picture is, this is just for you and no one has to see it, unless you want them to.

2. Listing the materials

After you have drawn your character and considered how each piece is connected to the costume, you can start thinking about how you are going to make each item and what materials you can use to create that item. I start with the head and work all the way to the feet and with each item in my drawing (i.e.- mask, breastplate, pants, sword) I ask myself, "What do I need in order to create this item?" Then I list out all the materials I will need for each piece of the cosplay; this includes everything that I will need to add to myself (like clothes, wigs, accessories, etc.) or change about myself (my hair style, skin color, hair color, etc) in order to get the final result.

3. Breaking down the list by source/store

So you've drawn your cosplay and you've listed all the materials, next, let's put some thought toward where you will get these items. I list my main sources/ stores for cosplay materials in order of preference. For me, since money is my primary concern, my list goes from cheapest to most expensive. However, your preference and your list will depend on your budget, your resources, and your end goal. So if your end goal is to be a unique version of the character, then your list may be more similar to mine; if your end goal is to be true to the original character design, then your list may have more fabric, internet, and specialty stores on it. See below for my list of sources/ stores organized by preference

Free sources: My mother used to sew, but now she doesn't have as much time for it. So she has a plethora of sewing supplies. I like to look through her stuff first to see what fabrics, notions, and whatnot I can get for free from her. I also like to think about things that I already own or things I can reuse, such as items from our personal recycling (on a related note, old egg drop soup to-go containers make excellent Aladdin hats). One of the last free sources I use id my county recycling center. They have a swap shop where people can drop off stuff they don't want, you can take it (but you're only allowed to take one item per week...technically...). Every now and then I will find PVC pipe and other odd things I can use for specific cosplays.

Thrift stores: My favorite, of course, is Goodwill. I also like the Habitat for Humanity Restore s, but sometimes they can be a bit pricey so I prefer to go to Goodwill first and then the Restore second.

Craft Stores: All time favorite is Hobby Lobby. You can go online and use their 40% off of 1 regularly priced item coupon, which is awesome. You can also check online to see when certain items will be greater than 40% off. For example, the tulle that I used for my Princess Jasmine cosplay and my Fire Goddess cosplay (see pictures below), goes on sale for 50% off at least once per month. They change what's on sale every Monday, so check online to see what will be on sale that week. Also, check out my next step in the series to see how I do my reconnaissance mission to find out what items to look out for in the sales paper. You can do the same with Michael's. Their coupons change in value from week to week, so be aware of that.

Fabric Stores: I usually get my fabric from JoAnn's. I've heard that other places have cheaper fabric. However, I live in a small town with one main road, a Publix, a Home Depot, and cows (if I ever need a cow for a cosplay I will be in luck. Cow Appreciation Day cosplay idea? Hmm...). And this small town is 40 minutes away from a medium sized town. Long story short, my fabric store choices are slim. But anywho, JoAnn's has coupons online as well, so be sure to check.

Home Depot: I am the fiance of a former Home Depot employee (kinda) so we like Home Depot and the Lovebug (my fiance) knows where everything is located. This is a huge perk because I have a hard time finding someone to help me or who knows what I'm talking about, because I never want to use items for their intended purpose. My conversations usually go like this:

Me: Where can I get a PVC pipe that looks like this *draws squiggly shape in the air that looks like the neck of a piranha plant from Mario Cart*?

Home Depot employee: Well what did you want to use it for?

Me: A staff to harness my powers...

Home Depot employee: *blank stare... slowly inches away from me*

But I digress. I like to get things like spray paint, PVC pipes, special glues, and EVA foam from (the) Home Depot.

Walmart: I'm not a fan of Walmart (for multiple reasons), so if I can avoid it, I will. However, I like my money a lot more than I hate Walmart, so sometimes I have to bite the metaphorical bullet and just go. I get all the things I couldn't find anywhere else from Walmart.

Specialty Stores: This includes stores like Sally's Beauty Supply for spray hair color, costume stores for body paint, or hair supply stores for wigs and Marley Twist hair (see below, hair on the left was used to create look on the right).

This is one of my favorite steps in the whole cosplay process (which is probably why I went into such detail). I hope you are drawn to this step too (my fiance helps me edit this blog and he wanted to put that joke in here... and I love him, so sorry about that guys). Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the companion video for this blog post (Cosplaying 101- Step 3: Designing Your Cosplay/ Listing Materials). I would also love if you head to my Facebook page and answer these questions for me...