Professional Advice for Those Just Starting Out in the World of Cosplay
If you still feel the want to play dress up long after Halloween has passed, you may find that engaging in a hobby like cosplay does the trick. The Japanese coined the name “cosplay,” a portmanteau of the terms “costume” and “play,” although the practise of donning costumes based on fictional characters in order to attend conventions goes back far further in history. Japanese people rebranded an American pastime. The term “cosplay” spread from the East to the West along with the popularity of anime.
Cosplayers will also host their own events, where they may celebrate one other’s work and even conduct photo-shoots. Cosplay is most often associated with fan conventions for comic books and anime.
If you think you would like the pastime of cosplay, you should keep reading since we cover everything you could possibly want to know about getting started.
The Difficulty of Choosing Your First Cosplay Identity
The first step in preparing for a cosplay event is deciding the character you wish to portray. If you are just starting out in cosplay and don’t know how to sew, Solomon recommends picking a character whose clothing isn’t too complicated. L from Death Note is, in my mind’s eye, wearing a white jumper and blue pants. Choosing the Steve Harrington Cosplay Costume is essential here.
- Tymianksi suggests picking a person you have strong feelings towards. Tension is unavoidable in the cosplay process, but drawing inspiration from how much you care about the character you’re creating might help you get through the challenging parts. She thinks it helps to adopt an attitude of “hell yeah, I love this persona” when in costume.
- In making your decision, please disregard any biases you may have based on your gender or skin tone. Time it to take twice as long as you expect it to, and set the deadline a few weeks before the convention or conference where you want to unveil your outfit.
At conventions, it’s not uncommon to see attendees dressed as characters from media that has nothing to do with the theme of the conference, because to the high degree of crossover that exists amongst fandoms. For an anime convention, you might dress as your favourite anime character; for a comic book convention, you could dress as your favourite comic book character. Even while it makes sense to dress as a character from the convention’s subject (such as an anime character for an anime convention or a comic book character for Comic-Con), you don’t have to limit yourself to that.
Do You Want to Buy Your Costumes and Accessories or Make Them?
When you’ve settled on a specific role to play, the following step is to make a comprehensive inventory of the physical attributes that make up that persona. You need to include every item of clothes, every piece of jewellery, every pair of shoes, and any unique touches to your hair or cosmetics. Searching online for images of the character in many guises might give you ideas for your own outfit. Next, figure out how you’re going to obtain everything you need, down to the last detail, including whether you’re going to make it yourself or purchase it.