Cosplay Help

Anonymous asked: Do you have any advice on jade's god tier shirt? I can't find a pattern anywhere :/

Okay, so when searching for a pattern for a specific item of clothing, you’re probably not going to find an exact pattern. Sometimes somebody will have made a tutorial on it, but it’s much better to learn how to alter patterns to fit the thing you want (if you don’t think you’re up to making the pattern yourself).

If you want to alter a pattern, you first need to identify the distinctive things about the item you want to make. That way you can look for those things in the pattern, and try to match it as closely as possible. With Jade’s shirt, I would say those things are

• Pointed v-shaped bottom hem
• Slightly belled sleeves
• Long sleeves
• Tunic-length shirt
• Fitted shirt
• Collar??? We can see it, but it doesn’t go down below her god tier hood, so a boat/bateau collar or crew neck are the best choice.

The bottom hem will be fairly easy to alter on most patterns - you literally just draw on the shape you want and either add it to the bottom of the pattern or cut it away, depending on how long the pattern is. This is the kind of thing that looks the same on the pattern and on the finished item. The sleeves are a little harder to alter, but if you can’t find sleeves with that slight bell it’s not terribly difficult to add it in. Mostly, what you’re looking for is a long-sleeved fitted t-shirt with a shallow-cut collar. (Don’t make it out of t-shirt jersey though - that’s too thin). I recommend just going to your local fabric store and looking through the women’s shirt patterns for something that fits that description. If you haven’t sewed before, Kwik-Sew is a good brand to start with if they have it. 

Helpful Cosplay links:

trancypants:

Wigs: (I highly recommend always wearing a wig while cosplaying)

arda wigs

epiccosplay wigs (my favorite wig sellers. Great customer service)

cosplay wigs usa

gothic lolita wigs

Makeup:

Cream makeup, body paint and sfx makeup

http://www.stagemakeuponline.com/

http://www.motionpicturefx.com/

http://www.bobbibrowncosmetics.com/landing/makeup/index.tmpl

http://www.eyeslipsface.com/

For the question “which character should I cosplay?”

http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/

(just enter in character details at the top of the page)

Finding conventions:

http://www.animecons.com/events/state.shtml/002800799

Other:

(numbers represent different parts or methods)

sewing machines

wig heads

wig cap

Tutorials:

List of tutorials  How to’s

concealing eyebrows

Binding 1 (do not use ace bandages invest in a binder or buy sports bras)

packing for a convention boot covers fangs wings gems 

armor: 1 2 video fiber glass or alternative

shields (you can alter it to be any shape you want and you can use something besides a dish) 

masks  1 2

resin casting part 1 2

Basic Hem kigurumi tunic mermaid tail gloves sailor collar pleated skirt circle skirt fabric dyeing

Wig dyeing pigtails 1 fixing a wig spikes 1 bangs (It may be better to cut a strand of the bangs for reference while you have it on and then cut the rest when its pinned to a wig head) Wearing a wig with long hair 

Photography 1 2 3 4

If you have any other questions feel free to ask here or here

unusualvisionary asked: Im still a little confused abotu Wig caps. Its not putting them on thats the issue. Its putting the wig on over it. I can slip a wig on nice and fine over my hair, but with wig caps they just dont slide on nice. I dont know fi thats because of the netting of the wig cap being a material that contradicts the wig or what...

Hmm… What I do is hold the back of the wig on the back of my head and then pull the front of the wig over my head and then pull the sides down to make sure it’s fully on (does this make sense?) You should have to do a bit of pulling, it won’t just “slip” on… Does this help at all?

How to put on a wigcap/wig when you have A LOT of hair. (With pictures!)

hetarimarii:

Ok so I’ve actually had quite a few people ask me how I get all my hair under a wig (some of my friends have even made me show them because they didn’t believe me.) It’s really not that hard! Even if you have a lot of hair/a lot of volume.

This will probably be fairly long, so click read more to hear the secrets :o

Ok so before I even start I need to talk about two things.

1) The wig cap: First off, I don’t care how short your hair is, or even if your bald! If you’re going to be wearing a wig, then wear a wig cap. I personally prefer to use netted wig caps over nylon ones. They tend to stay put better as well as help the wig stay in place and surprisingly (at least to me) they hold my hair down much better. They also often times come with wigs!*As a side note, if you want to use a nylon wig cap, then get an actual wig cap. Don’t just use nylons. Even if you stretch them out to fit your head they still feel like a boa constrictor is on your head. MAJOR headache.

2) The wig: Just make sure the wig actually fits your head. If it doesn’t fit your head, it’s very unlikely it’s going to work. I’ve had a few wigs that were just WAY too small even though they were “one size fits all” (these were all party wigs though so if you’re buying an actually nice quality wig you should be fine!)

OK! So now that that’s out of the way let’s get started.

So here we are before we start.

Wow! That’s a lot of hair. How will we ever get that under a wig cap? It’s really quite simple!

Step 1: Gather hair into a ponytail

Step two: With your other hand, gather the ends of the pony tail and bring them to your forehead

Step 3: Move a few fingers from the first hand over the ponytail so that you can hold it in this position with just one hand. Also grab your hair net with your newly freed second hand.

Step 4: Stretch out the wig cap and put it over the hair your first hand is holding (this is best done by putting the cap over the hair AND your first hand and then sliding your hand out.) You should now basically be holding it the same way as in step 3, but with the other hand a wig cap on it.

Step 5: Use both hands to pull down the wig cap in all directions so that it stays on by itself. If some hair isn’t covered, that’s fine. Leave it for now. If you see the picture I still have quite a bit of uncovered hair. In my eyes.

Step 6: Tuck the remaining hair under the cap, you can stick your hand under and move the hair around a bit if there’s a weird buldge.

And there you have it!

But the real key to keeping it all staying good is to bobby pin the wig cap to your hair. (I’m not taking pictures of this because I’m lazy, but you should get the idea.)

Basically, I put one bobby pin in the front center, one one on each side of my head, and two in the back. If I want to be extra careful I might even put one some where on the top of my head.

Your wig cap shouldn’t be going anywhere now, so put on your wig and get going! (after bobby pinning the wig in the same fashion/places as the wig cap of course! (Yes I do bobby pin them both. And then I can basically do anything short of hanging upside down and feel safe)

I’m serious guys, I can’t tell you enough how AWESOME BOBBY PINS ARE! USE THEM!!! (you can never use too many unless you’re head is entirely covered in them…)

Anyways, that’s my little tutorial! Hope this helps someone out there…

unusualvisionary asked: I have a question about Wig Caps. I own one, and i have no idea how to use it. I find it so much easier to just put on the wig and shove my hair into it, but it slips out of the wig quite a bit. when I try to put on a wig with a wig cap, the wig is more difficult to put on. How do i fix this? What am i doing wrong?

I actually have a tutorial for wigcaps here!

hope that helps! If you need more help, just message again~

prisonerofcreativity asked: hate to be a bother, but I'm planning a Flame Princess cosplay! I'm wondering how I'm going to style this wig upwards! I was planning on buying the Le Tigre in Salmon or Pumpkin; but I'm honestly a little worried about getting this wig up into an updo like hers; and having it stay up! Sorry if this is like a bother or somefin dihdikld

I haven’t done this personally, but from looking around it seems that you can go the rout of using tulle and other fabrics instead of an actual wig, or using a Styrofoam cone and gluing the hair around it. Hope this helps!

Anonymous asked: Thoughts on doing a uranianUmbra cosplay at this time when there's not really a canon design yet?

Well seeing how many people made cosplays of the sufferer before he had a canon design I’d say go for it!

The only problem is if the canon design does come out while you are still working on your cosplay it could become a bit of a sticky situation… but, i’d still say you should go for it, especially if there’s a particular fan design that is popular!

Anonymous asked: I'm cosplaying a presumably 16-17 year old character. I'm 14 and kind of worried that I won't look as old as the character is! The convention is in four days, and I've kind of become nervous because of this (should have thought of it before u_u) do you think this will matter much?

Oh man, don’t even worry about this! First of all, people develop at different rates during their teenage years - I know some people who are almost 20 and could still pass for 12. Some people just look younger or older than their age, and to be honest, most people aren’t all that great at guessing other people’s ages anyway.

In any case, people rarely let age determine who they should cosplay. It’s harder to get away with cosplaying characters who are a LOT younger or older than you, but a few years definitely doesn’t matter.

Edit from another mod:

Also makeup! Most people look older with makeup on, so that can help if it’s something that really bothers you. But in general, although age (and height which often goes along with how old someone looks) can be good, not being the right age/height doesn’t hinder a cosplay at all!