Help a Newbie Out? ^^;

By Zann. 23/06/09, 03:10 pm

As I mentioned in my introduction thread, I have never Cosplayed before (Despite my friend's persistance to get me to participate..) And now that i've joined this site I thought I might try to get into it..

The main problems i've found have been:
Time
Money
And size issues..

Allow me to further explain..
I work at Mc Donalds (Nearly full time and I'm doing / planning on continuing my studies) thus spare time is hard to find these days, Money (Like I said I work at Mc D's) and while I get a decent income it can still be hard to stretch that out for stuff for a costume..
Size issues: probably the thing that is most daunting.. Being 183 odd centimeters (or about 6 foot 3 inches) Finding clothes / making them is a little hard..

But anyway like I said I am interested in atleast attempting to Cosplay next Wellington Armageddon.. So what I really need is Advice and tips such as:

Easy Characters to cosplay as
General tips on finding stuff for Costumes and stuff..
Anything else which might help me get started?

Thanks in advance guys! (And gal's Wink

)

By Freddie. 23/06/09, 03:14 pm

My Advice? HAVE A SEWING PARTY AND INVITE ME.
And Keggy, Because we're the cool Pram cosplayers.

By Highlander. 24/06/09, 02:14 pm

FRED wrote:: My Advice? HAVE A SEWING PARTY AND INVITE ME.
And Keggy, Because we're the cool Pram cosplayers.

First you frighten him and then you ask him to let you in his house?
Maybe he should go to yours, so he can run if he needs to?

Anyway that is a great idea, having somebody to show you stuff is cool.
But Freddy maybe if he has never sewn before then start with a fabric trip to give him ideas on buying fabric? Thats where we are starting out next sat for the great epic CCC sewing party. Sorry not sure where your skills/experience is at dude. I know what it is to be in over your head.

Also hit the second hand shops for stuff. Even the like of posties plus has cheap stuff.

Just pick a favourite TV show, or anime, or film, or book. Pick a character you like, and looks easy. Like Jayne would be one of the easier firefly males to do, or zoe's partner Wash? But Jayne is tall. Or L off deathnote, although hardly origional. However he gets to eat candy, lots of candy. It is even better if you can pick one you are able to act out the character, ie. you know well and suits your acting ability/personality.

Pick a show with modern type characters for your first one, then you have a quick costume to through together (buy or out of your closet.) I just bought some trousers for cosplays, but picked ones I can use everyday, stretch the budget.

Or maybe one with a really simple design, say a cartoon or anime. Also look at the hair. If you are price concious then will you need a cut and style, dye or wig? Cheap wigs in the colour and style you want can be very hard to find. So one you can play with your hair=cheaper.

Personally I then look up the characters on the internet and print it off. Then I take the pictures of different characters with me for reference of all the little things you will forget. Plus you can show the wig shops exactly what you need.

Then you can look around for clothes or failing that fabric, knowing you can choose which ever character you can find the cheap stuff for. Cause you got more than one choice you are not forced to buy that really espensive fabric/item of clothing, you just try of another character.

By Zann. 24/06/09, 06:19 pm

Hey thanks for the great tips there Highlander!
And yes its true that back in my wee youth I learned to / knew how to Sew / use a sewing machine.. but I'm probably horrible at it now as its one skill I haven't used since I learned how to..

But yeah I have a really good hair dresser (All the way in Palmerston North) who if I can bring a picture in.. SHOULD be able to cut my hair in a way where styling it like the character's will be easy.. (Just gotta let it grow out a lot more to give her pleanty of room to play with! XD)

Right now my ideas consist of:

Final Fantasy:
Zack
Angeal
Squall
Random Shinra Soldier
Ton Berry! (Just because its so damn awesome and I gets to stabs peoples... ninja

)

Mainly thats it..
I'll keep you guys up to date on how things progress and stuff XD

By Cassiel. 25/06/09, 02:02 am

If you have a friend who is good at sewing, they could walk you through the basics of the costume. And remember RESEARCH! There are tons and tons of good tutorials out there that with a bit of tweaking can be perfect for your character. There are sometimes even full out tutorials for entire characters.

And if you're just starting to sew, stalk fabricstores for similar patterns and ugly cheap fabric. Or, old duvets and sheets from the salvation army make great mockup material. I got about 3m of fugly flowery material for $4!

And I second the wig thing. A nice wig will be an average of $60 or so. BLARGH NOT CHEAP.

By Zann. 25/06/09, 02:20 am

Hehe.. the good thing is my younger sister is like a Sewing Masta!
even has her own sewing machine and everything...
I'm sure with a little bribery and corruption I can get her to help me out XD

By Highlander. 25/06/09, 10:45 am

Zann wrote:: But yeah I have a really good hair dresser (All the way in Palmerston North) who if I can bring a picture in.. SHOULD be able to cut my hair in a way where styling it like the character's will be easy.. (Just gotta let it grow out a lot more to give her pleanty of room to play with! XD)

Right now my ideas consist of:

Final Fantasy:
Zack
Angeal
Squall
Random Shinra Soldier
Ton Berry! (Just because its so damn awesome and I gets to stabs peoples... )

Mainly thats it..
I'll keep you guys up to date on how things progress and stuff XD

Updates are cool.

Unlike most people here I don't know any of the above, but who s Ton Berry?

Ask me two months ago and I would have said I will never wear a wig. But I am growing my hair out so I can braid it Highland style, for Feburary. And I have chosen one character with short green hair (Zolo from one piece), and another with balck hair similar length to mine. But I need to spike it in large spikes (Brock from pokemon) and unfortunately I have a balding spot, which I will deny if anybody repeats this. Why on why did I agree to this. Oh it was to get Angie involved in a group. Except now we have 300 pokemon and no misty on the epic trip. (Slight exageration.)

So as long as they are cheap then wigs are a great way to be able to play different characters. Many of the better characters I really want to play will be done with my hair even if it's not perfect. However I will may rebraid the hair for my ChChgeddon character.

Just saying that if cost is a factor, then you are really restricted in choice of wigs. And $60 is the least I would expect to pay for a good one. But I can't find any at all, at any price for Zolo. Remember a $20 wig = $20 haircut, unless you were going to get a haircut anyway.

By PIe. 25/06/09, 11:15 am

On the wigs front, you can find a bargin sometimes on ebay, but be wary, 3 of my wigs I managed to get from $30-$40 and are really good quality, so if you are prepared to spend around 3hrs going through ebay, you may strike it lucky as I have

**Sponsored content**