Where to start Cosplayer 101 Beginners !!

Beginners Costume Building Cosplay!!

•        Find a good clear picture of the character you would like to dress up as.
•        Evaluate the picture!
•        Decide on how much your budget is and how long do you have before this event that you would like to dress up as and how much free time do you have for yourself to do this. Keep in mind the more difficult the character is and detailed it is then the longer you need. All my costumes I give 6 months to a year to do in case I mess up or I don’t like the way I approached it. Keep in mind I’m at a professional or master level so I build 3 costumes before a convention giving myself a year or 6 months before the event. After your first costume your stills or know how will go up and you will become better at building costumes.  
•         Decide on if you would like to build this costume from the ground up by sawing and hand making or if it is easier for you to piece the costume together by using stores or online to find some of the things you are looking for to put this costume together. Piecing together is a great thing for beginners , since this is your first time building a costume  not everyone is 100% on rather they are going to like it or not.

•        Starting building it!!! Think outside the box

Some costume friends will sometimes decide on building the costume from piecing it together for example if your character has black leggings or belt or hair piece ECT. Then they will find black leggings from the store or online from Amazon or eBay. My first major cosplay was Harley Quinn from Arkham City. I bought two colors of everything from gloves, two colored pair of pants. I ended up sawing to two different color pants together to make each leg a different color and that goes for the bra as well. But after I found out I loved doing cosplay. Is when my fiance and I decided to build things from the ground up. We became more skilled.

Rules for beginners

•        Don’t give up; costume/cosplay building is in my point of view, is away that tests you and your creative side.   If you become frustrated with the costume walk away and work on another part of the costume unless you know you are having a bad day all together then leave it for the next day.
•        Don’t be too much of a perfectionist, if there is a little part of the costume that is not sawn right or the foam is a little missed shaped, trust me no one will notice. It is only you that will know all your imperfections on your costume, unless you show everyone at the event then yea people will notice.  And if you always redo or rebuild that part of your mistake then the costume will never get done on time.
•        The internet is your friend looking for information or shopping on Amazon or eBay is a wonderful place.
•        If you are building something from foam or clay or worbla or wonderflex ECT for the first time don’t be too hard on yourself if it does not turn out. My fiance was working with foam and hot glue to make the Iron Man cosplay. Yea he was kind of good at it but made mistakes. But now building a new Iron man suit or any kind of suit out of foam he is a master at hot glue and foam. Practice makes perfect!!!  

•       Don’t rush, rushing around makes costume building not fun, give yourself time. Little things to do before an event are ok. But not a full costume you will end up hating it
•        If you order anything for your costume off the internet give your package plenty of time to show up.  Always think two steps ahead, what ifs. What if the package is delayed or is lost or gets stuck in customs.
•        Don’t get stuck on one way to make the costume cause not always will that work.
•     Always ask your costume /cosplay friends what or how they would do it if you need help. Getting together like an armor building party with cosplay friends always helps and it’s a fun time. You learn from each other.
•      I've learned the hard way, my first convention I wore every unconformable shoes. My feet hurt so bad that I wasn't enjoying the convention I was more thinking of when is it time to go home.  Always bring another pair of shoes that can go good with your costume that you know if your feet start hurting you can change.
•    Trying wearing your costume at a little event to see how well is your costume going to handle walking, moving. The first time we brought out the Iron man suit at a event. We found out the shoes that we built where not going to hold up; they started breaking within 5-10 minutes of walking.

•   Be truthful about your costume if you had commissioned someone else to make your costume, please don’t clam it as you built it all. When you sign up for costume contest they will ask you about your costume and if you say yes you built it all and you end up wining the contest and the judges and the person who built your costume finds out you lied. You could have your winnings striped from you.  I've seen it done. So please don’t take credit from something you did not build or don’t even make molds off of someone else’s design  and resale it , it falls into copy rights laws.
•     Also thrift stores or second hand stores can be your friend too if your trying to make a cheap but good looking costume. No one will every know. 

Cosplay 911 First Aid Kit!!!

Always bring stuff in case the costume is falling apart or rips ect.

1.       Super glue

2.        Sawing kit

3.       Hot glue gun with glue sticks

4.       Safety pins or clip

5.        Velcro

6.       Clear Tape & duck tape.
7. Band Aid ,just in case you get sores on your feet from wearing uncomfortable shoes or if you needed.

Covering all bases

Keep hydrated drink a lot of water, make sure to think about how to drink or go use the restrooms if your costume is difficult to hold a water bottle or get apart without someone else helping you.

Read the Event or Convention’s policy’s on Sexual harassment, unwanted physical contact, parent/guardian policies. Keep in mind the moment you walk through the conventions doors you understand the conventions policies. And are reliable for fallowing them.

If a child decides to come up and damages your costume. Keep clam and get a staff member involved to have you the cosplayer and the guardian talk about fixing the damages. Keep a list of all the prices of everything on hand in case the guardian wants proof.

Always have fun!!!! 

Another update on Lady Loki Cosplay

Hello everyone!! We'll I finally finished my Loki crown/circlet and the belt medallions . So happy with it all. Getting closer to finishing the whole Cosplay still have to make the dress and fur cap and finish the corset with only 3 more days to finish it, until opening night for Iron Man 3 on April 2nd  and Free comic day May 4th  and Denver Comic Con May 31-June 2nd.   

So What is the most difficult Cosplay Costume have you ever did? I would like to hear from you readers. 

Lady Loki's crown

Well here is another up date , Loki's Crown was made out of Worbla which is a plastic sheet that when warmed/heated up by a heat gun can be shaped to what ever design you would like. Love working with  worbla for costumes , however it is pricey to buy.   

Soon Lady Loki will be complete for free Comic book day on May 4th!! And also for Denver Comic Con on May 31-June 2!
Keep checking back for more progress on cosplay. Also you can find me on my Cosplay Face Book Page https://www.facebook.com/AurorahailfrostCosplay

Thanks for Reading until then Just Keep Swimming!

Loki's cosplay update !!

Just a quick update on Lady Loki Cosplay.

Here is the first part of  Loki's belt medallions that are made from Delight clay it is light weight and feels like foam when it drys.It also has a Chicago screw behind  the medallions ,that way I can attach the medallion onto the belt when I am done sealing and painting. 

Loki's scale maille top is done being built  , still needs to be put together to make a corset  

Thanks for Reading

Cosplay does not give Consent, NO means NO!

Cosplay does not give Consent, NO means NO!

Hello everyone!

On this blog I would like to talk about this issue Cosplay does not give consent. It’s about a wide range of issues.  One of them is about others who take photos of a cosplayer in costume without their consent.  I love getting photos taken of me in my cosplay that’s kind of where my passion for cosplay started from as well as loving to go to conventions. However I dislike when someone does not come up and ask me for my permission, before taking a photo of me. Second issue lady’s are having, is if I dress in a very let’s say sexy costume like wonder woman, men will automatically think it is ok to say impolite things and make advances on lady’s who are not there for the man’s entertainment it is called sexual harassment  learn that .  BIG third thing is unwanted physical contacted with adults and children.  My fiance and I have experienced this first hand yesterday at StarFest in Denver Colorado. 

Story –my fiance was in his Iron Man costume yesterday at StarFest and his Iron Man helmet has a face plate that can open and close just by the movement of his head, monition centered controlled with electronics. Well one child and his guardian asked to take a photo with Iron Man we said yes, my fiances Iron Man face plate was up and open. As the child was walking up to my fiance for a photo the child jumped up and slammed the face plate down on my fiances face, breaking the electronics in the helmet that opened and closes the face plate . Let’s say that this child did not get its photo taken with Iron Man and the guardian did not even ask to repair the damages nor even asked if my fiances face was ok since the child hit it so hard. The guardian stared at us and walked away. Needless to say I was not ok with this. Her reaction and compassion for what happened ,which she did not show anything to what happen disturbed me. She did not sculled him for his bad behavior or asked to help us, she stood there and watched us and then walked away.

We found a staff member of the convention and found her again and we had a talk about what happened. The guardian of the child told my fiance and I that it was our fault that this has happened and we should expect this to happen to our costumes.  So as you can imagine we where pissed. She the guardian wanted us produce a list of the electronics that are in the helmet. Thanks to the internet and smartphones we showed her our receipt off of Paypal of how much it cost us to build it and the member at the convention told her that since we have a list and proof of the damages done to our property we could have the police come or we can take her to court.  So she finally changed her attitude and wanted to pay.

 My fiance tried to explain to her in example if our child walked up and made a dent in her car, is that ok? The guardian told my fiance it is not the same thing.  My fiance asked why is not and explained that to us?  She couldn't.  So by law rather it is your house, your car, your pet, your child, your costume or clothes anything that belongs to you. It is your property and if someone damages anything of your stuff they are reliable to repair the damages.   This child is 7 years old, old enough to know right from wrong. Who teaches their child it is ok to walk up and smack anyone in the face and the guardian just stood there and stared at us and then walked away and not punish or react out to the child that was a very bad thing he did is a horrible parent or guardian. We never gave this child or the guardian permission to touch my fiances costume, only for a photo to be taken was given permission.  My fiance and I have had a lot of photos done with children with our costumes and never once has a child done this bad behavior.

So that being said every convention I have been to the moment you walk in that door you agreed with the conventions policy’s of sexual harassment, unwanted physical contact, unwanted photos ect.  As well as Parents or guardians agree to the policy about watching their child or children, and making sure they show good behavior. If your child can’t behave in public and you know they can’t. Don’t take them to conventions like this. This should be a reward to children for being good to be able see Iron Man or Bat man or whatever super hero they like. A lot of cosplayers are not hired by the convention to come in costume. We spend thousands of dollars on our cosplay costumes to come and have a good time. We pay for our own damages that are done by us.

Like every convention I have or is going to I read the policy’s of the convention before going. To make sure what I am agreeing to once I walk in that door. I think everyone should do this and make sure what they are getting them self’s into. Because rather you read it or not saying I did not know is not ok. 

Please Post comments if you would like, however if this does offend you in any way sorry about it but the truth hurts and I am using freedom of speech. Speaking out , standing up to keep  cosplay fun .

Navi from Legend of Zelda

So here is my Navi so far, she's kinda plan right now but soon she will have different colored  lights inside the ball i am waiting to color her wings until I see how they look with the color change. 

On another note I don't like talking about this stuff on my blog how ever  please forgive me for speaking out   Prayers go out to Boston and Texas  for what has happened in this week. It seems there is more horrible things in this world then good anymore.  

Thanks for Reading until next time be safe and Just keep Swimming!! 

Injustice Gods Among Us

Hello Everyone! Well I just got today a new video game called Injustice Gods Among Us. Love there costumes, gives me an idea of more cosplay ideas to do. I am more of a DC person so this is awesome, love that you get to fight against each other in the game. What is your idea about the game?

I need a moment to vent lol  who else is tired of the cold and the snow here in the Midwest of the US GRRR its starting to feel like im living in a frozen waste land. Winter has never lasted so long here, and they say  global warming, oh yea right!!  This cold delays my cosplay building cause I can't spay paint inside my house  nor work on other things inside that require to be outside done. So if your sitting in warm weather right now reading this Please send some warm weather my way! 

Also I am working a Navi from Legend of Zelda the fairy that fallows Link around  she's going to light up so I'll have to post pictures as soon as I get done building the wings and stuff.

  

Thanks for reading 

Loki's scale maille 1 part completed

Hello there!! Well I finally finished one part of Loki's scale mail and now on to part 2 building more scale mail yahoo.. This is going to be used as a top for the cosplay. Hint when building this don't mess up you will spend hours fixing it lol 

Bishops Castle Steampunk Photo Shoot.

Good Day everyone! Recently my fiance and I modeled in a Fairy Tale steam punk photo shoot. Had a lot of fun. I could not resist showing off some sneak peek photos that have not been through pixlr or photo shop yet by our photographers.  I was Revenge Red Ridding Hood and He was Prince charming.

Photographers are Dennis Nejtek , Julie Duvell and Fred Greenwood who has the copyrights to all the photos. However if you are interested in there work ect you can find them on FaceBook as well as you can find me on facebook Link - http://facebook.com/seasidehigh89

Keep in mind these are not all the photo's from this shoot and there where more people involved with this shoot however out of respect I am not showing there pictures. However if you are interest in seeing the finished photo's of my fiance and my photos, I can't promise I'll remember putting them on here since I am very busy with building more cosplay costumes but they will be on my facebook page for sure!

Thanks for reading until then Just keep swimming :-)
 

Sneak Peek on Lady Loki's Scepter and to add to that how does this sound a Green Power Ranger mix with Iron Man Cosplay!!!

Hello everyone! Well I decided to give you a sneak peek on how I am doing with Lady Loki Scepter, so far so good! Just have to put gold on the handle and put in the LED light and I will be finished with this at least. 

Final pictures will be up soon!! 

My Fiance decided to do a Green Power Ranger mix Iron man cosplay for Wizard World  Austin TX

  

Here is just an idea of how it is going to look.

 Chest is built just needs paint!

Thank's for reading 

Zelda's Cosplay is getting really close to being done! Excited

Helloooo Everyone! So I have finished with the piece of Zelda's dress Yahoo!! I decided to go with 3 types of blues I did not want to over do it with the purple's and also I went with the older game The legend of Zelda ocarina of time just to give a shout out to the old games as well. 

Part of Zelda's dress

Hey everyone!!  I am doing a Cosplay of Princess Zelda from Twilight Princess game as you probably seen on my other posts and here is something else to add on to what I have been up to. 

I am currently done drawing the front of Zelda's dress piece it only took me about 4 hours to do but now I am starting to paint it. Which Now I am looking to my readers for their opinion on this. I have seen other  Zelda cosplayers with this piece on the dress and there colors are different some do two types of blues and some do two types of purples in the middle part. What do you think?