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!!!!