This is mainly a sewing blog, but because I show a lot of cosplay in my photos I wanted to make a post at the end about how I personally chose what I want to cosplay.
I have been cosplaying throughout the years, that much is pretty clear. The furthest back I can find is from 2013 and that was just a shirt and some sunglasses that started it all.
That’s all it took. Something as easy as that sparked it all. I continued to cosplay because I enjoyed it, doing more things that were just ironed designed onto shirts until I started to really challenge myself! A few times I do think I thought I could do more than I actually could, and one of those times I decided to redo it later on and did much better! That character I tried to do was Star Butterfly, one of my favorite cosplays I’ve made.
This was the character I chose to cosplay! In her Blood Moon Ball gown I was excited to look as amazing as one of my favorite characters from my favorite episode!.. Let’s just say that didn’t go too well for me.
One of these is from 2015 and the other is from 2017… Can you tell which is which? I still plan on remaking the one from 2017 again now that it’s been a few more years, but I’ve still been wearing that cosplay for some time now even though it’s over three years old.
So to the point of this blog post… What to choose and how do you know if it’s right for you?
First: You should be choosing what you’re interested in. When it comes to cosplaying you are meant to be doing whatever you want because there should be no limits! You want to cosplay from a videogame? Do it! Cartoon show? Sure! Drama? Yeah why not? I’ve seen a ton of Game of Thrones cosplayers and I don’t even watch the show but they were pretty darn cool! Choose the show you like and then choose the character you like from it!
Second: Like I said earlier, don’t try to over do yourself. Yes, you learn from your mistakes, but practice also makes perfect. If you want to do something super complicated then that should probably be your main focus to work up to. I once talked to a guy who worked over three months on making himself a prop for his cosplay and I was just amazed he stuck to it for that long!
Third: Research research research! I for sure didn’t do that enough then and I still don’t now! I should really practice what I preach here! Look up tutorials! Try and figure out what some things are called, I wish I knew about hoop skirts when I first made my Star cosplay because I’m sure just adding that would have made a whole world of difference for the end product! Look up cosplay tutorials too, I’m sure if I looked up how to make a Cinderella dress I could have figure out an easier way to make it.
Fourth: Use your imagination! While doing research IS a big part of cosplaying, you also have to use a lot of your imagination too! I didn’t used to do this, but now when I sew I have a book full (not really I started like last year) of my sketches on how the outfits go together. You have to take it apart and figure it out. The pony in my second picture is a character from that show called Princess Ponyhead, I saw the Halloween store had unicorn masks and it clicked in my head that if I painted those and put a stick up it, it would look EXACTLY like the character! Sometimes this also requires borrowing ideas from other cosplayers and making it your own, or even looking up tutorials that people may have put online. Again, the cosplay amino app is a good place to go for that sort of thing!
Fifth: Be creative. You don’t always have to cosplay exactly what the character is wearing. You can look up designs people may have drawn (and credit them) and do that instead. Sometimes this can make things harder and sometimes this can make things a lot easier.
Sixth: Look up the weather… I already overheat. I cannot wear long sleeved outfits anymore, even during the winter conventions. Plus there’s already a ton of people in sometimes small rooms, it’s just important to think about the season when it comes to choosing what character to be.
Seventh: Just have fun! I honestly can’t think of anything else to add. Cosplay is meant for you, so do what you want!
One thing I wish I started doing sooner was matching cosplays with my friends. I started doing group cosplays last year and honestly it makes things so much more fun! We get to match and take pictures together because we are from the same video game or anime. On my Instagram you can see there are a few I’ve taken with friends, but I hope to do more in the future.
