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| Example Reference: Kirito SAO |
Recently a family acquaintance
asked for my help with how to create a couple of cosplays, from a few different
amines, for an upcoming convention. For this I ended up writing them a long
email especially breaking down my thought process on how I would go about making
one of my cosplays. The following is the main section of the email I sent. It
is a good way to see on a basic level how I pull a cosplay together.
I am most familiar with Sword Art
Online (one of the amines they were cosplaying from) and will use Kirito’s main
black outfit from the SAO game as my primary example, however the concept of
what to do apply to any outfit. I made the suggestions very generalized because
I was also unaware of who was cosplaying as what. The assumption I used for
this is your crafting and sewing skills are around the level of my own. Therefore
these suggestions are based around being able to use a straight stich on a
sewing machine or with a thread and needle and using basic craft store
supplies.
If your skills are better with
sewing a patterns but not quite good enough to make such complex clothing
styles without patterns; I suggest getting patterns similar to the clothing
items and make slightly altered versions of those. But, if you are like me and
sewing patterns confuse you, the idea it to modify clothing that has already
been made. For this start at thrift stores (I like Savers best and for fancier
type cloths Twice-as-Nice or perhaps even Ross type places). It is really helpful
to have a picture or two of the costume with you when you are looking for
things. Look for pieces of clothing similar to the costume, you can always add
things like trim, buttons, patterns, and for some even change the color. For
example, if you find a white version of the shirt you need you can get dye and
change the color.
Break the costume down into pieces
and start with the simplest things. For Kirito, you would begin by needing black
pants, boots, tee-shirt, gloves, and belt of roughly the same shade. The gloves
can be cut by you. For Kirito, the jacket would be the hardest thing to find,
but not impossible. Although this may be one that would need to be dyed (brown
jackets are most common).
Next would be the details. This is
where the costume can go two different ways with cartoons; are you trying to
make a real version of it or make it a 3D cartoon. This would come into play
for things like Kirito’s shoes, do you want then to have real buckles or those
overly large straps? If it is the realistic approach you are going for just
keep that in mind when looking for things. If it is cartoon you are looking
for, those straps can easily be made out of craft foam that can be, glued,
safety pinned, Velcroed, or elasticated onto/around the boots. The metal plating
on his jacket can also be made with craft foam or cardboard then spray painted silver.
And the trim or design work can be done with fabric paint. Special belts and
simple weapon holsters can be made with ribbon or special fabric trims (there
is also thick knit belt material). I would make them around myself in costume
using safety pins then sew the pieces together with belt attachment.
Larger adornments and weapons are a
bit more difficult. Larger décor, for example Kirito’s belt buckle, can be added
on top of an actual belt buckle or seam line. It would be too detailed to be
crafted from foam and glue, so I would likely try molding it. If I had the
skill and access I would probably try casting from silicon or something similar
for durability, however I would likely shape it from model magic (a light air
drying clay) and then spray paint it. The caution here is that these type
pieces are more fragile. As for the sword, that is harder, not only because of
the detail but because I don’t have much experience in weapons. My Father is
helping me with an axe at the moment and that was crafted from insulation foam
and is to be painted with a plastic based paint. The sheath can be fashioned
from cardboard and tape and painted.
The final details are hair and make-up. Hair can
be natural or a wig. If it is natural, lots of gel and hairspray work best for
an animated look. If it is a wig, then you could permanently style it with glue
or get one pre styled the way you would like it. You can also go more natural or
theatrical. Anime often has very natural make up unless you want to try and
make your eyes look bigger with a bit of shadow and liner.
