This mask was easily the toughest part of my male Witch Doctor costume. This was a totally new realm for me, I’d never done leather work before, and since it was made out of a solid piece of leather, with no cuts, it was simply formed over my face to get the proper shape. Continue reading
Achieving that perfect look for props can be very tough. But even if all the details are in place, should the item be too small it will still look wrong.
Proper prop size is key to any successful cosplay. From a set of swords, Keyblades, armor, or outlandish props like full wings or even oversize vegetables and signs.
I start with a good reference photo of the image. In this case I am working on set of World of Warcraft daggers for a commission. This technique will work for any costume or prop assuming the character in question is vaguely human in size and proportions.
I did basic human anatomy and used the waist as a half way in total height. The weapons are for a female cosplayer but WoW has some gender issue and sizes the weapons very strangely depending on who holds them. I feel that the male human is as close to “real life” as you can get, so that’s the template I use.
Here is the same process repeated for a very well known character
Link from the “Legend of Zelda” series
After I got done with this sizing chart, I decided to reference the real items that are for sale and I found that I was within an inch on both the sword and shield.
I hope this helps all you cosplayers out there. A little research and time spent pouring over reference pictures will go along way in creating that perfect cosplay.
Good Crafting
Mario “Ryithos”
In celebration of American McGee’s Alice 2: Madness Returns coming out today (June 14th!), I decided to see if I could make Alice’s classic dress and apron, and learn to sew in the process. Yes, that’s right, I’ve never sewn an entire costume from start to finish. Most of the fully sewn costumes that I’ve done, I’ve had help from Mario or his mother. So, I decided that I’m going to learn to sew so that I don’t have to ask for help in that department anymore, and I did some research and bought my materials.
(Make sure to check out part two, here!)
A good friend of mine and Alice’s had asked us to make a staff to go along with her awesome Blood Elf costume. She felt that we could help her with this and the following is a pretty quick tutorial on a pretty simple cosplay prop.
Golden Staff of the Sin’Dorei was the requested prop. I was a little heasitaint at first because she asked to make the gems glow! Overall the design is pretty simple and I was in luck becouse I had just picked up a new scroll saw at a garage sale for $50 bucks!!! Continue reading
After posting pictures of the gems we made for the Golden Staff of the Sin’dorei, we’ve gotten a lot of questions on how to make them. So, instead of putting in this tutorial with how we made the staff, we decided to make it a separate post! Continue reading
A good friend of Alice’s asked if we would take on a commission for a rather unique and truly identifiable helmet.
Char Aznable from the Gundam Universe.
Finish product before shipping!! I am aware that there are a few flaws in the helm that have far more to do with my inexperience, then any thing with my process. The following tutorial will show both how I made this helmet and a few tips to avoid a few mistakes I made along the way. Continue reading
(This post was written by our newest member of Arms, Armor, and Awesome: Skylar, of Lyeric cosplay. You can check her out here!)
Hey everyone! Here is a quick note with some tips on how to prepare and plan your future masterpiece!
This will be a two part tutorial, the second part being about preparing patterns and materials.
The preparation stage of costume creation is probably the most important. If you plan well, it will be much easier, and the whole your experience will be less stressful and more successful. Really, it’s all about researching and organizing!
Tip 1: Gathering Reference Pictures!
Now is the time to surf the internet to find your references. You should find as many reference pictures as possible. A great cosplay is as accurate as possible. The best thing you can do to guarantee accuracy is to find as many angles as possible. Save this pictures to a folder and print them out. This way you don’t have to run back and forth to your computer. If you are creating a Warcraft costume, I recommend using www.wowhead.com. They have this great View in 3D feature. To collect the picture, just press Print Screen on the top of your keyboard, and paste the image into MS Paint/Photoshop (whichever you choose). You can also use WoW model viewer.
Tip 2: Decide what details are crucial and which you can be flexible on.
Accuracy is a great thing, but remember, just because it is like that in game/drawn that way doesn’t mean it works like that in the real world. This is when your artistic liberty comes into effect! Make it work. Another thing too: search through Deviantart and other pages to see how artists draw this costume. This can give you an idea on how to alter the costume to make it more realistic.
Tip 3: Ask yourself if this is a costume you can realistically build.
I know there are many amazing costume potentials out there, but make sure it’s within your skill level. If you pick something way to difficult, you most likely will become frustrated and unhappy with it and quit (trust me).
Tip 4: Study your pictures and pick out what material will best suit that aspect of the costume.
Fabric choice, material choice and painting are critical! So make sure you take the time and effort to find out these things. It makes a world of a difference. Also- be prepared! Make a list of things you need to buy in order to create this costume. For some materials (example paper mache) you need a sander to make a smooth surface. Think ahead!
Tip 5: Take risks!
This is the best piece of advice I can give you. If you don’t take risks you will never learn. By taking these risks you can find your own techniques on how to construct items that you may not be able to find on the internet. So take chances! What’s the worst that could happen?
So, this is just a small note of advice I can give you. I hope it can help you a little bit! Part 2 is on its way.
Good luck, and happy costuming!
Lyeric♪
This is my last post on my series of how I made the female Witch Doctor Costume, and Mario is working on writing up his posts now so you should see them soon.
To find the perfect shades for our body paint, we went to San Francisco (which is just over an hour away) and, of course with our trusty iPhones out with the pictures loaded up, compared swatch after swatch of paint to what was in the picture. Mario’s turned out to be a mix of two grays: 501 and FF7. Mine was a red/brown called 046. It was easier to order these by calling Kryolan, because I couldn’t find one of the shades anywhere online. If you don’t have a store around you that allows you to swatch the colors for your body paint, then make sure to look online for pictures and videos of swatches that others have done, to see how the shade looks on different skin types, and how it photographs. Continue reading
The staff and dagger were really some of the easiest (but kind of time consuming) parts of the costume.
Honestly I thought I took more pictures, but again… I either didn’t, or I’ve lost them. Lame. Continue reading
The lady Witch Doctor has an awful lot of jewelry and accessories going on. She’s got several gold bracelets on each wrist, one on her left upper arm, two gold bands on her right leg, a bone and feather leg band on her left leg, two completely different sandals, two gold hoop earrings in each ear, and what we have been lovingly referring to as the ‘crotch skull’. Yes, it is that skull with feathers that is clipped to the …crotch part of the skirt. Oh, and she’s got really long nails, too, which I did not get any pictures of at all when I was wearing them. Lame. Continue reading
Arms, Armor and Awesome 