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a r t i c l e s
the top ten practical tips for a better cosplay
by redkun
Foreword: I originally posted this article on the Amecon forums, and it got a very good response from both experienced and new cosplayers. This is a collection of tips that I've picked up from my time around cosplay that are cheap, easy to carry out and will usually improve the quality of your cosplay by miles. We all want to look our best when cosplaying, even those of us who are just doing it for fun.
This revision comes with an added bonus section for cosplay skits.
1) Keep your body in mind when choosing
and making your cosplay. It will be impossible for you to exactly
replicate the body shape of an anime character, so fit your costume
according to your sizes, not the character's sizes. If you can't decide
between multiple cosplays, give preference to the characters that you bear
the most physical resemblance to. Choose cosplays that complement your
natural body build, not ones that dramatically oppose it.
2) Hair colour isn't a requirement. Hair style is. Don't dye your
natural hair. You'll never get the colour you want anyway, and the spray-on
stuff looks horrible. You'll look far better if your natural hair is styled
correctly. If possible, get hold of a wig. Real hair goes out of style with
the slightest gust of wind unless you've applied half a tub of hairgel. Wigs
stay in the same style all the time and generally come in better colours.
Don't think you'll never be able to fit all your hair until a wig: wet your
hair, then put it under a wig cap with the bulk of your hair at the back and
attach with as many bobby pins as possible (I use about eight as a minimum).
Your wig will never budge.
3) Bring an emergency cosplay repair kit to the convention. This
should include fabric glue, some sticky tape (double-backed if possible), a
box of safety pins, and if you can sew, a needle and thread. This can and
will save your prized £100 cosplay in the event of disaster. Also pack some
Febreeze: if you've been wearing your costume for a long time, it's going to
smell, and you won't have the time to wash it.
4) Use makeup, and this goes for both guys and girls. Think of makeup
as the Photoshop of reality. Experienced cosplayers have said that it takes
them an hour of makeup just to look "normal" to the camera. If you've paid
£200 for your costume, why not pay an extra £20 for some makeup brushes and
skin toner? This is especially relevant if your character has markings on
their face or body. (eg: a Mithra's nose and whisker lines)
5) Choose your material carefully. Proper material is the starting
point of a great costume. Satin does not automatically make your costume
great. In fact, it's a pain to photograph properly because the flash
reflects off of the shiny material. If the costume would normally have satin
in the material, then that is fine. Don 't push satin onto an otherwise
normal costume.
6) Quality always wins over accuracy. While accuracy adds to the
overall quality of the costume, such things as material and style
distinguish the great costumes from the superb costumes. A custom-character
that has had a lot of time and effort put into it and is visually
spectacular (see UV-NiGHTS) will get more attention than a perfectly
accurate costume of a lower quality. This is especially relevant if you're
cosplaying a main character, as you will have many others with the same
costume base to compete with. Colour isn't as important as material and
style. In theory you should be able to change all the colours of your
costume and not only have it be recognisable, but be regarded as a great
cosplay.
7) Learn how to smile and pose. You will be getting a lot of
photographs taken, and there is nothing worse than a cosplayer who spends
£100 on a costume to look good only to appear like a hungover student in
their pictures. Watch the mannerisms and movements of your chosen character,
and then decide on three to five poses for the camera. You don't want all
your photos looking the same, after all. Practice in front of a mirror to
see what looks good. Position yourself with your hip facing the camera; not
only is this more dynamic, but it has the added bonus of making you look
thinner.
8) Hide your con badge from sight when getting your photo taken. If
the convention requires you to display your badge at all times, either swing
it round so it's hanging down your back or tie it to your con bag. Speaking
of your con bag, put it and any other baggage you have in-between you and
the photographer so that you can see it but it's not in the shot. Never put
it behind you: someone might steal it and it will still show up in the shot
anyway.
9) If your skirt is supposed to poof out, use a petticoat. A lot of
female anime characters (especially in the magical girl genre) have dresses
that poof outwards at gravity-defying angles. For this purpose, buy either a
petticoat or a crinoline to add volume to your skirt. A limp skirt looks
horrible and lifeless.
10) And a few final additions...
... that are nice but usually not essential to a great cosplay:
coloured contact lenses (very few photos will show these up), props
(you're being assessed on your costume, not your keyblade) and
corsets/padding (you will never be thin enough/big enough to exactly
match the character).
... that are VERY essential to a great cosplay: pockets (oh dear
god, never attempt to survive in a convention without pocket holes. Put in a
concealed zipper pocket if your costume wouldn't normally have one) and
eyeholes (if you're wearing a full body costume, it's nice to walk around
and not be essentially blind.).
bonus section: the top five practical tips for a better cosplay skit
1) Always, always, always prerecord the audio of your skit. Your voices will not carry in the vast majority of most halls, and anyone seated more than three rows away will not be able to hear a thing. If someone forgets their lines, they can just mime saying anything. You can also add sound effects and audio to really enhance your skit. If you cannot prerecord the audio, ask for a microphone. If they can't give you a microphone, slap the ABORT button unless you know for a fact that you and everyone involved has the skill and experience to project their voices. Ask someone to sit in the back row during rehearsals and tell you if they can hear you. Always label the skit CD/DVD/flash drive clearly with your badge names, the convention name and your skit name/number- the technical staff will love you for making their lives a little bit easier.
2) Keep it fresh. Cosplay skits can get very tiresome, very quickly. Ideally you want something new happening every ten seconds or so. The exception to this are activities like singing a song or displaying a talent where the emphasis isn't on rapid-fire entertainment.
3) Don't use obscure or series-specific jokes. A joke that relies on knowledge of a series that only ten percent of anime fans have seen will only be understood by ten percent of your audience. The obvious exceptions are the classic or popular series that everyone has at least heard of (eg: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Final Fantasy, Naruto) The same goes for the little jokes that only you and a couple of close friends will get. Crossover skits fall under this same danger, as you're required to know about all the series involved before you can truly get the joke.
4) Don't carry out re-enactments of other skits. So you saw a skit on Youtube and you thought it was hilarious. That's great, but it's unlikely you'll be able to do it better than the original. It's very likely that many other people in the audience will also have seen the same skit, and will know that you're ripping it off. Original material will always work better.
5) Friends are often the most honest critics. Run your skit by your friends (who aren't involved in your skit), and if they tell you that it's awful, they're probably right.
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