Cosplay Tips and Tricks

Lizzy, 22, cosplay fanatic and con goer. This blog will contain tutorials, references, tips and tricks; anything helpful for cosplayers when con season rolls around. I'm currently Working on: 1.) Tracer x------------------------------------- 2.) Decidueye --------------------------------- 3.) Evie Frye x----------------------------------

[moonsdesigns]

(I wrote this whole thing out on mobile, posted it, then for some reason all my writing was gone -_-)

So I’ve been getting a lot of asks about where I got my ladybug mask/if the mask is makeup and I thought I’d put this tutorial together instead of answering them all privately. 

First, I used masking tape and covered the general area of my face where I wanted the mask to be. I made sure to press it tightly to my face to make sure it took the shape of my face. I then drew the shape of the mask, removed the masking tape and cut it out. With a bit of tweaking, I had my template.

Next, I place the mask back on my face and traced it out with an eyebrow pencil. With the outline drawn on my face, I then painted the Red and Black spots with stage makeup and a bit of acrylic paint and let it dry, then followed it up with the liquid latex.

I got a bottle of liquid latex from Amazon for $8 and barely used half of it for 2 attempts. The first attempt you can see in the picture with the 3 masks on a mannequin head. It was bright in color, but thinner than paper and very flimsy. I had only done 3 very thin layers of latex. The middle mask, my final mask, I did 9 layers of extra thick latex and used a throw-away paint brush normally used for painting details on walls to paint it on. The trick is to let the layers dry in between, otherwise it’ll take days for your mask to cure enough to remove it.

This took me about 2-3 hours to do. The latex takes some time to dry between layers, so I had a small fan blowing directly at my face. This helped speed up the process, and keep the fumes from making my eyes water. 

Once the 9th layer was dry, I peeled it off my face (make sure to use a glue-stick to stick any hair down before using the liquid latex, otherwise you’ll pull the hair out) and let it dry for 3 days on top of the masking tape mask on the mannequin. This made sure it didn’t lose it’s shape while it cured. Then I cut the excess latex away from the mask and painted it by mixing some of the liquid latex with acrylic paint. Make sure to let this cure on the same masking tape+mannequin head so that it doesn’t lose shape with it’s new layer of latex.

Let it cure, and viola! You can adhere it to your face with either spirit gum/glue or double sided tape, just make sure to clean the mask with a slightly damp cloth when you’re finished! And the trick with keeping the eye holes large, but the mask looking seamless is to use the same red stage makeup around your eyes (almost like a red raccoon) before attaching the mask.

[dishonored]

We’ve broken down Emily & Corvo to help you dress the part with updates to our #Dishonored2 Cosplay Guides.

See the High Res versions on Bethesda.net

[beautyfit-kc]

How to cover up tattoos!

use a red lipstick covering the outlines

pat on a light concealer, using a setting powder

pat on your skin tone concealer, and clean up any mistakes using baby wipes to remove excess concealer

use a fluffy brush and smooth it out with foundation powder.

“NEW” VIDEO TUTORIAL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GeAHssUess

comment, rate, or subscribe! 

[cosplay-problems]

#005 Instead of spending an hour in the shower scrubbing off body paint, use cold cream to easily remove theatrical makeup.

[sutielove]

Hey everyone, here’s a cosplay tip for you! Please feel free to share with your cosplaying friends that may benefit from this.

[ambientmold]

How to Weather (cheap) Craft Fur

… or make it look more realistic 

Keep reading

[tomasyri]

What’s In Your Bag?: Cosplay Edition

Convention season is coming up soon, and everyone is getting all their cosplays together (even if it’s a few days before the con, but you can do it, believe in yourself!). Everyone is preparing for what all they have to take: clothes, toiletries, cosplay items, oh god how am I going to fit this eight foot prop in my six foot car, very important things like that! BUT what should be on one of the top list of things is that at least one of you should be carrying is a bag. It doesn’t need to be big, though I carry a lot of crap in my bag, so I need a huge one. And in this bag should be: snacks (like a big fruit snack bag!), water bottle, wallet with money and ID, comfy shoes, etc. etc., but a great thing to have in this bag would be an emergency kit. All of my friends turn to me when they have a mishap, asking if I can do a quick fix on something: a prop broke, a seam ripped, a headache, etc. So, if you would like to make sure when something bad happens, because face it, it’s a convention and you’re having a good time so of course something bad is going to happen, that you’ll be prepared, take an emergency kit with you!!

There are many, many people out there telling you things you could bring for your repair/emergency kit, and they all are very helpful. So, I’m going to share what all is usually in mine! These are in no particular order. Feel free to give me any ideas or suggestions, and I’ll try to add it to the list!

If you have any questions at all, feel free to contact me at any time, and I’ll try to help ASAP!!!

Keep reading

[neadevar-deactivated20190524]

Armin’s (Mickey’s?) Guide to binding

Feel free to add any information I may have missed

[cosplaytutorial]

Prop: Shop - Destiny Hand Cannon Foam Prop

Tutorial for my Destiny Hand Cannon foam prop replica build!

Tutorial by:  Punished Props Tutorial Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx_CfdAYV7c

[ofmonstrousgods]

Horn Tutorial-ish

I was going through some old pictures and I realized that I had forgotten that I had taken several progress pictures of horns that I had made a while ago. So, if you’ve ever wondered how I make mine, maybe this provides a little more detail?

Smush aluminum foil in a vaguely horn shape, keep it straight, otherwise if you try to bend it, it might just rip. Also keep it a bit smaller than you’d like the finished product to be.

Wrap it up in painters tape. I haven’t tried duct tape or scotch tape, but I would think painter’s tape would work best since it’s easy to tear off small pieces.

Bend it into the desired shape and throw on more painters tape to reinforce it.

Knead your Apoxie Sculpt A and B into a consistent color and throw it on the base, piece by piece. Make sure it’s a relatively thin coat, because this stuff can get heavy.

This is just one method of decoration, but it’s my favorite. It’s literally just dragging a line tool over the clay before it cures in uneven lines, more at the bottom, less at the top. I usually then slap the horns on an alice band. First I figure out their position by fiddling with them in the mirror and putting a spot of tape on the band where I want them and then hot gluing those suckers on. To further reinforce that, I’ll make little snakes of Apoxie sculpt and wrap that around the horn base to connect to the band. I also wrap a thin layer around the alice band where the horns sit for extra security. BAM horns. You can paint them with acrylic paint or spray paint and decorate with purdy flowers or MORE HORNS. Yay. Mini tutorial. If you have any questions, just shout at me.

PICTURES OF FINISHED HORNS WOOOO

[nozoya-moved-deactivated2016082]

i’m pretty sure all long wigs start doing this after a while and there’s not much you can do to prevent it. but here’s how you can fix it (even if just a little).

TOOLS:

wig (obviously)

hair straightener

a comb

hair gel or another similar product

keep reading to view the instructions!

Read More

[cosplaytutorial]

Making a Foam Arm [Junkrat from Overwatch]

Tutorial by:  ZonZonZonbi Tutorial Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KlQqGLkNjQ

[lizzyiscosplays-blog]

For any cosplayer (or artist) who needs references for the flowers on Tracer’s Chinese New Year Skin, here are all the ones I managed to make silhouettes of- which could be used as stencils.

So first up, that pattern on her pants was difficult to pin down with the very few pictures of this skin available, it looks there is a pattern of small, medium and large running upwards, ending in that largest one frustratingly obscured. I made silhouettes off in those three different sizes- which also match up with the designs on her shoulders.

As for that large main flower on her hip, since a good chunk of it is kinda hidden, I had to take a guess as to what the rest of it looks like. There are two different version, though it probably won’t matter much with the belts where they are. 

And lastly is the sequence of flowers on Tracer’s gauntlets(?), that should match up with that design. The small blossoms also fit the pattern on the top of her Chronal Accelerator. 

They are proportioned to each other, but may need some adjusting depending on the cosplayer. I hope these are helpful, I figured since I needed some for my own cosplay, I should share these with you guys for anyone else wanting to do this cosplay and like me couldn’t find references. 

[piratica]

Block Print Tutorial for Repeating Patterns in Cosplay!

When you need to paint a repeating motif, or worse create the illusion of patterned fabric, masking tape or freezer paper can be a lot of work. Screen-printing is an option, but if you don’t have space or funds for another hobby, consider block-printing.

I’ve used this technique a few times, for my Rapunzel bodice and skirt panel, as well as trimming some skirts.

Here I’ve used: -A 12x12 piece of Softoleum, available for about 15$ in Canada, smaller pieces for less. You can also use Lino blocks or Soft-Kut blocks, but I find Softoleum sturdy and easy to cut. -A Lino Cutter will run you about 10$ and comes with 5 blade shapes. -Speedball Fabric Paint in Amethyst and Night Glo White

1. Start by drawing your design onto your stamp block. Here I made a stencil, for accuracy. If your design isn’t symmetrical, keep in mind your print will be a mirror of how your stamp looks!

2. Use a Lino Cutter, like the red one on the left, to trace the edges of your pattern, where your negative space should be. Then scrape away inside the places you want empty. I also cut off the border so you need to carve away less space, and also can use the leftover for smaller stamps.

3. Your stamp should look more or less like this, with all the areas you don’t want painted hollowed out.

4. Prepare your paints. The Speedball Amethyst was pretty close to my fabric colour, so I’ve mixed it with the lighter Night Glo fabric-paint.  The Glo properties have lent a green tinge than you would not normally get using normal white.

*Do a test-swatch to decide your colour is correct on your fabric.

*You should probably test your entire stamp to make sure it isn’t mirrored, and that all intended negative space has been removed.

5. I apply paint to my stamp using a sponge brush, but you can also fill a pallet or use non-porous surface as a pallet, then dip your stamp.

The sponge gives you more control over how much paint is used, but is more likely to result in a sheer stamp.

If you dip your stamp in paint, it will be more opaque, but be warned the more paint, the more likely unwanted splatters and rough edges will occur.

There are paint rollers available for block printing, which can also be used to paint your stamp.

When your stamp has paint on all the positive space, flip it over and press it, paint-down, onto the desired place on your fabric. Be careful not to shift it once it has touched, or this will result in a double image or blurred edges. To make sure pressure is applied evenly on larger stamps, I place a book over top.

6. Take off your book or other weight, then carefully peal off your stamp, making sure not to let it slip back onto the fabric or you still risk a double image. Ta-dah!

7. Repeat as many times as needed.

This example is for my current Anime North project, Shoomlah’s historical Rapunzel, so if you’d like to follow progress I’ll be posting here, and to my cosplay page.

[theomancycos]

my guide to easy chainmail!

okay so literally this is super easy and like, basically a three step process but enough people have asked me about it that i’ll just post the pictures i took during the process.

so basically i started off with this silver mesh fabric that i found in the bridal section, i’d link it but i can’t seem to find it. either way, something like it shouldn’t be too hard to find

then i gave it an allover light dusting of black spray paint for weathering, here are the pictures of the samples i did. left is with spray paint, right is without

here’s a picture of it hung up when i was painting the whole thing

then it’s all backed on wool, but it’d probably be fine not backed on anything too. but yeah, here’s something for anyone who doesn’t wanna deal with making real metal chainmail for whatever reason!

[notworblacosplay]

“Cosplay Tutorial - How to make a cheap and cool scalemail” by Anhyra Cosplay

It’s another fake leather scale mail tutorial, but this one walks you through an exceptionally good paint job.  I really though the scales actually had a ridge down the middle at first, very good.

[skyfishcosplay]

How to add volume to a clip-on ponytail

This is a simple way on how you can add some volume to your clip-on ponytail wig and get a more poofy effect to the ponytail.

This is how the clip-on ponytail normally look, it works fine but for some project you want a ponytail with more volume.

Start of turning your clip-on ponytail upside down, this will make the seams of the hair go in the wrong direction making the ponytail appear bigger.

When doing this it is a risk that the net inside the ponytail shows so to cover this it can be a good idea to sew in some wefts.

Mark with needles were you can see the net in the ponytail.

Separate the hair around the net with hair ties to prevent the hair to be in the way when you sew in the weft.

Sew in the weft in the middle of the net between the already existing hair seams.

To cover the net shown along the side of the clip, sew in some more wefts.

This will also make the ponytail appear fuller on the sides.

Fastened the clip-on ponytail on the wig. If the wig has the hair already in a ponytail, like this one, I recommend to put the clip-on a bit over the wig’s ponytail.

Cut the hair and you are done.

~Bubblefish