How to Make a Cosplay Outfit

Costume play, or "cosplay" for short, is often considered one of the pinnacle activities in expressing fan devotion to fictional characters in fantastical genres. Devotees of cosplay activities know that a good costume is judged on how close it comes to an uncanny resemblance of a recognizable and beloved character. While the skills involved in creating a great Cosplay Costume are many and varied, there are a few guidelines that can be applied to creating any character costume.

1Choose a costume based on your areas of artistic skill. The best-looking costume will be one that you can be successful at with the skills you already have, so consider every character option by making some preliminary plans about what would be the best way to build that costume. For example, if you have skill in sewing and drafting patterns, look for costumes whose most critical elements require traditional, but specialized sewing.

2Build your costume gradually. Give yourself time to create your full costume before the event you plan to wear it to, and devote a good amount of time and attention to each piece individually. Doing this will not only ensure that every piece of your costume is of high quality, but it will give you a chance to practice wearing the various articles and make sure that they will stand up to their intended use.

3Collect and modify existing pieces wherever possible. Many of the most popular accessories needed for parts of Cosplay Costumes can be purchased at costume stores, including things like swords and weapons, pointy ear tips and feather wigs---often needed for many anime characters. Meanwhile, many clothing elements can be found in costume stores or thrift stores that can be altered to look like a specific cosplay character's garb. For example, someone looking to dress as Princess Zelda may not need to sew an entire new dress, but merely find a full-skirted white dress and add the other colorful accent pieces to it.

4Identify the aspects of your character that you feel are the most quintessential and exaggerate or pay special attention to them. Look at pictures of your character and ask yourself which parts draw your eyes, "pop" or are crucial in defining the character, and pay the most attention to recreating these details authentically.