Cosplay challenge!
Feb. 29th, 2012 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
asreoninfusionLong story short; I suddenly acquired, one week before its occurance, the money to go a small-ish con/event thing I hadn't originally been planning to attend. (Sadly, the money was only acquired because my Japanese course got cancelled, and thus the fees were refunded. Would've prefered to have done the course... >_< I was looking forward to getting out and meeting new people and learning things for once. Alas.) However, I had no cosplay to wear to said event! Oh noes. Woe. Etc.
And thus the challenge was born. Is it possible for me to make a cosplay in less than a week?
I decided to cosplay as a White Wizard from the original Final Fantasy (or, at least, the anniversary PSP version). I had already decided that I wanted to make some White Mage or similar robes while playing through the game a while back, just for fun and for casual cosplay meets. (I also decided they would be warm and fluffy.) And since I needed something fairly simple for this cosplay, given my lack of time to work on it, that fit the bill quite well.
It ended up being a White Wizard rather than the Mage mostly because I wanted the cape. Capes are cool. (That, and I couldn't figure out the extra drapery on the Mage... it looked like they hada bit of a cape as well, but it was sort of merged into the sleeves at the same time, probably requiring a lot of extra material.)
Reference picture:
I also decided I wanted a prop of some kind to pose with and otherwise keep me entertained. For which this reference was used:
Given that you never really see the staffs used in the game (except in brief, not-terribly-helpful glimpses during battle), I decided to use the above, very similar Tactics versions for the reference.
The staff was made using a stick (literally a stick from down the garden) and some plastic pancake packaging (cut down to just the circular rim) for the base. Scrunched up balls of newspaper were positioned around it and ducktaped into place.
Yes, this is my level of cosplay. >>
This was follow by a layer of paper mache, a layer of paint primer, and then a wood-effect decopatch layer to finish. (The latter of those is basically the same as paper mache, only you use some special type of thin, decorated paper. They sell it at the shop I work in, so I figured I'd see if it worked as a cosplay-making technique.)
I was actually quite pleased with how it came out. =3
Doing the robes was... quite a headache. Mostly thanks to me deciding that I wanted to make my own pattern, despite having very, very little experience with sewing and dressmaking in general. (Bad idea. Patterns are your friend. This must be remembered for the future.) That said, it could have been worse. Aside from having to add in a slight extra bit at the shoulders because I'd made the sleeves a little short, everything did end up fitting together. Hurrah! ...It just took me three times as long as it should have to work out what I was doing. >>
I had originally intended to sew each of the red trianlges on, but, given my time constraints (*cough* still up sewing at 3am the day of the event *cough*), that was sadly not possible. I thus ended up resorting to iron-on hemming an awful lot. So much quicker and easier, and looks just as good. That stuff is now my favourite thing in the universe. <3
So, cosplay was completed, if not particularly well-done, I got to go to my event, there was a Red Mage there as well so we sort of matched for photos, one of my friends won the Euro Cosplay Gathering solo qualifier, and our grand total of five Final Fantasy cosplayers had an impromptu photoshoot outside.
As per usual, I looked fairly derp-ish in all my photos. Such is life.
(I'm sure I've made this claim before and thus far failed to hold true to it, but in future, I shall be aiming for characters wearing masks/helmets to avoid this derp-face issue. I'm planning Kunsel and Minerva for May Expo.)
Credit to J-Ney Antique for the photos. (I hope he doesn't mind me yoinking them to post here. It's not like anyone's really going to see them anyway. -.-)
And thus the cosplay challenge was successfully completed!
Next cosplay challenge: Entering the Masquerade/Euro Cosplay at May Expo with Minerva. Full armour (plus helmet, helmet is vital). And for the love of Gaia, don't leave it to the last minute.
And thus the challenge was born. Is it possible for me to make a cosplay in less than a week?
I decided to cosplay as a White Wizard from the original Final Fantasy (or, at least, the anniversary PSP version). I had already decided that I wanted to make some White Mage or similar robes while playing through the game a while back, just for fun and for casual cosplay meets. (I also decided they would be warm and fluffy.) And since I needed something fairly simple for this cosplay, given my lack of time to work on it, that fit the bill quite well.
It ended up being a White Wizard rather than the Mage mostly because I wanted the cape. Capes are cool. (That, and I couldn't figure out the extra drapery on the Mage... it looked like they hada bit of a cape as well, but it was sort of merged into the sleeves at the same time, probably requiring a lot of extra material.)
Reference picture:
I also decided I wanted a prop of some kind to pose with and otherwise keep me entertained. For which this reference was used:
Given that you never really see the staffs used in the game (except in brief, not-terribly-helpful glimpses during battle), I decided to use the above, very similar Tactics versions for the reference.
The staff was made using a stick (literally a stick from down the garden) and some plastic pancake packaging (cut down to just the circular rim) for the base. Scrunched up balls of newspaper were positioned around it and ducktaped into place.
Yes, this is my level of cosplay. >>
This was follow by a layer of paper mache, a layer of paint primer, and then a wood-effect decopatch layer to finish. (The latter of those is basically the same as paper mache, only you use some special type of thin, decorated paper. They sell it at the shop I work in, so I figured I'd see if it worked as a cosplay-making technique.)
I was actually quite pleased with how it came out. =3
Doing the robes was... quite a headache. Mostly thanks to me deciding that I wanted to make my own pattern, despite having very, very little experience with sewing and dressmaking in general. (Bad idea. Patterns are your friend. This must be remembered for the future.) That said, it could have been worse. Aside from having to add in a slight extra bit at the shoulders because I'd made the sleeves a little short, everything did end up fitting together. Hurrah! ...It just took me three times as long as it should have to work out what I was doing. >>
I had originally intended to sew each of the red trianlges on, but, given my time constraints (*cough* still up sewing at 3am the day of the event *cough*), that was sadly not possible. I thus ended up resorting to iron-on hemming an awful lot. So much quicker and easier, and looks just as good. That stuff is now my favourite thing in the universe. <3
So, cosplay was completed, if not particularly well-done, I got to go to my event, there was a Red Mage there as well so we sort of matched for photos, one of my friends won the Euro Cosplay Gathering solo qualifier, and our grand total of five Final Fantasy cosplayers had an impromptu photoshoot outside.
As per usual, I looked fairly derp-ish in all my photos. Such is life.
(I'm sure I've made this claim before and thus far failed to hold true to it, but in future, I shall be aiming for characters wearing masks/helmets to avoid this derp-face issue. I'm planning Kunsel and Minerva for May Expo.)
Credit to J-Ney Antique for the photos. (I hope he doesn't mind me yoinking them to post here. It's not like anyone's really going to see them anyway. -.-)
And thus the cosplay challenge was successfully completed!
Next cosplay challenge: Entering the Masquerade/Euro Cosplay at May Expo with Minerva. Full armour (plus helmet, helmet is vital). And for the love of Gaia, don't leave it to the last minute.
