Cosplaying at a military convention

This kind of cosplay usually displays the uniform(s) and gear wore by certain soldiers during a certain time, so all that is seen is perfectly crafted replicas or the real thing. Usually no specific characters are portrayed here.

Note: just be careful when choosing your uniform, as some uniforms may offend certain people when going to the shops before or after the convention.

Plans for the future regarding cosplay

So here is my plans for cosplay for the future (near and far). I will keep on updating this post as things change.If I do not list the name of the character, I want it to be a surprise or I have not made up my mind about the character I want to cosplay

ICON 2013 : (Black Butler Kuroshitsuzi)

TAKUFES 2013 (17 August) : (Peace maker Kurogane)

rAge 2013 : (Dynasty Warriors 7) Yue Ying

Final Fantasy VIII Photoshoot : Selphie Tilmitt 

Bleach ByaRuki Photoshoot: : Rukia

What got me into cosplaying

It all started for me in 2006. I met a few new people and got me first few anime on CD, namely
*Rurouni Kenshin
*Neon Genisis Evangelion
*X

I immediately started watching Rurouni Kenshin and I liked the Feudal clothing, so I desided to have a japanese / chinese party for my 16th birthday. Back then I did not know how to make the hakama and gi, so looking back my mom (yes, she made my first costume) did a great job with the limited information I gave her.

A month or 3 later, we finally got our hands on Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. We watched it (I ended up watching the movie 3 times in a row on the same day) and we decided to do a Final Fantasy themed Halloween party (seeing as some of my friends' parents did not like the Halloween themed idea), and doing weird things like modifying 2 swords to make a dual bladed sword, spray painting shoulder-pads, cutting my hair in the right style of the character and wearing fake leather when it is boiling hot outside, we managed to pull it off! So my very first decent cosplay was Kadaj.

 

So even sweating and walking around with shoes 2 sizes too big, it felt awesome. So awesome I wanted to do it forever and ever.

How to cosplay: Abarai Renji (Bleach)

So you saw the walking tattoo in Bleach with the fiery attitude and you want to cosplay him. Here is my version:

The costume part:
Following the post 'making the shinigami uniform' make all the pieces. Secondly remember the headband (or the funky sunglasses he wears).

For the tattoos:

The tattoos in the neck and forehead works better with eyeliner, but you can use body paint, especially if you are going bare-chest. 

Now the hair: So either you get a wig and style it, or like me, cut your hair and spray it with flower spray, then paint the detail on the face with red body paint (or in my case I used fabric paint)

For the weapon, This Zabimaru was made of wood, painted with acrylic, and wrapped bias binding around the handle.  

 That concludes the cosplay set-up.

For the cosplay:
Remember: You are a red head, with a lot of deep feelings, yet tempered.

RenRuki Cosplay Gallery

For all of you who like the Renji x Rukia pairing, enjoy!

 

 

 

 

How to cosplay: Himura Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin)

So you chose the wanderer, that you did! Here is my version:

Looking at the 'Shinigami Uniform tutorial' I made (look at my older posts) Instead of using Black for the hakama, use white, and instead of making a black Gi, make a Magenta one. This gi I have was a brilliant magenta, until it got washed (and I'm not sure if I can say fortunately or unfortunately, because now the gi looks super old).

He wears brown socks, instead of white. As for the sword: If you can get a reverse blade, that will be awesome, but for photos, I used one of my show/replica -katana.

For the wig part, find a wig with a similar colour and style. Unfortunately I used my own hair and sprayed it with flower spray (Signal Red), so I cannot really help with wig-tips.

For the final part: Remember the scar on the right cheek! Without it, you will only look like a Chizuru (with wrong hair colour) or a hippie-samurai

Well that concludes the making part.

Cosplaying:
Friendly, you can say 'oro' when surprised or confused or when you feel it will fit in. Adjusting how he talks will be fun too, for instance: Instead of saying: 'You did a great job', say you did a great job, that you did'.  

How to cosplay: Unohana Retsu (Bleach)

Decided to cosplay that friendly but scary 4th squad captain? Look at what I did.

Following my posts of:

• Making the Shinigami uniform
• Making the Captain's haori

Your clothing part will be complete. The only thing you will still need is either very long black hair or a very long black wig. This was the first wig I had to style on the day while wearing it, and it was kind of easy. Here is how I did the wig:

1. Split the hair in 2 at the nape of neck
2. At the back, the part in your right hand, drape it over your left shoulder. The part in your left hand, drape over your right shoulder.
3. Now you can work from the front. split a part from your right part and left part (end up with 3 parts) 
4. Do a normal braid, and tie it up. 
5. There you have it. Your wig is done.

That concludes the making of part

Here is the cosplaying part:
Remember this character is most of the time friendly (and a bit scary when asking a favor). Other than that, she is a very easy character. 

So why share all my secrets?

You all are probably wondering why I'm sharing all the knowledge I have gained from cosplaying. Well, it's kind of simple: Cosplay for me is my life. Without it, I'm grumpy, and sad and I feel useless. With it, I can carry on with my day-to-day existence.

One of my biggest dreams is to one day own my very own costume-shop, focusing more on the anime/manga side. But since I started offering my services to those who want costumes, business has been a bit dead. So instead of taking all the knowledge with me to the grave, I have decided to post it here.

If I can't make a living with my skills and knowledge and creativity, I might as well share it for free.

How to cosplay: Kuchiki Rukia (Bleach)

So you like Rukia and you want to cosplay her? Well here is how I did mine.

So for the making part, let us start at the top:
For the wig, I bought a wig with a slight curl (curling right in the same spots). The only thing I had to do was cut it a bit shorter at the back, Make the long hair piece and gelling everything in place.

Secondly I made my shinigami uniform (look in my blog for that tutorial) and using flip-flops and socks I had my shoes.

Lastly I made the Sode no shirayuki sword (using a bokken, spraying it white and attaching a white ribbon at the handle) and did her famous 1st episode sketch.

This concludes the making of Rukia

As for the convention cosplaying part:
Be very formal and when having a Byakuya (hopefully a friend) there, you can annoy him by calling him Nii-sama. 

How to cosplay: Soul Eater Evans (Soul Eater)

So you saw the 'cool' scythe and you want to cosplay him.... Well here is how I did my cosplay of him.

So let us start at the top. The wig I used looked something like this:

I used gel to get it to lie in the right position and then took Flower Spray (silver and white) to give it the Soul Eater look.

For the headband I bought a white headband and using fabric paint, painted it the right colour.

The two badges on the headband were made with felt. The circle with the squiggly that looks like a mouth was drawn on by a red and black permanent marker. The blue badge that says SOUL was also done with a black marker. After doing that I decided the black did not look good enough, so with a needle and thread, I went over the black (something like embroidery).

Now... the teeth... I had a bit of trouble with that. Go to costume shop and have a look at all their available teeth. Back when I needed a pair, they only had it in silver teeth with black gums. So I used Enamel (Humbrol) to paint the teeth white and the gums pink.

 Secondly, let us look at the clothing. I used this pattern:

Simplicity 3577

Instead of cutting the front piece (of the shirt) on the fold, add extra fabric for the buttons in front, and cut 2 pieces (black) Sleeves are yellow. Remember to add the yellow soul on the chest and the back (I appliqued mine). The yellow rib-trim needed a black stripe so I added it with a fabric marker (or the sleeves and neck) Remember to add the pockets to the jacket.

The pants (also same pattern), I used a rusty coloured fabric. I had to cut a bit off on the sides to make it a bit tighter fitting. Be careful though not to cut too much or the pants will rip and you will have trouble walking.

Thirdly... the shoes. You need that cool shoes... I used these kind of shoes:

Fortunately I used a cheap make and it didn't have a name printed on the back. Using fabric paint, I firstly painted all the black parts that needed to be yellow with white (It was only the heel for me) . After everything was well covered, I took my yellow and black(acrylic / craft paint this time) and went crazy painting all the needed parts in the right colours.

This concludes the Soul Eater Evans' cosplay in the making.

As for the acting at the convention, well... remember to act cool. Hands in your pockets, the teethy grin and the smooth moving. And thanks to the fake teeth the occasional drool will happen to make your Soul even closer to the real thing.

Additional Info from me:

• I crossplayed so I had to do the chest-binding. Remember when doing chest-binding, do not put the bandages too tight or it will hurt you and ruin your act.
• This one got me a 2nd prize at UPCON 2010