How to make a cosplay accurate: Detailing!

I think this is probably the biggest problem of any cosplayer. How can you tell how big all of those details on your cosplay should be? How can you get them off the reference onto your cosplay?? And how do you even go about getting it accurate???

Today’s examples will be my Epilogue Syaoran, artwork Watanuki, Syaoran Li and Asch cosplays!

Depending on what the detail I’m trying to do is, I go about doing them in one of four ways. I’ll run through them one by one.

 Some detail designs can be really complex and if you’re like me, then I wouldn’t want to risk trying to draw them because it probably wouldn’t look anything like it does in the reference! So what can you do? Well, for my artwork Watanuki cosplay I used my trusty paper pattern! Now, this isn’t any old paper pattern. Because I want it accurate as possible I have directly ripped the design from the reference! You can’t get anymore accurate than the reference itself can you? 🙂 You can use any old image/photo editing software for this: Photoshop, GIMP (it’s free!) or even paint. All you got to do is isolate the part you’re wanting and make it bigger!

What’s that you say? What if I can’t see all of it? Never fear! This is where your image editing software comes in again. With my artwork Watanuki cosplay, for the arm detail you could only see half of it. (Well, you could see a whole one, but it wasn’t symmetrical due to it being a side-ish view) So all I did was take that half, copy/paste it and then flip it. Carefully put the two halves together and you have one whole!

A more unconventional method I do is actually measuring the detail on a reference. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s how I did all of the details on my Epilogue Syaoran cosplay. It’ll only really work though on details that are straight blocks (I think. I’ve never tried it on anything else), so bare that in mind.

I have the Japanese artbook that contains the Epilogue Syaoran artwork, so I assumed this is the actual “proper” size the image should be. One day I was trying to figure out how big to make all of the green parts and thought “What if I got my ruler, measured it and scaled it up?” And so I did! From the part I measured, the cape green parts were about 7mm. I like to keep to whole numbers so I scaled it up to 7cm, made a paper template and had a look to see how it looked. You know what: it looked spot-on! So to keep everything consistent I kept with the same scale. So the green on the collar was 2mm: ended up 2cm, bottom of the top was 5mm: ended up 5cm etc.

Following on from ripping a design/detail straight from the reference and depending on whether you have the right programs for it, you can copy/trace the design on the computer. I’ve only been doing this since I’ve been my on graphic design course because I acquired the right program: Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator is very suited to this task because it is a vector-based program. This means it’s designed for drawing objects and then scaling them without losing any of the quality.

I personally like using this method since I can trace the design directly off a reference and then clean it up, remove any inconsistencies and then most importantly: I can make it perfectly symmetrical (if that’s what it should be!). I’ve used to this draw all of Syaoran Li’s details and for one of my future cosplays – Asch from Tales of the Abyss.

And finally, sometimes, when you can’t do any of these other options. You just gotta do some trial and error! This is where paper templates are your friends! (Yes, I know I like my paper templates, but I really do recommend them!) Never cut a template out of your real fabric if you don’t know if it might not be right. Get it right on paper first!! I have so many paper templates that I’ve now had to organise them in poly-pockets! My latest templates are for my Syaoran Li cosplay. So far I’ve got a big template for the hat (and all the details on it), the collar details and each of the designs I drew on Illustrator. These, as I said above, are trial and error in terms of how big you make them. I cut the hat down in size about 4 or 5 times before I was happy with it and I made 2 collar templates before I got the right one 🙂 So don’t panic if it’s not right the first time.

 And that’s it! I people would like, I could do a step-by-step tutorial on how to rip images directly from a reference. Just let me know!

 

Lady Bahamut: How to make a cosplay accurate: Where does everything go?

I know this doesn’t apply to everyone and sometimes it’s just not possible, someone may not have the skill level or the tools to do it, but I like my cosplays to be as accurate as I can get them. It’s something that is important to me and will always continue to be. So I thought it would be nice to write a little series on how I achieve this! What’s that you say? “I’m not the same body shape/type/weight as X character?” That doesn’t matter; this is all about making it accurate for YOU! 🙂

I’m going to be using my Epilogue Syaoran cosplay as the main example for this tutorial today!

Firstly, you need to gather your references. I would suggest however that you have one master reference, as if in the case of CLAMP, your chosen cosplay won’t look the same in every image! The image above was my master reference as it showed off most of the costume. Although sometimes you’ll find that some details/whatever just don’t work. So for example: a detail may be an oval in one image (in say, your master reference) and a circle in another (in other artworks/in the manga/anime/the artist being inconsistent). You try to get the oval to work but it’s just not happening… but the circle does work! This is okay to do, what works in a drawing may not work in real life no matter how much you want it to! So don’t be afraid to mix and match which reference you use if you need to.

I also suggest that you look at what other cosplayers have done. What have they done with the cosplay? Do you like what they’ve done? Anything you don’t like? What would you do differently if you had made it? This infact can be your most valuable source as you can judge what works and what doesn’t on an actual person. I can give an example on this for the cosplay I’m currently making: Syaoran Li (battle outfit) from Cardcaptor Sakura. I looked at a lot of other cosplayers and the one thing I found that could make or break the cosplay for me was his hat. I found that some had made it too small or simply hadn’t got that curved shape to it. So this is something I will absolutely make sure I get right!

So you have all of your references and have had a look at other cosplayers. Time to start working this thing out! You first need to make (or modify if you’re not making from scratch) the base top and trousers. Look at the reference closely, how does it sit on Syaoran’s body? The top is pretty fitting (which is unusual for a male outfit) and the trousers also start out that way, but end up being a little baggy when it connects with the boots. The very bottom of the top ends (this means the green parts) just above the crotch, but under the waistband (as it cannot be seen) of the trousers. So somewhere in the middle of these two points. I recommend judging this end point on one of your own trousers, it’s easier that way 🙂 I know there’s that notch at the bottom of the top, lets worry about that later. Get the overall size and fitting right first!

So here’s how my top looked at first. Urgh! Horrible! Lets fix this. It’s not remotely fitted and it’s too long. So I took it in at the sides, put a dart in the back and folded the bottom up to where it should be (that middle place between the crotch and trouser waistband)

Much better!

TOP TIP: DO NOT. I repeat! DO. NOT. Cut ANYTHING until you are 100% happy with it. I always fold edges up/over (like I have with the bottom and sides of the top) and pin it there until I am happy with it. If you’re still unsure, just cut off a little bit at a time until it looks right. Because if you cut something off and you then decide you’ve cut off too much, it’ll be too late!!

There can also be the issue of what I call “floating details” that aren’t connected to the edge of the garment. In relation to Syaoran here, that would be the green detailing on the upper leg. Where on earth exactly does that go? Again we have a common point of reference here. The top of it is below the crotch, above the knee. So this is where it needs to go!

You need to judge where everything else goes this way for your cosplays. Where it is sat on his (or whoever you are cosplaying) body in accordance to yours. That way you can never fail! I know all this may be stating the obvious, but I think this is something that can be forgotten in the bigger scheme of things.

Next time: How to get accurate detailing!

Lady Bahamut: Bio

Hello! My name is Gemma but I go by the name of Lady Bahamut in the cosplay community. I come from the land of cider and combine harvesters, better known as Somerset! (Seriously, we don’t all own a combine harvester!)

 

 

I’ve been playing games all of my life, but I got into manga when one of my friends introduced me to the Cardcaptor Sakura manga in my last year of secondary school. I loved it and wanted to read more manga, my first series that I brought were .Hack and D.N.Angel, both of which I still own. I slowly started reading more CLAMP works and so started my love affair with them!

I only started cosplaying a few years later in 2008 when one of my other friends started cosplaying. I’d known it existed and always wanted to do it but never had the confidence to go for it since I suffer from social anxiety. But since my friend was doing it and Waterstone’s was having one of their ReCon nights I finally decided to give it a go! I’ve never looked back since! I went on to go to my first MCM Expo in May 2009, which was an amazing experience. I ran my first CLAMP group (and have done so every expo since!) and met some amazing people who have gone on to become my best friends.

My first cosplay was Syaoran (Fei-Wang Reed version) from Tsubasa. I truly hate it now, but at the time it was the best I could do. We’ve all gotta start somewhere right? I believe anyone can sew; you’ve just got to start off with small, easy projects and work your way up like I have. I try to do something new with each cosplay and so that way I’m always learning something new for the next costume!

I entered my first masquerade in May 2010 as Kimihiro Watanuki from xxxHolic as part of a group. It was the most terrifying and amazing thing I’ve ever done!  I’ve entered 4 masq’s in total now and just last May I won my first award with my Epilogue Syaoran cosplay along with my best friend. I must be a right pain to be backstage with as I’m a giant bag of nerves! I love being on stage though, just got to learn to keep my facial expressions in check…!

As for the future, well, I hope to enter Eurocosplay one day (and currently forming plans to enter the European Cosplay Gathering with a friend! Yikes!) and I’d just like to keep on improving and learning. I’d love to attempt one of my 2 dream cosplays some day!

My Cosplay Principles

• Have fun!
• You can cosplay whomever you like so long as YOU’RE comfortable with it.
• Take your time. You’re less likely to make mistakes!