27 replies to this topic

[Cat M]

Recently I've been having some thoughts about cosplay and whether I'll be making any more cosplay costumes.

The idea of cosplay, without going all otaku and saying stuff like you BECOME the character etc. etc. is to look as much like the character as is possible, right?

My problem is this. Though I have always chosen characters that are achievable for me (i.e - don't look 13, aren't mega slender, have similar hair styles/colour to my own) I don't feel I have ever pulled off a single cosplay where I LOOK like the character. And that bugs me.

Does anyone else feel this way or am I being too perfectionisty and hard on myself?

[morgan-aleghieri]

No, I think that sounds about right...

Any time I contemplate an Inara costume I always worry because Morena Baccarin is a beautiful woman - and quite frankly, I don't quite measure up to that - let alone look anything like her.

With Jan Ors that I did last year, I don't look anything like her either - so I needed to have the costume as right as I could manage so that would be the recognisable thing (mind you, being a somewhat obscure character, if it was recognised anyway would be something in itself).

I feel very self-conscious about doing Susan Sto Helit as well because whilst she's easy to spot, she's a twig, and I'm still working on how to make the costume as accurate as I need it to be, but still flattering to my own curvier shape.

I don't think you're alone in being hard on yourself, certainly.

[poisonedkitty]

Very much so. All the really neat anime costumes that I love are way too short (I don't have great legs or am that thin). I don't want photos of my flabby bits pasted all over the place.

Then I start to think, how can I change the costume so that it is a bit more flattering. Every time I try - it looks worse. Then comes the considering what form of exercise I need to do to tone up so that I could wear the costume accurately.

And then I end up frustrated again.

[fairyprincess]

Any time I contemplate an Inara costume I always worry because Morena Baccarin is a beautiful woman - and quite frankly, I don't quite measure up to that - let alone look anything like her.

Don't ever say that Bek! All women are beautiful.....it is our right!

I look at others costumes and can see that they do look like the character but I think it comes from within and shines out! If you believe you look like her, then you will be!

So Cat and Bek don't be hard on yourselves!!!!!

[trinnyt]

I know what you all mean. I think this is why I like the idea of Historical dressing rather than fantasy or cosplay and even gothic lolita. I'm not thin enough to pull off most things that I think I would like to do. I get really depressed at times about it because I feel like it limits costume ideas for myself. But then I go "bah! humbug!" and do what I think will extend my creativity and will be a challenge. In the end, anime characters have strange coloured hair and skin anyway. Have fun with it! Wear wigs and paint your face! heh.

I have to admit, PK and I went to Animania this year to see if it was an option for us. We quickly decided it wasn't, mostly because of ignorant little _____ that were sitting in the crowd dressed in jeans and tshirts mocking the efforts of cosplayers. Unfortunately, it's always going to be a problem. At that point I decided that there were other ways to better fill my costuming needs!

[Atory]

Being a perfectionist myself, I know exactly where you are coming from.

All you have to remember is that when cosplaying you are usually dressing up as a 2 dimensional drawing that aren't anatomically correct.
Of course you can never get it 100% spot on, it's all about trying your best and having fun while doing so.

Don't be so hard on yourself and enjoy the experience is my advise. No one is ever 100% happy with their own work. I didn't think my Mugen cosplay from AVCon 2006 was that great but I was proven wrong when people a year later started complimenting me on how well it turned out.

[laliibeans]

I've taken on the habit of altering the costumes to suit me rather than trying to alter myself to suit the costume. I love putting detail into the costume and getting that as close as possible while not having to subject myself to anything too ridiculous, for example I cross-played one year and all it took was a tiny bit of feminising an already feminine costume. My Asuka costume I definately spent more time on trying to only have seam lines where there were line details on the actual costume than on making myself look like a 14 yr old.

I think that because of how judgmental people are about cosplay it's led me to just set my own goals for my costume rather than trying to get the entire look to match the character exactly. I'm content knowing that the people who insult them could never do anything even remotely as skilled, and those that can are just unhappy people with so little confidence that they need to drag others down.

At least historical costumes can be worn over and over and are open to interpretation. I'd really like to have more chances to do sci-fi and historical, the crowd is far less self important in those areas.

[MachV]

Most anime character don't have a human body, well without orgmentation.

But I don't think that you should try and stick too closely to the body shape. Unless you're 6ft, extremely slender, yet ver muscular and have breasts that should (by all scientific principles) probably make to topple forward.

It's my belief that you should try and crate the costume as best as possible to suit your body, otherwise you would be only able to do one or two characters if your lucky, or have the body type described above. When it comes down to it, 40% on anime outfits are physically impossible to make with the physics of living in the real world.

[Metanoia]

I think you're being too hard on yourself. Noone looks like an anime character. And you were an awesome puchiko!!

[gene_chan]

What like Metanoia said - you are being too hard on you self. LOL I cosplay as guys, yet I have wide hips XD Really my body and looks don't bother me....I am more a perfectionist when it comes to the actual costume - clothes, wig and shoes....If that is all good, then I can tell myself "yep, I look like <insert name>" :3 Plus i think most fans look more at the costume than the cosplayer :3

[miss buggles]

That's it. At Avcon this year one of the first coplays I saw was Gene-chan as Gaara (having already been told by my friend about the Gaara with the sweet-ass gourd ) and I was very impressed with both the costume and likeness. Noone except a japanese kid is going to look like a japanese kid - it's all about the awesomely crafted costume and the attitude of the cosplayer. Likewise the three Digi-charat girls on the cosplay panel - three very different girls, all beautifully crafted costumes and excellent likenesses. My aspiration as a noob cosplayer is going to be to make an accurate, body-appropriate costume and to wear it with dignity and good humour.

I'm hitting up Manifest this year and hope to have a positive and encouraging experience (see the Cosplayers supporting Cosplayers thread!). I'm really inspired by everyone here who isn't afraid to put their skills out there! Yay!

[Last_Chael]

I agree with everyone, I think you're being much too hard on yourself!

I guess the first thing is always choice of costume. I think it's often hard to look exactly like a specific character (although not entirely impossible) and so it really comes down to skill in making the costume.

But I also agree with FairyPrincess, personality can often make the difference between being a person dressed in a costume, and the actual character. Everyone chooses costumes for different reasons; I personally usually choose my costumes because I relate to the character and I love the costume. My Kaylee and Cally costumes were not only because I love the characters, but also because so many people have told me how much I'm like those characters. It helps to know what the character is like, how they'll act in certain circumstances and try to mirror that. Obviously you don't have to take it to all extremes, but it helps! I think being in costume helps this. I know when I'm dressed in a costume, I find it so much easier to take on that character, and act more like them.

Like Laliibeans said, you can also change the costume to suit you better. Little changes to the costume to incorporate you can help to make you look more like the character.

[Acefree]

With me I seem to be verry self concious. I will nearly alwayse go in a mask or helmet when i'm in costume. so i don't have to worry about not looking like the charactor. I'm not saying that i look bad, well i hope i don't.

My only problem would height. I'm only 165cm,or somewhere round there. 1/2 of what i want to do seem to be tall. Like its cute when you see a child as a stormtrooper with his stormtrooper dad. But not sure how a short stormtrooper would look.

[Avalon Mists]

But Leia thought Luke was a little short to be a stormtrooper, so you could be Luke as a stormtrooper

[MachV]

But Leia thought Luke was a little short to be a stormtrooper, so you could be Luke as a stormtrooper

lol, that is one of my reasons for wanting to do a stormtrooper

[Avalon Mists]

Bit like I'm not really going to be tall enough for an elf (let alone the slimness of a majority of them), but I can do something about the pointy ears.

Actually, I've just thought about Sat at Brisnova when I was the entwife. I had already thought that if anyone picked me up on the fact that entwives were described as being bent over with light coloured hair I was going to say I was a young one, so not stooped yet with the tending of plants or the sun-bleached hair. Then there was the whole face paint that started cracking and peeling thing that developed over the day. That conveniently added to the bark effect at least!

[Stormwarden]

I agree with Machv,

barely anyone can pull off the body shape of anime characters. It more about doing the costume to your body shape and getting the details right.

But then again, I personally allways try to pick some character that is going to look ok when i cosplay it (due to my body shape of course) and hell im ugly so I make characters with MASKS!!!! hahaah, im not that ugly but i dont look like a guy who looks like a girl who is actually a guy.....

and Cat from the costumes ive seen you make (not including the medieval ones

your costumes are fantastic!!!

[Shockwave]

I agree, don't stress too much over it.

I can only go by what I know, and Kevin Peter Hall (the guy in the suit in both Predator movies) was 7'2"! With all the gear on, and that massive latex head he was at least 7'4". I'm "only" 6'2" and not particularly slender... hehe And he had the tall, thin basketballer's body. But that's not gonna stop me spending a pretty penny on a suit and wearing it with pride.

[ZDMKylie]

Atory makes a good point about characters being 2D. Of course it will be difficult to look exactly like them. In fact, if I did see a cosplay that looked *exactly* like an anime character had jumped out of the TV screen, I might even be a little scared. We rarely look like 2D characters with one-toned skin, skinny legs and disproportionate eyes.

That being said, however, apart from choosing a cosplay that suits your personality and body shape, I find that a person's face can make a lot of difference to an overall costume. I'm very jealous of some people (usually japanese girls and boys, funnily enough) who have the facial features to be able to pull off a wide range of costumes. I'm not at all saying a costume doesn't count, but even in my own instances of cosplaying I've found that when trying to look like a character my face detracts from the costume rather than adds to it, which is a shame.
Ways to counteract this include attention to detail with wigs, makeup, jewelry. I've found a well crafted wig can also make a *heck* of a difference.

The bottom line is, when cosplaying one needs to be realistic about the likeness they can achieve. There are elements that can be controlled (ie costume, wigs, makeup, how you alter the costume to suit your body shape) whereas things like facial features and body structure are harder to control.

Once you realise and accept these limitations it's much easier to determine what is achievable and recognise when you've done a good job.

[Stags]

At Brisbane Supanova 07 there was two Chearleader from Heroes. One was done by a white women and one by an asian girl. The Chearleader in Heroes is a white girl. Some elitist cosplayers might say that neither should of cosplayed this character because the white women was clearly a women and not a girl and that the asian girl was clearly of another nationality to the character in the show.

But in my views both where done very well. Both made what I think are good attempts at making their costumes look accurate. Both really tried to make themselves look like the character dispite their noticable differences in appearance to the character. I personally found it awesome to see such a variation of cosplayers making a good attempt at this character. Infact I admire them both for attempting a costume that other people and even myself included here, might of said maybe not to do it but instead do something similar to their appearance.

Edited by Stags, 23 December 2007 - 12:46 AM.