Saturday 8 December 2012

Cosplay and Me - a blossoming relationship

When you first explain Cosplay to someone you often get a very strange expression in return, no more so than my own family. For those of you that don't know Cosplay (Costume Play) is basically the art of dressing as your favourite anime, film or video game characters.

For a more in-depth explanation and some nice examples read this article by Matt Geary:

My Cosplay Journey Begins


I first noticed cosplay as I was reading an article and saw someone dressed in a very impressive costume of Sephiroth from final fantasy. I was impressed but after 5 mins of reading I realised. These people create the costumes themselves, now I really was impressed.

I spent the next few months reading various articles on cosplay and researching the techniques used to create such impressive costumes.

"What could I build?" I thought to myself. Now, I'm not a small man in any imagination so any lanky characters were out of the question. But while looking through my collection of games I stumbled upon Gears Of War 3. "Now that would be awesome, I could be Baird!" I thought to myself. A bit ambitious for my first cosplay you might think but this didn't phase me, I could only but try.

I decided to build the armour out of foam so after searching for the cheapest materials I came upon garage/playground floor mats. Perfect!

Using reference pics I began my build.
Front of armour
Side of armour
Back of armour

Many cut/burnt fingers later I eventually finished the whole build including: Chest armour, Belt, Boots, Leg straps and accessories. I decided my first expo would be Play Expo in Manchester.


Boot
Painted boots

Here is the end result:
Me as Damon Baird from Gears of War 3

The expo was a huge success. I met some amazing people and I was treated like a celebrity. Every 5 seconds I was being stopped for a photo.

I would recommend trying cosplay to anyone and everyone. It is an escape from the everyday monotony of life/work. To be able to walk into a building with thousands of people and to be admired and respected is a feeling everyone should experience.

After such a amazing experience it has caused me to think even bigger and better, and I have just begun to create myself some Halo armour... so watch this space.