practicality: (Sparda : Sins)
I just put my finger on one of the things that's been bugging me over the last couple of days, and I poke through Y-con photos - by a certain standard, I'm not a very good cosplayer. Oh, sure, the costumes are beautiful. I am, dare a I say it, excellent at craftsmanship. But the costumes may as well be on a dressform for how they look on me. The one and only character I cosplay that I actually look like the character as is Tatsumi - the rest of the time it just looks like me, wearing someone else's clothing.

I look through the photos and I hate how I look in them - I probably have close to two hundred photos of the various Seishirou outfits I've done, and I don't like any of them. And the same is true for Subaru, and Ada, and Leon. It's so frustrating, because I like the characters, I like making costumes, but I tend to live by the standard of 'if you can't do it well, why bother doing it at all' and there isn't really much I can do to make it any better - yeah, I could maybe improve my make-up skills some, but there's only so much even that can do.

Date: 2006-10-25 11:25 am (UTC)From: [identity profile] ext_74929 (from dreamwidth.org)
This seems to be the one major problem with cosplay - no matter how well made a costume is, if it doesn't suit you it doesn't suit you, and if the character looks very different to you there's nothing to fix that.^^ I notice that whenever I'm browsing cosplay communities.

If it helps, I think you really do look good in any kind of suit and tie. That style of clothing works for you.

Date: 2006-10-25 03:20 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] ext_188428 (from dreamwidth.org)
Tell me about it? I mean, when I started cosplaying it was one thing. It was fun, and it didn't really matter if I looked good because I was doing it. But...then I saw pics of myself and I just am not pulling it off. No matter how I cut my hair or how I do my makeup, I don't have the figure for cosplay, or the face. It's...depressing. Very, very depressing.

Date: 2006-10-25 05:06 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] astelspirals.livejournal.com (from dreamwidth.org)
practice faces in the mirror. try to make yourself in character randomly when no one is looking.

mirror faces are fun and make you feel stupid. it's great. you really need to try it. (That's what i do XD )

i know what you mean, though. you get a character you love, you make their costume and then... damn. that face just isn't coming through and it sucks.

good luck. i'm rooting for you :D

Date: 2006-10-26 02:26 am (UTC)From: [identity profile] ext_185081 (from dreamwidth.org)
But the costumes may as well be on a dressform for how they look on me.

The majority of cosplayers don't physically resemble the characters they're dressed as. I think one of the most important things that makes some cosplayers look great is really counterintuitive - a garment shouldn't necessarily fit you the same way it fits the character, or the way you'd want a similar garmet to fit for your non-cosplay wardrobe. Instead, some costumes can be constructed in ways that will create the illusion of your build and physique being more like the character's. I'm having a hard time thinking of specific example, aside from one small, slim girl who does something really subtle with shoulder pads to affect the broad, triangular torso of a male fighting game character. Depending on how a costume fits, I think there's a lot of potential to scale the proportions of the character design to match one's own size.

Of course, good posing also helps, especially when you can try to match a particular image of the character that's particularly freqently used.

Date: 2006-10-28 11:47 pm (UTC)From: [identity profile] ext_297251 (from dreamwidth.org)
There is actually a ton that can be done with make-up in cosplay... people rarely realize just -how much- of a difference it can make.

When my friend was going to do Seishirou to my Subaru, he asked me if I'd ever seen anyone do the job perfectly. I pointed him to you. You didn't look like -you- as Seishi, you looked like him. Just get into character when you where there clothes, feel like maybe you are the character, and their movements and dispositions will come to you. That's what helps 'make' them.

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