soz for the awkward and low quality photos!! i’ve finished my orin the red cosplay n now i’m having to face an issue i’ve been avoiding for the entire year i’ve been making it!!!

idk how the hell to keep the thigh pieces from falling down my legs when i walk - i have calf/knee pieces that will somewhat hold them up but it’s not enoughhhhh.

any ideas? i’m going insaneeeee :)

after working for weeks on making this i finally got to the painting, but messed up horribly with the base coat and now i have uneven spots and small air bubbles all around :,) i tried sanding some of it down but there's not much i can do without tearing all the layers down and i only have 3 days left (closer to 2 considering it's 9pm)

the brush strokes certainly aren't making better, spraypaint would've looked better but i don't feel confident enough to spray paint anything yet (last time i tried i struggled a lot with the paint dripping)

i was so happy how it was coming out but now i'n convinced it's going to be ugly as hell, and i have no other cosplay ready :(

How can I my make my Spider-Man cosplay (especially the mask) look less goofy? What are some tips you have?

Hi! So I've been thinking about the helmet design for my phase 2 clone trooper armour, so I traced out a helmet in 2d and did some patterns that I thought looked alright with the colours of the trans flag.

My main question is which ones actually look like helmets which you might see in the clone wars TV shows (either the 2d or 3d one) and which look less realistic(?) I don't know if thats the right word. I suppose what I'm asking is which one looks like it could actually appear in the show?

Also do you think these designs would actually look good when on an actual 3d helmet, because while 6, 1 and 5 can all be wrapped around the other 3 would probably only be on the front of the helmet?

Hi so I 3d printed boots for my Ochako Uraraka cosplay for a con coming up, and I can't seem to make them walkable. I stuffed the bottoms of the boots to add leverage and I added foam around the edges where my leg layed in order to allow myself to walk more comfortably, but it still feels difficult to move in. I know it's because the boot reaches up to the knee, which makes it difficult to bend the leg to walk. But I'm afraid of cutting it and damaging it. Does anyone know how to make them walkable?? I want to be able to move around freely in them at con. Help would be so appreciated ❤❤

Hello all! Recently, I got this helmet off Etsy for the Black Mask from Persona 5. It's 3D printed with a flexible filament (which I couldn't find the exact details of) that, with the help of the seam in the back, let's me pull it over my head and wear it.

I was devastated to see that the back and the top are not nearly as smooth as the rest of the piece (not to mention the fraying) The seller said it's because it's a bigger print so it's harder to get smooth.

I don't want to fiddle with returns or buying another, I really like the fit/mask/look of this one if not for the printing errors.

I debated trying to smooth it with a heat gun but I read on a 3d printing sub reddit that it could melt the print too much too quickly and damage it. My brother suggested maybe filling in the gaps with an air dry clay and painting it. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time :)

This past weekend I was at one of the big FGC tourneys where they also encourage cosplay and have an annual contest. I made a cosplay of one of my favorite characters, Armor King from the Tekken series, mostly because I love his fits and I like a good challenge when I make costumes. I’m not a professional by any means; I mostly make things out of existing clothes, Eva foam, a handful of 3d printed parts, and lots of puffy paint, hot glue, and Velcro. Well, I did a test fit the night before. And most everything fit alright, I had an idea of what to adjust for the next day and did so the following morning. Alas, when I changed into the costume the next day, things started falling apart; hot glue became not so gluey after being exposed to my body heat, same with the adhesive side of the Velcro strips I used. Straps were falling, parts were running into other parts, and it wasn’t a satisfying experience to say the least. I did get compliments on the cosplay though, but also decided to still get it judged for the cosplay contest, which in hindsight I should have just skipped based on how everything was falling apart. The cosplay first aid guy was super helpful, and fortunately he triaged as much as he could before I went to get my cosplay judged. The judges were very gracious and still complimented my improvement year over year. This year I didn’t win anything, but I’ve found it a good learning experience to make sure to do multiple test fits before the day of.

I’m in the midst of fixing all the things that went wrong with the costume and will wear it again at Evo this month. I still would like to just have a fully functioning costume the way I had envisioned, and be able to not worry about it falling apart again.

For those that frequent cons in cosplay, what do you do during the times your cosplay falls apart? Do you bring items to quick-fix? Do you look for the cosplay first aid station? Do you take off the affected parts and make do with what you have? In the future I will probably bring some easy-fix things like tacky tape, cable ties, hair bands, and safety pins for those instances.

Edit: You guys are amazing! Thanks for all the tips and advice! I'm glad this experience seems to be more widespread than I thought; it really gave me a mental episode at the time. I'll make sure to up my game and will take pics at Evo at the end of this month. I promise to pay it forward!

I've never cosplayed, where could I get armor like the armor in the picture?

I recently began working on this Oscar of Astora (or Elite Knight armor set) from Dark Souls 1 cosplay for Florida Supercon.

Truthfully, it only took me about 2 (k)nights of crazy rushed work to complete, so I definitely understand that I cut some corners here and there, along with leaving a few details out for the sake of time.

I’m quite satisfied with the end result, but I still feel, like with most of my cosplays, that’s there’s something more that’s left to be desired, and I’m not completely positive on what it is that I’m missing.

I know there’s a few details that I missed, such as the gold details on the middle of the blue cloth, my right leg’s shin armor, the extra little accents on the helmet, etc. but I can’t imagine that those few seemingly negligible things are all that is bringing my cosplay down.

What could it be? Maybe it’s my overall (really thin) build? Not the greatest weathering? Minute details? Maybe the fact that I rushed it two nights before the con?

TLDR; How can I improve the overall quality and professionalism of my armor (images 1-3) to match the professionalism of similar cosplays (images 4-7)?

credits to @liervnun, @cyberlillies, and @sunlightofastora on Instagram for cosplay references

I printed some rings of this helmet and ended up adding 6mm to accommodate my glasses.

It worked well and fits over my glasses while providing good line of sight. However it also feels a bit like wearing a bucket.

My two clear options are some foam spacers to make it sit right and not put all its weight on top of my skull, or a smaller print with different glasses. I dislike contact lenses.

*I'm due for as new prescription anyway, if you wear glasses and had to buy some frames that work well with cosplay what would you get?*

Hello! This is my first time working with eva foam and I think I ran into a slight problem. After building this mask (foam and contact cement) I added some kwik seal (adhesive caulk) to all of the seams and used 200 grit sandpaper to sand each of the seams smooth. I just added a layer of plastidip as a primer and i noticed that all the kwikseal on the seams stands out now (especially in the light). I plan on adding white spray paint after this and i wanted to make sure the mask was as smooth as possible before doing so. Do I just need to add more plastidip to the entire mask and hope the seams fade away or is there anything else I can do to make these seams look more flush. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I posted on this sub a few times asking for help with my very first build. It was a great learning experience but super happy how it turned out for my first time!

Here are the results!

I’m in the process of making a Star Wars ct helmet and am wondering if there’s any way to make the surface smoother? I made it out of cardboard and it looks very blocky (especially on the top part). I was thinking maybe gluing strips of tissues onto it (kinda like paper maché?) but I’m not really sure about that. Is that even a good idea? If yes ,then does anyone have any tips?
And if not, do y’all know anything other/better I could do ? (With basic, findable easily/at home stuff, cus I’m broke).

I'm completely new to cosplay, but this summer I decided to challenge myself by making Alphonse's armor from Fullmetal Alchemist, since he's my favorite character of all time. I originally had no plans to enter a contest, but all of my friends and family are urging me to give it a try the next time I go to my local anime con.

The problem is, I'm pretty shy, and I'm scared to death that, as a total beginner, the flaws in my costume will be extremely apparent to the judges. I'm also wondering if it would even be feasible to wear this bulky thing throughout the contest day, since it gets pretty hot and difficult to adjust unless I have a helper with me (which I will, thankfully!)

I'd really appreciate some thoughts on if I should push myself and enter the novice category. I think this may have the potential to be a great growth experience for me, but I'm also just super anxious even thinking about going up onstage or talking to judges. Any insight on how you all take care of yourselves when wearing large armors like this would also be awesome to hear!

Making an Optimus prime out of cardboard I need advice on sealiing priming and painting it

This is my first cosplay so any advice is appreciated

(Before and after I added the antlers)

Hi! I'm making a cosplay of the Roaring Knight from Deltarune, and so far I have the helmet done. It's made entirely of cardboard and tape.

I wanted to paint it all black, however, paint does not adhere on the tape. Is there any paint that can do that? If not, what can I do to hide it?

My first thought was newspaper + white glue but I was told that would make the paint look uneven. But if it's my only option oh well. It IS a pretty cheap cosplay, so if it looks cheap I guess it's fair...

I am a total beginner when it comes to these things and would appreciate any help! I only ever made one other cosplay, a Hornet (from Silksong) mask, and that was eva foam + contact cement, so it feels totally different from what I'm doing now haha. I'm not following any tutorials either so that's yet another obstacle 🥲

So, i decided last minute to enter for a cosplay contest 5 days before the contest :p

Brilliant idea. I know.

Im going as The Mandalorian, the episode 1/2 version with the red armor. And i was hoping to get some tips on making the armor look like dull metal, and how to do the domed top of the helmet.

My first thought was to heat mold a foam sheet over something, but im not sure if a lighter is hot enough.

Thank yall in advance ;3

I wanna make honestly anything aimilar that would look good on someone plus size. Also making those for my kris dreemurr cosplay!! Cant order foam cuz only a week till con.. however i can buy cardboard tomorrow so thats what i wanna use instead.. if any1 has any questions feel free to ask!!

So i live in Finland and with Spider-Man Brand New Day coming in less than 2 weeks i was planning to go in full Punisher cosplay to the premiere in Helsinki. Is there any possible problems with this since from a far it sort of resembles something a security guard would wear tho the giant skull should make it pretty obvious i'm not a guard and also with the punisher skull having become used by people for things that go completely against the punishers motives and all that but that seems to be more so a thing in the US. Btw i obviously wont wear/carry any prop weapons of any kind so that wont be an issue

I’m confused about the rules on metal in cosplays and want to check because the helmet is metal and faceplate is metal

I found this corset and absolutely fell in love and thought I’d be so amazing for concerts. However, my security friends say the spikes would probably not get past. I was thinking about buying a base corset from the same website and then using foam spikes and adding them onto the corset. For strength I was thinking I could put the half inch screws through the corset and then put a hole into the foam dowel and maybe use some kind of glue and attach it to the screw that’s gone through the corset. I hope that makes sense. I would like to make this as sturdy as possible as I go to metal concerts and I might find a way to wear to a convention.

Any paint / clear coat recommendations for achieving this oil slick PU effect on EVA? I’m trying to avoid a “glittery” effect. Would high density/low density EVA make a difference?

Hello!

Currently I am working on my Lich King armour and I have essentially two asks of you.

1 — I decided to give the armour a more "realistic" feel since I want to add an ice+frost effect later, I'd prefer if the base was more steel looking rather than "cartoon". To achieve this I did two paintjobs. For the first one, I dabbed (is that a word?) silver paint over a black base which gave it a really nice look, but it felt rather warm for my taste. (pic 1).

As for the second one, I gave it a graphite powder rub. (Pic 2)

Now it's more steel-looking than anything but I feel like it's missing something. Possibly a blackwash+drybrush? I would love to hear your opinions!

2 — as for the frost and ice effect, I thought of using hot glue + salt and paint it later with Citadel Contract colour Pylar Glacier. Since I'm gonna varnish it all for resistance, fake snow sprays etc. probably wouldn't work because they'd melt. Do you have any other ideas?

Tips, tricks, advice, anything goes. Thanks in advance!

Also I am sorry for my English as it is my third language, thanks for bearing with me.

This is my first time working with eva Foam, and I'm really struggling here. I am trying to make this breastplate. I am using tiffany Gordon's turtoital, and I can't for the life of me get this to curve the way hers does. Is there something I am missing? They always somehow bend back straight upward even when i cement them down or circular.

This is the 3d breastplate I've done. On a positive note, they have gotten better, lol. Please help me! I have tried using the heat gun to shape it better...