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 ❤❤

Hey guys, Last year I cosplayed as a “modern“ take on King Midas for a post apocalyptic role-play airsoft game last year, and I was wanting to add more flair to my kit here. I was thinking about adding a black thick leather belt and maybe some hip armor with gold trimmings to it. But I was just looking for opinions and ideas of stuff to add. I’ve added more chains recently thats not shown in the photos.

Thanks

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 realized when cutting out the shoulder pieces that I will need to prep and paint the pieces before putting it together 😭🙏 like Ive never done it like this before 😭

So I’ll have to finish cutting all of the foam mask off a bit if the armor that’s in the back so I have somewhere to attach the straps, add the details, then heat shrink, seal and then paint AND THEN hope I’m able to put every piece together properly 🫩 I’m so fucking cooked 😭

AND I still have to trace the pattern and cut out 16 girdle plates 😞

But it’ll be so worth it when it looks good!!! With that being said, I’m NEVER MAKING SEGMENTED ARMOR AGAIN (unless I really want too or something 😭 but I doubt it)

Anyways if yall have any tips or advice🙏🙏

I am currently planning my next cospu (Erza lightening empress). However, I am having trouble figuring out how exactly to make her chest armor stay up ?

I don't see other cosplayers using straps for that and really can't wrap my head around it. The armor does not rest on the waist (so it's not the body's natural shape that keeps it in place and the dress doesn't seem supportive enough to hold an armor piece like that.

Any insight ?

I'll begin with that I am not an experienced cosplayer. Secondly, I do not seek any advice or opinions regarding whether or not it is worth my money for a beginner, as my mind is set. Thank you for understanding.

I am willing to spend at most €1500, and do not mind hiring professionals for certain parts.

Feel free to dm me for whatever reason. However, I do not do kinky stuff. On reddit.

1. Need more height :(

Space Marines are huge, and Ultramarines aren't an exception. I have a moderately experienced 3D printer friend that is going to print the entire armour, and have an experienced cosplayer friend who can take my meassurements.

However, I am small. 1,73cm (thanks mom) yet I want to get some sort of boots or height extenders (in the cosplay, no Jack Hanma for me) that increase my height to get atleast to the 2,00m mark. What kind of boots do I need, and what kind of shops sell them?

I'd also like to know if there will be any calculations in the meassurements that I need to look out for, or expect to change. First I'll have the meassurements taken, then the meassurements with boots, THEN we'll get the blueprint for the 3D printing... atleast I think that order is the best?

1. The coloring in the shown image is... eh

Way more basic, I don't like the coloring on the shown image (which was also 3D printed.) I'm thinking of either going Ultramarine color palette or Salamanders, does anyone have any idea how to get more realstic shading?

1. If there are any other tips someone has for armour cosplay in general I'd appreciate it.

Hello cosplayers of reddit!

I built this skull, which just sits on top of my head instead of around it. It's quite heavy but the weight is still distributed evenly. But the moment I lean to any side, the whole thing slips. My best solution at the moment is a rubber cap for my head, but I'm sure there are more decent options.

Because you can't really see it, the back of the skull sits roughly as high on my head as the visible parts.

I know the inside of the skull looks like a mess atm.

Open for questions and of course suggestions!

I'm following this tumblr tutorial for the Long Fall Boots from Portal 2 (Portal 2 Longfall Boot Tutorial – @steeltowncosplays on Tumblr) and she used a "3/16" x 4" aluminum bar, 6061 alloy". Now there's two weeks to Halloween and I'm a procrastinationalist, so somehow I'm gonna make these by Halloween night. But where can I get such metal bars for a cheap price (up to $60)? Is there a different kind of metal that I can use instead that is easier to acquire?

I've looked online but all I can find are really sketchy-looking websites that don't have product photos because everything is custom ordered. That can't be my only resource, right?

btw I'm not opposed to dumpster diving or otherwise looking in scrap metal places

They’re leather, and obviously made for someone larger than me.
I tie them as tight as possible, but they still slip down. The shirt is 3/4 sleeve too, which doesn’t help the grip.

Any advice (even on the rest of the costume) is wanted!

I bought on Etsy the file for the mask, bought an high-density 1 cm EVA foam (which was the specifications suggested by the seller) and cut the pieces

Now, searching online I found that more people prefer to use contact glue instead of hot glue, so I bought some Axton's glue (I applied on both sides and let it dry before pressing together the pieces)

The problem is that when I tried to assemble the mask, the pieces couldn't fit well together; I asked the seller if I had to heat up the pieces, and he told me he didn't do that. When I tried to attach the pieces, the glue gave away.

Is hot glue better? The seller suggested to use low temperature hot glue for this mask, but I don't have it atm. Since I have to attach fur on top of the mask I don't care if it looks a bit ugly when assembled, I just need to assemble it. Any help?

I’ve really been wanting to get into cosplay and start making cool stuff like the armor in the picture I attached!

I’ve grown up going to Ren Faires my whole life, but most of my garb and wardrobe is stuff I’ve accumulated over the years that I more or less slap together and make work.

I really want to go beyond that. I’d love to start actually creating costumes and embodying characters from some of my favorite fandoms, but I honestly have no clue where to start.

I don’t have a 3D printer, and I’m not sure I have the time or money right now to dive into learning 3D modeling and printing. That said, I’m absolutely willing to learn as much as I can reasonably handle and afford.

So, with all that said: if you were trying to recreate the armor in this photo with fairly minimal resources, how would you go about it?

What materials would you use? What techniques would you recommend learning first? Are there any tools or skills you’d consider essential for someone just getting started?

I’d really appreciate any advice from you cosplay veterans! I’m excited to finally start learning how to actually make this stuff instead of just throwing together whatever happens to be in my closet.

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?*

(Ignore my childish hands and weird position)
im painting finger pieces for armour, and it is looking TERRIBLE. I spent hours sanding it down yesterday trying to get it perfect, and then when I paint it it’s so messy…
The first image is the first finger I painted, the second is a more recent one (all in the span of a few minutes)
I’m using flexi paint from tyges supplies so I didn’t prime it. I used foam clay to fill the gaps in my gluing. I have painted 10/30 pieces so far. I have been applying with a paintbrush (as seen on many videos showcasing the paint)
(The paint is still wet)

I was hoping I could sand it down once painted but I saw elsewhere on this subreddit that you can’t sand foam once painted and now im worried... It’s taken me so long due to my minimal freetime to even get to this point and I only have just over 50 days before the con.

I lost a bunch of weight and this armor piece doesn’t fit me anymore.
I’m going to be competing in 10 days with this cosplay I made 2 years ago, and I do not have the time to remake this whole chestplate from scratch. I’m pretty confident that I will be able to alter my other costume pieces but the chestplate is
giving me trouble, I do not wanna mess it up… Any advice please? 🙏
I’ve seen people using darts, but i dont know how I would go about that in a piece like this.

So im making my forst cosplay for Halloween and this is my first time cutting what could I do to make this better?

So im currently making hand armour (my first time making armour or using EVA foam ever), this is what I have so far, however the end finger pieces keep falling off. If I were to handsew the foam to the glove, would it rip holes in the foam? I’ve never seen anyone recommend sewing foam lol

I’m looking to get a cosplay of Clu from Tron Legacy, after being nearly scammed by an Etsy seller and 3 months wasted. I’ve been searching for anyone who takes customs who can make a cosplay of the character.

Does anyone know any reliable people who can take on the project? My budget was to stay under $2000 ideally

EDIT: I am aware that rubber and silicone are not cheap, those were examples, not mandates

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!