Congratulations. You've decided to cosplay. Cosplaying is a wonderful world and I'm sure you'll enjoy it very much. Especially your first con. Walking through the convention's doors in full costumes is one of the best feelings. You'll be excited walking through those halls wearing the costumes of a beloved character. When people stop and ask for a picture you'll feel not only honored but pleased knowing your hard work has been paid off.
Cosplaying is a awesome, but expensive hobby. But its worth it. As a cosplayer the world is a huge, wide place open to all sorts of possibilities. Whether your cosplaying with friends or by yourself. It's a lot of fun. But you might be thinking "Who should I cosplay?"
Picking a character is easy. But you should keep a few things in mind when choosing.
1. Pick a character YOU like.
Perhaps your going with a large group of friends or joined a cosplay group and they want you to be a character no one is. Sure its easy to say yes and make your friends happy but cosplay is expensive and it should be a character YOU like. If you want to be Ciel and there is already two other Ciels, be Ciel. More than likely there are numerous other outfits of a certain character you can do and still be different from the rest.
See? Lots of outfits and there is even more of them.
2. Only do costumes your comfortable with
Don't like showing your stomach? Arms? Thighs? Then don't. Chose an outfit that suits your tastes. You don't want to be walking around a three day con feeling uncomfortable. There are lots of ways to modify a costumes to suit your modesty level as well. Layered Nylons work well for that bare leg look, especially if the character is showing thigh.
3. Are you buying this costume? Or making it?
Keep in mind if you are buying they might not make the outfit you want. Some do commissions and will make the outfit for no extra charge, but always look at reviews before buying from someone online. Especially if its from Ebay, where people like to steal others' pictures. If your making it, you should keep in mind if your willing to find or piece together different patterns. Or make your own. If you make your own you can enter it in cosplay contests!
4.Weight, height and skin color doesn't matter.
If a character, let's say Sailor Moon is super skinny and you've got some serious (But hawt) curves, it doesn't matter. You can still cosplay that character. Do keep in mind what I said on number 2. If your tall and want to cosplay Edward Elric, then do it. It doesn't matter. So what if your black and want to cosplay Miku, it doesn't matter! Don't let these things get in your way of cosplaying. Your, race, weight, height, skin color, gender should never be the one thing to stop you from cosplaying someone you love.
5.Money
Sadly money can be a big wall blocking you from your dream cosplay. Make sure you don't over do it. If you want to do a big cosplay then don't do a bunch of little ones. Save up and take your time. So what if you only have one or two cosplays for a three day con. There is no rule that you can't wear the same cosplay over and over. So do what you feel is best for yourself.
6. Learn how to "become" the character
Characters each have their own personality, their own poses, their own way of speaking. These can be helpful for con. Learn from them. You don't need to talk like them but listening will help you understand their personality much better. Mannerisms are very important. You can use this information to create poses. If you really want to get some good pictures I suggest having about three different poses to do. (I'll talk more about posing later)
Here are some good sites for choosing a character and or a outfit.
http://www.minitokyo.net/
http://animus-panthera.deviantart.com/journal/Cosplay-for-Beginners-214230893
(Always check on the convention's forums! They normally have a thread for "Who should I cosplay")
For me it was easy to chose. The main manga I was reading was Pandora Hearts. I fell in love with Sharon's outfits and her willingness to help others. I cosplay with my fiancee so we choose couple cosplays or pairings. So I let him chose which pairings to do. Our choices were Oz and Alice or Sharon and Break. He chose to cosplay Break first and I was very willing to cosplay Sharon.
With us we take turns choosing who to cosplay. Our next cosplay is Sakura and Syaoran from Tsubasa. We of course make sure we are both into the manga/anime/movie, ect that we are interested in cosplaying. Luckily for me I got him interested in Tsubasa AND XXXHolic.
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