First convention or fiftieth, here are all my top tips. From what to bring, to how to make a good photoshoot on the day.
So there are some obvious things you can do to keep your energy up at conventions such as getting a good nights sleep, eating properly, and taking regular breaks to sit and recuperate (watching panels totally counts as sitting and recuperating) but let’s be honest, you’re probably not getting a good night’s sleep, eating well, or sitting and recuperating, so what do you do?
So you’re headed to a hotel (or a friend’s house) for a weekend full of convention, how exciting is that!? Maybe you can travel by car (and therefore have plenty of space to pack your things) or maybe you’re going by public transport and need minimal baggage. If you’re wearing the same cosplay for more than one day obviously it will take up less space, if you’re wearing armour or a large piece cosplay obviously it will take up more space, so you should bear that in mind.
The actual styling is pretty much down to what you want it to look like. This is where your character image comes in. If your character has hair that couldn’t possibly exist in reality (I’m looking at you Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh!) you have 2 options, you can make a more realistic version of the hair...
Whether you’re wearing a face full of makeup (per dare?D.A.R.E. guidelines) but usually don’t, have covered yourself in face paint, spattered yourself in fake blood, or coloured your hair with spray in dye you need to know how to get back to normal with minimal fuss (and minimal cost).
T'was the night before convention and all through the house Nopoodles rampages as if without plan. Speaking of plan, here's what I advise doing the night before your convention
EternityLivesForever and I are gearing up for May MCM which is, as of today, exactly 1 month away. As of yet we haven’t settled on a cosplay plan. We have our Sailor Scouts (Sailor Moon) but we feel like we’ve used them a little too much over the last few conventions we’ve been to. So here are my tips for making a cosplay under a deadline.
So what do you do when people start putting labels of genders or criticisms that you don’t want on you after you’ve put your heart and soul into a cosplay?
It’s always better to think about when (time of year) and where (country, is the convention indoors or outdoors, will it have a bag area you can leave a coat?) you will be before deciding what cosplay to wear, for example, maybe think through the logic of wearing a Sailor Scout cosplay to an event at the end of November in the UK…
Alarm blares – usually a song specifically chosen to line up with the cosplay we’re doing. I groan and contemplate hitting snooze, I don’t need all the time I’ve meticulously planned, surely?
So how to do an awesome Out N About photoshoot! 1 – Find a plain(ish) background Or you can find a really interesting background. 2 - Take too many photos
Nopoodles 