Hi there! I'll introduce myself. I'm Chris, and I'm attending Outpost Discovery with two of my cousins in Rosemont, Illinois. I've recently started thinking about starting building cosplay costumes and props and ended up finding this forum through the 405th panel at Outpost Discovery. I'm really passionate about Halo and other video games, movies, anime, etc and want to begin building costumes and props. Thing is I'm completely new to the process and don't know what's a good starting point or what will be necessary to build. If I could be given a good starting point I'd really appreciate it, thanks.
Total Beginner, Where To Start?
- Thread starter Chroma
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LostMinds
New Member
Hello there! Welcome to the 405th!
For me, I chose a starting point and goal. The most notable armor for me, is my Reach Operator set. My clan members knew me by that set, and I still rock it in 2019 on H5. A few years back I started with Pepakura and had quite a few pieces done for my set. It was a great learning experience and I decided to scrap it in the end. Now, I'm starting back up with a foam build, still using pepakura for the templates, but using different materials for the build.
My suggestion is check out the forums for tutorials on using Pepakura and for foam builds. There are quite a few, although some techniques have probably improved as the cosplay community is constantly evolving. There are also many wonderful build posts you can check out to see what materials other builders are using. You can also check out Youtube, some especially helpful people I've found are AndrewDFT, PunishedProps, EvilTed, and KamuiCosplay (she has some full process videos of a few foam based cosplays and some product testing videos, very insightful).
Then, when you've decided on an armor, you can check out the Armory here for specific files for Pepakura. Using Pepakura Designer/Viewer takes a little poking around, but you'll catch on. You can download it for free, but you'll need to purchase if you want to save your scaling/editing.
A good starting point on actually building would be, if you're going the foam route, find a small simple piece (like the reach handplate for instance), scale and print from the Pepakura file, transfer to foam, cut out and sand down/seal/paint with any techniques you're interested in using.
Good luck, happy building!
For me, I chose a starting point and goal. The most notable armor for me, is my Reach Operator set. My clan members knew me by that set, and I still rock it in 2019 on H5. A few years back I started with Pepakura and had quite a few pieces done for my set. It was a great learning experience and I decided to scrap it in the end. Now, I'm starting back up with a foam build, still using pepakura for the templates, but using different materials for the build.
My suggestion is check out the forums for tutorials on using Pepakura and for foam builds. There are quite a few, although some techniques have probably improved as the cosplay community is constantly evolving. There are also many wonderful build posts you can check out to see what materials other builders are using. You can also check out Youtube, some especially helpful people I've found are AndrewDFT, PunishedProps, EvilTed, and KamuiCosplay (she has some full process videos of a few foam based cosplays and some product testing videos, very insightful).
Then, when you've decided on an armor, you can check out the Armory here for specific files for Pepakura. Using Pepakura Designer/Viewer takes a little poking around, but you'll catch on. You can download it for free, but you'll need to purchase if you want to save your scaling/editing.
A good starting point on actually building would be, if you're going the foam route, find a small simple piece (like the reach handplate for instance), scale and print from the Pepakura file, transfer to foam, cut out and sand down/seal/paint with any techniques you're interested in using.
Good luck, happy building!
- Member DIN
- S128
I'll second what LostMinds said and add
Read through other people's build logs in the New Recruit section. Seeing how other people started their first build will give you a great idea of what you're in store for.
I really recommend reading as much as you can before you start.
Here's a thread about starting:
www.405th.com
Here's the tutorial index Lost mentioned once you're ready to try something.
www.405th.com
Read through other people's build logs in the New Recruit section. Seeing how other people started their first build will give you a great idea of what you're in store for.
I really recommend reading as much as you can before you start.
Here's a thread about starting:
Selecting Your Character (guide)
What?!?! You thought we were actually going to tell you what character to make?? The character you build is going to take a lot of time and effort. You need to be invested in it if you want to come through with your own suit. If you ask people on the internet what character you should make...
www.405th.com
Here's the tutorial index Lost mentioned once you're ready to try something.
Tutorial Index
Tutorial Index Who can make a Tutorial? A: Anyone How do I make a tutorial? A: Create a thread in any part of the forum you think your tutorial pertains to such as Costume, Props, Soft Parts etc. How do I get the tutorial in the Tutorial Section? A: start a conversation with me...
www.405th.com
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