"I have no right to know. I don't have a method of stepping into the depths of your heart without it getting dirty. So I'll wait. When you want to talk, when you think it's okay to talk....talk to me." - Rukia Kuchiki to Ichigo Kurosaki
Thank you, Tite Kubo, for providing me with endless ins for blog posts, and sinking my OTP harder than the Titanic.
Where This Started
The idea for this blog post started out as a random conversation and the fallout from it made me think about how to apply the strategy in other circumstances. And whether it was a good idea or not. It's also going to stay vague because that's actually how you help the most people with anecdotal lessons. Anyway.
I'd been chatting with a friend. They dropped an interesting fact about part of their life that I was somewhat aware of. I wanted to ask further questions on the topic. But didn't. I had no idea what to ask, or add to that conversation. So I let it slide.
On thinking about it later, I realised that there was something I was trying to do. That's where this comes in, because I think it might be a helpful strategy for conversations with other people.
Conversations can be for my benefit or for yours
Something worth noting before we get too far ahead of ourselves. This is less like an either/or situation and more like a sliding scale, or a Venn diagram. There's plenty of times when you'll have conversations with people that are for the benefit of both parties.
"Where do you want to go for dinner?"
"Well, we both like Mexican, so why not that burrito place down the road?"
"Sounds good."
There are times when the benefit isn't mutual, though.
"Can I talk to you about something?"
"Sure, what is it?"
Worm Can Opening 101, that one. Question is, are you about to open the can of worms because of an idle curiosity or because you want to hear out and care for the person who's just asked you to not freak out at this thing they're about to drop? (That isn't a neat progression of words. But life isn't neat, either.)
When you have conversations that are sensitive or heavy in nature with other people, there does come a point when you need to think about whether what you're saying is for their benefit, or if it's to desperately fill the void left by their words because oh man, this is heavy. I need to say something. Anything. Quick, make a joke. Lighten the mood.
Why should my conversation be for your benefit?
It's important to have conversations that aren't primarily for our benefit. It's important to be investing in the lives of the people around us. It's one of the many ways we can lovingly serve our peers, reflecting a Savior who sat down his closest friends and told them that victory and honour were to be found in service and sacrifice.
"But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”"
-Mark 9:34-35
Sometimes having a conversation for the benefit of someone else can look like just keeping an open ear. Sometimes it can look like acknowledging that whatever they are dealing with is hard. Sometimes it can look like sharing silence, rather than clouding a silent compassion with empty platitudes.
A word to the wise - if there's the chance to offer advice to the other, and you wish for it to be for their benefit, rather than a balm for guilt on your own part of action or inaction, check and see whether they want to hear advice first.
For many, and especially when an event is fairly fresh, offering advice without solicitation indicates a willingness to solve the problem, but it also indicates that the person offering the advice may not have thought about the problem. Or they just don't want it to be a problem for them, and if they offer a solution, then perhaps it'll go away.
So if someone unloads a heavy thing on you, and you want for your words to be for their benefit, check and see if they want your help or opinion first. If they've asked you to listen, then it is conceivable that they're okay with hearing out your thoughts. Just...check first. Just in case the problem in question touches part of their life that you've never had to deal with, and you might be inadequately prepared to offer an educated opinion.
How to have a conversation that is for someone else's benefit
There's probably like, three, four things to do, tops.
One, keep tabs on what your face is doing. If your person drops something massive on you, try really hard to not flinch. There are few things that will destroy my trust in someone faster than them immediately rejecting my words with their face. Develop a good poker face. Remember that this can help buy you a little time, but that all facades have their limit. Don't rely on the mere facade to get you through the year - you are going to have to provide a genuine response, even if that response is to tell them that this is bigger than you can deal with in the moment.
Two, ask questions that help clarify aspects of the issue. Ask open-ended questions to help build a good idea of the overall picture, and then closed-end questions when you want your friend to make the sorts of decisions that will influence this or that aspect of the issue. Don't ask for information unless you think it's important. Don't hold on to that information. You need it for 24 hours, tops. After that, chuck it in the 'burn' bucket inside your head.
Three, don't be afraid of silence. As we mentioned, sitting with people in silence is hard yakka. There's no grass for us to pull up any more because we're all adults. Or something.
Four, and perhaps most importantly, ask yourself if you have anything to add to the conversation. If you don't think there is, and you act on that, then you're having a conversation that puts the needs of the other over your own comfort and need to fill spaces of awkwardness. Hordes of awks. Fresh from Mordor.
If you do have something to add to the conversation, double check whether it is for your benefit or the other's.
A Better Connection
Having conversations that are for the benefit of someone else is hard. I spend way too much time thinking about the stuff I write on Facey and my million other social media sites and how they're supposed to change how other people think of me. I'm the entertainer. The interactions are about showing off how funny and clever I am.
But that's not what we need. Not in the age of the emotionally isolated.
God gave us two ears and one mouth. I'm trying to learn how to listen more. How to ask and not ask; how to react to hard things in a way that shows I value the people I speak with with. It's a blow to my pride, for sure. I've gotta forgo my carefully manicured image for something simpler - not claiming to know anything, just that you need Jesus' love, just like I do, and he's put me here and now because that's my job. Showing this person love like Jesus, serving this person like Jesus. Right here, right now.
Hey folks. If you're a regular to the blog, you may have read the post I made about three weeks ago about the challenges I have involved with living by yourself. If you haven't read it, I might suggest hitting it up by clicking here. It'll help with understanding where I'm writing this from.
Also, I'm doing yetanotherposttodowithhollows. Some days feel like maybe I should have renamed the blog to 'Gone Hollow' or something and just made it about Shirosaki. But leave my psychotic anime crush out of this; we're talking tonight over a tall shotglass of mead, about how I've learned to deal with things in my life that suck.
Sass. And psychotic. Brilliant combo.
It can kind of start with high school, the beginning of everyone's self confidence issues. Let's ignore the majority of it for now and I'll just put out that I was one of the nerdy ones. There were no nerdy girls in my classes. If you wanted the absolute nerdiest, there was Andrew and Christian and me. Andrew and Christian were best buds, and I eventually learned that people are difficult. So I copped slack for that. I also copped slack, or rather, didn't cop anything, because I was the plain one. It took a while for me to be noticed as a female by the lads, and very little went on there, so we'll skim over that too. In fact, in lieu of telling everyone how flipping awkward high school was for me, how about we just go with the obvious.
Brooke is short.
My Pop is tall. He has to duck under doorways, and I'm fairly sure I still stand below his shoulder. My Nan, and Grandma and Grandpa, are all short. In spite of 'tall' being a dominant genetic trait, I got the short end of the stick, so to speak. I stand at 5' 3"; the shortest in my nuclear family. It meant a few things.
It meant that I do enjoy climbing things more than other people.
It meant that I got used to looking up when talking to people.
It meant that when I started wearing my clompers (leather working shoes), which have like an inch heel on them, and then change back to flat shoes, I have to try and figure out why everyone is much taller.
It means that when I cook, I also get a workout, since getting stuff off the top cupboards usually means finding a chair or climbing onto the counter.
And it meant that sometime in recent years, I had to go "You know what? I'm short. Can't do much about it, so there's no point in getting hung up over it." It was like I had this mentality that one day went "Okay, deal with it."
And I did. Or had to. Or still am. Thankfully, people grow out of being jerks after high school, and teasing is rare and in jest. I've since learned that having a lower centre of gravity makes me more agile and it's easier for me to hit soft organs if I have to.
But that's not really the point of this post. No, the point of this post is me versus the voice that sits inside my head and heckles everything I do when it messes up, or when I take risks. Or when I do anything.
At the moment I'm cranky at it because I've got one particular hang up, and it's not dislodging nearly as quickly as I need it to. I've got everything due for uni in like two weeks. I don't have time for this.
But I digress. There's that heckler, and I hate her, and I know what she is.
She's me.
See, I think that's one of the hardest things when it comes to confronting your demons; recognising that they're a part of you. It's so much easier to blame their existence on your circumstances, or your upbringing, or your neighbour's cat, but that doesn't change the fact that they're inside your head, reading your thoughts like a newspaper left in the 'john.
And once you realise that that thing is a part of you, you have like, two or three options.
You can accept that it is part of you and be reconciled to it, moving on
You can accept that it is part of you and not be reconciled, leaving it behind
You can keep blaming it on the weather and wonder why it hasn't left yet.
And I've got things that have probably fit into all three categories.
The height thing I guess belongs to the first category. I try to chuck as many things into that avenue as possible, because the second option is a harder path to take.
The second path kind of only makes sense if you understand the human condition as a Christian does. We, as Christians, understand that we have a nature that will be told not to do a thing and immediately will go "I'M GOING TO DO THE THING!"
We call it the sinful nature and it's just that; that humans by nature follow the law of entropy and over time have really only gotten stacks better at being horrible to each other. We're corrupt.
There is hope for someone who talks to Jesus about it though; and I'm not talking about some kind of religious institution or works-based setup.
Religion is like...like spraying deodorant on a corpse. Or spraying deodorant all over your body when in fact you need a shower. It might cover up the stench for a little, but it doesn't fix the problem.
The assurance I have with accepting and not being reconciled to one of my demons comes from knowing that Jesus lets me leave that part of my nature behind. I don't have to keep doing evil. I have the option of doing good now, and even when I mess that bit up (because fallibility is something I excel in), I'm covered by the same grace that cleaned up my rank smell. So to speak.
The third type of dealing with problems in the mind, complete rejection, is something I've done before, and will do again, and something I see in a lot of people around me. It is blaming the problem on an external source.
And sometimes that blame is justified.
But it doesn't do away with the problem, to blame it on something else and then walk away as if everything is solved by that. Took me like a year and a half after my first breakup to learn that one. If the thing has had such an influence on you that it's now taken up residency inside your head, you need to sort that thing out. And I'm not sure how you can do that; the method of the sorting is different for everyone. But realising that at least part of the onus is on you to do something about it, kind of makes you own the problem and want to do something about it.
And sometimes you can't do anything about that problem. Sometimes it's a small problem that can't be fixed - like my height - or it's a big problem that can't be fixed. But you have to get to that point of realising that the problem can't be fixed, so you have to change your perspective on it.
"Okay, I'm short. I'll just learn to deal with it."
Doing battle with yourself is not as simple as just fighting, but that doesn't mean you can just run away.
And sometimes it hurts to look retrospectively at the monster that lives inside. It means coming to terms with your ugly side.
Not going to lie, I hate having to do it. I hate getting to the end of difficult nights, exhausted and burnt out over something small or stupid, being unable to let it go because of my stupid pride or selfishness, or because I haven't felt that feeling in so long that I absolutely do not want to let it go, despite the cold hard fact that it's actually the best thing for me to do at that point in time.
But facing off against that issue, and realising that it is part of me, is crucial. It takes the claws out of the argument, and for a split second the heckler has been bathed in a spotlight, completely identifiable, because that's how you make a heckler shut up.
And once I can name the demon, I can tell it where to shove its brilliant idea.
Now, I'll get back to novelling.
Yes, friends, National Novel Writing Month is upon us. I'm behind, but writing a story about islands in the sky, and a man who can see the suffering of others. He doesn't have a lot of fun, but I'm enjoying it. It's called Skybound. Eventually coming to a theatre near you.
Somehow it's now the last day of July. And I've had my first day off for this week.
Uni started back on Monday, and with it came the challenge of waking up on time, and remembering to do things in the correct order to maintain sanity and other general things.
I've started my last semester - I finish studies in November, and hopefully the University will give me the funny hat early next year. With this then, is a slight bittersweet feeling. I mean, I've really loved uni, but at the same time, there's a bunch of things that I'll be glad to have done and dusted when I leave the realms of tertiary education.
And hopefully, I'll be able to get a job at the end of it. And move into a house that's a little warmer in the winter.
I've got a couple of blog posts in the works; these are kind of things that I've been mulling over the last month or so. There's two that are about my first car, and one that's about communication. I'm still trying to figure out how to say everything that I want to say in those, which is why they're not up yet.
Also, NaNo is coming up again in November. Which is still a little bit away, but I'm beginning to plan story stuff now, because then you can just write during the allocated time. I'm ML-ing for Newcastle along with another mate again this year, so it should be fun. If I can figure out how to navigate time properly, I'll also try and finish last year's novel before we get to November. I got to fifty thousand on it, but it's probably closer to an eighty or hundred-thousand word novel. I haven't even written the scene with the granting of the superpowers yet.
*sigh*
Anyway, most of the plot of this year's novel is already planned. The characters don't have names yet. The story is about apathy, I guess. The main character is really apathetic because -*statement redacted*
More on it soon. The story doesn't have a name yet. But it's about fate and apathy and the future and a bunch of other things. Redemption?
And a gypsy curse, unless I can think of a better way to phrase that bit. Carnies with superpowers or something.
So, what else is going down?
Today, I woke up late, courtesy of playing Princess Uno with friends last night until I'd punched into the 'confused zombie' phase of overtired.
Yesterday, I started on my sister's 18th birthday present. It's her birthday tomorrow. Not sure if it'll be done in time. :/
I also attended my first Alchemy class for the semester, and made a big piece of chalk art at the church hub/office.
Yeah, that's right. Alchemy.
It's funny, because when Bec the Housemate and I were looking at the Fine Art Program Handbook back in first year, we both saw Alchemy listed and laughed our heads off because 'what? Like the lead-into-gold business? I knew Fine Arts was going to be a bit out there, but they seriously teach Alchemy?'
Yeah, they do. Sorry to ruin it, but it's a photography subject. You learn to print photographs with technology that was used back in the 1840's. One of the first exercises that we're going to do is make a pseudo-daguerreotype. I'm going to henceforth refer to that word as 'D-type' because I can't spell it without aid of a spell-checker. D-type photographs were the first type of photograph made, and the process happened when you coated a silver plate with a bunch of chemicals, exposed it to light, and then exposed it to a bunch more chemicals. Including mercury gases. I think we might be skipping the mercury bit of the process.
First.
But D-types were insanely cool on a number of different levels. Firstly, they produced only a single positive from the process - unlike film photography, which creates a negative that can be printed from - so the end product was a complete one-off. Second, these photos were incredibly detailed, due to the nature of the light-sensitised metal; the surface was slow-reacting to the light, and could be compared with modern tech as having an ISO of less than ten.
(For my friends who aren't waist-deep in photography madness, ISO is light sensitivity. The higher the number, the more light sensitive. The trade off with having high ISO images is the grainy effect you usually see on cheap cameras)
So yeah. Alchemy looks like it'll be fun.
And I've got a substitute for Fibres this semester, but I've had her teach me before, and I actually get along with her better than my standard tutor, so this semester I'll actually want to do really well with Fibres. Which is good.
My theory course looks like a mix of philosophy and art, which should be interesting.
And I've got another photography elective on Friday.
So that's uni so far. I'm planning to make lace at some stage this semester, and I don't even know what else.
Wait.
Let me tell you about today's finding.
Animania is one of the conventions that I frequent. Case in point.
The big one is coming up in September, and I was of two minds about going, until I got an update about the event this morning.
The special guest is the Japanese voice actress for Kuchiki Rukia, of Bleach.
And you're all like 'blimey, not Bleach again'
At that point, something in me sighed, and something in me went nuts. Because I then should totally go, and get a signature or something, and dress as Rukia, but not her standard attire, because that's too simple and there'll be fifty million of them at the convention.
Truth be told, I already had a Rukia cosplay planned for some time in the future. I was actually planning to do it at a point in time where I wouldn't have long hair though, because wigs are getting more and more difficult for me. Something about having hair down to my butt.
Anyway. We'll work that out when we get there.
A week later...
Crap.
Okay, that's it. I've got gallery duty and I'm going to be here for the next five hours; posting will be done.
Also, I realised that all that post got incredibly detailed in a short amount of time. I apologise. If not careful, it's pretty easy to get stuck on the small details. A flaw of mine.
What was this week then?
I got very sick on Monday night. No idea why. Guts just decided to hit the 'purge' button and things got less and less fun after that. It's only today that my appetite has actually returned somewhat. Isotonic drinks in the meantime are the best.
I've also started patternmaking the outfit for Animania; I was supposed to get the fabric today, but for my amazing organisational skills. (Woo!) Tomorrow.
I think there's a couple things I'm on edge about with the cosplay, and a couple of things I'm really, really happy about.
I dunno if I ever blogged about it before, but battle damaged characters are boss to cosplay.
I probably said something a while back about this too.
Why?
No hems. You can have something that's flowing and majestic and tattered as buckleys, and you don't have to sew hems on it. In fact, it actually looks better if you irregularly hack into the fabric with a pair of scissors. Authentic battle damage; stuff like that. Hems on giant flowing things are pretty nasty, so no hems make life better.
The outfit also looks really simple. I finished patternmaking it last night; the seams and stuff are all nice and neat.
Except for the collar.
Look at that thing.
LOOK AT IT.
It's like whoever designed this thing didn't even understand how clothes work. It was just 'oh, hey. This would look cool. Let's chuck this on here, and that on there, and whatever.'
*Throws chair*
It'll be done. Fortunately, Dark Rukia has been cosplayed before; so I can look at what other people have done in the past and figure out what I'm working on from there, but in the meantime it's a bit tricky.
Now, to away from this clunky update, and try and write something a little more coherent. I've got five hours left at the gallery. Plenty of time.
Did I use that word correctly? *googles*
...Okay. Yes. Good.
Now, with Mumford and Sons in my ears, and the rap from The Fresh Prince of Belair stuck in my head, lemme tell you about how my world got flipped, turned upside down...
Gah. Get a life, Will Smith.
This is kind of the wrap-up post for Directed Studies. It's due tomorrow, so there's that. There's probably going to be a post-script for the unit next week, because this weekend is Supanova and I think I should review how that goes for various reasons.
Okay.
At the beginning of semsester, when I kind of started wrapping my head around what Directed Studies was going to look like, I basically went "I would like to make costumes"
Subsequently, I planned out this sweeping grandeur of outfits, and had in my head that I was going to get four high-caliber costume out, in spite of the fact that on average I only have enough time and sanity and money to create on average one per year. And I was going to do all of this in a semester, plus some work experience.
Never let it be said that I don't have ambition at the start of a project.
Now, the thing that I didn't check or understand fully at the start of the project was the concept of time. See, I finished the first costume in good time, and then I had some delays getting the pattern sorted for the Halo armour. And the website that I was consulting about all of this had mentioned that it would take me about 300 hours to complete, but that didn't register in my head as a comprehensible amount of time when I first read it. I kind of just looked at it, and broke 300 hours down as 'two and a half weeks, working every day for eight hours'
You can't understand what kind of time that takes until you are in the middle of it. To my folly. The armour took so much longer than initially expected, that it effectively swallowed up my other two projects, and about fifty percent of the time I would have spent on another course. Probably more.
But. It's finished, and at least ready for marking tomorrow. I finished it yesterday morning, and immediately went out and got photos. Props to Micah for that. They look Spectacular.
I feel a little odd about it, because...well, because every time I go to make a cosplay, I hop on DeviantArt and check out what other people have done. They end up posting these absolutely radical, professional looking things, and when the photos were done, I was looking at something which had a caliber equal to those outfits. I was a little weirded out and chuffed at the same time.
So there's that.
Now you know what I planned to do, and what I actually did. Now lemme tell you about what I want to do next.
Supanova is this weekend. I'm planning to, after Tuesday, make a rifle for the outfit so I have somewhere to store my things while I'm walking around (No pockets for Tex. I'll just make the stock and cartridge hollow in the rifle and put my things in there). I also entered into the cosplay competition at Nova, because it's kind of worth seeing how my thing stacks up against everything else. I mean, I'm still expecting the mad freakout because everyone else in the advanced category will have radical stuff too. And I can't enter the novice category because I've been making costumes a while. I've just got to step up my game.
Also, I can't enter Tex in any Animania competition for cosplay, because she's not from an anime, manga or video game. Which is a pity but hey.
But there wasn't such stipulations for Nova. So I may as well see what I can do.
Now. Future stuff.
I'm still keen for an internship bout in the film industry. I just ran out of time for it in Directed Studies. I'm currently looking at options for taking some next semester. And by that I mean 'incredibly flat out, will start looking as soon as I can start working at normal times again'
Can I talk about that for a moment? Since Semester classes ended, I've pretty much been working until 2 or 3 in the morning, and then packing up and sleeping in. It's a weird method, but it works. Until your dad needs you to go and get an ignition coil from somewhere in Newie, and you've gotta get there at 8. Or you have an assessment date to meet on Monday at 10am. And you find it difficult waking up before 10.
Then you're in trouble.
*sighs*
I still want to get to make costumes for (probably) film. If I had the choice, I'd probably stick with the idea that The Beta Experiment was kind of looking at: That essentially, all of my projects are prototypes and they don't usually get past the Beta phase because I only make one-offs. I can think of next or exciting ways to make the things easier next time (So, I now have patterns for the armour if I ever want to make them again, and if I could, I would probably make them in fibreglass. Which would be easier to mass-produce, because I could just make one mould and cast from that.) I love creating things, and I love designing things, and I can do either of those, but I have stacks of fun when I get to do both. So designing and prototyping my stuff is probably the best outlet at this point in time. I guess in a way I tend more towards the manufacture side of things though, because the cosplays are already determined in their aesthetic appearance. I just have to figure out how to make the ruddy things work. It's brilliant.
If I was better at maths, and had enough time to keep studying, I'd go do engineering or something.
*laughs manically*
So, how do I feel at the end of this shebangabang?
I think, in spite of the time-consuming-ness of the armour, I'm happy with it. I'm satisfied with everything that went in to the project, and I'm satisfied with how it turned out. I've got plans on tuning up both of the costumes that I made anyway, and will probably get onto them sometime in the near future.
(Invest in a morphsuit for the Hollow, so I never have to worry about paint flaking off) (See if I can improve the mobility of the armour. Once everything is on, I no longer have the option of scratching my nose currently.)
I'm also really tired, because this course demanded a lot, and I gave a lot. But it was a good a lot.
In first year, I visited some friends who at the time lived out in the glasshouse mountain country in southern Queensland. One of the days we were out there (there was a few of us) we climbed one of the mountains; Mount Tibrogargan (best. name. ever.)
And it toasted me. I was so worn out by the time we got to the top. And then we saw the view.
And that made it completely worth it. Even if all we'd brought to eat were peanuts.
That's kind of what it's been like doing Directed Studies. I've had fun. I hope that everyone following the blog has had fun too.
...
This blog will, probably in the near future, go back to being my standard blog. I'll still end up writing heaps about making cosplays and stuff, but Directed Studies is just about finished, and so am I.
There's still a bit for me to get done before things are ready for tomorrow. I'll hop to it.
Apologies in advance. Time has been running away from me and I haven't updated the blog in a while. So, this post will cover the adventures of week 9, 10, and something interesting I discovered last week and thought that it would be interesting to write about. Anyway. Read on.
WEEK 9
So. This week's update. Or something.
Yesterday, I finished (at long last) the paper patterns for the Halo armour.
Things kind of went on hold for the last week and a half, since I had assessments coming out my ears and I don't even know what else. Oh yeah. I was sick.
And now it feels like my body is trying to figure out what else it can debilitate me with while I head on. Seriously. I think this week's meals will be a combination of Bonjela and jelly and custard this week. Wisdom teeth.
This weekend just past, I didn't achieve an iota of work, since my family was moving house and there was no way I was going to not help my family move. There was a lot of heavy lifting, cleaning of ick things and juggling of stuff and people. And the fun of handling a figurative bomb for all of Saturday. Let's not talk about that.
So, there was a cubic metre of dirt, and Mum and Dad finally threw out the fridge double that they'd had for ages and I painted. It was a project I undertook in 2006, and the fridges were old as buckleys when I painted them. They'd just started to rust through and had failing seals and smelled funny. But they were actually my first big art project, so it was interesting and a little sad seeing them go.
<I have a progress shot of it at the beginning...somewhere...>
Shortly before the tip
Mum said that when they can, her and Dad want to get another fridge for the garage though. And she wants me to paint exactly the same artwork on it. Because it carries a lot of feels and she liked it.
My mother is absolutely ruthless when throwing things out during moving season. It means a lot for her to say 'please do this one again because I like the artwork, even if the functional item it is on isn't useful anymore'
Not bad for a transferred piece of promo art for a GBA game.
And yeah, you have to be ruthless when throwing things out during moving season. This does mean that I end up a little stressed, because a lot of my stuff which is still kind of important gets thrown out as well, and if I'm not home to make sure that doesn't happen, then all kinds of things go.
I'm pretty sure my quarterstaff got chucked, since I can't find it.
I guess this is one of the challenges of having just moved out of home (I've been out for a couple years, but hey). I don't have anywhere to put my books, for example. I have a shelf and a half of the landlord's bookcase, and that's it. Please don't throw out my TAFE work, Mum. I'll move it when I have space.
Anyway. I've probably just told you a bunch of stuff that isn't that interesting. Except maybe for the fridge.
Where am I up to with the everything else?
The armour went on hold. I will regret this soon enough - for reasons beyond my comprehension, it's now week 9. I've still got another costume for Directed Studies due, which I'm fairly sure I can knock over in a week or two, provided I don't have anything else to do.
Provided I don't have anything else to do.
Sorry. Got things to do right now.
Lo and behold. Things were done.
WEEK 10
So. What happened in the week just past?
I finished the forearms in foam, and managed to gain a better grasp of how long things take, or at least, be able to break up the tasks and therefore time for each armour piece.
So, the forearm (Vambrace from here on. The right one.) took about five hours to assemble in paper (because it was the first one, and I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing)
And then I disassembled it, and it took two hours to trace out the larger pieces onto foam (tracing each piece out twice, so I had a pair of them)
It took an hour and a half to cut these pieces out.
And another two hours to shape them.
At this stage, I'll explain what I mean by that. Rather than folding the foam to give it shape, I have to score into it, as it's too bulky for simply folding. I cut a small groove on one side and then score a line on the opposing side of the foam. If it's a mountain fold, the score is on the face side and the groove is on the underside - a valley fold is just this reversed.
I'll also take this time to bevel edges of pieces if they need it, or cut details into them, like rivet holes or indents. I started doing all of this with my large box cutter, and then realised that detailing was much easier with a smaller one. So I have two knives going on this. And you notice when the blades become blunt.
And then I kind of crease those shaping cuts in, and glue the bad boy together. It took two hours to glue together the vambraces - an hour each.
Featuring hot glue and burnt fingers
And the assembling time for the paper was only an estimate. So, just on this one section of armour, I've spent at least ten hours to get from paper to foam. Haven't painted them yet either.
It's now more than ever I realise the enormity of this task. Like, I've been realising it all through semester, but it's now that I am sitting in the camp of 'I'm wasting so much time on this armour' and 'this is just really time consuming stuff'
I'll get it done in time. I'm just worried because I also have another three practical things to finish, plus paper and an assessment for a theory subject that's worth 70%.
I'm gonna die.
But.
Tonight, as I try to prolong the effects of downing two coffees at church so allow for blogging, which I haven't done in ages, I also take in what has been achieved. Because I went and actually tried what I had on, in conjunction with the wetsuit I bought for the task, and felt a little better about everything. Maybe not about about the wetsuit currently (Op shop find. It's about a size too small. I'm cutting vent panels in it to allow it to stretch/breathe/not kill me), but about seeing progress. I really, really need to get this done.
Any minions wishing to volunteer themselves for assistance will be given baked treats. I can make a mean mudcake.
What else happened over the course of this week?
Evangelion.
The Japan Foundation is an organisation based in Sydney that promotes cross-cultural stuff and shenanigans. Earlier this year, or late last year (I can't remember which), there was notice of a travelling exhibition of stuff related to the Rebuild of Evangelion, which is a series of films happening at the moment, retelling the story arc of Neon Genesis Evangelion, a mind-blowing mecha anime from the mid-90s, orchestrated by Hideaki Anno.
The show was only in Sydney for a week, so I caught the train down on Friday and checked it out.
If you want to see the thing I am yabbering about, hit that link there.
The works presented were mostly stills/storyboards from the first two movies (You are (not) alone, and You can (not) advance), presented in a vertical diptych. So, the drawing was framed up, and then beneath it was the corresponding frame from the relevant scene in the anime printed on foamcore, so you could see what the original frame looked like.
I'd show you a picture if I had taken any. There was a strict 'no photos' thing going on, so you'll just have to bear with me on it.
I was amazed at the quality of work, and intrigued as well, because..well, I guess the essence of anime-compared-to-real-life, aside from the odd proportioning, is how simple the lines are and how complex an area they cover. I don't know how to explain that otherwise. Um.
Oh. Hey, Shinji.
This is Shinji Hirako, of Bleach (Which is of Tite Kubo). As he appears in the manga, because the manga goes in for all these little details that you don't notice in the anime adaptions because they're either forgotten or taken up by shading so your eyes don't register them.
Look at his shirt. Look at it. There's like, a couple of tiny lines thrown in here and there, and suddenly it looks like the flipping thing is busy being fabric.
The Evangelion exhibition allowed me to appreciate in detail one of the more subtle things about anime and manga; basically, you can use small and simple lines to delineate something, and the mind fills in the rest. It's brilliant.
Seeing frames from the animation also let me notice a few other things. They were rarely on white paper (unless it was a closeup of a face or something), and were usually on a light green or brown or blue. I think white paper scares artists a little, so that makes sense. It would have also had something to do with colour scanning and photocopying, I think, owing to how the frames were shaded.
There was no finished colour added to them, so there were lines put in that basically meant 'cel shade here and here and here. Fill this area with black, and this area with white'. And then some rough hatching to cover the shaded area. It looked odd, because it was obvious that so much more time had been spent getting the lines right and the colour stuff looked like an afterthought. But it wasn't. It's just that this wasn't the stage when the colour needed to be added, so placement was a little rough.
Ack. Sorry. I'm going small picture with this. Bear with me.
There was also a video display showing scenes from the second movie in a split screen format, which allowed the viewer to simultaneously see how things in the scene looked at story board level, rough lines, rough colour, full colour, and finished movie. There must have been some things in there I missed, because the number of split screens going ranged at times from four to twelve. Which freaked your head out, because you were trying to process a lot of information at the same time, but was really cool to see the evolution of the film at the same time. I mean, that's not something you actually get to see with live-action films, because most of the stuff is there when the camera is rolling (unless you're shooting something that's got a buttload of green screen or something).
But when an anime gets made, the whole film gets made in several renditions, so you can view those renditions side-by-side and appreciate them and the finished product a whole lot more.
Look, if I go out and actually get :01 and :02 sometime in the future, I'll try and make you watch them, and then the special features. Pretty sure you'd get to see some of what I'm yabbering incoherently about.
Actually, have a scene of EVA 00, 01 and 02 against a falling-from-space alien/the 8th Angel. I apologise for the English dub - would have used a subbed version if it was there. This really just lets you see how enormous the EVA are and thusly cool. And I got to see stacks of clips from this scene at the exhibition.
Okay. It was cool. Next thing.
I was aspiring to maybe visit White Rabbit gallery too, until I got back to Central station and realised that I had an hour before my train left, and in that time would have to walk to the gallery, tour the gallery, and walk back. I instead wandered the train station and speed-drew people I saw while walking, deciding that maybe it would be more constructive than running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
Soon. I will do White Rabbit soon.
Ack.
What else happened this week? Hmm.
#thingsovershadowedbyJo'shaircut
I had a mate turn 21, and attended his 'disguise'-themed party as an elf-kind-of-thing. Because it's actually really confusing when you tell a cosplayer to come in disguise.
'But this is what I do all the time. How the heck am I supposed to be disguised?'
I kind of just threw together a whole bunch of things and it worked. And I got my hair under a wig. With only two hairpins, since I'd misplaced my box of the flipping things.
Appreciate that wigging it up is difficult when you have hair that you frequently and accidentally sit on, okay?
The birthday boy cut his hair, which is just...ack...yahhhhh what the heck?
Evidently, I still need to adjust. But he went from shoulder-length super-curly plus beard to a number 4 and no beard. It worked as a disguise though - he and one of his housemates wore full-face masks and each others clothing and rings, and it was only when I looked at the hands I went 'they're wrong.' and then there was the hair missing too.
Hopefully, this will only take a couple of weeks to get used to. There's another lad at unichurch who just shaved his long hair off too. I don't cope well with change. But haircuts are not something I get to dictate for other people. Okay. Let's talk about the next thing. SOMETHING I NOTICED ABOUT ARTISTS EARLIER THIS WEEK
Now, if you read this post, you'll get to see a bit of where I'm coming from with this bit of the post.
But in essence, the lecture for one of my theory subjects this week was on 'breaking down boundaries' or something. The lecture talked heavily about an exhibition called 'dOCUMENTA', which is like a giant art exhibition done by people who are artists and people who are not artists.
And there's some mediation for the artworks presented by the non-artists, but not much. Basically, there were artworks installed that were working things built by engineers or physicists or garden designers that had a function outside of being art, and we spent about half of the tutorial following with my classmates and the argument 'is what they're doing art?'
To which I present my argument:
You cannot say that art is open-minded and encapsulating of everything, and then decide that by 'open-minded' you actually mean 'something you can hang on a wall or put in a gallery'. The gallery bit in particular gets me. It's something that kind of cropped up with the Street Art argument - that people would remove street art from its environment and stick it in a gallery and then it's definitely 'art'? Nope. It's a paradox. I think in part it stems from an understanding of the subject, and understood aesthetics. An artist will appreciate art because it conforms to a certain set of aesthetics, but an engineer will use a completely different set of aesthetics to determine whether or not something is beautiful or functional; whatever. I think this issue has more to do with understanding the rules of the artwork. The art world saw it happen in the nineteen-tens, when abstract art first popped up - we were used to things looking like things, from before Modernism to Impressionism to Post-Impressionism, especially in the painting world. There was all these artworks that popped up, and all these people in the art world going 'what the heck is this stuff?' and now that we're a few years down the track, there's an established set of rules that the art world has learned in order to appreciate abstract art, and every art movement that followed. It's something I reckon that is like a secret handshake, or that thing that the guys on the bus used to do when I was in year 7 - playing 'Snap is the name of the game'; some kind of special code that only artists understand and feel cool about because they know that the rest of the world doesn't get it. And then someone explains Blue Shift to them and because they don't understand astrophysics, they say 'this cannot be art. I don't understand it.'
I didn't say all of this in the tute, but it's kind of what I feel and think.
Art is busy claiming that it's open, but the work that people actually see - the stuff in galleries - in fact is dictated by whether or not it's made by a 'professional artist', which means 'someone who is paid to create art'.
Which is kind of like saying that only professional photographers can take good photos, or professional drivers can drive properly.
I have friends who create art, and it's good art, but they don't receive payment for their works.
I have friends who can take amazing photos, but it's not necessarily a living. It's actually pretty hard to eke a living purely from taking photos.
This, to a degree, is why I have a difficult time, even in my own head, of classifying what I do as art, because costume serves a physical purpose beyond hanging in a gallery, and therefore only borderlines as art.
Just get the paradox sorted out, is my call. Otherwise you end up with this asterisk sitting at the end of your sentence, and it might be attached to something vitally important down the track.*
...
...This is rather abrupt, and rough, and probably ruffling-of-the-feathers. Apologies. I'm rambling. Because it's late, and I'm coming off the butt end of the caffiene high, and my teeth hurt, and a billion other excuses that equate to Tomorrow is Monday of week 11.
Okay. Bring it on. I've got things to do. Just let me sleep enough to function.
*which might affect how you practice art or get paid at all.
Bear with me guys, I've got an assessment for Directed Studies due tomorrow, and I was going to write it this weekend.
And then I got sick on Sunday. My head feels like a Cadbury Cream Egg, and I have no real desire to go to class this afternoon. Time to get stuff done.
So this is kind of like getting the assessment straight. It's a recap of where Breaking Down the Fourth Wall has been and where it's going. And somehow I need to jam it all into a five-minute speech with a power point.
Actually, consider this the extended edition. Hopefully it makes sense.
Overview: Breaking Down the Fourth Wall is presented in studio brief format, with physical pieces and extensive documentation and research. It's an investigation into costume design; particularly the niche culture of Cosplay, and presents theoretical and physical results.
Translation: Uni project about Cosplay. Finished product is a few cosplays with extensive documentation on concepts, theory and techniques.
Things about costume and Cosplay in particular that are interesting:
The idea of assuming an identity already determined and presented by someone else. The theory and implications of assuming identities of these pre-existing characters and how that relates to the self. (e.g. My fascination with the Hollow because it reminds me of my own shortcomings)
Meeting complete strangers and becoming buddies because you don't need to introduce yourself.
Is the output of Cosplay original?
Meanwhile, Brooke fills up the web browser with Anchor & Braille YouTube tabs and sneezes again.
The original plan for Breaking Down the Fourth Wall:
Was nuts. I'll go over the things that have changed, and then what's left.
Initially, I had three projects in mind, that would have an output of four costumes done at a professional level, plus work experience.
I dropped one of the projects, changed some dates on the schedule for other stuff, and have decided to do work experience next semester.
Sorry, Aerith. Some other thirty seconds.
The projects that are left are:
The Sequel Machine (Parts A and B)
This project looks at the idea of creating something from an already-established design. I mean, that's kind of the point of Cosplay, but explaining this with movies or on an industrial scale with someone who doesn't know about cosplay means you have to take a different route. Comic-book hero movies are a prime example of this, as well as sequels and reboots - you have an established design for the character. The challenge actually lies in satisfying the look and feel of the character without traipsing into unrealistic outfits or upsetting the pre-existing fanbase too much.
Part A of The Sequel Machine was taking a pre-existing costume and making it better (The Hollow) - similar to how a sequel looks compared to the original movie. Part B is redesigning and creating an outfit that I've made before, but remaking it entirely and doing it better (Which will be Sheik from the Zelda franchise).
First rendition
Sequel Machine. Photo credit: Travis Lin
The Beta Experiment Beta is a look into how pretty much every costume I make is a one-off. With the exceptions of the Weeping Angels, I've never made more than one of a costume, and never sorted them out for wide-scale production, partly because cost, partly because time. I guess there's also a mindset in there that wants the work to be individual, and progressing, which is why I don't usually revisit stuff often.
The Beta Experiment is my more intense unit - it'll be Agent Texas from the series Red vs. Blue. Better explained to those unfamiliar as armour from the Halo games (although it erks me a little whenever I explain that and they immediately go 'oh, Master Chief.' I know it's the only identification that they might have, but Master Chief is Jim's planned set. Tex is way cooler.)
Waaaaaay cooler,
I had planned to finish Beta much earlier in term, but it took longer than expected to get the patterns together. I'm hoping to have it finished in the next couple of weeks. I know that I can probably knock over the Sheik outft in a week or two, if I forgo sleep.
I guess the plan is to blog all of this - the techniques and conceptual journey at least, as well. With photos and stuff to allow everyone else to see what I'm doing.
Did I mention how amazing foam smells when you unwrap it? Only when it's fresh. Heat-sealing it is super-smelly business.
So that's kind of the overview done.
Where am I up to now?
Well, if you've not been up to date,
I've finished the work with the Hollow, and took it to a convention about a month ago to see how it compared to the rest of the stuff being competed. Didn't win anything, but still looked mad. Got covered in paint an already have a few more ideas in place to make it better next time (Invest in a morph suit, do the nails better, glass eyes for the mask)
The paper patterns for the Halo armour are about 90% done - I've got to finish the handplate and belt. I chopped up the shin this weekend and transferred it over to high-density foam, and have nearly cut it all out. I plan to do some more shaping with a knife, heatgun and soldering iron, and otherwise have to glue it into a 3D form with hot glue.
And I'm blogging like crazy. And I got sick yesterday.
Okay, you're pretty much up to date.
I had originally planned to take the finished Halo armour to Ironfest (which was not the weekend just past, but the one before). Since this didn't happen, I'm planning on taking it to Sydney Supanova, and every costume party I go to forever afterwards. Provided it isn't too hot.
See, the black suit business I got to go under the armour is a wetsuit. I'm planning to cut big vent holes in it, but am still a little worried about heat exhaustion. Still, I wanted a wetsuit, or neoprene for this. Could have gone with tights/skivvy or a morphsuit, but I particularly wanted something that would have the visual texture and feel of something that was supposed to be worn with one-tonne-space-marine-armour. And a wetsuit is kind of the closest you can get. Plus, they suck your gut in for you.
ANYWAY.
What else do I need to fill you/the lecture room in on for tomorrow?
Ah.
Because this is Fine Art, it always strengthens your point to include actual fine artists in the thing.
This is the work of a guy called Ricky Swallow
There are a few things you should know about this piece. It's called Killing Time, was made in 2003-2004, entirely by the artist (as opposed to guys like Jeff Koons and Daniel Hirsch, who employ minions), is life size, and was carved from one piece of wood.
Pick your jaw up off the floor and have a look at a few of his other works:
I had Swallow introduced to me because he creates all his stuff himself, makes stuff that is life size/to scale, and creates things that look like they should be made out of something else.
Seriously, when I was shown this work:
Come Together, 2002
My first thought was pretty much 'I wish to jump in that beanbag.'
My second thought was 'That is made out of wood and will not be soft. It is a lie of softness, like every time you used to jump on the demo beds at Spotlight.'
I was a terror at Spotlight as a small child.
But yeah. That beanbag, regardless of the skull that looks casually thrown in, as opposed to carved from the wood, is pretty much the same size and shape as one we had when I was a kid at Hannem Vale. It was this big black vinyl thing that Dad had, and would get sticky when you sat in it in summer. I think it was the place I used to hide under when we played hide and seek since it was so enormous. I got sat on more than once.
So yeah. Things that look like they're made out of other things.
And then I found one of the earlier sets of works that Ricky Swallow had done.
YAHHHHHHHH The book's in at uni grherksgnhouhn[aofrkgh ...you can see it later.
Basically, one of the first things that Swallow did that got his name out were these tape decks and hi-fi systems from the 70s and 80s, reproduced perfectly in cardboard.
Sounds a little familiar...
So yeah. There is a fine artist, making stuff that looks like it's made out of other stuff.
Which is kind of what I do with the costume business, since it's not cost-effective, time-effective or comfortable to make full space-marine armour out of legit materials/metal/whatever the Mjolnir armour is supposed to be made from. Not to mention I do not possess the crafting skills.
So costume is a kind of halfway thing. We figure out how to make paper look like bone, and foam to look like metal. It's fitting, since the idea of a costume is playing pretend anyway.
And then there's this Korean sculptor named Lee Bul, who does these mad-gnarly cyborg things that look like they're from a cyberpunk anime. It's the shapes that are interesting here, I think.
Lee Bul, Vanish (Purple White Cyborg Torso), 2001
There are others, but they're troublesome to find. I'll scan a couple in from the books.
Yeah. Like, these are cool artworks, and they're about the body and the cyborg and perfection and imperfection and they really just remind me that one day I want to do an Appleseed cosplay. Or maybe just build Briarios' head and have it sitting somewhere.
That doesn't sound like a half bad idea actually, aside from how creepy a disembodied head would be with glowing eyes in someone's apartment. I could talk to it though.
So yeah.
Now you know what I had planned, and where I'm going now, and what I'm doing, and where I'm up to, and also that there's fine artists that have done stuff that's similar to what I do.
Brilliant.
I've now got about an hour fifteen minutes before I have to be somewhere. SLEEPCOMEHERE. PICTURES, WHY YOU TAKE SO LONG TO FIND?
P.S. To my friends I see in everyday life. It means a lot when you mention that you read the blog. It says that you put time and effort into reading something I wrote, or that you found it engaging. This is not a note to remind people to say it more often, or to pressure people into feedback or whatever. It's just letting you know I appreciate it.
So I was talking with a friend I met at the Anime Convention I went to last week. The conversation moved to plans for the next costume they were making and they mentioned about how they weren't really great with sewing, and the challenges of knowing where to start with their project.
I started explaining what I did, and then realised that it would be good blog material. My thanks to you, Michael, for inspiring me to get off my butt and explain something I always think is a given when talking to other people about designing costumes.
So let's begin.
The Idea.
So picture this: you're sitting down one afternoon, and like a bolt from the blue, you're like, I should make this my next costume.
Okay, probably not. But hey. Most of the time when I've decided to make a costume, I've been on a bender of some series, cottoned on to one character, and then gone, 'Hey, I know what would be a brilliant idea right about now...'
Sometimes it's because I like how the character looks, or what kind of a person the character is. I might be drawn to how epic their outfit looks or enjoy how they move. It's usually a visual thing, really. Other times I'm drawn to it because I really like the type of character the person is and therefore would like to try emulating it a little. Other times its because I want to do another cosplay and I need to find someone else I like with really long strawberry-blonde hair, since mine doesn't really fit under a wig anymore.
That's mostly been the story the last couple things. But hey, you work around what you have.
Speaking of which...
Setting the handicap level.
So you have your character? Or an idea of your character? This is the bit where you decide whether to actually keep it or scrap it. Look at the base stats of your character, and your own base stats, and figure out whether its physically possible to actually do.
Start with the basics. Height, weight, physiology. If you're planning to add some major changes to the character, this is when you'd do it or deal with it.
So, for example:
This lad. This was my last cosplay, for those not following the blog. I picked this because A) I like Bleach B) I prefer warlike berserkers to Orihime C) Hair.
The latest rendition turned out like this:
(I'm waiting on clearance for a different photo.)
Now, I am not male, not ripped, and not seven foot tall. But you work with what you've got.
Consider the things that will dictate everything else about the costume that are to do with yourself. Your own physical attributes; what you'll have to change and what you can't. Sometimes, if the difference is too great, it's just something you have to forget about doing. Which sucks sometimes, and sometimes turns out to be something of better judgement.
Okay! Other things you need to consider.
Address minor details as well - hair colour and style and what colour wig you might need if that's the case (if it's an anime character, it often is). Eye colour if you feel like a stickler, which can be rectified with colour contact lenses if you can wear them.
Okay. Next step.
Identifying the 'feel'
So you've looked at the basics of the character. Next is beginning to work on the cosplay itself. I go about this in two ways.
The first way is to go back to the original source and check the character again. If you have a video of the character in motion, it's better. What you want to identify here are the items of clothing you need and how they should behave on a character.
This is the trailer for my second-favourite movie, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete. I'm not sure if you can turn on captioning for it, so the dialogue might be hard to understand. Dialogue isn't really what you're after at this stage though; you want the look and feel of the costume. Mostly to figure out what the articles of clothing should be made out of.
Advent Children is a pretty good example of looking at the source to gauge what you should make the costume articles from - you can practically see the thread count on some of the articles in the film. Other projects might require a little more imagination.
So, by this stage you go 'oh, the pants are hard-wearing and the cloak is too. But the cloak is always flapping about. Does that mean I should make it out of something lighter?'
Or something like that. Have a think also about the type of fabric suited to the character - when my sister and I made Tetra's outfit from The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker, we made the pants from linen, the top, belt and scarf from jersey knit and the jacket from rubber-backed curtain fabric.
So. Stock image from series.
Real life. And EZLO HAT.
The linen is an obvious choice - Tetra is a seafaring pirate. It wouldn't make sense for her to be wearing satin pants. Jersey knit is basically what most t-shirts are constructed out of, and has the double-whammy of draping nicely and feeling good. The curtain fabric had the right texture and colour, for the most part, and would probably be the only thing out of place if Tetra had been running around in real life. (Well, jersey knit is probably a bit anochronistic for the time, but hey.)
So if the character is wearing something that looks hardwearing, find a fabric that looks tough. If you're more after something that's floaty, pick a fabric that's light. If you're after drape or form-fitting-ness; go for a knit fabric.
I apologise if it sounds like I'm telling the reader how to suck eggs. I'm just going through the thought process for these things.
And yeah, choose materials that suit the look first and then the function.
Unless it looks like you're choosing between fabric composition over type.
Um,
Fabric type: a tangent
Yeah. Natural fabrics essentially feel better on your skin and give better airflow. Cotton breathes, as does linen, acetate and rayon, to a degree. Cellulose fibres (plant-based ones) feel best but crease like the little ratbags they are, so keep that in mind. Protein-based fibres like wool, alpaca and silk are often relatively expensive and will warm you up fairly well. It might help at this stage to distinguish what I mean by 'silk'.
Silk is made from silkworms. Protein fibre. It's used to make fabric. For some reason I am not entirely sure of though, when I say 'silk' or when a lot of other people say 'silk', it inspires thoughts of this fabric:
which is a satin-weave fabric, and is usually found in polyester and nylon varieties. So silk is used (sometimes) to make satin. Satin refers to how the fabric is constructed, rather than its composition.
Textiles lesson aside. The third type of fabrics you can get are synthetics. Nylon, polyester, and a variety of other things. They don't soak up liquids and are as effective at keeping your body warm as if you wrapped it in a plastic bag. However, they're usually pretty cheap, and they don't crease as easily as natural fibres.
Something to consider.
So. We've identified the character. We've figured out which of our attributes match to the character, and which ones we'll have to change. Maybe we've even worked out how to change these. We've figured out what articles of clothing the character wears and have had a guess as to what we could make them out of.
The next bit is where we actually start doing stuff.
Where do I start?
I begin by checking out other cosplays of the character that have been done in the past. See how people have done them; the little things that they found along the way that can make or break a cosplay, and the tips, tricks and hints on where to start and how to do things.
If you're adamant about doing things by yourself, you can skip this one. I prefer to see how I want these things to turn out though. DeviantART is a good starting point for research, although keep in mind that there's some terrifying stuff in there. Be specific with your search criteria and keep reciting Sturgeon's Law.
But hey. Research like this is how you can find out what to do, and what not to do with your costume. Consider it all advice, which you can take or leave.
Also, for those of you who possess little time or sewing skills. (I do this too - I can't sew jeans to save my life). Hit up a couple op shops. See if they have anything that looks vaguely similar to any of the clothing articles you're after. Sometimes you might need to do a little modification to get what you want, but it's also a good way to get the 'worn-in' look. If you're a stickler for a certain pattern or colour, you may end up building from scratch, but hey. Don't make your life harder than it is.
If you're the type who can't sew, I'd recommend finding a friend who does and talking with them at length before you go near a sewing machine about what you're planning on doing. Make sure you've got the correct gear and you're going about it the right way. If you can, get them to teach you the bare minimum to succeed. If you're the type of person who likes to figure things out along the way, that's fine. Just make sure you buy plenty of extra fabric. TT.TT
Patterns!
I'm a sewer, and I make my own patterns. It's just what I do. *shrugs*
However, a commercial pattern can usually do the job if you're now at the stage of 'I'm making something from scratch and I need to know how to make it'. Just keep in mind the type of clothing you're making while you're staring at the pattern selection book in the store, wondering where your mind is.
Commercial patterns have their ups and downs. They come in sizes, and have instructions, and can give you an immediate estimate of the type and amount of fabric that you'll need for a given project. However, they're usually printed on the thinnest paper known to man (so they're not very sturdy), have the same properties as sleeping bags and tents (in that they never quite go back in the bag the same way) and the instructions describe the hardest way to do something. In English and French. c'est la vie.
If you have to pick between pattern companies, keep in mind that they have their own difficulty level. Simplicity patterns are usually the easiest. Burda are moderate. Vogue are for the fearless.
Or insane.
Keep in mind that you can also modify these patterns if they don't quite meet your needs. It's pretty easy to make something more fitted or flowing before the fabric gets chopped up.
Sewing! Crafting!
Keep calm and follow the instructions. Keep your reference pictures handy. When I'm sewing at home, I usually end up shutting myself in a room and wearing something like a tank top and shorts - something I can usually try the item on over the top of. It's a good idea to check how the sewing together is going as it is going. This has two advantages: it's encouraging to see the thing you're making start to take shape, and you can identify problems fairly quickly. A dummy handy helps you keep an eye on things from a third-person perspective, although if you don't have one of those (they're not absolutely necessary for life) then a mirror can be just as handy.
Don't panic. It's almost a given that you'll stuff something up, so just make sure you know what you're chopping up before going at it with the scissors. Those mistakes are the hardest to fix. Let's never speak of how long it took me to finish my Espada coat because of cutting things out wrong-side-up and sewing the wrong bits together and interfacing the wrong side of bits. That thing was the bane of my TAFE course.
It was also supposed to have pants. Anyway.
Inevitably, at this stage, you'll realise that you're so short on time that it was a foolish thing to even begin. Don't listen to that voice. Keep going. You'll pull through.
Details!
Here, you're about 95% done. The things that distinguish a great cosplay from a good one are ultimately the fiddly, time-consuming details. Stuff like nails and earrings, yes, but more than that.
I'm guessing I probably don't need to say this, because if you're into cosplay at least, you probably know this one.
Get in character.
Wait, what are you doing here?
Or give off some semblance of trying to be in character.
You don't have to be all the time. Heck - one of the funniest photos I popped up in from Animania recently was my full hollow makeup with the cheesiest thumbs-up I could deal out at the time.
Cheesy.
Out of character.
But that's kind of what made it hilarious. And it achieved its purpose.
But. Acting in character, at least for photos and when people give their initial reaction to you really adds to the experience.
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