This year, I decided to do an "easy" cosplay: Misaka Mikoto from "To Aru Kagaku no Railgun". She's a Level 5 esper who can manipulate electricity, one of the strongest espers in Academy City. She is nicknamed, "Tokiwadai's Ace" or "Railgun" for her trademark move:
Here's my cosplay creation journey to give you an idea on how to cosplay:
Step 1: Get source material.
Step 2: Start with the hardest element.
Step 3: Know your skill level. A skilled seamstress I am not. Value Village is my friend.
Step 4: Make your modifications. Forty minutes later and I wind up with an unfinished vest.
Step 5: Make the character specific elements.
Step 6: Get your odds and ends. The loafers were hard to track down. I wound up getting these in the kids' section at Payless for 50% off. The knee high socks were from Adene's. I picked up the hairpins from Wal-mart.
The other two items hard to find were the temporary hair colour for my eyebrows and a large enough coin for launching Misaka's railgun. A lady at a hair salon recommended I get creamy eye shadow to colour my brows. Maybeline's Color Tatoo line works like a charm.
One of my friends found two big coins at the Farmer's Market for 50 cents apiece.
And now, for the big reveal:
To learn more about cosplay, check out my last entry, The Art of Cosplay.