Tutorials

Many anime and comic costumes have unique designs that you’re not going to find at the fabric store. This can be anything from a superhero logo to a specific pattern of stripes on your character’s T-shirt. If you can’t find the fabric or clothing that works for your character, you can use paint to create…

Weathering props adds character and story to them. After all, what fighter will ever have a pristine shield or armor that looks like it’s never seen battle? All of the items that we use day-to-day will have some kind of wear to them, so it’s only natural that we’d want our props to look a…

Sometimes magic staffs that you need for cosplay are too tall or large to easily transport to an anime convention. In these cases, you’ll need to design your prop in a way that allows you to detach the head, save space and pack your staff properly. You can make the detaching mechanism a design element…

There are a lot of skills to learn in cosplay, and one that doesn’t get talked about as much is creating fake facial hair. Despite this, it’s an essential skill for crossplayers to master but is a useful skill for anyone who wants unique facial hair for a costume. I’ll go over the three most…

The easiest method for making your swords and other props look like metal is by using metallic acrylic paint. However, this doesn’t give you the most realistic effect, since there will always be brush strokes and surface texture even if you spend a lot of time sanding. Still, for most cosplay props, this looks good…

Sometimes you need to make a wooden wizard staff for your next cosplay, but there’s no way to get ahold of an actual stick to use. Or maybe you need to create a wooden staff that has a very specific shape to match the character design. In these cases, I have found that the best…

Need a shield to go with your sword? check out my other tutorial (which includes two types of shields) Crafting a cosplay sword can elevate your costume from good to great, providing that element of realism that can impress at conventions, during photo shoots, or at any cosplay event. Luckily, making a convincing sword for…

Goggles are a very common accessory among cosplay protagonists, but they all come in unique shapes with odd details added on. Unless the character is very popular, it’s usually pretty difficult to find ready-made goggles that are perfect for your costume. I guess that means it’s time to make your own custom pair of goggles!…

There are any number of ways to go about making a dagger for cosplay. If you’re a beginner and you want an easy first project to try your hand at prop making, this tutorial is for you. It is a basic, cardboard dagger or knife that you can use to add a prop to your…