No question the real thing is always the best. That's valid for the Cosplay hobby also. Anyway, Cosplay costs money. The customes, the accessoires, the conventions. Perhaps you would love to cosplay, but  you just can't afford it.  Well, as for me I can't. But I discovered SECOND LIFE. Second Life gives you the option to cosplay sitting at your pc either for free or for only a little money.

Well, I'm a Second Life member since almost 2 years now and recently I started to create avatars.
The graphics below show 2 examples. First is Ginny and the other on is Mystic Moon. Both are complete characters and when you use her in Second Life you will look 100 % exactly like them.

Ginny and Mystic Moon are to buy for a little more than 1 Dollar each and both come with a complete outfit, hair, boots, necklace, facelight, sexy walk, short she has everything what's needed. And in case you want to change their clothes, their hair or other accessoires you can do that at any time.

Now you may ask what those avatars are good for. And what you can do with them.

Well, avatars in SL are not just static pictures to look at like forum or message board avatars. In Second Life avatars are living and have a life. What kind of life, well, that depends on your wishes and on your fantasy. Simple said, imagine yourself acting in a 3D movie, but free to do what you want, then you get the idea.

As I mentioned in the beginning. The real thing might be the best, but if you can't afford the real thing, then coplaying in Second Life is much more than only a cheap alternative.


Ginny

How to Prepare For a Cosplay Convention

Steps

1. Make a list. What do you need to bring? The very last thing you want is to be sprinting all around your house because you can't find item X. Think about what you need, write it down, and gather it up. Be like Santa, and check it twice.
2. Pack your stuff. The night before, check again to make sure you have everything, then pack it up. Check things off on your list as you go. Don't just throw everything into a bag an hour before your train leaves.
3. Have your costume ready. Make sure that all its pieces are on your list and marked off. Forgetting a crucial part can make all that hard work and patient waiting go right down the drain. To be sure you have everything, put it on. Look it over, make double sure you've got all its parts, then pack it away. Put all the parts together if you can. Also, if you can wear any parts as street clothes, then do that. It saves space for other things, and ensures that you don't forget it. You can't forget what's attached to your body. Just know what's acceptable and what's going to look silly. Ask yourself, "Would I wear this in school/at work?" If yes, then wear it. If no, pack it away.
4. Check your tickets. Make very sure you have the right tickets for both the con and your transportation there.
5. Make a con plan. Are you meeting someone? If so, when and where? When's mealtime? Bathroom breaks? Time to go home? Get a copy of the con schedule if you can, and then plan your day around that. Mark down what you really want to see. Wear a watch, or something else with a clock on it, regardless of how badly it clashes with your costume. It's better to look a tiny bit less realistic then miss a favourite event, or your ride home, so plan ahead!
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Advices for Making Cosplay Props' Accessories

To make delicate accessories, the most important part is to select the proper materials. It’s commonsense to use foam or plastic to make your stuff light, and use fiberglass or metal to make it tough. Wander around your home for things suitable and proper for your props. There is no strict rule on objects made by certain materials, but only free mind in looking for the most ideal raw material to make the most vivid costumes.

MATERIALS

Polymer clay: there are two popular brand—FIMO and SCULPEY, which is nice choice for accessories and jewellery. They’re easy to manage, quick dry and sold in various colors. Only problem is things made by them could be a little bit heavy.

Foam core: foam core is kind of a craft board, which consist of stiff foam come in between several layers of cards. You can find it in any art supply store, and use it as a base to build papier-mache. Technically, it isn’t strong enough to build hard object. It’s best use is to strengthen large pieces with two or three layers. Foam core can be cut with knife and scissors easily, and be carved to some extent once you replace the paper surface.

Papier-mache: it’s a inexpensive and extremely light material. You can pulp or strip with this kind of stuff. You may be familiar with the strip way—simply rip it up into strips according to what you need, then moisturize and color it, attach it where you need. There’s one little tip: shape something into what you want, and then cover it with papier-mache.

Pulping is another method to form different shapes. But it cost time and it’s really troublesome if you’ve tried, although things made by this way is vivid and adorable.

Paper clay: it’s a alternative to Fimo or Sculpey. The make process is same as before, shape, dry, sand and paint. The prior advantage with paper clay is it can provide smooth effect after finished. Be advised that paper clay shrinks as it dries, so unless the piece has room to shrink, seams on it will appear. These can be fixed up with more clay.

Plaster strip: it is kind of strips made of open-weave fabric covered in plaster, water-reacted. it can be fast to set it, but it takes lots of time---at least a day, to dry it thoroughly. This material is the ideal one for making body model for its feature, but be sure to move the model off the person before it gets too hard for scissors. The cast could be extremely strong, but too much heavy if you apply several layers. Remember it can’t be easily sanded to make it smooth, because plaster strip is based on loose-weave fabric. If you want to make it nice and glossy, you can apply other material such as polyfilla or spackling compound and sand that layer smooth.

There’s other caution about working with plaster. Because the plaster hardens gradually, you may have to use a rubber bowl to mix it. When it hardens while you’re busy working with it, just squeeze it a bit to remove the dried plaster.

Plastic:

If possible, you can choose a latest product called Wonderflex, which is like thermoplastics but becomes pliable at a lower temperature. The most advantageous and healthy feature is you can use it with your own hands without being contaminated by poisonous chemical substances.

Same, there’s another new material called Friendly Plastic. It becomes malleable in hot water and can be managed by bare hands, which is best companion for Wonderflex and for sculpting small items.

It’s so obvious that every fellow have their favorite anime & manga characters which they aspire to cosplay. However, does the one suit your style? Choosing right and fitted character is one of the significant parts in cosplay. If you’ve chosen the right character , it’s effortless to elaborate your acting potential and present your indulge in this character. If not, to display the perfect performance seems not so easy though there are other ways to fix some flaw. I think, before you seriously take steps on the stage, it’s indispensable to possess this unpleasant preparation that perhaps few laymen would place an adverse critic on your defective play. So let’s talk about how to choose the suitable character.

For boys, I think the first is to pay attention to your figure. If you are almost the same figure: referred to your height, weight, body proportion to the role you tend to act, it’s easy to present acceptable show with average costume. And regardless of your fullness or slimness, tallness or shortness, there are always countless characters to choose, which is superior to girls’ cosplay. The second part is to be cautious to some specific details such as the charm, the face cheek, or the behavioral styles of the character. A babyface to play a rough guy is strange and sort of missing the spirit. Grounded this two parts be accomplished well, the performance is to some extent a perfect show.

Then the girls’ part. Unlike boys, the most important thing is about the actress’ body figure. As girls’ costumes have more pattern and stylish design than boys’, and even several body exposures, thus it’s better to find the advantage and disadvantage of the player, so as to choose the fit garment. For instance, if your legs look not so perfect, you can select long dress or trousers; the figure is round in normal clothes, you may pick up something that won’t reveal your curves. These concepts are the same clothes matching principles as in everyday life. Except this, nearly every other disconformity could be fixed up by other artificial methods, such as cosmetic, fake hair, small accessories. Moreover, in capturing the spirit and charm of the role, girls could use cosmetic to demonstrate different effect, which brings numerous advantages to the performance. For example, rich make-up makes the actress sophisticated and gaudy, while pale make-up tends to display a sense of purity and innocence.

Specifically, about the crossplay. Normal situation is girls crossplay as boys, because female’s cheek curve is tender and reserved, which brings unexpected effect in transvestite. So if you’ve picked up the right character, you can take the chance to have a try. On the contrary, boys - character as girls sometimes is totally for fun, and some is seriously to display the grace and elegance of female. It is not a denial for your hard work, but a various degrees of acceptation. For the audience, I think it is better to cheer up for the crossplay for their courage.

alice hana from cosplay classes which provide the useful resources about cosplay costumes and Accessories for cosplayers

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