The Experience of Cosplay

When you step into a convention in a costume you make, you don't step into the convention as yourself, but rather the character. My first conventions was CanCon (Canberra games convention) in January. I made my costume the night before. Looking at my outfit after CanCon, I realize how much better I could've done, so, in preparation for the cosplay competition at The Eb Games expo, I decided to redo my armour, and make it more attractive. Below are the pictures I took comparing the two pieces of armour I made, with the one on the left being made in January, and the one on the right being made March...

Character Analysis: Link

Link is the main protagonist in the Legend of Zelda series. He is usually depicted as courageous young boy in a green tunic who leaves home to fulfill his destiny, which is usually to fight the evil forces threatening the land.

Ocarina of Time

 His appearance is usually blonde hair, that ranges from light to dark, a green tunic, tan pants, blue eyes, and a medium build.

Link, being the main protagonist, appears in every legend of Zelda games. Because there are so many, I will only list the ones that I believe really depend on the physical appearance. Although The Legend of Zelda is where it all started, I will not be featuring those really early versions of Link. Please note that I will also not be including the tunic variations found in the game

Ocarina of Time
In this games, the character goes through to stages, and two appearances, as you play through young Link, as well as adult Link. Link's hair is more golden in this games, than other games, such as Twilight Princess. Young Link is seen wearing his iconic green tunic, and his cap. Although young link does not wear any pants, and in game, his tunic is more like a jumpsuit separated by a belt. He has brown leather slouch boots that roll over.

Ocarina of Time

Adult Link is much different. His tunic looks more like a tunic, and he wears white pants. He has leather gauntlets as default, although they are upgradeable in game. He wears a white shirt underneath his tunic that appears to be almost like a long sleeve turtleneck as it sits on his neck, and can be seen underneath his gauntlets.





Majora's Mask
Although the same design for young Link from Ocarina of Time was used, I believe this game should still get a mention. In this game, you play only as young Link, and have the same appearance, although your appearance can changes as you wear different masks, as the then transform as the Link version of the mask you are wearing.

Four Sword/ Winwaker/ Minish Cap

Windwaker

All these Links carry the same design, with some slight differences. The base design is a less yellow hair which sweeps across his face to two points. He wears a long dark green tunic, and a black belt with a gold buckle. He wears a long sleeve light green top, white pants, and brown boots.

In Minish cap, Link's cap is an entirely different character, and looks like a bird is part of his hat.

Minish Cap

In four swords, there are four different colour variations, with the variations of blue, red, green, and purple. All colours follow the same design as above.

Four Swords

Twilight Princess
Twilight Princess Link is probably my all time favorite Link. It just has something to with the overall seriousness to the design.

Four Swords

Again Link goes through two different design changes. One being the farm boy Link, and the other is the typical Link everyone is accustomed to. I will only be reviewing the tunic Link.

This was the Link I had pasted everywhere. In year 7, a copy of this image was pasted to the inside of my diary.

This is the most realistic Link, and his design mimics the seriousness of Twilight Princess Zelda, as well as the whole Twilight Princess video game.

This Link has a more realistic coloured blonde hair. He wears a white shirt that covers his neck and is closed by an X. Twilight Princess Link wears chainmail underneath his dark green tunic. His tunic is overall decorated in strips of fabric, and embroidered pieces.

He wears tan, almost jodhpurs like pants, and slim brown leather boots.
On his hands sit leather gauntlets over gloves.

Skyward Sword

Link's look here is very similar to that in Twilight Princess however in games his face is a lot softer, and his tunic is a lighter green. His pants are also a little less fitted than that of Twilight Princess.













Hyrule Warriors

 Here, the light tunic is repeated. Link's hair also leaves the darker tones into a more platinum blonde. Link wears more armor here than he does in other games, with the addition of pauldrons, as well as shin guards. Link also wears a long, fabulous scarf with the Hylian print on the end.

Princess Zelda pauldrons: part 2

Hey guys, so after three tests I decided on the best way to complete my Princess Zelda pauldrons.

Step 1
So after sizing and printing a pattern, I transferred it to my craft foam and cut out two copies. One that I didn't cut out any detail, and one where I did.

Step 2
After all the pieces were cut out I glued them together with a hot glue gun. I then covered the surface in glue. The glue provides a better surface for the resin to stick to.

Step 3
 I then covered it in resin, and followed the painting process I applied for part 1 of my pauldrons.

Step 4
I then glued across the bottom half of pauldrons and glued the top half to it.

And there you have it, your pauldrons are done. Keep checking my blog for completing the other parts of the chest armor, as well as attaching everything to the dress.

- Jeditwins

Jeditwins Cosplay

Princess Zelda pauldrons: part 1

Hello
Here is tutorial for Princess Zelda's pauldrons. I am yet to make the top half of the pauldrons, and am currently working on that, however here is the completed tutorial for the bottom half of the pauldrons.

So first off, I traced the pattern onto a piece of craft foam, and cut it out. I started off with a patter to trace, however, the pattern I had was too small, so I ended up drawing it freehand, before folding it in half to make the edges even.

The next thing I did was heat it up. Heating it up softens the foam and gives you the ability to shape it. I set my foam in the oven, although you can use a hairdryer. Once it was soft in the oven, I rolled the foam up in foil and placed it back in the oven for five more minutes.

When it has cooled, it should remain in the shape it was heated in. Don't worry if it's too curled up, when we glue it to the top half, it will unroll a bit.

I glued the bottom half to the top half, and sealed the edges with paper. When you glue it, things will get messy, and it will look like you've used a whole heap of unnecessary glue (Don't worry, as you will need a lot of glue to keep it in one piece).

The next thing I did was cover the whole thing it resin. I originally planned to use fiberglass mat as well, but I didn't end up using it.

When that dried, it was finally time to paint it. First I applied a base coat of black spray paint. Over that I used gold. I was happy with the gold paint over the resin, however, it didn't look realistic enough for me, so along all the edges I ended up painting on black paint the give it a weathered look. I then smudged that out, before hand painting more gold paint over the black.

And that's it. If you have any questions about this, do not hesitate to ask, as I'm happy to reply.

- Jeditwins Cosplay

Tutorial: Elf Ears

Here I'm going to tell you how to make elf ears. With these ideas you can go on to make ears in whatever shape you want.

Materials:

• Liquid latex 
• Clay
• Hot glue (not pictured) 
• Play dough (I ended up using clay)
• paint brush

Step 1: Creating a mold
Using a ball of play dough, or clay, which worked the same (just make sure your clay is soft). Create a mold by pushing it into your ear. The softer the clay, the more detail you will receive. Fill in your mold with hot glue to create a replica of your ear.

Step 2: Shaping your ear
Using the clay, cut out a triangle to the same size you want your ear to be. You will then need to sculpt it to the shape you want your ear to be. I created a ridge in my clay to make it more realistic. Wait for this to dry before gluing your ear into the clay.

Step 3: Latex
Using the back of a paintbrush (don't use the bristles unless you never want to see your paintbrush again) cover your ear in a coat of liquid latex. When you dry your ears, make sure you dry them upside down so they don't become lumpy. When they are completely dry, give them another coat. I takes about and hour for the latex to fully cure. I ended up applying six coats, so that's six hours of drying time. If you don't want to wait that long I encourage you to use a hairdryer.

Step 4: Removing the ears
Before you peel the ears off, give them a coat of baby powder, that way they wont stick and leave you frustrated. When you peel them off, they will come off inside out. Apply powder to the inside before flipping them around the right way. I ended up making a second pair, the only difference is that the latex went all the way down to the lobe, giving it more support.

Applying the ears

To apply them all you need to do is apply spirit gum to wherever the ear has to attach to. Wait for the glue to become tacky, then slip on the ears. I applied latex, as well as concealer to the join to help blend it out. 

And there you have it!

If you have any questions of comments, do not hesitate to ask, and I'll be happy to reply.
- Jeditwins