Happy Belated Birthday Homestuck! (Day 5)

Hey, I'm sorry this is a day late (I was super busy) but here is my final day of the week of Homestuck casual cosplays. I'm sorry this isn't a great picture but it's the only picture I have of my Kanaya Maryam. FYI: I was also wearing red pants (because I don't have a red skirt). That's about it. MadDog out!

Happy Belated Birthday Homestuck! (Day 4)

Round of applause for day four of (so much freaking) Homestuck! I can't believe I've made it this far--one day to go. My Moirail was Karkat (beep beep meow) Vantas again but this time I was Gamzee Makara instead of Sollux Captor. (For more photos, check out the Underwater Hemisphere.) MadDog out!

Happy Belated Birthday Homestuck! (Day 3)

So today we were the Lalonde's. It was pretty great other than the fact that my matesprit was going to make a Kanaya and totally forgot. :( It's okay though because Rose and Roxy. (We also made her take pictures which was hilarious so...) The end. So here are some pictures! Be proud of the fact that Roxy was so floppy she ripped my sleeves up far enough to reveal that my pink sleeves aren't actually sleeves in some pictures. Also be proud of some of our expressions. Sigh. :) MadDog out!

"Pretty grand." *Pats self on back nodding.*

Happy Belated Birthday Homestuck! (Day 2)

So today fro cosplay, me and my moirail were John and Dave. (Yes, I did make a John cosplay shirt last night.) It was pretty fun and we took more photos than yesterday. 

(Check out this ironic selfie.)

Really that's all. I hope you have enjoyed the second day of our Homestuck casual cosplay week and that you are looking forward to day 3. I shall see you tomorrow! MadDog out! (I put on a wig after school so that... bonus picture: John waves bye.)

Happy Belated Birthday Homestuck! (Day 1)

So basically, the anniversary of Homestuck was yesterday but I was super busy so I didn't get to celebrate. :( So all this week I will be doing Homestuck-themed casual cosplays! Yay! Today I was Sollux Captor and I looped my moirail into being Karkat (beep beep meow) Vantas. It was très cool. (Do you like my shades?) That's about all! MadDog out!

My Everyday Cosplays #7

Two posts in one day--OHMYGOODNESS--well, don't get too excited now. This post is just another casual cosplay. This is me casually cosplaying as Stocking (Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt). All you really need to pull this one off is some striped tights, a black dress, and some black shoes. I am also holding the Stocking sword I made a while back because why not. (If you would like to make this sword too and want to find out how I made it, Please Click Here.) Just thought I'd show you cause they days are getting warmer (at least in New England) so the days to wear thick tights are numbered. That's about it! MadDog out!

My Everyday Cosplays #6

Well, I was just in another production recently so naturally, they was another dork day to advertize. The last time, I casual cosplayed Misty (click here to see) and this time I was going to full out cosplay as Rose Lalonde from Homestuck, but I didn't have enough time to make that happen so I casual cosplayed an incomplete version of her. Here are some pictures and I promise that Seras update is coming. (All I have to do is finish the collar and then it's update away.) MadDog out!

Other People Everyday Cosplay #3

So, it is the homecoming time of year and that means that (at least at my school) it is spirit week! (....woooo....) But that's not the point now is it!? To sum things up, today was crazy hat day and my friend, Mae, had made this wicked amazing Midna hat that she wore. I thought you guys would totally want to see it because it is amazing! So that's all. See ya. MadDog out!

My Everyday Cosplays #5

HELLO!!! I'm sorry sorry I haven't posted in a while--I'm in the middle of tech week and the show I'm in is going up tomorrow night! The only reason I even have something to post right now is because we try to advertise at my school by dressing up weirdly. Today was Nerd Day so I ended up casual cosplaying as Misty (from Pokémon). Just thought you might enjoy. As soon as my life is back in order, I will post new stuff--I'm so sorry guys. (Also sorry if this post makes no sense. And the fact that this picture was taken in my school's bathroom. D: Yeah.) I don't own a solid yellow shirt so, as you can see, this is my drum major academy shirt turned inside-out. I'm wearing the tights not because Misty wears black tights but because, I don't know about wear you live, but here in Massachusetts, it is fracking cold. Well, that's about it. MadDog out!

Other People Everyday Cosplay #2

So this is my friend, Kristen, as Rosie the Riveter. You know, you can look this awesome too if you casual cosplay. Hey, use Halloween as an excuse to cause that's coming up (is it really?). And back to working on my Seras cosplay. Hope you enjoyed this ridiculously short post. MadDog out!

Other People Everyday Cosplay #1

Hello people! As you may have guessed, I am a strong supporter of casual cosplay as I love being a complete dork (gasp). But who wants to only see me casual cosplay over and over again. So I'm going to show you some other people casual cosplaying (probably just my friends). This first "Other People Everyday Cosplay" is of my friend, Nathan, as Soul Eater Evans (from Soul Eater). Still busy as ever but thought you might enjoy this little post. MadDog out!

My Everyday Cosplays #4

Hello again everyone! It has been so long since my last post and for that, I am sorry. I have been away camping and then band-ing (Drum Major Academy) and I have not had a chance to work on my cosplays let along post about them. That's about all I have to say on that topic so I'll just get on to the post. As I said, I've not had time to work so here's another casual cosplay. Meet me as Matt (another character from Death Note)! He's known to wear black boots, skinny jeans (with weird horizontal stripes), a black-and-white-striped, long-sleeved t-shirt (well, actually it's red-and-black but usually when he is cosplayed, people will take the red form his shirt and basically put it in his hair instead--so we're going with the white), black gloves, and goggles (sometimes a vest too). So here I am wearing black-ish boots, skinny jeans, a black-and-white-striped, long-sleeved t-shirt, and goggles. (Just too fracking hot to bare the gloves. Hope you enjoy! MadDog out!

My Everyday Cosplays #3

I'm sure that you are all going to marvel at all of the wondrous effort I put into making this "everyday cosplay" (and by effort, I mean no effort whatsoever). This casual cosplay shows us that if you are not cosplaying every day, you should be, because it is this simple. My casual cosplay today, is L (from Death Note). He wears a white shirt and jeans so that is what I'm wearing. The end. Hope you enjoy. MadDog out!

My Everyday Cosplays #2

Today I am "everday cosplaying" as Rei. I was just wearing her wig around my house (because let's be honest, I was missing the blue the hair) and I said to myself, "Hey, this is a great example of casual cosplay." So hear I am blogging about it. Yay! I also made this casual cosplay a bit more exciting by wearing my NERV shirt. So hear you go. I hope you enjoy. MadDog out!

My Everyday Cosplays #1

Well. This is going to be a new thing. Every so often I will post a casual cosplay or a feature cosplay or a mix of the few ways you can cosplay every day or whatever on this blog. Today I am posting me as Android 18. In this photo I'm featuring a vest that I altered to look like hers and that's really the main part of this "cosplay." But I'm also wearing a denim skirt like she does and, although you can't really see it, a black-and-white striped shirt similar to hers. This everyday cosplay is a mix of casual cosplay and featuring. Hope you enjoy! (P.S. Don't mind the strange expression I'm making. I don't even know what to call that really. It is very weird. Sorry. Just pretend my face isn't there. XD)

Part Three: Original or Interpretive Cosplay

Original or interpretive cosplay can be done casually or it can be done full out for contests and things (at conventions). Most of this type of cosplay comes from gender-bending, style-changing, or both. For this example, we are going to use the character Matt (from Death Note).

GENDER-BENDING
This would really just mean turning him into a girl. A way you could do that is by taking his black-and-white-striped shirt and turning it into a dress. Keep everything else pretty much the same (with the exception of turning his jeans into leggings or something) and then you are done.
(Note: I don't think that it should really be called this but it's what tons of people know it as.) 
STYLE-CHANGING
This would be done by, for example, putting him in the 50s or making him emo. You'd change his style slightly to make him match general looks (just like making him a girl... but not).
BOTH
This would be like turning Matt into a girl and then making him lolita styled. With a cosplay like this, sometimes the suspension of beliefs will be pushed very far but I have seen it done well (so don't delete this idea from your head).
ALTERING
Another thing that you could do is, take something like Rei Ayanami's (Neon Genesis Evangelion) plug suit and turn it into a dress with almost or all of the same markings on it. (Just make it a dress instead of a full body plug suit.) This could probably go under style-changing but it's slightly different so I gave it this new section.

Part Two: Casual Cosplay

In the last post about cosplaying everyday, I talked about featuring parts of a previous cosplay but you can also do something called casual cosplay. You can do this by wearing your normal clothes and a wig or you can do this following these steps:

STEP ONE:
Pick a character and figure out what generally makes up their outfit. As an example, through this post I will be using the character Link (from the Legend of Zelda franchise). He has a green tunic, baggy, tan leggings (oh, I can hear the controversy), some brown boots, a few brown belts, a green elf-hat, some brown pouches, and brown gloves. (He also has a sword and a shield and stuff but because those don't make up his outfit, we aren't going to focus on them.)
STEP TWO:
Don't make anything. Casual cosplay is supposed to be cheep and use everyday clothing. What you wanna do, is find articles of clothing that are similar to these things. They can be from your own wardrobe, ebay, or a the clearance rack at your favorite store depending on your "budget." After I browsed ebay for about ten minutes, these are things (down at the end of this post) that I found on ebay that are similar to his actual wardrobe.
To View...
Boots: Please Click Here
Hat: Please Click Here
Belt: Please Click Here
Pants: Please Click Here
Arm-Warmers: Please Click Here
Shirt: Please Click Here
STEP THREE:
Put it all together and you have a casual cosplay. You aren't featuring anything like how I explained in the last post, but rather suggesting a character with similar clothing choices.

How to Cosplay Every Day Part One: Featuring (and an Introduction to This Page)

If you are expecting some sort of simple way to full out cosplay every day of your life, you have come to the wrong place. (However, at the end of this post, I will give a short list of things you can expect when cosplaying in public.) The title of this page should really be: How to Wear Bits of Previous Cosplay Without looking Utterly Ridiculous (Although Still a Little Anyway) to the General Public. Unfortunately, this didn't fit to well. Well anyway, I'm basically going to be showing you how to look like a cosplayer everyday without full out cosplaying.

STEP ONE:
Pick a cosplay that you really like and then pick a part of that cosplay that you want to "feature." I suggest not using a "one-piece" cosplay like a school uniform as there is nothing to really feature.
STEP TWO:
Pick out a few things from your own wardrobe that could match with this feature. For this I suggest picking articles of clothing that are not going to make your final outfit "busy." For example, if you chose to feature Stocking's stockings (because you knitted them or whatever) don't wear a frilly, neon-green top with overly distracting make up. Also, don't wear something that's going to hide your feature. I'm hoping this would be obvious but if you are featuring Stocking's stockings, don't wear thigh high boots and cover them up. (That would be silly.) Instead of these things, you should wear something more plain. For example, a solid tank, black skirt, denim vest, and flats (still going with the example of the Stocking's stockings feature). Kay?
STEP THREE:
After you gotten creative and come up with an outfit, do one final step and make sure that the focus of the outfit is still on your feature. If you aren't sure you can always send a pic to a friend and ask what the first thing that s/he notices about your outfit is. Have fun!

And now, as promised,
What to Expect (and NOT Expect) When Cosplaying in Public:
EXPECT:

• Many strange faces
• Small, shy children hiding from you
• Small, not-so-shy children being obnoxious to you
• A lot of questions (especially if you are waiting in some sort of line)
• No service (depending on how bizarre your cosplay is)
•  If you are near a group of old people, a lot of strange jokes that you don't get and a lot of sayings like, "Those crazy kids these days..."

NOT EXPECT:

• People to know who you are cosplaying as (unless you are wearing for example, a bright orange ghi)