At Phoenix Comicon, I attended 5 panels where authors, cosplayers, and time-machine builders gave advice about their respective crafts.

Character Clothing

Four authors and a comic book artist shared about the role clothing plays in their works and what to keep in mind when you consider how your characters dress.

1. What Are They Wearing?:

Is the clothing functional in the environment? If not, make sure the character feels its effects. –Travis Hanson

Try making the costume of one of your characters and wearing it for day. Feel what it’s like to move around in what they wear. Sensory input can really inform your writing. –Leanna Renee Hieber

Cosplay

2. A Beginner’s Guide to Foam Smithing:

New cosplayers often start working with foam, because it’s fairly easy to work with and cheap. If something you try doesn’t work, you’re probably only out about 50 cents.

Foam doesn’t have to be something you move on from. You can incorporate many different materials into your costume. It also uses many of same tools as Sintra and other thermoplastics. [Check out the Tools and Materials list in our DIY Armor post.]

3. Cosplay Like a Pro: Less Stress, More Fun!

You notice the flaws of a costume you’ve been working on but others won’t. They see the overall picture.

Remember the 10-foot rule: your costume doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to look good from 10 feet away. If someone wants to get closer than that, that’s when you suddenly have a panel to rush off to.

4. We are ALL Wonder Women! with Heather Ann Cosplay, Stray Kat Cosplay, and Whitney.

Even if you feel you don’t look like the character or aren’t sure about your costume, you can feel like Wonder Woman. –Stray Kat Cosplay

Watching Wonder Woman inspired little girls that
they could stand up for themselves and others. –Whitney

Time Machine

Oliver and Terry Holler used parts they found and made to turn a DeLorean into a far out Back to the Future time machine. With it, they have traveled to all 50 states to fund raise for a future Parkinson’s Disease cure (a cause close to my heart because of my cousin Allison).

5. Back to the Future: Adventures in a DeLorean Time Machine:

The great thing about making something yourself is then you can fix it.

Money comes and goes. Time only goes.

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Thank you to Phoenix Comicon for providing media passes.