COSPLAY 101: A Beginners Guide

[Rapine]

Just dress in shades of blue and paint your skin to match. Bam. Instant Anakin Force Ghost (the REAL one).

I've since taken steps to ensure that it does not look like Anakin at all.    No paint required.

[GreyNight]

Saw this on my FB page and thought it was quite fitting. 

[Renaissance1459]

Thanks a lot for the guideline, Darth Knox...

My girlfriend and I have been thinking about wearing Jedi robe to a local toys fair/comic con in my country, but we did not know where to start from...Your guideline give us some good idea about what we must research on...

Thank you once again

[Darth Knox]

Thanks a lot for the guideline, Darth Knox...

My girlfriend and I have been thinking about wearing Jedi robe to a local toys fair/comic con in my country, but we did not know where to start from...Your guideline give us some good idea about what we must research on...

Thank you once again

my pleasure. Glad you found it useful. Let me know if i can be of any further help

[Jabari]

Cosplay as any character you want to cosplay.  Don't worry if your costume isn't as good as someone else's, because everyone has to start somewhere.  Everyone's budget and skills are different.  I personally had very basic sewing skills (middle school home ec class, mostly) before I started costuming.  My first "official" cosplay was an X-Wing pilot assembled from a thrift store orange shirt and a black vest, with combat boots, orange pants, and a bike helmet I already had, and a flak vest made from an old t-shirt, duct tape, and rope.  The whole thing cost less than $10 and took under a day to make.  It wasn't great, but it was clearly recognizable
Since then, I've made everything from corsets and ballgowns to hand-drafted Jedi robes.  I've learned all kinds of crazy skills.  Some good sources on how to do stuff are The RPF, Instructables, Rebel Legion's forums, The Costumer's Manifesto...google the item you're looking to replicate, and someone probably has a few suggestions.

Right now I'm working on a screen-accurate Rey and Jyn Erso for membership into Rebel Legion.  But I'm also eventually doing a totally non-acceptable Jedi similar to my avatar and hopefully a Twi'lek Jaden Korr from Jedi Academy II.  Even if I do that one 100% screen accurate, it's not acceptable in Rebel Legion because it's a customizeable game character and doesn't fit their rules.  But Rebel Legion is not the end-all-be-all of costuming - so I won't be able to cosplay Jaden Korr while representing Rebel Legion at an official Lucasfilm event, big deal.  I can wear that costume anywhere else I want to.

My Star Wars costuming evolution goes something like this:
1. crappy Halloween Jedi costume - basically a vampire cape and tall boots with a toy lightsaber
2. recognizable thrift store X-Wing pilot costume
3. even crappier last-second Jedi Halloween costume - a poncho and a toy lightsaber
4. OK $10 Jedi costume with actual sewing involved but made from thrift store parts
5. Upgraded the $10 Jedi costume - accurate undertunic
6. much better sewn green Jedi costume, some good parts, some awful
7. indefinite hold on a barely started Darth Revan (the green Jedi originally had a Revan cape)
8. aborted KOTOR Star Forge Robes
9. upgraded the green Jedi robes to a new cloak, obi, and tabbards
10. indefinite hold on an accurate X-Wing pilot costume, barely started
11. after 10 years of thinking about it, I got as far as buying a few supplies and made one pattern piece for Jaden Korr
12. in-progress screen accurate KOTOR-era Jedi robes, down to the last 2 items but now on hold due to TFA
13. almost screen-accurate Jedi robe to go with the green Jedi, was going to remake the green Jedi properly but then TFA came out
14. for-fun "New Republic Corellian Jedi" - it was about 2/3 done, but it's so close to Jyn Erso that it's now being overhauled to use more of those parts
14. in-progress screen accurate Jedi Rey
15. in-progress screen accurate Jyn Erso

That's 17 years of improvement, there...and I'll finally have a screen accurate Star Wars costume (or possibly 3) by December.  (I have other fandoms I cosplay, but Star Wars is the one with the least potential to use existing pieces - I have a 10th Doctor costume that cost $30 (not counting the shoes) because I randomly found everything I needed at thrift stores, for example.)

[Jev Moldara]

Aside from my eternal quest to make a screen accurate Captain America costume, I am also planning on making a replica costume for my Star Trek Online character (the male one, not the female. I'm a little too heavy on the testosterone to portray a female character, unless it's a female ogre).

[Darth Knox]

Aside from my eternal quest to make a screen accurate Captain America costume, I am also planning on making a replica costume for my Star Trek Online character (the male one, not the female. I'm a little too heavy on the testosterone to portray a female character, unless it's a female ogre).

nonsense. Have you not seen pictures of a slightly overweight guy with a beard cosplaying as princess leia in the gold bikini? If you want to do it, then do it. Have fun and take pictures.

[Rathayatra]

nonsense. Have you not seen pictures of a slightly overweight guy with a beard cosplaying as princess leia in the gold bikini? If you want to do it, then do it. Have fun and take pictures.

  Thanks Darth Knox.  you give confidence and most importantly,  joy, to this old, just now coming to the Star Wars world Jedi. 

[Darth Knox]

Thank you. You're welcome

[Jev Moldara]

nonsense. Have you not seen pictures of a slightly overweight guy with a beard cosplaying as princess leia in the gold bikini? If you want to do it, then do it. Have fun and take pictures.

Dude, I am the biggest proponent of cosplaying whatever you want (unless your name is Jessica Nigri, in which case STOP COSPLAYING ALTOGETHER).

What I want, for myself, is to cosplay accurately. I don't care what anyone else does (again, unless it's Jessica Nigri), nor do I wish to force my own personal desire to cosplay accurately upon someone else.

[Darth Knox]

Fair enough. Was just trying to give you some encouragement. I don't strive for accuracy in cosplay, more capturing the spirit of the character. But that's the great thing about cosplaying; so many creative approaches available.

[wandering-seeker]

Any advice for someone who is in college and having to pass on the essential ramen to pay for a saber? If I can't afford to buy an actual costume would a martial arts uniform or some other slightly martial clothes work?

[Jev Moldara]

Any advice for someone who is in college and having to pass on the essential ramen to pay for a saber? If I can't afford to buy an actual costume would a martial arts uniform or some other slightly martial clothes work?

Actually a gi is one of the best places to start, as the Jedi's standard attire was based on martial arts clothing. Put one on like usual, maybe with an undershirt, wrap a length of cloth around your waist and tie it in the front or off to the side to hold the top closed,  maybe some wraps around your calf and/or forearms. Instant quasi-Jedi look.

[Jedihunter214]

Hey everyone I am needing help trying to find a good black boot for my outfit and I could use some help on any info given. Thanks

[Jev Moldara]

Hey everyone I am needing help trying to find a good black boot for my outfit and I could use some help on any info given. Thanks

What's the purpose of said boot? Everyday wear? Jedi cosplay? What?