My second main idea comes from my 5th concept idea; ‘A cosplay ‘hub’ where people can see outlines and designs of characters; follow friends ideas and see tutorials on making costumes.’
Cosplay is a large industry, with people taking part in it in various different ways. My plan is to create a way for the cosplay community to come together in order to help each other and enhance the hobby for everyone involved.
The idea initiated from my personal experiences with cosplay. When making a costume of a character; it can be hard to find the images you need in order to see the clear parts you are trying to create. It can also be difficult to work out a way to create a certain part of a costume, or find new techniques in order to create the best costume possible; whilst keeping it ‘legal’ for the event. Once the costume is created, you want to share it with people in photos and meet up with people in similar costumes, or for similar interests.
The platform I want to create is a way of combining all the different parts of the experience into one place. Its main point will be the creation of cosplays, but also link into modelling, photography and meet-ups.
In terms of creation; it will have a platform for showing the best angles and close-ups of a character via a search; allowing for a quicker way for reference points to be established. This could be teamed up with official channels; such as character creators, in order to create officials profiles and patterns for people to use when making a costume. Other people’s versions of the costume can be shown for inspiration; and many tutorials and techniques can be linked in per character/costume type for people to use in order to create the best possible costume.
A planning and costing element can also be included for the user, in order for them to keep track of there costume development, and how much they have spent on each costume. However, it can also connect pieces in order to save money across multiple costumes, i.e, a gun made for one character can also be used by another character the cosplayer has planned.
Outside of the costume making area, the platform would contain a social and contact method. This will allow people to advertise if they want to model they’re cosplay, and connect them with photographers. This works both ways, as photographers can advertise for shoots and people can apply to model for the photographer. This will connect people together, and allow them to enhance they’re experience.