Making outfits, props, accessories, and costumes to wear for yourself is one thing; it’s time consuming, difficult and frustrating at times. But there is a huge pay off in the enjoyment you get out of the finished article and there is also a lot of fun to be had in the creative process.
It doesn’t always go as planned and can take a lot longer than you had hoped, but the compromises you make along the way are part of the learning curve and challenge your creativity. Your next project will always be better than the last for this reason, which always feels like a great achievement, but can also make you feel a little embarrassed about things you have made in the past. This is just a sign of your progress though, and you should be proud!
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| Back then you thought you’d nailed it… Now, not so much. |
Making things for other people however has another feeling about it altogether.
You still have the fun of creating, but there is more pressure to get right first time to save time and effort, and of course you want the person to be happy with your finished product. It’s hard to create something specific to someone else’s vision sometimes, it can be difficult for them to communicate exactly what they want for their custom piece, and even harder for you to make the presumption of what people want generally for pre-made stock items.
So the challenges in making things for others are definitely greater, which in turn intensifies the feeling of accomplishment when you get it right.
The main distinction is that the finished article ends up in someone else’s hands and so the overall pay off is something completely different to having the enjoyment of owning it yourself. It may be that you make the item in exchange purely for the happiness of it’s new owner, or the cool photo’s that you’ll get of it being used, or maybe you want to start selling your creative talents for cold hard cash.
Whichever exchange you opt for, it’s hard to make it feel worthwhile right from the beginning and a lot of people give up before they have a chance to really get their new venture going.
I myself am in this position currently. My new business opened just a few weeks ago, and comparing the outgoings of setting up a new business to the income generated from the sales in the first few weeks could be disheartening if I wasn’t looking at the bigger picture.
Firstly, I am doing something that I love in my spare time. Making any kind of money out of it is a bonus. That is the bigger picture.
I enjoy being creative, making things that I can wear, accessorizing outfits to transform them into something else, and now I’m getting to share that with other people who like dressing up too! All of that is awesome, and is making me enjoy my life a hell of a lot more than when I was working full time at a job I hated.
Secondly, I’m getting to wear all the stuff that I couldn’t find anywhere else because no one else made things quite like it – or if they did, their retail prices were too steep for me. Making your own costumes and accessories often works out cheaper than buying it from someone else; you only pay the wholesale price and pay the rest of it by putting in the time and effort yourself rather than paying someone else to make it for you.
Thirdly, I’m developing a skill. By forcing myself to make things more often and try new techniques and materials, I am learning for free by myself all the time in a world where education is for the most part is increasingly expensive.
Also, I know that the first few months of a business are about growing a client base and that bigger sales will follow. Having worked for other small independent businesses before, I recognize this pattern and realize that as long as I can put in the work to promote myself (not that THAT’S what this article is about, I swear) then I can break even and turn a profit.
If you’re thinking about turning your personal cosplaying habits into something to share with other people, let me pass on to you the things I have learned in the past few months.
To start, you need to outline what it is you can actually do.
There must be something that you’re especially good at making when it comes to your costume details, and chances are that is the thing you enjoy the most too. We always end up being better at the stuff that makes us happy, because we’re naturally inclined to focus on those things more and in due course get better at them. This is the thing that you need to build your business from, it will keep you interested, make you happy and ensure that your products are the best they could be.
Do you know if there are a lot of other people who like to wear or make similar things too?
Think about people you meet at events where you go to cosplay, even if it is just costume parties. These people are clearly into costuming and cosplay too, and should be the people you target with your finished product. Do some research online if you haven’t already, and figure out where other cosplayers go to talk about their costume parts online and where they get it. What you are making is not just a product, once you’re online and people can see a catalogue of your work – you’re basically a brand and you should market yourself as such. Branding can be anything from slapping your logo on a business card, to creating custom wristbands from Rapid Wristbands or something similar. By finding cosplayers and other folks online that could relate to your product, you can market a lifestyle associated with them that other people also want to be a part of.
Finding your market and getting to know it thoroughly (if you don’t already, which you probably do) is important, you wouldn’t want to waste your efforts on trying to sell something to people that didn’t want it or showcasing it in a way that was unappealing to your demographic.
You have a unique selling point. What was the reason you started making things for yourself?
In a lot of cases, people start making their own cosplay items because it’s impossible to find exactly what they were looking for somewhere else. So if that’s what you make, that makes you unique! This is a big deal and should be something you talk about a lot on your social media accounts, with bloggers, where ever. People need to know what makes you special, and why they should come to you over someone else for the thing that they’re looking for. It may just be that you have found a way of making things at a more reasonable price, or that your materials are more eco friendly.
Find things like #hashtags that are relevant to you uniqueness and use them so that people can find you specifically in their searches.
There is other help to be had online too. You’re going to want to expand and further yourself as a brand or business at some point, but to do that you need to learn how to do new things. There are plenty of Reddit/Tumblr threads and other blogs that can be extremely helpful. Other cosplayers are so willing to share and show off their great work that it’s easy to find these kinds of posts everywhere, often with authors who are keen to answer any questions you might have and other readers who are also clued up on the subject.
Personally, I prefer video tutorials.
Making things with your hands is, well, hands-on, and it helps to have someone talking you through making something if you don’t have a hand or eye free to scroll through and read a blog whilst in the act of making. It can also be better for a step by step guide, as sometimes a series of photos in a blog don’t have all the answers on how to get from one stage to the next where as a video is more fluid and shows the whole process (depending on the editing of course.)
My favourite channel for cosplay-how-to at the moment belongs to a guy called Epic Fantasy. He’s straight talking, practical and full of great tips on what tools and materials to use.
As helpful as other people’s work can be in letting you understand your own a little better, or inspiring you to try new techniques, it’s important to keep it original. No one likes a copy cat, and the people you’re reaching out to as a potential new market will most likely already know about the artist you’re copying and will out you as bogus without hesitation. Your new untarnished reputation does not need that.
Remember that you’ve got to crack some eggs. Set a budget for yourself, but understand that you have to spend money to make money. The first month (or longer!) will always be the most expensive as you have to buy all your tools and materials from scratch. Your sales will also be lowest at the beginning, as it takes time to build up a client base and generate sales. Be patient. Your outgoings will eventually be balanced out by your incoming if you have patience to wait.
That first $100 you spent may seem like a lot in the first week, but looking back over your first year it will probably look like nothing when you compare it to things that you have made or sold. You should consider it an investment, and even if you don’t make your money back, you have spent some cash on a hobby that makes you happy. Investing in your own happiness is just as important as anything else, but bear in mind that going over budget is not always conducive to this.
If you are looking at selling your finished product for cash and are unsure about where to open your store, try looking online to minimize spending (renting space for a store or stall can be super pricey.) Don’t forget to building things like selling fees into your prices, because that’s where they’ll getcha.
All online marketplaces have these, but are all very open and frank about how much it costs, so be sure to check first and figure out which is best for your needs and which would be most cost effective for you.
Good luck!
