Original Designs for Cosplays?

[Kanti]

Haha yea I got to anime conventions a lot, I love them!
I'm just a super nerd all around, really haha.
Basically, I wanted to go to an anime convention costume contest but I wasn't really sure
about the costume.
You see, I wanted to do a costume from a PC game called Diablo 3, a Witchdoctor
Here's how they look in the official artwork released before the game:
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And here are some ingame armor examples:
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Basically, Diablo has set characters but there are a number of different armors ingame. There's no
real "main character" looks, so in a way, it's like World of Warcraft.

ANYHOW I had begun designing my character before the game came out and I REALLY didn't want
to base my costume off the official art of the female witchdoctor.

1- It just doesn't look sinister enough. The mask was my main concern, it looks too fairy/dryad looking
rather than scary and intimidating like the male's mask looks.
2- (major reason) I'm not black xD Sorry if it's racist, but I think it would just look very off if I entered a
costume contest with the exact same outfit on but I'm super duper white hahaha.

ANYHOW this is my costume redesign:
Mask is unfinished but you get the idea:
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Outfit is unfinished as well but this is generally the design idea:
(I'm mostly going for lots and lots of accessories so right now it looks VERY plain)
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In the end I just wanted to know your guys' opinion on Original Designs. Do you think contest judges think
it's courageous and look at it as a good thing? I mean, designing an outfit isn't exactly easy, right?
Or do you think it's a bad thing? Do you think judges tend to look at it as being lazy or trying to twist the
costume so you don't have to work on it so much?
Do you think my redesign reflects the original idea of the character or do you think it strays too much?

Thanks guys!

[Nyx]

Personally I think it all depends on the quality of your work.
If it is an awesome, well done redesign then it works.
If it's a rushed, not well planed redesign then it would sort of be like putting the design to shame.
I can't really give you my 100% accurate opinion on how good it looks at the moment because chlorine has made me unable to see properly XD.
But from what I CAN see it looks really good.
I would suggest adding some darker tones into it and some of the teal looking marks.
Good luck with the contest! :)

[Mermaid Saphira]

I believe it is a wonderful costume! U made this your self? Hats off to you ;D

[Nyx]

I'm back with proper eye sight :D
This looks awesome Kanti!

[Kanti]

Haha thanks. I'm just not so sure anymore. It's getting close to the event so I'm at the stage
where all my stuff starts looking horrible to me.

[Mermaid Lorelei]

I think it's looking awesome. :> I really like the skulls you added on. They are a really nice touch. One thing you might try is possivly distressing the red fabric so it doesn't look quite as clean. Otherwise, I like it a lot.

As for the other half of the conversation, I'm a huge fan of original cosplays. I think, as long as there is a reason for an original costume, they can be done fabulously. Were I judging, I would be very impressed.

[Kanti]

Yea, I'm going to stain and distress all the fabric as well as tear up all the bottoms of them so they look
ruined and old and stuff. Right now none of the fabric is cut and it's all just pinned in place so I can get
an idea of what everything will look like.

I plan on making some skull necklaces but I'm not sure I'll add a whole lot more onto my costume.
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This is the male counterpart costume I'm making for my boyfriend. At the moment it's very plain and
it's also extremely difficult for me to invision it being for a guy since it's on a girl mannequin -___-
Either way, I'm not sure if I don't like it or not.. I'm not sure if it's because there's not enough jewelery
and stuff on it or because of the colors/design.

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[Mermaid Lorelei]

Hmm, I think the guy's costume looks great. :\

[Ilonka]

Those look really awesom! I really want to make a little mermaid cosplay, but with an original design. Like, what would she look like if she were real kinda thing and do an underwater shoot.

[Kanti]

Aww thanks guys. I really dunno I always get to a point where I think everything looks terrible xD

@Ilonka - Yea, Ariel was always very cartoony, redoing her design would be a fun idea~ maybe making her
a little more detailed. I remember someone (I dunno her name) did a realistic redesign of Ariel and made her
look more like a princess. She did it in one of those old-fashioned mertailor tails and it looked great!

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http://thereallittlemermaid.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=264#/d34iogx

[Ilonka]

Yeah I was looking at those photos the other day! I like how they made that one, but I would make mine with a more detailed tail and a more youthful appearence. That one looks more like when Ariel were to become queen, very cool idea tho.y

[Mermaid Dottie]

Oh, That's Traci Hines. I love her. She's an actress, and a singer, but I kind of like to think of her as a professional cosplayer.

[New York Mermaid]

@Kanti that really does look amazing, and you shouldnt feel that way, though everyone is always critical of themselves/ their art, which others see it entirely different, beautiful etc..

I always wanted to get into cosplay, for some reason i was more into the whole final fantasy X, X2 type games, I loved Yuna's Aeon- Valefor which was a bird type of creature.. in FFX there was also a fish like creature i believe it was called Anima.Ironcally theres quite a few sea creature types in some of the Final Fantasy Games..

Thanks to an old friend of mine who really got me into the game, He's big into Cosplay after hitting Anime Next and a whole bunch of Cons around the states..lol He keeps telling me to Cosplay Yuna.. I figure if im going to cosplay im going to do it my way.. After all Cosplay is all about dressing up and having fun :p

[Ilonka]

Final fantasy x is my favorite game of all time! I love rikku, this is me and my friend cosplaying from FFx-2.3304

[Kanti]

Bahh those are so cute
Final Fantasy characters seem so hard to dress up as sometimes, though.
They just have so many little details

[Ilonka]

That's why I love making them, because of the details. I really want to make more, and remake my old ones. Those were the only ones remade recently and I haven't been able to take them to a con yet :(