DIY Minion Costume: The Outfit + Minion Hat for Halloween

While browsing Pinterest I came across a DIY Minion Tutorial that I really liked. So I decided, since I've been piecing together some past cosplays, why not make my own Halloween costume?

Supplies

Minion Goggles [tutorial here]

• Using supplies from Home Depot and the dollar store, I cover a tutorial on DIY Minion Goggles here.

Minion Outfit [scroll down for logo print out how-to]

• Yellow Shirt ($6.95 from H&M)
• Blue Shorts/skirt ($12 from H&M)
• Knee-High Socks ($9 from Walmart)
• Black Shoes (flats) ($9 from Walmart) 
• Suspenders ($9.50 from Hot Topic)
• Print logo to t-shirt ~$22

Minion Hat [for tutorial, scroll down]

• Craft Foam for minion hat (< $10)
• Glue gun with glue (less than $4 at the dollar store)

Getting the Printed-Tee

There were several options to get the printed logo, this "Gru Logo" which I have provided in large resolution here [click for large version, png]:

DIY Halloween Minion Costume: Goggles

I've been working on a Despicable Me Minion Costume and decided to DIY this year instead of purchasing a costume (partly inspired by DIY cosplays for conventions I've started to attend this year). I was inspired by Bethany Mota's Minion Tutorial on Youtube and decided to try my hand at it.

I'll be blogging shortly about the outfit I'm putting together for the costume. 

Materials

Minion Goggles

• PVC Piping Ends 2 or 3 inches in diameter (95 cents each at Home Depot)
• Silver/Glitter Spray Paint ($12.95 at Home Depot). I chose one specifically for crafts
• 6 small nuts (from my dad, can get them from Home Depot)
• Glue Gun ($3 from the Dollar Store) with Glue Gun Fillers ($1.50 from Dollar Store)
• Velcro straps (from Dollar Store)

Fan Expo: Day 4 of 4

The last day of FanExpo was relatively low key. We waited in line to meet Jessica Nigri, a really famous cosplayer but because of flight changes she had to cancel her event. However we had a chance to go to a panel with Ian Somerhalder. 

From Mortal Kombat: they had no pupils!

Fan Expo: Day 3 of 4

Saturday is the biggest day at Fan Expo Canada; we got to see plenty of impressive cosplays, including this huge line of Storm Troopers that walked through.

Fan Expo: Cosplay as Mario & Luigi

I've never done a "group" cosplay before, so being able to cosplay with my good friend Stephen was so much fun! We coordinated colours and hats and off we were to Fan Expo Canada. 

Whats great about Mario and Luigi is that its so universally recognized. Small children would often point at us, and say "Look mom and dad Mario and Luigi!". The parents would ask for us to take pics with the kids. We were more than happy to do it. 

Fan Expo: Day 2 of 4

Today was day 2 of Fan Expo. It was my fault for not booking the day off work ahead of time; so I was only able to catch the tail end. My friend Stephen got to meet Veronica Taylor, who has done the voice acting for Ash Ketchum.

Reprising my role as Lara Croft: Guardian of Light. We titled this, "Lara waits for the train".

Fan Expo: Day 1 of 4

Fan Expo is taking place in Toronto and covers vendors, events, panels for five genres including comics, sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming. A great perk? The cosplay! I rushed over after work to line up and get my tickets. 

I had the opportunity to take pics of quite a few cosplayers that I got to take pics of. Apparently Saturday (Day 3) will be a big day. 

Here are my other photos:

Costume-Con 32: My Cosplay as Lara Croft

My Cosplay:

Just to be clear, I have never cosplayed before. Halloween costumes were store bought and usually meant to be fun and generic. I was adamant on doing a character from a show or game that I least watched/played and not some character that I had "heard of". So that was important for me. 

For my first ever con, I wanted to ensure that there was some sort of "put it together myself" component involved. So I thrifted/purchased most of the individual details of the costume (which was not elaborate and not expensive) and it was actually a lot of fun showing up my thrown together costume. It was much more gratifying than purchasing something ready-made in a "usual" halloween store. 

Costume-Con 32 Day 2: More photographs

Day 2:

Some con-photography tricks I learned as a result of taking pictures on the first day: 

• Give Directions: On the way to Costume-Con 32, day 2 Nancy gave me some good advice regarding taking hallway pictures - specifically on not being afraid to give people direction! The result? My pictures were MUCH better. I didn't have a dead-pan look in most of my photos.
• Be aware of whats in the background: I also noticed the pictures I had taken on day one - there were a lot of people in the background, garbage bins, chairs, etc. Using a blank wall was more effective
• Individual vs. Group Photos: Asking for individual photos rather than group photos of unrelated costumes didn't really make for good pictures - things were out of context and not as... effective. 
• Good portrait lens: I wish I brought a lens that would have better bokeh/blurred background so that I wouldn't have to do so much  post-processing editing.

Costume-Con 32 Day 1: Photographing the Costumes

Day 1:

Here are the photographs from Costume-Con 32, which was held in Toronto this year. This was my very first costume/cosplay convention and it was an amazing experience! I've seen examples of cosplay online, and even created a dedicated Pinterest board for some of my favourite ones I've come across.

Hatsune Miku

Cosplay Inspiration: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

I have been having a really difficult time coming up with a costume for an upcoming convention that I agreed to part of. I've never cosplayed before. I had originally decided on a Mulan costume, but grabbing the components and the requirement for sewing seemed a bit intimidating for my first cosplay. 

Inspiration: Lara Croft and the Guarding of Light

I remember playing a co-op game with Lara Croft (for PC) with her trusty sidekick Totec. I played Lara Croft of course, but I realized that cosplaying her is relatively easy. It does not require sewing or anything too technical!

Lara Croft Cosplays from Around the Net

So I browsed Google and I found some really good versions of Lara Croft - Guardian of Light:

  

I used the picture on the left as reference for finding the different pieces.

My Costume so far

I will likely be wearing my camera bag, since I have to be carying that around anyway. I don't have formal gun holsters, but thats okay; and I'll be wearing brown boots - which I know isn't true to the actual outfit, but thats okay I can't spend a fortune on everything. 

The things I owned before hand were the pants from Aritzia and the brown boots. There are still a few pieces I need to add, but its coming together slowly!

The convention is fast approaching! I am kind of nervous. A friend has agreed to take "cosplay shots" beforehand close to the waterfront with good lighting. I am nervous as I don't actually know how to pose properly for something like this. Hopefully I can pull off an intimidating "serious" look when taking photos.

Either way, I'm glad I decided to get involved. Its been such an interesting experience and a lot more fun crafting my costume (and I use that term loosely) than buying one from the costume as I usually do for Halloween. 

Cheers!
 

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See more posts on cosplay.

Cosplay as Mulan: Inspiration

I'll be attending my first ever Costume Con and I've been trying for the longest time to figure out what I wanted to cosplay as. There are some amazing cosplayers, but with me being a beginner I wanted to try something simple.

Inspiration for Mulan Cosplay

I am attending 3 days of the conference and am planning on a different costume for each day. I was toying with different ideas (Laura Croft - not really "me"; Harley Quinn - too sexy). The inspiration came to me while catching up on season 3 of "Once Upon a Time". The series features different fairy tale characters and one of the characters if Fa Mulan played by Jamie Chung.

 

 

Jamie Chung as Fa Mulan