Creating a Cosplay Mood Board: Tips for Visualizing Your Character

Getting started on a new cosplay means gathering materials and references. Keeping all of your images and lists in one place can help organize the preparation process for your costume. This ensures your crafting process goes smooth and you create an accurate costume. These tips for visualizing your character by creating a cosplay mood board can help get you started.

What is a Cosplay Mood Board

A vision or mood board is a visual tool which can be utilized for gathering a collection of inspiration for a cosplay. It can ultimately function as a visual roadmap for planning a costume with a collage of images and more.

They can be either physical or digital. To make a physical one you can utilize a bulletin or dry erase board and for digital you can use platforms like Canva, Pintrest and more.

Why Make a Cosplay Vision Board

There are multiple benefits to creating a cosplay mood board. There's two main ones to keep in mind when deciding whether to create one before making your costume.

• Organization - To keep track of important details for your cosplay, a mood board can help. It keeps everything you need to start and plan in one central hub with all of your reference images as well. Keeping you very organized.

• Inspiration - If you need to get some motivation or ideas, a vision board can help. You can add all sorts of reference images to look at and get ideas for how you're going to bring the cosplay to life.

Creating a Cosplay Mood Board

If you've decided a cosplay mood board is worth investing your time in, consider these tips and what you should add to it.

What Do You Put in a Cosplay Vision Board

• Costume reference images (close ups, multiple angles)

• Hair and makeup reference images

• Fabric swatches

• Paint and color swatches

• Specific notes

• Photoshoot reference images (stills from media of character)

Tips for Making a Cosplay Mood Board

• Choose a format - You need to decide whether you want a digital or physical board before you get started. From there you can decide if it's on a bulletin board/poster board or on Canva/Pintrest.

• Gather materials - Take time to find everything you need for the board. Reference images, swatches and more need to be included so the board can truly organize and inspire you.

• Organize materials and layout - Design a layout for your vision board. Have it organized so it's easy to find what you're looking for from it and so it's visually appealing to you while you use it.

• Think beyond the costume - Your vision board can do more than just help you create and visualize the costume itself. Find reference images for hair and makeup that you can use for a reference. You can also look for stills of the character in the costume or from photoshoots to use as a reference for your own shoot.

• Don't be afraid to evolve the vision - Things rarely go to plan. Don't be afraid to adapt the vision as you add to your board and find more ideas.

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Conclusion

A cosplay vision board can play a pivotal role in planning your costume and more. They're something you definitely should consider taking time to implement in whatever way works best for you. They're entirely customizable to help inspire and organize.

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Share Your Cosplay Tips and Stories!

Whether you're a seasoned cosplayer or just starting out, vision boards can open up endless possibilities for your cosplays. We'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences with making mood boards, so please leave a comment below sharing your favorite thing about them.

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