Lux Cosplay

- by Rollekeks Cosplay

Want to create your own cosplay or are you curious what it takes to become a League of Legends champion in real life? Rollekeks Cosplay teaches you how to make a Lux cosplay so you can shoot laserbeams in real life!

Special thanks to Rollekeks Cosplay for her guest editorial on our website! Don't forget to like her social media below to support her.

Related links:﻿

facebook.com/RollekeksCosplay - Rollekeks.tumblr.com - DeviantArt

Photo by Calle Schattschneider - Photography





How to Cosplay: Lux, the Lady of lumiosity



Introduction : The decision to make a Cosplay



I have been playing League of Legends since the first season, but being in love with the game started, when the update with Lux ( a playable champion in the game) came out. She was so cool and it didn’t take very long for her to became my main champion. Back then in the year 2013 I started to do Cosplay and decided to start my new hobby with a selfmade Cosplay and I just knew it had to be Lux from League of Legends. I loved her design and because of her being my main champion of the game, who I spent tons of hours playing with, I could identify myself with her in a way. And thus the long project to become a champion myself began. It was challenging, a lot of fun, frustrating at times but I tell you that it’s worth it!

If you are new to this Cosplay stuff, you probably have the question:

“How do I start a Cosplay project?”

Here's a small overview (which also serves as a preview to the content that awaits you):

1. Collecting references

2. Material and pattern

3. Building your armor

4. Prime coating

5. Painting

6. Having fun with the Cosplay (most important step! if you don’t have fun you are doing Cosplay wrong)



*Please note that making a good Cosplay for a convention requires a lot of time or else add the following steps the Project



7. Have a night shift one day before the con

8. Cry

9. Just glue everything you haven’t finished yet together

10. Hope that your Cosplay doesn’t fall apart

Let’s just hope that it doesn’t come to that ;)

1. Collecting references

Now let get down to business! If you start a project, you have to do it with a goal in mind. You must know what the result has to look should look like. And in order to achieve authentic costume, you start by collecting references.

Browse through the internet and save everything you can get your hands on!

In my case I collected every picture I liked (official and fanmade ones) and even took screenshots from a ingame modelviewer. It helped me a lot to get a overview about the armor and the various parts. For other good references you can look for other experienced Cosplayers who already did the Cosplay you are going to make. Over the last years the Cosplay community became very large. There are a lot of good Cosplayers who are willing to share their experiences with you.

After I had enough Information and a good image in mind, I started to think about a way to build the armor.

Photo by Lucas Ambrosio photography



2. Material and Pattern

Without much effort I found “Worbla” as a main material for the Armor. It is the same material all the famous Cosplayers use. It can be used for a variety of things such as armors and weapons.

Additionally I had to make patterns, so that the armor matches my body. So here is a list for the materials I used for an armor based on Worbla:

2.1. Materials for a Cosplay

Ingredients:

- Worbla Finest Art and Deco Art (by Cast4Art)

- Foam

- Ductape

- Clingfilm

- Woodglue (for priming)

- Acrylic color

- “Flexfolie”

- Fimo (modeling clay)

Tools:

- Heatgun

- Scissors

2.2. How to draft a pattern

For my method to design a pattern I used the cling film, ductape and a pen to sketch. The method is to wrap yourself into the cling film and then another layer of ductape on top of it. Afterwards you can draw the outlines of the armor on your body.

On the left you can see my pattern for the bracers plus the pattern for the chest protector on the right.

As you can see you have to apply this procedure for every part of your body. Perhaps you need some help with the sketching on the back but it is also possible to do it alone. One Option would be to do the sketches afterwards, once you have removed it from your body (by cutting it off), instead of drawing it directly on your body.

Once you have all your patterns cut out, you ready to start with the building.

3. Building the armor

Transfer the pattern onto the foam and then cut it out just like in the picture on the right. Next you do the same witch the worbla but now you can also use the foam as the template instead of the ductape pattern. I did it twice which is optional for the sandwich technique.

“What’s the sandwich technique?”

To put it simply the sandwich technique is the application of two layers of worbla to create one delicious cosplay sandwich, which twice as durable since it has two awesome layers of worbla.

So after making your sandwich you have to “glue” your parts together but you aren’t going to use glue! How does that work? It’s worbla magic! All you have to do is heat up the parts and put them together and they will stick together after cooling off. When you put everything together you have to heat up everything and shape it on your body.

(front and back shaped)

3.2 Ornaments and deco art

As you can see on the previous page you can draw ornaments right onto the armor. It doesn’t bother the worbla ;) For that I used “Worblas Deco Art” for the decorations but you can also use normal worbla to do it. Worbla’s Deco Art are thermoplastic pellets which are versatile for things like imprints or masking surfaces. It is also very easy to handle. The pellets become liquid at a temperature above 65°C/149°F and become stiffened after about 10 minutes. To heat the pellets you can just use the heat gun.

After liquefying the pellets you are able to work with it. You can pour the liquid into a form or model it by hand. The good part is that you can reheat the deco art anytime if you have something to improve or repair.

The white parts are the deco art

Next up after glueing the front and back part of the armor together I added an attachment with strings. This way I can adjust the armor to match my body. Remember that it is important to try your parts on every now and again in order to have your cosplay fit like it should.

Once everything fits perfectly you can start with the prime coating!

4. Prime coating

Layer with fresh wood glue

For priming I mainly use wood glue. You need 3-4 layers for a smooth surface. But you have to make sure that the first layer is dry before you add a new one!



Photo by Fotograf 13

5. Painting

After the layers of wood glue are dry you can begin with the painting. The best is to draw a basis layer which you can work with. Here I used black acryl color to make the foundation.

Once you have the foundation you can do the final paintings.

And here you can see the end product. (you can also see some gemstones which I’ll talk about later)

These are the basic methods with which I also did the other parts of the armor. For now I will only show some progress pictures.

The collar

Here you can see the progress of the armor for the pelvis and the belt connection.



It’s the same procedure as always:

1. Draft a pattern

2. Apply it on to the worbla

3. Mold the worbla with the heat gun

4. Add details with deco art or worbla

5. Finish it with several layers of wood glue





Here on the left you can see the leg and foot part of the armor.

For the foot part I did the pattern on top of the shoe I was wearing.

A small guide to make gems

It is very easy to make your own gemstones:

1. At first you have to make your gemstones out of fimo, clay or other modeling clay.

2. After that you make a casting mould (picture 2) with silicon.

3. Then you can start casting your gemstones with resin. (picture 4-5)

4. If you use crystal clear resin you can paint it with nail polish on the back to get the color. (picture 7-9)

5. To make them shiny I also add a layer of nail polish on the front. (picture 7).

And good job! Finished!

The Skirt

For the skirt I got a template from a friend (she made it with screenshots from the model viewer) and I drew it into a fitting form. In the picture on the left you can see that I drew and then cut the template out. The material that I used to draw it on is “flexfolie”. Afterwards you can iron it onto the skirt with baking paper to make it stick. It is also possible to wash the skirt without problems.

The Staff

The staff was a bit difficult to make, because I wanted to have light effects in it. So I used “KobraCast” to make an empty staff and covered it with worbla. Afterwards I made the electronic stuff with a switch to turn the lights on and off. The crystals on the top are out of Plexiglas. After everything was fixed and primed I made the hair bow and painted everything.

Afterword

The project took me about 3 months because I only worked on it whenever I had time and felt like working on it. I guess it would’ve taken 2-3 weeks to complete it if I would’ve have worked on it every day. It was my first cosplay and after making it in 2013, I wore it for the first time at the Gamescom 2013 in Cologne. I was very happy because the praise I received was amazing! I met many new friends in the cosplay community who also became very important to me. And there aren’t only other cosplayers I met but also many cool and funny photographers in the cosplay scene.

Having fun with your cosplay is the most important thing or else you are doing something wrong. Therefore don’t be depressed if you are being criticized or being hit on by perverts. You shouldn’t pay any attention to them. Instead you should have fun with your friends, participate in competitions for fun or take photos with your friends for good memories. And this is where I want to give some special thanks to the photographers who took the awesome photos of my cosplay which you saw in the article!

- Calle Schattschneider – Photography

- Lucas Ambrosio Photography

- Fotograf-13

- Mona Doerre Photography

Thanks to all of you for the photo shootings and the funny time with you! And also thanks to the readers! If you liked my first cosplay, you can check out my facebook page “Rollekeks Cosplay” for more!