Hua Po was one of my dream costumes for a long time. A lot of the aspects of the costume are really simple but it was one, when I first started cosplaying, that seemed impossible for me to do at the time. So finally last Katsucon I decided I had the skill set to actually accomplish this and make it.
Hua Po is a demon from the Shin Megami Tensei series, she's featured in several of the games and probably one of my favorite demons, even though you get her along the lower levels. Her outfit basically breaks down into the suit, shoes and wings.
For the suit I found a pattern that was a basic jumpsuit pattern and modified it to what I needed. I ended up going with a vintage pattern:
Butterick 6015 Vintage 60s Easy Jumpsuit Pattern, though the size I ended up buying was far too large and ended up seriously sizing it down, and of course cutting down the legs to create shorts. The frog details were purchased separately and attached to the costume, the jump suit itself was closed together with a series of hook and eyes, a small piece of black fabric added behind it to keep anything from showing. The black lining was done with bias tape, the hook & eyes were hidden under the bias and lined up to match each other.
The designs on the sleeves were done with fabric paint, for this I used
Tulip Fabric Paint. I ended up drawing the design on the sleeve and then painting over it. The best way of doing that was taping the fabric down before sewing it (other then hemming the edges) and just painting on directly. Once it dried I attached the sleeves to the suit. When your working with the fabric paint make sure you use several layers to get an even coat.
Now for the skin tone. I wanted to try and create the red orange tone the best I could in the easiest way possible. So I decided to do a face paint, tight combo. For the face paint I went with
Ben Nye, because of the variety of colors you could get and the ease of use. When I was working with it, I had to do several layers on my face to get the smooth look. I just took a small makeup sponge and applied it on my face until I got the even coat. The lips and eye details were just done with regular makeup I had sitting around. The upper lip was some eyeliner I had, while the white details were basic face paint from a Halloween store. I probably wouldn't recomend doing it again, because the details tend to rub off over time. But the Ben Nye stayed really well after using powder and sealing it properly. Make sure you get the sealing spray otherwise the makeup will get everywhere! The make up is really easy to wash up with some basic face soap and water. I kept some make up remover cloth to help take it off. There was a few places along my face, like by my ears that didn't come off right away, so be careful.
Rather then paint my legs I decided to go with tights. But the color was pretty unusual. So I needed to custom dye the tights to match my face. For the tights I bought a pair of white dancer tights so I wouldn't any awkward lines. For the dye I used
Jacquard Acid Dye, because it would take the best with the nylon material. I really lucked out with the color because it matched pretty perfectly to the face paint.
I wish I could say I made the wings but I didn't. I sort of lucked out and found something pretty close color wise on ebay. Maybe when I have more time or money I'll make new wings that actually have the right shape to them.
The shoes were worked off a base of an old pair of flat shoes that I never really wore. I just took yellow fabric and covered it over the shoe, gluing it down with hot glue. I probably wouldn't recommend that for any long term solution, but it worked really well for my wear at the con, since I didn't wear the costume for a long period of time.
And last but not least the small clips on my head were just make with
sculpey and attached on a small hair clip. They're fairly small and light so I didn't really have to worry about them breaking or anything.
And last but not least is the final shots of the finished costume! Hopefully I'll be able to get nicer shots in the future!
Also as a side note, I've been reading this cosplay blog
here, it's pretty great for some tips and tricks on all aspects of cosplay!
