Introduction: Earth Chan Cosplay

About: Amateur cosplayer from the PNW! I'm using this platform as a way of documenting my creative process to give insight about what I do, and in the hopes that I'm able to help someone achieve their cosplay goals b…

I love doing fun casual cosplays, and as soon as I found the Earth Chan & Big Bang images circling Facebook, I knew I absolutely had to do it. The project was just a few Amazon prime packages and a night's worth of work, but is definitely one of the most fun cosplays I've worn!

Super shoutout to my partner in crime Sharkie Kitty who hung out with me while making this, and for being the best Big Bang mamma ever <3

Photos by Girl With the Blue Hair Photography and Anime Journeys!

Step 1: Supplies

I got almost everything for this cosplay from Amazon!

For reference, I have an average sized head, and my measurements are approximately 40-30-40, and everything on this list fit great.

Wig: this wig is SO soft and SO gorgeous for being a $15 Amazon wig. I seriously want to buy another one just to have one to keep long.

Shorts: I ended up making them booty shorts, but they work great as is. Size 11 fit me perfeclty.

Shirt: A size small fit tight, but in the way I wanted it to!

Shoes: I am usually a size 7 1/2 - 8 1/2 depending on the shoe/brand. A size 8 in these fit me perfeclty.

Green Marker: I used this because it's what Sharkie Kitty happened to own and I liked how the color popped on the wig.

White Thigh Highs: I happened to have these from a different cosplay, so I threw them on last minute!

I also used a sewing machine, matching brown thread, a wig head, scissors, and a wig razor to finish the cosplay.

Step 2: Cut the Wig

The wig I bought was way longer than I wanted it to be, so the first step was to cut it to the proper length!

I am not a wig expert, but these are the general steps I go through to trim a wig to an even length:

  1. Try the wig on, making sure it's as even and centered as possible on your head.
  2. Using a small elastic, tie off a piece of hair in the front at a length approximately 1-2" longer than your desired final length.
  3. Put the wig on a wig head, and use another elastic to tie off a large chunk (I did 1/3 at a time) at the place of your other elastic.
  4. Cut as straight as possible approximately 1/2-1" above the elastic. This method of putting it in a ponytail makes it a lot harder to cut through and get a clean cut at first, but it makes cleanup way easier. For this project it was also really beneficial to have large chunks of contained fibers to test coloring on!
  5. The cut you make while it's in a ponytail will probably leave it super uneven and jagged, so use vertical scissor cuts and/or a wig razor comb to clean up the bottom and make it nice and even!
  6. Try the wig on and make sure you're happy with it!

I kept the bangs the length they were and just swept them to the side.

Step 3: Wig Coloring - Failed Experiment

One of the defining traits of Earth Chan's hair is her globe-like hair. The first thing I wanted to test was spray painting the design on! The thought was that the spray paint would make a nice flat design that would also adhere the fibers together so the designs didn't get misshapen at all during a day of wear.

I used paper as a general template, and green spray paint I happened to have laying around. Everything worked great, and I was happy with the results...until I let the wig travel with me for a couple days, and found out when I went to brush it, I couldn't! So all the knots got stuck up above wherever the spray paint was. Moral of the story: don't spray paint your wig to get the design!

Step 4: Wig Coloring - Success!

My next method was to use a sharpie! I tried a couple different shades on my extra ponytail chunks I had from cutting the wig earlier, and eventually ended up using a light green sharpie highlighter. I think it showed up well in pictures, and I'm really happy with it!

I put the wig on a wig head, and just started drawing where I wanted the design, starting out with a basic outline of the shape I was going for. I found it easier to have something solid underneath the fibers I was drawing on, which made drawing towards the bottom of the wig a slightly harder challenged. I tried to take inspiration from different continents in general relative positions, but it ended up being wildly inaccurate, and definitely not having enough continents. Despite that, I think the wig designs turned out pretty alright, and I'm overall really happy with the wig!

Wearing it at a con all day didn't get anything messed up, and I didn't even have to hair spray anything in place!

Step 5: Shorts

I forgot to take pictures of this process, but I took a lot of length of the shorts to make them more fun! I started by putting them on, folding under the general shape I wanted, and pinning it in place. I took it to the sewing machine and topstitched the new hem, then trimmed the excess away! You can tell from the pictures above approximately how much I took off and how I changed the shape in the back.

Step 6: Be a Happy Little Planet

I had SO much fun wearing this to ECCC 2018, and the response from other con-goers was insanely positive! I can't believe how many people recognized who I was! And of course huge thanks to Sharkie Kitty for being my Big Bang and the best mama a planet could ask for <3

For more photos and information about my other projects, check out my cosplay Instagram Fluxx Cosplay!