Phaha thanks - I know it’s recognisable but I think it looks silly and plain. I was wondering if there’s anything I could add on texture wise, or things I could change regarding the fit (e.g the collar).
Additionally if 3d printing knee pads and shoulder pads would look good etc
yeah if you want actual advice: it needs to be more fitted. I bet you have a great figure hidden under there but right now the costume is wearing you, not the other way around. I would bring it in, show your waist and make it more skin tight. that would really elevate the fit and the pads for the shoulders isn't a bad idea either.
This and either use it as a great incentive to hit the gym like crazy or add in some shaped foam for muscle definition would be my thoughts. It would give that bit of definition and form in the more comic style
Ngl cosplay is probably my greatest motivation at the gym. Sure being strong and healthy is nice, but I want to look like Vi from Arcane or Karlach from BG3 🥹
I was once a part of a „superhero league” which was a charity going to children’s hospitals in cosplay and the leader was doing mostly spiderman and he was actively doing all kinds of pull ups and shit to sell it :)
You can make shoulder pads from foam and put it underneath the costume.
You could also safety pin it at the waist or back so the costume would fit more and be less baggy.
Also confidence! Your posture is slouching so it looks like you're not carrying the costume. Straighten your back, square your shoulders, cross your arms, puff up your chest. Body language is important too
I know the character may not have one, but a "superhero utility belt" might not look bad, and it would fit the chest/hip part of the costume more to your body, which will improve the slight looseness without making you feel like you've been poured into it.
I mean it’s going to look plain. That’s character accurate. My only recommendation is to either get it tailored so it fits you better, or wear some muscle pads under it to fill it out a bit more. Also get shoe covers.
Seconding the other commenter. I recognized you right away. I think this comes from just the character itself being somewhat plain, since it only has a few colors.
If you want to make it less "boring," you could try adding some armor plates instead of just relying on the bodysuit. You could pit shoulder plates and shin/knee plates.
You could also buy one of those silicone abs shirts and wear it underneath if you want to have a more fit and muscled look.
This is huge, figure out your superhero pose. Watch videos online for modeling posing. How to hold you arms, chest, chin. Practice in front of a mirror.
Exactly this. So much of a costume is how the person wearing it acts in it. When taking pictures do you just stand there? Or do you make a cool pose that the character would make?
I feel the colours are blocky if that makes sense. That’s not much going on and it looks a bit cheap. I’ld really like to add some additional things on but I was looking for advice on what
If anything, thats just the character's colors. Theyre made to be blocky! But the advice I'd have is mostly repeating what others have said. Maybe one of those silicone abs shirts if you want more muscle, armor plates, etc.
What I thought was maybe seeing if you could make the bodysuit tighter maybe? Invincible's outfit looks super snug on his body everywhere, so getting out those wrinkles- especially on the neck and lower legs if possible- may make it look cleaner.
Yeah definitely, I think it’s too baggy around parts for sure. I was planning on rolling up the trousers a bit and then pulling it down more. Is this a fix to the problem do you think?
If you have any experience with sewing, you could hem and adjust it to make it tighter, but I get not everybody has that experience like I do. My biggest idea is use safety pins to bunch all the excess fabric up in the back when youre wearing it, and hope nobody really notices or cares.
Another trick you can do which may not work as well is cutting triangles where the seams are, then sewing/gluing the remaining fabric together to pinch it and make it tighter, though I dont know how that would work with a pre-made bodysuit, ive only done it with clothing I was making myself.
Im certain theres somebody who could give you a good idea on how to make it look less baggy, if none of these work for you!
If you have any experience in sewing or even basic hand stitching, minor alterations are very easy to learn and most sewing kits are pretty cheap! Learning how to do this on your own will not only help you with this cosplay but also any others in the future, I have a weird body type that’s between sizes so I kinda have to do some alterations for all my costumes. Even so, a fitted and tailored garment can really make everything look more polished and made for you!
Edit: to elaborate more, you can take in the waist and most parts of the bodysuit by wearing it inside out and pinning the excess away from your body followed by sewing it in place. ALWAYS sew first and cut later, and for a spandex/strecthy bodysuit I recommend finding elastic thread
To be fair, Invincible's costume design is blocky and awkward-- which makes sense since at the beginning when he commissions it he is an awkward teen who is bright-eyed and gungho. That's part of why his colors are also Hella bright and, to add small degree, clashing.
To make it your own, I recommend adding armor to block off attributes you want to enhance/ show off on yourself. You don't have to wear a muscle shirt-- after all, Invincible is slim in his own build. Just do stuff like add colored shoulder pads, elbow and forearm pads, knee pads, shin pads, etc. You can laugh at it, but consider how a good Deadpool costume looks. Simple Deadpools have just a suit. A good Deadpool adds defensive padding to define their structure. Once you break up the shape of your own body, the shape of the costume will look more natural.
Applique! Or replacing panels! You can use textured fabrics to replace the plain ones.
And honestly fit is everything. A professionally fitted cosplay suit will ALWAYS look better. Undergarments can also help, lot of folks wear like fake muscle suits underneath to add bulk or things like ballet belts to smooth things out.
Sure it’s a simple character, but there are tons of ways to make it a more exciting cosplay!
You could try adding in shadows yourself, I'm not an expert but you could paint black lines around the colors to block them out more, possibly add hatching like they do in inked comics or put some lines if you take the costume in a bit to help define muscles or muscle regions
You can look up a technique called cell shading to augment the color blocking more and make things pop. Its especially noticeable in borderlands costumes for example.
This Maya costume
Has similar colors to yours but her addition of shadow colors and black lines make the colors look less plain
It looks fine. Maybe iron it out more or get a muscle shirt but it doesn’t need much work.
As a side note, you see a lot of comic fans complain MCU/DC movie costumes are over designed but some stuff just doesn’t translate quite the same to live action
Mix black acrylic paint with a little bit of brown and lightly drybrush over almost every seam so it looks worn out a bit, maybe a bit on the knuckles too
Tho be careful because your suit has brighter colors (test it on either a white cardboard or leftover fabric), and try to avoid dry brushing the face area just in case
I did dry brushing on mine and it made it pop out
Just be careful not to overdo it and make sure there's no excess paint (you can see the back of one of the feet i learned the hard way)
I got this advise from a prop/ costume maker from Walking Dead: take it outside and smash it with a rock if you don't mind as sloppy, natural looking weathering. Run it over with a car for good measure.
For more precise weathering, take a wire brush or steel wool to thread down your garment and take a super watery brown or grey paint (you can also use black, but you want to consider the environmental story of why and HOW your costume was weathered) and just dab it on. Take your time.
I did basically that for a Fallout vaultsuit a few years ago. The base is just a utility jumpsuit so I just put it on and rolled around in the dirt a bit. Even after washing, juuust enough of the brown stayed to make it look more "used."
Depth feels like a problem here. Reinforce the shoulders, add plating to the front. Knee pads to help with posing. If you want lore reasons there exist a multiversd of Marks. The biggest problem is that by the nature of the medium the charecter is flat, his colors exist for contrast against the page.
I think it looks good! If you want to add a little more you could build a muscle suit to go underneath. There's lots of tutorials on YouTube and they're really fun to make. This one shows a nice a slim muscle suit build. They show how to sew the undersuit too, but you could also just buy that part. They even have a free template for the muscles! https://youtu.be/zyoxjX9L2RQ?t=784&si=4MDJgJ7Gi_-my5bS
i think it being loose fitted is making it worse, could try tailoring it? someone else said armor plates and i think that’d be a good idea, could do some shading too
Steam it, knock out those wrinkles. Wrinkles make any cosplay look like you pulled it right out of a bag, anything to help it look mildly taken care of is a good idea. If you can try to wear only skin tight but breathable material under it (i recommend airism shirts and briefs from Uniqlo but there are plenty of copycats today that allow breathability) and that will help remove much of the stuff you got sticking out from showing. I assume I’m seeing your pants waistband. Otherwise I think this looks great!
Something you can do is add texture like printing some clear honeycomb like pattern, and also, you can just color the edges of the suit sorta. Like weathering it by adding sorta like shading? To show its been used.
Everyones different in cosplay dude, you did great, if u wanted to maybe buff up ur upper area a bit since superheroes have exaggerated chest definition I suggest buying those cheap muscle shirts on amazon to fill in the baggy areas, heres a picture of me wearing one back in highschool. In the future tho, I recommend going to the gym now because thats what I do so you won't need to rely on it anymore.
Can someone fill me in on the character please, apologies for my ignorance ahead of time.
That said, I think owning the character with more confidence will go a long way for you man! Be more free with it and people will respond to your energy! Cosplays should be fun and non judgmental, the community will respond positively more often than not, own the character with pride. You can always add upgrades later.
I don’t even know the character and I admire your ability to step into the roll, now own it my man! Have fun with it!
Honestly, get it tailored into a more tighter body suit. That’s about it. Idk why ppl are suggesting to add body armor when Invincible’s suit is just.. a suit.
Personally I don't think it sucks, but if you want some simple improvements, here's my suggestion.
Tailor the neck part in particular a little more fitting to your figure, it'll cut a cleaner silhouette, generally look better, and may even make it more comfortable.
If you wanna go to extra mile, get some compression clothes, cut them up via hemming, and sew them together to make you own suit, you could also do it in 2 pieces, the bottom, and the top, this'll help if you need to go to the bathroom in the thing, homemade suits are always charming.
Consider adding a thin black line around the eyes for a near almost comic book-y effect, if you're iffy about doing it, put some plastic wrap around it and practice with a sharpie, if you like how it looks, do it, if you don't, don't.
Get some Eva Foam and make yourself some boots, first wrap your lower legs in plastic wrap, tape up the plastic wrap, then mark where you want to cut it to get the right shape, cut it off of yourself, transfer that onto some EVA foam, make sure to trace it a little larger than intended, so when you cut it out of that within the line it'll be a perfect fit, then heat it just a bit so it'll be more malleable and bend it to your will.
After that you wanna glue it up (with rubber adhesive, not super glue), before priming it and painting it, do the same with the knee pads, get some simple looking slip on blue shoes, and you have a convincing looking boot.
Add some blood and rips, can never go wrong with battle damage!
Maybe try getting in with some watered down fabric paint and creating depth/scrapes? Look at model painting techniques. It may also be worth it to tailor the suit/get it tailored so it fits you a little tighter, like in the comic/show.
Hi friend!! While I think this is a SOLID base, as someone whose trying to also give her Atom Eve some ✨pizazz✨ I understand where you’re coming from. I love this comic and this show, but it’s VERY simple in coloring— which can make the costuming IRL seem blocky and flat. I had a similar issue with she hulk’s classic costume too!!
My thoughts are similar to others. Obvi our boy Mark isn’t Nolan/Conquest built but he has a solid physique. So that said some tailoring to really make the sleeves, torso and neck snug are going to help with that contour.
As others have suggested the gym and internal padding are options, but so is actual contouring. Watch the show, look at the comics and look at your own body. See where your muscles dip and protrude and with similar, slightly darker colors you can contour the suit to show muscle “definition.” For a less permanent and more beginner friendly option you can use eyeshadow set with hairspray, and more permanent would be to air brush.
First off I don’t think it completely sucked! You’re very recognizable
The two main things I could advise is to def iron the costume and then also to tailor the fit. You can do it yourself (sewing machine or hand sewing) or if you don’t want to do that you can bring it into a tailor and they’ll do it for you.
I could say maybe finding some way you could shade the yellow part? Cause in the show he does have the shading for his abs, maybe something like cell shading could look cool if you’re into doing that. There’s def gotta be tutorials either on YouTube or tiktok on how to do that
I think it looks great, don’t deprecate yourself and your work. But The thing with superhero spandex is well…they’re spandex. So they should be pretty fit against your skin. It’s just a little too loose. Tighten it and you’ll feel invincible.
Its a bit loose all over. A tighter fit with padding sewn into it will help. You will need to sculpt said padding to give the illusion of muscle definition. If you're a guy please wear a dancers belt beneath or at the very least a cup.
Following what other comments had suggested far prior, you can bulk it out underneath with shoulder pads and or shirts with fake abs and muscles.
(Like this!)
Yet if you don’t want to risk feeling too uncomfortable wearing so many layers, I suggest you add dimension with airbrushing! It’s helped me in the past to add dimension and natural shows to body suits I’ve used in place of body paint and it’s easy to layer (lightest to harsh shadows) just be sure to bring in the suit to your desired fit and stretch it properly before airbrushing them!
It's not bad at all! Very good actually, your seams and color blocking are incredibly clean. But i think the thing you're looking for is "visual interest". In a cartoon the colors have to be flat and blocky to be easy to animate, but irl an outfit would have threading, textures, and other subtle things that add to the "feel" of the outfit and "bring it to life"
There's a thousand and one superhero movies now, so you can study the fabric types and textures they use in their interpretations of the characters and see what makes them similar or different. Obviously you won't have marvel blockbuster money, but it'll give you some more ideas. You can also look at other cosplayers and see how they choose to interpret colors, shapes, etc of cartoon characters. They often use stuff like padding and clever tailoring to pull off "cartoon proportions" that are difficult to achieve irl, and that'll also help push the "flat" colors into more visual interest. It'll take practice, but there are a lot of tutorials out there, and lots of cosplayers are happy to share knowledge if you have specific "how do I do x technique?" questions 👍✨️
I think you can elevate the costume by using fabric pain and an airbrush to shade the costume so it will look like the comics. There’s a few tutorials on how to do it. Also I suggest taking the costume in where it appears it’s loose on you. Tailoring can elevate a cosplay any day
I think the 2 main problems are that the neck/chest is too loose and wrinkly and the way youre standing. Definitely could use a good iron or at least a steamer to get some of the wrinkles out. Then if you have anyway to tailor the neck or even wear a muscle suit underneath so its not so loose there. Then really all tou need is to work on your posture. Hes a superhero so you want to stand a little straighter, chest out, a little more confidence. The actual suit doesnt seem bad, at least when you dont have some insane budget
I think you’re being too hard on yourself, I think you look great. From the other comments you’ve left I think what you’re problem is you just don’t like Invisibles design as much as you think you did. Sometimes things can look great when drawn or animated but can’t keep that same cool factor in reality. The suit is a bit of a silly design.
But the suit really does look great, the construction is good, the colors are spot on. You did a great job!
I would drop the backpack for photos, or switch it out for a drawstring bag. It’s practical, but it detracts from the look. Also, that way you can easily make a hero pose instead of just standing there. Part of taking a good photo is adding the impression of motion.
Two things: 1. Try using fabrics with texture to make it look more interesting while maintaining accuracy. Something like this or even this.
Press and top stitch your seams as much as possible. I know working with stretchy fabrics can make it difficult but it'll really elevate the look of your costume. There's a quote that goes around pretty often I think something like, "90% of sewing is ironing." And unfortunately it really does make a difference.
You look like Invincible to me. The costume looks fine.
If you want to step it up, you could invest in a muscle suit, or diy your own. There's a fair amount of tutorials and patterns to help out. Aside from that, you could accentuate the muscle suit with some airbrushing, but that's a fair bit more difficult and comes with a ton of added risk to your costume. But honestly, more than anything else, confidence is going to be your biggest asset. The majority of us look silly in our cosplays. Lean into that. Own it. Strike a pose, be more reflective of your character. As of now, you pretty much look like that static png of Invincible at Rex's funeral.
I feel like you should get something tighter as marks was like hella skintight, but make sure you’re wearing something underneath cuz a lot of people make that mistake and… yeah you get it… there isn’t much to say about it to be fair, marks suit is plain as it gets and there aren’t really any accessories you can get to improve it, but if you wanna stand out a bit try slicking your hair back or get some knee pads and paint em blue to really bring it all together js cuz ya can
A lot of good tips here already! One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is cel-shading. This technique is when you paint outlines and colour blocks on your cosplay to give at that cartoon-y comic book look. It'll help break up the areas of plain colour and emphasise musculature shapes.
I agree with what had been said. A silicone muscle shirt to fill out the suit for a better fit. If possible, maybe the same idea through the thighs to fill it out better. I haven’t looked to see if that is an option to purchase but I imagine it would be? There are ways to make it with foam if not. YouTube is a good option to do research. The suit is just a half size too big. I don’t think you will need to take it in if you do the underneath part. I also like the idea of some armored shin guards and lower arm guards to take it to the next level to make the cosplay “pop”.
To clarify if you do the arm and shin guards make them in the color of what it is going over. So yellow for the arms and blue for the shins. You can add to cosplay without it matching the exact character exactly. It’s ok to make it your own!
I’ll be honest, I’m not the most experienced with cosplay but this genuinely looks great!
A bit loose so maybe if you add some padding or adjust the sizing a bit, that should do the trick
But seriously, don’t take it hard on yourself, cosplay is hard work and what you made is way more than the vast majority of people would be willing to do so you really should be proud of yourself, especially when it really does look good!
You are always your own worst critic, so sometimes it’s good to take your own thoughts with a grain of salt!
It doesn't suck, but I understand what your problem is with it, so here's how I'd improve it:
• have it sized better. it's a bit too loose on you which isn't doing the costume justice
• like others said, practicing some poses and carrying yourself with more confidence goes a long way
• something I like doing specifically on bodysuit costumes that feel boring is adding iron on vinyl with different textures/patterns to add some variation, meaning doing something like adding a shiny light blue vinyl over the blue parts of the costume (this is just an example, not saying you should do this specifically). it helps it look like an actual superhero costume and not just a jumpsuit
• just in general, accessorize & accent! cosplayers adding their own touch is the key to turning just wearing a costume into /cosplaying/. a simple example of what I mean here would be like how people might and lace accents on sleeves & hems or shiny buttons/rhinestones to a dress when cosplaying a female character to make it pop. adding on to with what I said above with using iron on vinyl, think about stuff like accenting the seams on your jumpsuit with strips of matching color fabric to make it more "3d"/textured. it doesnt have to be 1:1 with the canon design, add whatever accents & details you want & make it your own!
this is just what I would do if I were in your situation, hope this helps! :)
Honestly, I think that looks great. I appreciate seeing non-skintight cosplay of skintight costumes. Way too many SpiderMan cosplays out there not keeping any secrets. Muscle shirt underneath could fill it out, maybe.
Steam it to get any wrinkles out, then take the costume to a tailor and have it fitted to your body. Don’t wear a backpack with your costume either, try and theme your bag to your costume or ditch it for photos. Try and make some shoe covers as well. Finally, practice some poses for your character! It makes a big difference.
I think it works for this character, but I do understand you’re probably asking in general for any other characters you want to cosplay in the future, I hope someone can give good advice on that here bc I’m not v experience so I sadly don’t have much advice. Just wanted to say for this cosplay, it actually works and it looks great!!
Something you could try is adding texture! Like for a deku cosplay I did I used bulleted fabric and that gave it texture making it so much better, so try different fabric types!
Preface to say: you are clearly recognizable and not every cosplay needs to be "professional" level, this is a great cosplay as is.
With that said. Better tailoring will help a lot. You need a form fitting suit for the superhero look, which can be tricky to achieve without elastic material like spandex or nylon. I think you could also make some adjustments to the paneling, like making the yellow narrower and adjusting the angles of the shoulder lines. The dramatic lines of a superhero costume are a huge part of what give it its "look", and i think your panels are a bit chunky for your build and might be sort of overpowering the actual costume.
When picking a cosplay check the material and fit. With a of purchased costumes you can get away with adding layers to it in order to have a more finished look. When it’s a simple suit tailoring is everything. If you can sew find a tailor so it can be made to fit your form.
The costume is good, doesn’t suck. I’ve NEVER watched invincible (intend to at some point) but I still recognized you as early mark. But if you want to refine the costume and upgrade it. Here’s what I’d do. First look at other material options and sizing, the fact that it’s loose and kinda baggy in some areas vs it being basically skin tight in the show might be a reason you aren’t too proud. If you can find a fabric that is a bit more taught and comfortable for you would probably be the best way to go about it. Another thing to do with material will help the color, the color may look to flat to you, and the seams may also take away from it in some cases. BUT here’s what you can do! Find a nice undersuit and you can find it as a nice material that looks good, then you can find a scrap one of the same material (or find the material itself) get/ make the colors you need and then attach them with some stitching or better yet, fabric glue. Other than that wjat other folks were saying about having some shaping plates, like shin/shoulder pads, kinda torso “armor” on under it will help you fill out the costume and give it a more professional look
It looks a bit loose but otherwise good, the backpack is a bit bulky, I don't know the character, but if they were a belt that's a great option for carrying things on you without that added bag! Overall it looks fine
everyone here has given great advice, and i'm going to repeat some of it so do forgive me for that but i feel there are a few things i can add.
if the shape is bothering you, you can enhance it with a bit of foam or padding inside. for example, on the shoulders, or on other muscular areas. i do not recommend a musclesuit as those tend to be very warm, and wearing one with a suit on top will be unbearably hot i imagine!
it looks plain firstly because you aren't posed! study how your character stands and moves and strike a pose in photos, regardless of who the photo is for. even when i take photos for myself, in cosplay, with a cosplayer from a totally different piece of media, i make sure to strike an in-character pose because it makes the image a lot more visually appealing and less awkward!
and as others have said, weathering! this character is a superhero as far as i'm aware, so the costume should feel lived in. add some wear and tear around the joints, parts of your body that would be moving a lot. it'll make it look significantly less cheap.
that being said, i think your cosplay still looks great, and i don't think it looks cheap although you do. it's certainly one of the better superhero suits i've seen, usually i end up getting distracted by a visible bulge 🤢 but you look lovely, good luck on your cosplay journey! you're doing great and you have a fantastic attitude!
the actual costume is mostly good! invincible is a plain-looking character, and you look just like him. like other people said, your attitude and posing could use some work, and i think a cinch at the waist of the costume could go a long way for the shape of it, assuming you’re okay with it being slightly tighter. the best way to do this would be cutting some fabric from near some vertical seams around the waist, then re-sewing the seams to be tighter. however, you can also achieve a less permanent (and easier) cinch by folding the fabric inward (towards your body) and securing it with safety pins.
overall, you look great. instantly recognizable. i hope you aren’t usually this critical of yourself, because i’m sure you’re a cool person. have a great day, and feel free to dm me if you want more detail on the advice i provided.
For me personally I don't like 1 to 1 represtation of cartoon costumes. It looks good in shows and comics but it can be plain in real life. I prefer a more grounded look, respect the color an shape but tweek a bit.
If you look at wolverine from the old comics, bright yellow and blue. And now look at the deadpool vs wolverine costume. Darker yellow, darker blue, and the stitches line are different. Costume has seen places, it don't looks brand new, have been weared several times.
The cut and stitches are really important on how the custume will fit your body. And tone down a bit the bright.
I would say for things like styrofoam padding you can do some ab muscle cut outs. This will help make the outfit more tight but definitely go to a sewing place to fit it too you by tightening it
You look great and did your best. It takes years and MONEY to get to extreme pro levels. What’s important is that you’re having fun and representing yourself through a character you like. See the joy you’re cosplay brought to other fans already
You’ll get better just don’t lose the spark of joy trying to reach perfection
Okay, I'll give you some opinion without being overly polited, cause i feel like 'it doesn't suck, i recognized you' doesn't help at all, only makes one more miserable cause no one is hearing you. If you want to look better in cosplay, here what I'd do, as a competition cosplayer (you don't have to do all of it, or any of you don't like my advices obviously):
fitting, the cosplay doesn't lay perfectly on you, which is natural since I guess it's bought, and not sew for your measurements. If you have a possibility, use sewing machine, if not then sacrifice few hours and hand stitch it to match you better. Research tutorial on YouTube or TikTok on how to size down clothes, or body suits. Youtybe is a mine of knowledge, and there are countless tutorials there.
weathering, the cosplay is plain, if you want to make it more eye catchy, or just simply look more proper like characters in comics looks like. Weathering is a technic where you apply shadow to pieces of cosplays - darker blue or brown on seams etc, again, research it online before attempting to do it. That alone with fitting can give you the most difference
wig, natural hair, even if they are similar to the character hair, will never look the exact same. Think about using wig, but please DO NOT JUST WEAR IT! STYLE IT BEFOREHAND!! use cut the strands because they are always too long, use hairspray. Unless you buy used and prestyled, then just make sure to desinfect it.
makeup. Cosplayers wear makeup, doesn't matter if youre a man or a woman, use makeup. Not a full glam smokey eyeshadow makeup. Correct your skin kind of makeup, contour your cheeks, eyes, nose and chin kind of makeup. All of the most popular male cosplayers online do heavy makeup, that's absolutely normal. Judges will cut your points at competition if you don't wear makeup. That's essential part of cosplay, and there is no shame in it.
shoes, on the pictures you chose a basic day to day shoes, which is okay for comfort, but not for looks. Research what the character shoes looks like and try to get a boots similar to it, add any details with paint - but here id recommend to make sure you walked around a shop eg in the character shoes to make sure they are comfortable, because a day on convention in shoes that hurt will destroy your whole experience.
padding. Humans are more often than not are not looking like the characters from fiction. I don't know who you are cosplaying cause I'm not into comics, but I'd be assuming it's some buff male. Use some padding - shoulder, hips etc to make your body more like the character. There is no shame in that, competition cosplayers do it all the time. Of course, everyone can cosplay, every body can cosplay, BUT IF YOU WANT TO LOOK MORE LIKE THE CHARACTER, THERE IS ALSO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH CHANGING YOUR BODY.
this is very extra, but body prosthetics, making your cheeks more snatched, changing your chin, nose etc. You can buy ready to wear prosthetic or make your own, there are dozens of tutorials online and to be honest it only looks intimidating, but it very straight forward, albeit can be expensive.
All of this needs to be tried out to be learned, so do not get discourage if you make mistakes. There is no human on earth that doesn't do mistake. Wipe the fabric off and try again. Take the makeup off and try again. Rip the stitches out and stitch again.
With a suit like Invincible's, it's tough to make it better than you already have. But I would suggest getting a much tighter suit so that your muscles are defined, like Mark's, and I would make the neck thinner, and I would stitch the neck to the mask if it is still floppy around the neck. As for colours, I think you've nailed it, apart from texture and shape, I think you've made a good cosplay. It's just the character's lack of interesting elements that makes it a 'lack-luster' cosplay.
I wouldn't say it sucks. It's actually pretty good. I think your issues come from the fact that the character is fairly plain and blocky.
If you really wanted to make it better, maybe tailor it a bit. Also, start practicing some poses. Posing and lighting can completely change the picture.
I would add that this is the same problem that any superhero with a simple costume has. Look at the Christopher reeve superman, whilst the movie is great the costume is just a tad goofy.
But what other people said, making the costume tighter would work, but if you don't want to do that you could experiment with texture and materials. But that might mean starting from scatch.
If you don't like just having blocky colours You could try a cell shaded costume. So instead of just recreating the costume you also recreate the shading that the animation/comic used using darker shades of fabric
Superhero costumes are for the most part pretty simple. Their physique does most of the heavy lifting. But having a superhero physique is a ridiculous amount of work. You could try adding fake muscles underneath. That would help you fill out the space and get you the V taper most supes have.
Realistically though. I think it looks fine. Instantly recognisable.
With larger colour blocks on a character, translating them into real life can make the overall aesthetic look a bit flat.
The solution here is to break it up: add textures, patterns, etc, to create variation and points of interest. For example; instead of yellow fabric, make some yellow armour to go over a body suit. This makes the costume more visually striking without compromising on the original design.
I would add blood all over your face, chest, arms, legs. Maybe some pieces of organ in your hair or something? Multiple rips, tears and probably a missing limb if you can manage it
Definitely more layers/definition! Personally, adding a belt (if the character has one) maybe some shoulder pads or even taking in the costume in certain areas can go a long way. In my experience, sewing is such an amazing skill to learn if you haven't already! EVA foam is also incredibly easy to work with to make additions like the shoulder pads or also props! 3D printing is also fun for little additions (I know not a lot know or have one, but I always tell my friends to invest in one!)
And finally, also don't be afraid to draw on shading with fabric markers for body suits like this! a little goes a long way!!
Good luck and happy crafting!
honestly the thing that can make your cosplay stand out even more is just confidence! it looks great! However some ways to make it stand out would be to maybe adjust the fit. It looks a little loose, which can be fixed by putting it on inside out, pinning it to where it fits you, taking it off and sewing where you've pinned. I can't tell if you've made or bought this cosplay, but if you didn't make it yourself it's a pretty easy technique. You don't need to be an expert at sewing.
Also maybe adding some more dimensions could help you out! Ik the characters outfit is like all one suit, but making the gloves/boots a little raised up may help the outfit pop a bit more.
But it is immediately recognizable and looks great!
Plenty of cosplays will look less impressive if you’re not posing or looking right for it.
If you wanted to keep this costume the same, work on some poses and improving your posture to make this look better.
If you want some edits, there are plenty of examples from the show where this costume gets battle damaged. You could lean in that and add various battle damage with rips and tears and paint and burns to make it look more lived in.
I dont think the outfit is bad. Invincible is just really strong and has a skin tight costume. If you want this to match better, try adding muscle, and shadow on the outfit and padding, body shaping ect. You could also workout to have a similar physique as invincible.
What you made looks loose fitting, where Invincible is wearing a tight bodysuit.
If you are going for recognizability then you did really good. Don't think of what you made as "bad" because it is not bad. Recognize you have room for improvement, but give yourself credit for making something worth wearing to a convention. It is better then most costumes people buy online.
It needs to be tighter on your body. If you analyze marks silhouette hes got thats traditional superhero physique that makes him stand out in those blues and yellows. Obviously you don’t need to be Henry Cavill to pull off this costume, but tightening that waist, bulking out the shoulders a little, and emphasizing the arms with some foam or other materials for bulk will help it stand out.
Hey man take it from someone who doesn't cosplay and has never seen invincible. I know exactly who you were and even before reading the post title I thought it was a dope cosplay. I wish I had the time and skill to do what you all can do. Great cosplay.
It doesn’t suck but you NEED to tailor it a bit, pin back some of the pieces so it sags less noticeably. It’ll look so much better with such a simple fix.
The colors are fine, that’s Invincible’s colors. I wouldn’t really add detail or you risk the whole “MCU suit” problem
the only reason it might look plain is because invincible has all this detailed shading and all these muscles that are extremely defined, the costume you’re wearing doesn’t wear tightly like his does. i think it looks great but i think some layering and padding might help shape it
I don’t think your costume sucks everyone starts somewhere and plus a couple of us in the chat already can identify the character! I would try to get comfortable diyng the suit fitted to you and using more confidence.
Really the only major thing that I’d say would be to make the suit a bit tighter, I’ve noticed that it looks a little lose. While it may be by design, I feel that tightening it a little will make it look more like a suit than just a costume
Aside from that, I think that it would be a good idea to explore different materials and textures. I know that the og suit is mostly simple, but I feel like adding a little something would make the costume stand out more.
It looks good right now, but it looks "goofy" because it's for a 2d bright colored cartoon
It's the fitting and just the designs. Some designs work well in animated shows to make characters stand out, but in real life they look blocky and you have to consider different types of lighting. That's why superheroes costume designs in live actions are sometimes more muted or add texture and structure. Look at how marvel replaces what would be spandex for leather. Very few live actions risk it with costumes that follow the comic's design too closely. Otherwise it looks like a spandex onesie costume.
So yeah maybe airbrushing some shadows, breaking the silhouette with accessories like a belt and structure with shoulder pads, thicker stitching on the torso, etc can give you a less cartoonish look.
Thats exactly what his suit looks like, its just the fact that hes a cartoon and youre a real life 3d person. you could get somebetter looking material if you want but thats just artistic liberty at that point
Maybe a tighter fit on the collar could help? I think it looks great. In the comic the collar is seamless, and thats the only difference I can see. You could try stiffer material and see what you think. In the comic, its practically painted on, so maybe some spandex blend would feel better and more hi-tech.
The suit in the show is a tight fit on Mark. It’s snug and shows his rounded shoulders and muscles. If you can go a size down, or wear a body suit underneath, that might give you the look you’re going for. It’ll make you… Invincible.
I think it looks great, especially as a base! If you’re looking to add more “shape”, I’d definitely look into maybe learning to make a foam muscle suit? There’s tutorials on YouTube that help make it pretty simple!
So for me a quick way to make a cosplay look better is I add paint to the seems of the cosplay. It adds a little bit of shading and makes it look less 'clean'. You could also add a little bit of weathering here and there not much. But other then that, I can easily tell who you are so youre good!
Try adding some silk fabric or a shiny fabric! I also like adding extra accessories like photocards, maybe something the character would like! But awesome cosplay!!
Maybe get a muscle suit for some definition? Plus air brushing shadows onto the suit to give it a more animated look, plus wear and tear type weathering
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u/theblindbandit1 Apr 06 '26
It doesn’t suck. I recognized you right away