Tutorial: Sailor Ariel Cosplay

For AKon 25 and Anime Fest 2014, I cosplayed as Sailor Ariel – a mashup of The Little Mermaid and Sailor Moon. The original art for this was done by Drachea Rannak. Here is a walkthrough of how I made my costume. 🙂

I started out with a Sailor Jupiter Halloween costume. I had bought one of each of the scouts a few years ago from a online Halloween store for only $10 each.

Since the Halloween costume was all one piece it was poorly fitting to my body shape. So I decided to order this white tank leotard from WeLoveColors for a better fit.

All I had to do was unstitch the bows and collar from the costume and then sew them onto my new leotard.

Here is a before and after. The skirt was also attached before and now it’s a separate piece.

(Also, these tights were too dark so I later ordered some lighter ones from WeLoveColors.)

I painted the front and back bows with purple fabric paint and made a starfish brooch.

Here’s a test shot with my nude mesh undershirt on and a freshly ironed skirt. Lookin’ good!

The tiara that came with the original costume was a very bright yellow. So I painted it gold to give it a better look.

I bought some white flats from a bridal shop and painted them with green fabric paint. Then I sprinkled some glitter on them before they dried completely.

The trident was originally a devil’s pitchfork from a Halloween store. I took it off the smaller pole and attached it to a longer PVC pipe.

Next I sanded it all really really well and primed it with Gesso.

Then I spray painted it gold.

To hide the devil’s face I glued some rope around the pole. I added some starfish to it for a nautical look but later took them off.

Photo by Aperture Ashley

Here is the completed look! I added some green ribbons to my ankles and around my neck. For details on my wig please visit this post.

And since no one really takes pics of my back here is one to show you the back bow.

Photo by Aperture Ashley 

Photo by AC Cosplay Photography

:+:+:+:

I’m proud of this costume because it was very inexpensive but looked well put together. I hope people see that using Halloween costumes and props is okay! Just add some creative touches to it, and you can make a really nice cosplay.

To see more photos of my Sailor Ariel in action be sure to check out my blog posts of AKon 25 and Anime Fest 2014.