Tips for Making Your Own AVATAR Na'vi Cosplay Costumes

Na’vi Cosplay is just beginning. Now that the DVD is released, cosplayers can study the Na’vi of AVATAR. Certain basic items are needed for Na’vi cosplayers, and this article looks at what will be needed to get started. Very little is available commercially, and so cosplayers need to dive into original planning and creating. What are the basic necessities for Na’vi cosplay?

Guest post by Rebecca Scudder

Follow these helpful tips to create a realistic costume for any AVATAR event! For a good Na'vi cosplay, you need realistic looking Na'vi skin, a wig that resembles Na'vi hair, including the long queue braid, a face that has the broad nose, cat like ears and bare eyebrows of a Na'vi face, and the accouterments and accessories of a Na'vi. Follow this guide for more tips and advice.

Skin & Body

The Na'vi have medium blue skin with darker blue cat / zebra stripes, and tall slender bodies. Tights and a bodysuit of the right color are a possibility. Darker stripes can be added with a fabric marker or acrylic paint. Care should be taken not to make the strips too sharp or symmetrical in appearance.

The Na'vi have four fingers and four toes- the cause of their base eight numbering system. Since human feet are tender, some sort of soft shoe or sandal is probably a good idea, so feet are the last concern. If you use dyed, close-fitting gloves, you could open the pinkie and ring fingers of the gloves and sew them into one digit. While this would make the last finger a little thick, it is probably the most balanced approach and will give your hands the greatest freedom of movement and ability to grasp.

Hair

Wigs are available from several online costume sites. Look for wigs of long, dark hair with or without braids or dreadlocks, depending on the hairstyle you envision for your Na'vi. In the film, Na'vi wore their hair straight back from the forehead, not parted, but few wigs have this style. With multiple small braids this is not too much of a problem, but there may be some trial and error in getting the right look for Jake's single braid.

Ears

Jake’s hair style is also a problem for realistic ears. Ears that fit over human ears are not positioned correctly for the Na’vi face. With the braids that Neytiri wears, human ears are covered, and more realistic Na’vi ears can be positioned to emerge from the wig at the correct angle and site. Elf ears are a possibility, especially ones made from latex or a translucent material that can be tinted blue. Jake’s single braid and the modified mohawk braid on some warriors’ heads don’t allow human ears to be easily hidden, so most maskless attempts at ears for them put pointed ears onto human ears. This means they look odd- an issue for individual cosplayers to decide.

Face

The broad nose and the lack of eyebrows can be created with makeup, or a good quality mask. Recently fans have been auctioning their own designs for foam latex masks on eBay, with realistic features suitable for Na’vi cosplay. These have ears, or have ears that can also be purchased and put on the mask. Na’vi eyes are large and yellow gold, with a difference in size and spacing between AVATARs and true Na’vi. The only way to cosplay those eyes are contacts; good ones, which are expensive.

Clothing

Next is clothing, or the modicum of garments the Na’vi wear; basically a loincloth or apron that covers the frontal groin. Neytiri wears a sash at times, with a dangling end, and others wear what looks like a narrow suede apron. It looked like some of the warriors wore a sort of suede brief sometimes, but it was hard to tell because they were moving quickly in those scenes. Drapes vary in style and ornateness.

Jewelry

Most of what the Na’vi wear is decorative. They are not bothered by weather, at least where Jake is. They have braided leather loops and circles and swoops of cord; chokers of either glass or semi-precious stones; head pieces and pectorals with bone and tooth and horn ornaments; leather worked bracers and abdomen guards; and an amazing variety of beaded decorations. Other decorative items worn range from feathers to intricate ritual pieces. Artists, fans and cosplayers have started recreating items seen in the movies, and now that DVD and Blu-ray versions are available, so that the Na’vi are easier to study, an explosion of reproductions and inspired or original pieces will be available.

Weapons

The final item cosplayers need to consider is whether or how to reproduce the weapons shown. Cosplaying rules preclude working weapons, although plausible reproductions are used in costume masquerades and contests. Roleplayers may make more realistic reproductions, and there are always fans interested in accurate replicas. Beyond basic Na’vi cosplay, Pandora’s sky will be the limit for what you and others will make.

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Jewelry is often a favorite; what are the first items you will make for Na’vi cosplay?