With the new restructure of the MegaCon Live Masquerades, you’ve probably seen that progress books are now required and might be wondering what exactly is a progress book? Progress books, more frequently called a build book, are a way for you to show the judges that you’ve made your cosplay. But how do you make one? What info should be in it? And why do you need one?
Some competitions include Build Books as a judged aspect of their competition, a percentage of your score is based on the quality and contents of your build book. For the MegaCon Masquerades, the Progress Book is not a judged portion of your entry, but it is still required. Progress Books are your chance to show off your build in even more detail, and help give judges a physical reference to see after pre-judging while they are deliberating.
Judges won’t be looking at the quality of your progress book when making their decisions, but they will be looking at the info and images you include in your progress book to help them judge aspects that you made but they can’t see, and to reference during deliberation. From the contest-runner side of things, progress books help to show us that you did make your cosplay.
What should be in a progress book?
References! The cover of your progress book should have your best reference photo for the cosplay you’ve made. This means it should be in colour, and a ideally a full body photo of the front of the cosplay. Include the name of the character you’re cosplaying, and then your name, and the source the character is from.
The first official page of your progress book should contain even more references! The more references you can provide the better. References should be in colour, and ideally you should aim to have a references for the front, back and side of your cosplay, plus any smaller details you are including, or photos of key props you’ve made. You don’t need to write anything on this page, but if you made any deviations from the references, you can always include some brief info about why you made changes.
If you’re entering an original design, the reference section is going to look a bit different. The front page should include your core design image, if you have a sketch you’ve based your design off of, use that on the cover, otherwise, include images of what inspired you.
The reference page for an original design should feature what inspired you, include sketches here that you worked off of, photos that inspired the colours, design, or other details of your cosplay. If you made any sketches definitely include them here, but drawing skills are not required- a collage of inspiring images works.
A materials page can be a nice addition after the references or inspiration page. You can place fabric samples on this page, or just list out the materials you used in the cosplay. If you used any new or complex techniques you could list those on this page as well. Including a list of what elements were made, modified and bought can also be a good idea.
The rest of the progress book should break down each element of the cosplay. Each element should have it’s own page. Try to include images of the patterning/drafting stage of the build, a WIP photo or detail photo of how you finished the seams and inner workings of the piece, and any other detail photos. Pictures speak more than words, but you can include small blurbs on info about unique techniques you used, challenges you overcame, or other such details for the build process of the piece.
In this example, I’ve broken down how i drafted the neckline, the inner support structure of the neckline, and the decision making process for the sleeves. I also included a photo that shows how the hems and the seams were finished. If there’s something unique or creative about how you built a piece, make sure to highlight it!
Brevity is the goal with a progress book, Judges aren’t necessarily going to have time to read the whole book cover to cover, and will use it more as a quick reference. Keep text to the point and make sure the photos speak for themselves. Your build book shouldn’t be more than 15 pages, and around 10 pages is a more realistic cap on total number of pages. The fewer pages you can use while still showing each layer of the cosplay the better!
Guild Tip: If your cosplay has more than 15 elements, consider combining smaller elements onto one page or you may need to do your build book slightly different, and rather than doing a page per element, doing a page per stage of the build with all elements featured. This would look like a page dedicated to patterning/drafting where you show how you patterned or drafted each element of the cosplay, and then a page for seams and finishing where you show what techniques you used to finish the seams for each element. You’d use a page for each step of the process and cover every element that went through that step on that page. The ideal progress book layout is still piece by piece rather than step by step, but for cosplays featuring a lot of elements, you may have to opt for the step by step layout.
The final page should show the finished pieces if possible. Con Crunch and printing deadlines are real, so if time doesn’t allow it, this page can be skipped, but it is a nice detail to include. If you’re including a page for finished pieces, include a shot of the front, back and side of the costume either modeled on yourself, a friend or a mannequin. Make sure the costume is ironed and neat (unlike my sleeves in this example- oops!). You can include any final notes or thoughts on this page, but it can also just have photos.
Final Thoughts
Progress Books are a great way to show off all your hard work! For the MegaCon Live Masquerades, they’re not a judged element, so don’t stress too much about making it perfect. You will need to bring a physical copy of your progress book with you, but if there is an access need preventing you from doing so, make sure you reach out to the team well in advance of the show to talk about your options.
Feel free to get as creative as you want with the design aspect of your progress book, although it won’t earn you extra points, it can be fun to put some creative energy into the layout and design, and good practice if you’re considering entering other competitions where the Build Book is a judged aspect.
On the flip side of that, please also don’t feel pressured to put a lot of time or energy into the design aspect. While coloured photos should be used, you don’t have to get creative with the fonts, colours or other design elements. Simplicity is okay and won’t lose you any points, as the Progress Book isn’t a judged aspect of your entry.
Our team has created a Progress Book Template that you are welcome to use if you need some extra help getting started on your Progress Book. You don’t have to use the template, feel free to get creative with your build book and design your own! But the template is there if you need some extra guidance. You can also check out an example Progress Book that UK Director Hazel created for a recent Masquerade she entered using the template.
And of course, you can always email our team for advice or with questions at guildofnerdscosplay@gmail.com
