I recently got into the Dream SMP fandom, and after making my Dream cosplay, I decided I wanted to make a whole lot more! And because I love stressing myself out, I decided to see how many Dream SMP cosplays I could make in a week! Meaning finding the stuff for, putting together, making any costume parts, and doing a full shoot for each one. It sounded like a fun, exhausting challenge — and (spoiler alert) it was!
I first looked at all the characters in the Dream SMP, and made a list of which ones I thought I would be able to cosplay. I took into account which wigs and clothing items I had, what the costumes looked like and how easy they would be to make, and just what characters I wanted to cosplay.
After I decided on characters, I made a checklist for each one, with everything I would need to make, buy, or repurpose for them. Because I was doing this on such a short schedule, I needed to be pretty organized.
I decided on the following DSMP characters to cosplay: Wilbur, Ghostbur, Revivalbur, Sapnap, jSchlatt, GeorgeNotFound, Tubbo, Fundy, Ranboo, Philza, and Tommyinnit. Kind of a lot to do in a week, but it seemed like fun.
I already had some of the stuff I needed for them, and I’d started on one or two costume pieces a while back, but I still had to buy and make a lot. It was going to be tricky to pull it off, but I was ready!
Dream Cosplay
The first cosplay I shot that week was Dream, but he was already mostly done, and pretty much all I did for him that week was a proper photoshoot. It was a lot of fun, but I don’t really count him as part of my ‘week of DSMP cosplays.’
Wilbur, Revivalbur, & Ghostbur Cosplays
The first cosplay I ‘officially’ finished and shot was Wilbur Soot. Some things I already had, some I thrifted that week, and a couple parts I made. After I finished making and shooting him, I changed my clothes and makeup for Revivalbur, and then again for Ghostbur. Three variations of the same character, but all still pretty distinct, with different costume pieces and makeup looks! All a lot of fun to bring to life. These three were all finished and shot on Wednesday.
Quick note, all of my thrifting and shopping was done on Tuesday, to keep it all part of the same week. Not counting the things I already, had, of course.
GeorgeNotFound Cosplay
The fourth cosplay I finished that week was GeorgeNotFound (or just George), which was pretty easy. I thrifted some things, made some quick jewelry, and added the craft foam detail to his shirt. Then all I had to do was take some pictures! A really quick, easy cosplay.
Tommyinnit Cosplay
The fifth cosplay was Tommyinnit, which I shot the same day as George. I didn’t really have to make anything from scratch for him, just a lot of thrifting and repurposing! His two disks I’d made a while back, and the shoulder armor / strap was reused from Dream.
Sapnap Cosplay
Next up was Sapnap, which was a lot of fun. Most of his costume was thrifted or repurposed, but I did make some more jewelry for him, the white headband, and the fire detail on the shirt. I really enjoyed doing the makeup for him as well. Kind of dark and dramatic vibes.
Something I did to better streamline my photoshoot process was look at what characters would have similar makeup, and shoot them all on the same day. That way, I could shoot one cosplay, then only take off some of the makeup, and redo parts of it for the next cosplay. It made the whole thing way easier! The exception was on Saturday, where I had to completely redo the makeup for both of my shoots.
jSchlatt Cosplay
On Friday, I shot three more cosplays, the first of which was jSchlatt. I’ll be honest, wearing this cosplay made me feel so powerful — not sure if it’s the suit, the horns, or the makeup, but I really loved it. The horns and ears I made completely from scratch, and I have a full tutorial for the ears on my Etsy! The brown wig was for a different cosplay (yes, I did use that wig for SO MANY of my DSMP cosplays — but it’s the only brown wig I had, okay?), and the rest of the costume was thrifted, or I already had it. I already had some practice doing that style of makeup from my faun cosplay, so that went pretty quick as well. Then I took some quick photos and videos, and moved on to the next one.
Fundy Cosplay
The next cosplay I shot on Friday was Fundy, who’s a fox… person. I’m not totally sure what his deal is. Anyway, I had thrifted the black suit coat a while back, but I added all the gold details, and the colorful bits on the front. I also made the fox ears from scratch, which was super quick and easy after making the faun ears! The wig was reused from my Scarlet Witch cosplay, and the makeup only had to be adjusted slightly after my jSchlatt photoshoot.
I should mention at this point that I was MAD rushing the whole week. Because of how rushed I was, I usually finished making a cosplay only hours before a shoot, if not sooner. I would typically get up early, spend the morning hurrying to make costume pieces, go to a class and eat lunch, then get back home and immediately get into costume for several photoshoots. By the time I finished and tidied up (my shoots can get messy), it would be dinner time. Then I would catch up on different stuff, edit some photos, go to bed, and then wake up and do it again. Again, kind of stressful, but it was a lot of fun. I’d never done something like this before!
Tubbo Cosplay
Anyway, the final cosplay I shot on Friday was Tubbo, which was… an adventure. He had pretty severe burn scars on his face from a firework explosion, and I really wanted to recreate that. I’d never done any SFX makeup before, beyond some light fake scars, and I didn’t want to go out and buy liquid latex or anything just for this. And, I’ll be honest, the thought of trying to use that made me nervous. So instead, I used white school glue, toilet paper, and eyeshadow. And it ACTUALLY WORKED!! I had done a brief test the day before, but I was so happy with how it looked the day of the shoot! It kind of took forever, but that’s okay. I was worried about it being hard to take off, but getting it wet made it come off really easily.
For the rest of the costume, I already had some things, and then a couple parts I thrifted. I also made two badges, reused my ears from jSchlatt, and made new some cute little horns as well. The horns are made out of foam clay, and attach to the wig with bobby pins. It was a super fun cosplay to do!
Philza Cosplay
I was getting TIRED by the time Saturday rolled around. But hey, I still had two more cosplays to finish and shoot!! No time for slacking. That morning I worked a lot on Philza Minecraft, mostly making his weird stripy hat. I then used a couple things I already had, and some stuff I thrifted, to put together the rest of the cosplay. I’ll be honest, this one was probably my least favorite haha. Not the happiest with how it turned out. But at least it was done!
Ranboo Cosplay
One of the cosplays I most wanted to do was also the one I was most worried about pulling off: Ranboo. He was one of my favorite characters, but he had such an extreme appearance, and I was worried about how I would find a wig and do the makeup. Fortunately, it all worked out! I bought a cheap white wig from my local Spirit Halloween, and used a black marker to color half of it black. I ran out of time to make it solid black, but I kind of like the mottled look as well!
The makeup was… difficult. I had gotten some cheap Halloween face paint in black and white, and, I’ll be honest, I had no idea how to use it. I skimmed through a Ranboo makeup tutorial, then ignored most of it and did my own look. The makeup I used, turned out, was pretty garbage (you get what you pay for, I guess), but for my first time ever with full face paint, I think it went okay! And it only took me two whole hours haha.
The only thing I had to make from scratch for Ranboo was the crown, which I threw together really quick on Saturday morning. The paint was barely dry by the time I started my photoshoots for the day. The rest of the cosplay was thrifted — most of the actual costume part was the same as jSchlatt’s, which was helpful. I ended up wearing that costume for Halloween events that night, since that’s… what I had on, and it got me stared at by a lot of small children. But hey, it was still fun!
Final Thoughts
And after eleven different cosplays, seven days, and a whole lot of stress and excitement, I was done!! I had made, worn, and shot nearly a dozen different Dream SMP cosplays in a single week! I had a lot of fun doing it, I pushed myself to the limit, and I learned a lot. Would I do this again? Maybe. We’ll see. There are still a lot of characters left in the Dream SMP, after all! Maybe I’ll do this challenge again some day! I think it would be fun.