COSPLAY EXPLAINED

ANDREW Lutomski began dressing up as Thor two years ago after being told he looked like Chris Hemworth.

The 30-year-old from Melbourne, who is on the Gold Coast for the Supanova Pop Culture Expo this weekend, said it was a role he enjoyed playing.

“I grew my hair out and it became a daily occurrence where people would come up to me and tell me I look like Thor,” Mr Lutomski said.

“There are worse people you can look like than Chris Hemsworth, that’s for sure. Thanks mum and dad.”

Mr Lutomski said Cosplay was a combination of “dressing up as a character and role playing that character”.

“It originated in Japan but it’s grown so much, especially here on the Gold Coast,” the personal trainer said.

“Supanova and the number of people in Cosplay was huge last year and I personally know people that are travelling from interstate for this weekend. It’s a great atmosphere.”

Mr Lutomski said the celebrity line-up at Supanova was only one of the major drawcards to the event.

“It’s not all about the celebrities,” he said. “I’m most looking forward to seeing people that are part of the Cosplay community.”

Creative retailer IronLak is sponsoring the main prize of $1000 in paints for the winner of Supanova’s Cosplay competition.

Luke Shirlaw, of Ironlak, shared with us his top five ideas for creating a lastminute costume with spray paint: 1. Lego: All you need is some cardboard and yellow spray paint. You can be a lego person or even just a brick 2. Pokéball: Spray paint part of a white T-shirt red. Which Pokémon is inside? Who knows! 3. Sim: A headband, cardboard and can of green spray paint of a paint pen can turn you into a sim – regardless of what you’re wearing. If you don’t have green paint never fear, yellow or red works too (it just depends on your Sim’s mood) 4. Starbucks Cup: A couple of cardboard boxes and some white and green spray paint will turn you into a Starbucks cup. You just need a black marker to misspell your name. 5. Tardis: A fridge box, a Stanley knife, a can of blue spray paint, a black and a white paint pen and you can create the Tardis from Doctor Who. Just make sure you remember to cut out holes for your arms, legs and face.