When people hear the word cosplay, they automatically think of eccentric and outrageously detailed costumes that took months to make. What they don't realize, however, is how easy it is to actually put a cosplay together, if it's given enough thought. This is just a simple guide to upgrade your Halloween costume this year.

A good place to start would be to think about what kind of stuff you're into. Movies, TV shows, video games stuff like that. Let's start with something easy, like Futurama. This is Fry, he's going to be our example.

Now, as you can see, he's wearing pretty simple clothes. A plain red windbreaker, a white shirt, blue jeans, black high tops with white laces and all you'd have left to get is either an orange wig or orange hairspray. You could get the majority of that at a thrift store - if you're lucky enough. It's not so much about looking exactly like whatever character you're dressing up as it's about imagining them in our world. What would they wear if they were actually real? Here's a picture of a cosplayer dressed up as him.

It'�s all about thinking about the character you want to dress up as, as if they were a real person; even if they aren't a person. Next, we'll take a look at Nick Wilde, the fox from Zootopia.

He's wearing a green Hawaiian shirt, but a regular green button down would probably work, as well as khakis, and a red and blue tie. You'd probably need a reddish-orange wig, a fox tail and fox ears. But as you can see, he doesn't wear shoes. But you wouldn't want to go out on Halloween not wearing something on your feet, right?

Here's a picture of me cosplaying as Nick. As you can see, I decided to wear flip flops that matched my khakis, but that was something that I decided to do. That's what it's all about.

So here's a recap of what to do for Halloween from a cosplayers point of view:

1. Think about who you want to be.

2. Look at what that character is wearing and try to find apparel that is close to that at thrift and second-hand stores.

3. Think about any other accessories you think you might need to get such as whether you'd prefer a wig or colored hairspray.

4. Have fun! Cosplaying doesn't have to be expensive, but you can definitely look good.