Cosplaying Minecraft Villager Professions
Dragon Con is a paradise for cosplay enthusiasts, where creativity and craftsmanship shine brighter than ever. This year, our family decided to channel the blocky charm of Minecraft by creating four villager profession cosplays: the Cartographer, Librarian, Farmer, and a 
Baby Villager. If you’ve been around for a while you’d know that our first born is a huge Minecraft fan – you can see the tutorial for making last year’s Steve costume by clicking the image to the left. After learning so much from last year’s cardboard crafting session, we thought we would take things up a notch this year and make it a family affair.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how we brought these pixelated characters to life.
Concept and Planning
We started with a brainstorming session to decide which professions to represent. Minecraft’s villagers are iconic, but we wanted to ensure variety and recognizability, which led us to choose the Cartographer, Librarian, Farmer, and the ever-adorable Baby Villager (because that totally makes sense because our youngest is only 2 years old – easier to explain the smaller stature lol). Once we locked down our choices, it was time to plan the builds.
Our main challenge was replicating the oversized, blocky heads of the villagers. After reviewing reference images from the game, we decided to make the heads out of cardboard (like we did with Steve last year), ensuring they’d be lightweight and wearable for a full day at the con. For authenticity, we meticulously recreated the pixelated look by drawing a grid on each head and painting each square based on the game’s textures.
Materials and Tools
Here’s what we used:
- Cardboard: Sturdy cardboard boxes for the heads that we cut to fit each head better for scale.
- Acrylic paints: Acrylic paint set for vibrant and accurate pixel colors – we bought ours at Walmart – I’ll reference the specific color names below to help with color matching.
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- Rulers: Craft ruler set to map out the pixel pattern based on the number of squares we should have length and width wise for each size head.
- Hot glue and tape: Hot glue gun and durable masking tape (because it allows for paint to adhere to it) for assembling the heads and additional add-ons.
- Fabric and accessories: Assorted fabric and crafting materials for the costumes. Or buy the robes for the adults that we purchased.
Building the Heads
I used the grid pattern from Merriment Design as a starting point to build off of here
- Measuring and Cutting: Each head started as five cardboard panels cut to size. The adult villager heads were larger to fit comfortably, while the Baby Villager’s head was scaled down for our smallest team member.
- Assembling the Heads: We assembled the panels by reinforcing the seams with durable masking tape to ensure strength. Hot glue was used for adhering any additional items to the boxes like the cartographer’s eye thing and the librarian’s glasses.
- Drawing the Grid: We used reference images to calculate the number of pixels for each face. A ruler and pencil helped us draw the grid on every panel before painting. Each head stayed at an 8×9 (Steve is 8×8) grid but divided up over the width and height to each cube face depending on the size of the head.
- Painting: This step required patience. Each square was painted individually, matching the colors from the game’s textures. The Cartographer had a distinctive monocle, the Librarian’s face featured glasses, and the Farmer had his characteristic headband. The Baby Villager’s design was simpler but just as endearing. I will recommend painting the cardboard color white before starting your grids to allow for you to get more true-to-color painting attempts. I did still have to do number coats of each color to maintain crisp lines and coverage.
Creating the Outfits
To complement the heads, we designed costumes for each villager profession (all villagers sport a tied belt adorned with an emblem hanging from them signifying their rank – we were diamond)
- Cartographer: A brown robe with a sash, a cartographer’s eye piece, and map accessories (we purchased a satchel to carry them in).
- Librarian: A white robe over brown clothes with a book as a hat.
- Farmer: A brown robe with that crazy pixelated yellow straw hat.
- Baby Villager: A scaled-down brown robe for a cohesive look.
Thankfully I had some brown cotton fabric and white old sheets on hand that were used to assemble the baby robe and the white one-armed robe for the librarian. The cartographer and farmer’s robes were purchased from Amazon. The belts were created by cutting strips of brown suede that we also had on hand (so useful to have a huge fabric stash for random needs like this). Lastly, our oldest used his perler beads to create our diamond emblems for our belts which turned out perfect and light-weight when hot glued to a barrette for attachment.
Final Touches
The final step was ensuring the costumes were comfortable and functional. We added padding inside the heads for a secure fit and left the bottoms open to prevent overheating. That August/September Atlanta heat is unrelenting. All of us also utilized neck fans to keep us cool while in costume. During a test run, we practiced movements and poses to bring our villagers to life on the convention floor.
The Big Day
Walking through Dragon Con in our Minecraft villager cosplays was an unforgettable experience. The reactions ranged from amused to amazed as attendees recognized the pixel-perfect designs. The Baby Villager stole the show with its cuteness (that is while she managed to keep the head on – it’s also important to have realistic expectations when it comes to having toddlers join you in costume), while the distinct professions of the other villagers added depth to our group.
Crafting these cosplays was a labor of love, combining creativity, teamwork, and a shared passion for Minecraft. If you’re considering cosplay for your next convention, we highly recommend diving into the blocky world of Minecraft. It’s a rewarding journey that’s sure to turn heads—literally! Who hasn’t played Minecraft, right? Not to mention, it’s so fun to walk around making Villager sounds all day and trying to give out emeralds lol