CasualtyCosplay cartoonized by laira87

Few posts ago I wrote about our collaboration with doujinshi artist laira87. It was probably two days after I put out the post when Laira contacted me. She granted us a permission to put her upcoming doujinshi cover here on our blog! The title of her new work is Soulstrip. For more information about publication and availability of the doujinshi and about the artist herself go to Laira's Deviantart profile.

Forged faces and features- Cosplay make-up

For us, make-up is a necessity. Even Yoki, who never wears any make-up is willing to powder, fade and blush if it's for the sake of cosplay. Once I even got her wear mascara, which she really, really hates. I'm not in any way professional make-up artist, but through try and error I have found ways that work well for us. There are lot of make-up tutorials in Youtube from basics to professionals. But because we get a lot of questions about our make-ups and body paints I thought that I'd make a post about it.

I think it's best to go with the products you already know. For cosplay purposes I use almost all the same stuff I have in my make-up purse crazy body paints not included. I have found a good foundation, which I use daily. For conventions and photoshoot I usually pair it with powder in hopes of making it last the whole day. Good foundation reduces shine. It also perfects your skin in photos reflecting light and making small errors less noticable. Powder should be used with care, even if it sounds great not having to worry about the foundation wearing off. Powder tends to react to flashlights harshly, eating away facial features and natural shadows. It's wise to test make-up at home with different lightings to see the results and to choose which products works out the best. Bronzers and blushes are helpful faking shapes on your face, but also defining them for photos if powder is used.

Eyes are dominant feature when anime or manga characters are under discussion. A lot of expressions starts from the eyes. They also give an unique look for the character and gives information about characters aligment and personality. It's natural to pick the focus from the eyes to cosplay through make-up. But I don't see why you couldn't alter distinctive eye make-up of the character to suit you. Seriously, I once tried on similar heavy eye-lining that Gaara from Naruto has and it looked plain horrible. I have seen many Gaara cosplayers, who can pull off the type of thick eye-lining he has, but it didn't honesly suit be the slightest. I don't know is it the shape of my eye and eyelids, but I couldn't see myself wearing that type of make-up without looking stupid. For me I think eye-liner with black eye-shadow would do the trick. To achieve the goal I think it's acceptable to cheat a little with the original design, because we are real people, not drawn to perfection.

Mascara is essential if you cosplay girls with flashy eyes, but not necessary with male characters. Deidara is an exception for me. Because he has heavy lining on his eyes it's rather normal to presume that he has dark lashes or he uses mascara. Personally I always use some type of mascara, because I have the lightest lashes. Brown one, if the character happens to be "natural" looking male. Akon is an exception from the other end. For him I tried to fade away all the hair sticking around my eye area. Instead I used a lot of faded eye-shadow to make the eyes pop in a different way.

Eye-shadow suits both men and female. It gives some depth to eyes, so photos generally look much better. Also slight alterations to shape of the eye is achievable. The best palette for natural and not too noticable result is one with browns, greys and possibly black for heavier shadows. Eye-liners work well with almost any type of eyes. Depending on the character, you need to choose do you go with liquid or pen type. Liquid eye-liner gives a sharp look, when pen type is a lot softer and it's easy to fade and blend.

Pairing with the eyes are the eyebrows. They usually are same colour as the characters hair. Eye-shadows and pens can be used to change the shade of your natural brow colour, but if it's drasticly different like burning red, I would use a lip liner. Of course you could purchase a liner specially created for eyebrows, but the range of colours might not be as wide as in lip liners. Lip liners are moister than eye-liners and have rich tone, so it should cover up your original brow colour easily. I recommend using powder to fix the lip liner on place. Otherwise you could accidentally smudge it all over your forehead.

Basic products can carry great lenghts.

Next to basic make-up we have a history with more masking body paints. We trust in Grimas products, which can be purchased in water- or oil-based. Usually you would think that the oil-based paints are better, but we can't make the difference between the two. Both have ups and downs. Luckily we haven’t done cosplays that require full body paint, because next to awkwardness while wearing full body paint, when you can’t regularly touch anything without messing up yourself and others, it takes time to apply it. Make sure you have a buddy with patient nature to help you out. And read the instructions. Even oil-based body paints need to be applied with moist sponge, thus speeding up the whole process.

Before wearing any type of body paints I recommend you care your skin with moisturiser well before, if it’s not a daily habit. Applying paint is easier and your skin can bear little better few days heavily concealed. It’s also wise to purchase body paints in two consistent. We have cake types next to few liquid ones. Liquid ones come in handy when there are sharp lines or patterning in the design you are aiming for. For applying body paints we use make-up sponges and normal paintbrushes. They have proved to be lot long lasting and in all ways better than make-up brushes in the same price group.

Body paints should always be fixed with transparent powder! It lasts way better and smoothes up some minor tone differences. And always have good products to wash away make-up despite the type of it.

Grimas has a website where you can find different types of make-up from theatrical to basic beauty. You can search for retailers near you after moving to your country's section, if you don't like to order through the online shop.

Breakfast, water and emergency chocolate bar

When your costume is finally ready it´s time to participate in an event. But before you rush in the middle of kitty caps, over-sized swords and flashlights you should prepare yourself. Usually events last the whole day (and the next day and so on) so you need to remember that even though you're cosplaying undead priest, your stomack doesn't cooperate with willpower only.

First step: Breakfast!
The most important meal of the d-day and maybe the only proper one. Two pieces of bread aren't enough so you have to add something extra like porridge, yoghurt and fruits. This combination will keep you functioning the next 3 to 5 hours. This is our experience, every person is different.

Second step: Water.
Because summer is often hot (that depends) and we cosplayers tend to drape ourselves on black PVC, multiple layers of clothes and most painful accessories, it is reasonable to drink water. It prevents headaches and dizzyness. You don't want to pass out, right?

After convention you can reward yourself with huge cup of hot chocolate! (Photo by Hiron 2008)

Third step: Emergency chocolate bar.
Cause everyone is hopefully having fun time you easily forget the passing time and eventually your blood sugar levels drops, like fangirls jaws, causing weakness. This is when you stuff your chocolate in your mouth and walk to the nearest market or foodplace. We are not fictional characters. Actually we need to eat and we need to go the bathroom, which tend to be quite difficult, especially for me.

Extra step: Your buddies.
When having a group around you it is highly advisable to check how they are performing. That their wigs are looking good and that they don't pass out while walking behind you. This came very clear to us when our friend and fellow cosplayer Karan was joining our trip to Animecon two thousand and something (Hiron edit: 2008). Casualty Cosplay doesn't carry chocolate around, we don't need to 'cause we mainly shut down our inner organs when we go to con. Karan however, was different. Her blood sugar dropped much faster than ours and it was our fault to let it happen. So next time Karan, I've have a chocolate bar for you, you like it or not.

So people, take good care of yourself and buddies. Weird things might happen.

- yoki out

Collaboration with doujinshi artist laira87

This picture of us will be drawn as a doujinshi cover by laira87.

Last month we got a message one of a kind. Doujinshi artist, who has account on Deviantart under laira87 contacted us and asked a permission to use one of our cosplay pictures as an inspiration for a cover of her new project. I explored her work, discussed with Yoki about the matter and changed few messages with Laira. She was really nice person and quick on her moves! It didn't take long before she sent me a sketch, where Sasori and Deidara were drawn in the way we pose in our picture.

We granted the permission and now we are waiting for the cover to finished. So exiting! The funny thing is, that this particular photo is based on a drawing I, myself made years ago. So Laira is drawing a picture of our photo, which is based on a drawing. From Laira's Deviant profile you find more info about her and her work.

Akatsuki interviews uploaded

Today I went to Yoki's place with my wig and a bottle of fake blood. We had done the script ready a week earlier, so we didn't have to mind that. The editing was fast, thanks to Yoki's new computer. Zero crashes, zero grey hairs. Music, more precicely "Bad Ideas (distressed)" we got from incompetech.com by Kevin MacLeod and it's licenced under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. At 11am we started to prepare for our photoshoot and and at 6pm we were ready and the outcome of the day was uploaded on Youtube. You can check here for Akatsuki interviews.

Obligatory "after" pic.

We were thinking of doing a series of interviews. First question came up years ago when we were cosplaying Sasori and Deidara the first time, but for some reason we didn't materialize it back then. The second one was just random idea we laughted about when we were drinking coffee and tea and playing cards. If you have ideas or you would like to ask something from Sasori and Deidara, leave a comment or send us a message on Youtube!

Preparing to wear a cosplay almost after three years!

Next weekend we are going to do something we haven't done in almost three years. Wear Sasori and Deidara! We have worn non-canon costumes, but not their official outfits for a long time. It's quite obvious that things have changed after the last time we had Akatsuki gear on... and they will change before the weekend, when we are going have the photoshoot. Our wigs are going to spend some quality time with me and my scissors. And loads of hair spray, I predict.

We tried the outerwear of the costumes, in other words the Akatsuki cloaks yesterday. We both squeaked how nostalgic it was and how long it's been since then. We were standing in Yoki's room staring ourselves from the mirror, tilting heads back and forth. Just staring. That... was... wierd. But still, quite exiting to breath life to those costumes again. We'll see what will happen.

First try out! Looks silly without definitive make-up.

If you ever think you are going to put on a cosplay again after some undefined time, store it well. I didn't have a clue where Deidara's head protector was, so I had to go trough every possible hideout after all the possible wardropes and shelves. And that was only at Yoki's place, where most of our costumes are kept. Gladly, I found it. It was at my place, in a shoe box companied by a rank badge from Matsumoto Rangiku. What a discovery!

Another thing that pops in my mind on this matter, is to write down all the names and colours of the make-up products you have used on a cosplay. I think tomorrow I'm going to hit the stores after work to find some pretty coloured nail polishes.

This, by the way is my first cosplay accessory ever. And still in a good shape.

Popping stuff , unhappy paintjob and the devilish cracking sound

We are taking heavy casualties! My snowtrooper costume took some damage on the battleground. Hiron wanted me to tell about it so I'm going to list the casualties here, right now:

After spending few moments on our yard

my kneepad holder said
POP
while entering a car
the armor piece on the back of my hand said
POP
I didn't notice as
my shoulder straps said
POP
and when there were no glue or tape around
my visor said
POP
and as I came back to the base
I saw that one of my details had said
POP

Conclusion: glue doesn't like the cold

You move and your armor parts sometimes rub against each other. That is how you come up with unhappy paintjob. Most of the areas, which are lacking paint, are luckily in hard to see places like your abdomen and outsoles.

And finally the devilish cracking sound. The one you never wish to hear. Which happens to us way too often, maybe Hiron wants to tell us wath happened to her sword. "Your sword belongs to cloakroom, mine however is small enough to be carried with me", she said and look how that turned out.

Back to the point. I thought that the whole shoulderpeice was going apart when I heard the sound, but it was only one detail.

Ever thought where our name stems from.

-yoki out

Snowtrooper: Second step

References are important when the goal is screen accurate costume. That’s why I made whole post about it. The second step is much vaster. It inncludes all the ground work and material selection.

Step two: Initialization

When you are pulling your costume from the ground, you need to start with choosing materials for the clothes and in our case for the armour. Again searching trough forums and other sites I found recommended materials for the uniform. We chose flannel for the coat and pouches and for the pants I used thick cotton. I used same stuff on my Bubblehead nurse costume, where it proved to be really nice quality and forgiving material. For the shoes I chose awning cloth for its durability and thickness. For attachments I used Velcro, rubber bands with different widths and plastic buckles. For the helmet shroud I had to buy white vinyl, with a nice tint of pink. Better material is on search.

For the armour I needed to dig deeper and the extra work was worth it. First we thought we would do the armour parts from fibreglass, but with that we would have needed a lot of help from our commissioner. In The Definitive How To: Snowtrooper I was introduced to vacuum forming, so I started to Google and eventually found many helpful sites from model builders homepages to How to- Youtube videos. I collected all the information together to form a plan suited for our project.

Our version of vacuum forming set-up

I draw patterns myself, so I didn’t have to go trough the horrible mission of finding close enough patterns to be later modified for the purpose. I used size 38 (UK 12) basic patterns for us both. I didn’t need to add any extra looseness, so the whole pattern process was really quick and effortless. I drew the coats little more form fitting than they are in the movie and designed some extra cuts for the upper part of the pants, which are hidden under the crotch piece.

The plan and structure for the shoes were born also quite fast. I’ve made few shoe covers and sandal-type shoes, but now we were building boots. I ended up using techniques I knew would work. I decided to construct the shoes over a “base shoe” using hot glue, cotton sheet and soft foam with the awning cloth.

More planning were put on the vacuum forming molds. They can be made almost from anything. I have seen people using metal, wood, plaster and ready-made objects. We needed a material which we could shape in home environment, so we didn’t even think of any other material instead of insulation foam. We had work with it before with props and small accessories. We knew what could be made out of it, how it would react to spray paints and wood filler, which we used to smooth out the surface and to prevent the foam from melting.

The molds were made of insulation foam, which was stacked and glued if needed. For some guidelines I took The Definitive how to Snowtrooper measurements, which I then scaled to suit us. I smartly though, that the measures are made for full-grown man and we don’t have quite the same frame. It was rather challenging to get the shapes and proportions right, but thanks to art classes it wasn’t over-powering. The only object, which I really fought with and almost lost my mind, was the chest armour. Not only was it the biggest part, it was also curvy and needed to sit on your shoulders beautifully coming down to your midriff and sides. It could not be “tried on” because it was huge, bulky piece of foam. Measurements and taking them multiple times were the only option I had. It took some patience and re-doing, but in the end it paid off.

After the mold issue was solved, the next step was to find the right plastic. I was really proud of myself when I, by myself actually found a company which could provide us with the material needed. Before I even got to look for the company, I had few alternatives in my hand. I somehow ended up with PETG-plastic, which was provided in clear sheets.

First frame and clear plastic sheet attached

When we were waiting for the plastic to arrive via mail, we commissioned the frames and the vacuum table from Esa. We had to bother him few times, because the first frame was too small for some armour parts. The second time was my fault and stupidity, but gladly he’s patient commissioner and didn’t think ill of me. So please think carefully of your working space, equipment and everything you might need before starting! You will save time later and don’t do ridiculous mistakes. And if you commission anything at all, make sure you have enough time for the order and the commissioner has enough time to carry trought your order.

Snowtrooper: First step

Snowtrooper is definitely the hardest costume I have ever done. Not only did I have to learn things I didn't even know existed, I also had to work long hours and bounce between three or four process steps at a time. Planning a schedule became day to day habit. I knew it was crucial to plan ahead, because there where things I needed to do before I could do something else. For example, I had to finish the abdomen piece of the armour before I could go out and find a right width of belt strap, so that I could sew the belt loops on the coat. If I happened to miss a step or I didn't have enough time to do it as planned or I didn't find the right materials, the progress stopped. It happened few times and I think Yoki didn’t find those moments pleasing. In addition, neither did I.

Also working with new materials got over-whelming time to time. Plastic and vacuum forming, or more precisely failing with them made me want to rip the hair out of my head. But it was only a passing feeling, along with numerous times I thought my veins would burst from high blood pressure. Like with everything not too familiar, mistakes are inevitable. It takes some effort to pull yourself up numerous times and keep pushing on. For me at least, but it really builds a character.

I thought I would open the process of making the costume. The information I include in this series of posts is quite costume based, but you can always adapt it. I'll start with a step you always should do with care and patience. It pays off in the end, when you don't have to go and Google in the middle of chaulking, sewing or cutting off your finger. It's just plain frustrating.

1st Step: References

We were starting a costume based on movies and not on any movies, but on Star Wars. After some research and finding the right channels of information, it was really easy to stock up a nice collection of reference pictures. And there can never be too many references. More the merrier. The best source, which led to many other convenient sites were the 501st Legion’s homepage.

501st is a world-wide costuming organization which is specialised in the folk of the Dark Side. Dressed up as villains, they still have a good cause. Showing up in birthdays, weddings or game shops or being ordered in conventions doesn’t fill up their purses. All the profits are directed to charity work and fundraising. All the members of 501st are volunteers and constructs their costumes themselves. More information can be found at the homepage of 501st Legion: Vader’s Fist. I recommend you check the origin of the name, their mission and the testimonials and endorsements.

Thanks to well organized and helpful fandom it was really easy to find tons of reference pictures. I read throughout two forums, which I think were the most beneficial for me: Blizzard Force, a detachment specialised on cold climate troopers and Nordic Garrison, branch formed from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

Reference pictures in use

As references we used costume exhibit photos provided by snortooperrefrence on Photobucket, screen captures from Star Wars: Empire strikes back from various sources and process pictures from people who have constructed the costume. The Definitive How To: Snowtrooper proved to live up to it’s name. They have step by step tutorial, designs for the armour and a whole much more on their sites reference pictures and links included.

For us it was natural to find different sources for the references. When you are making a costume based on animated character the process is little different, but alternatives still exist. You can strictly follow animated design or choose more detailed comic version, possibly both if you know how to combine then and if you can stand behind your decision. Digging up original art from the artist might also prove helpful. If the character is wearing something what is recognisably a piece of clothing like kimono, finding pictures from real ones isn’t a bad idea.

Me and protective gear made by Yoki - Mission: Find ref-pics

Always see the effort to search information about your costume! Many questions have already been answered and many costumers have been helped out. You can learn a lot without participating and find sites and tutorials just by reading and clicking. Cosplay.com forums are a good source, but more specific help you can find on specialized sites. Not only references, but also recommendable materials and techniques are explained. You can also learn a lot from posts, where people ask for critique on their costumes. Usually the answers are really pin-pointed and possibly you haven’t even thought about some matters by yourself.

New cosplay debute- Snowtrooper

Finished! Well, almost... but atleast it's wearable! We finished the costume eight hours before it was to be worn by Yoki. We dropped the backpack from this first version, but I think that Snowtrooper from Star Wars series is making an impact even without it. When we manage to finish my costume all the missing objects will be done... and also some adjustments for Yoki's armor. There were casualties. Yes, there were... Yoki might post about them, because I witnessed only some of them.

So this is the huge project we have been battling with three months. Some armor making changes occured during the construction. We planned doing the armor parts from fiberglass but ended up doing them from PETG plastic using vacuum forming method. It was new for us and a great learning experience. I will post more detailed information about this costume later on, possibly when we have both of them entirely done. We have also planned some shorts skits and hopefully we will be able to shoot them when we still have snow.

But I must say... Star Wars costuming is epic!

Yoki

Weekly - Pick a pic

casualties happen


Hiron has taken damage (pic by yoki)

Something feminine

Our cosplay history is dominated by male characters, but now we are trying to chance it... even though it's starting to seem like mission impossible. There are plenty of interesting female characters, but finding a duo with strong and confident charasteristics hasn't paid off. I was quite suprised when Yoki pointed out, that I could choose a male character if it was too overpowering to find suitable ladies for both of us. Our tomboy want's to be a lady! As a result my task got a bit easier.

But not too easy. We are not only looking for a strong will and action oriented females. Because we like showy costumes girls in regular school uniforms needs to be counted out, even if we take liking in their personality. As a duo we try to be respectful for the height difference between characters as well as their difference in bodytypes. It just takes a lot of workload off if we can avoid building characters structure over ourselves.

In short, we are looking something mean and lean female or male partnered with something mean and curvy. Burst Angel's Jo and Meg would ba a match made in heaven... if they had more clothes on. I'm not a fan of "skimpy" outfits and Jo and Meg have great amount of panty and booby stuff going on.

I have gone trought manga, anime and games hoping to find suitable characters for us. We have always wanted to do a cosplay from Soul Calibur series, but the ladies in the games also suffer from common cloth-loss, which is really annoying. And the ones with more clothes aren't just as alluring for us, like Cassandra and Sophitia. They actually fill many of our requirements, starting from "connected" characters, but something in them just isn't catchy at all. Maybe they are just not mean enough.
If we forget about female duos, I think I might have something promising in mind. Recently I have been reading Pandora Hearts and totally fell in love with the character design and complex storytelling. The outfits just screams to be made. Alice would be a suitable character for Yoki, not too girly and fluffy even if she has a softer side. The male representation is wide and almost everyone of them have some kind of a connection to the heroine. I must admit that I like Xerxes Break, but then again Jack Vessalius would be more natural choice.We can't get too caught up with our future projects yet. We still need to finish our current one and it actually seems that we will be done in the end of this month! But it's always fun to do some character research and I think we will be doing some more before we are both satisfied with it.

Weekly- Pick a pic

Even the mad scientists love cookies! By Hiron 2007.

Weekly - Pick a pic

protection (pic by yoki)

When and how cosplay goes wrong?

You will not see any low-class images in this post. There are multiple webpages dedicated to make fun of people who doesn't fill the "regulations" for so called good cosplay. The worst ones are created and updated by individuals who belong in the same fandom as the persons from whom they are publishing pictures without permission. "Cosplay gone wrong" is probably the most horrid thing born in the finger-pointing and failure seeking "righteous" fandom. It might have started from a joke, but have quickly exploded into phenomenon. The main purpose seems to be insulting and bad-mouthing without any modesty. It resembles rasism, because usually the "failures" are related to race, skin colour and bodytype.

Lately and possibly because our current costume project I have been digging up information about early fan-based costuming. People have always been imitating their idols' appearance (Queen Mary Antoinette, "The Count of Rein", thus creating fashion), but dressing up like fictional characters is more late discovery. The first spark in fan-costuming, or now-a-days "cosplay" is not originated in Japan even tought the word cosplay was born and created by native Japanese. Nobuyuki "Nov" Takahashi was the first to use the term "cosplay" in his article in My Anime magazine (June 1983). Thus he came the inventor of the word. But it is said that Forrest J Ackerman was the first person to wear "futuristicostume" designed by Myrtle R. Douglas at 1st World Science Fiction Convention in 1939.

Still it's quite common to bump into opinion of Japanese being the superior and the only righteous cosplayers. It is true that the huge development took part in Japan when cosplay started to become more popular in mid 80's. If that is put aside, the usual argument why Japanese just are better, is that anime and manga are from Japan. So they are the only ones who should cosplay. Usually this is being said by non-Japanese, which is quite bizarre. In Japan cosplay does not only mean dressing up as anime and manga characters, the field of inspiration is much wider. Is the reason just ignorance or is there something more in it?

If you are cosplaying character from anime and manga, which are originated from Japan the chances of having disliked comments is highly predictable. And the argument is, that the characters in the series look like Japanese when you as a Caucasian, do not. I'm not sure how to react in this kind of opinion or am I just unable to see the resemblance, which for some seems to be clear as a day? Can I justify my costume if the character in the anime/manga is described as European? Or are the characters, even if named in an European way and living in historical France played by Japanese... cartoon... people? Everyone who conciders to cosplay as Spock, do not. You must be alien. Live long and prosper. Nano-nano.

If the Japanese aspect is forgotten the other targets, when looking failures are skin colour and physique. It can become invincible to keep cosplaying, when all you get is how big your nose is, how dark you are and how fat you are and all the effort you have put in the costume doesn't have any effect. Cosplay being based on clothing and designs, mimicin outer appearance of the character the degrating is mostly aimed at the person. It would make more sense, if the negative comments would relate to the costume's construction. If you don't have waist narrow enought or even have few kilos extra that seems to make you not only ugly and unfit for cosplay, but also failure, stupid and lazy in all aspects of life. Where did the "costume" and "play" concept go? How come cosplay seems to be turning into beauty pageant and look-alike realm?

Not everyone are willing to suffer with full bodypaint and corcets and there should be no need for those. Cosplay is not always performed to please the public eye and to gain acknowledgement. Cosplay itself can't go wrong, because there are no guidelines. None at all. But the by-products can go wrong and seems that they are getting more ignorant and ugly.

People seem to lose their touch to reality regarding cosplay. Cosplay goes wrong at the precise moment, when people start to think that they are qualified to make rules for cosplay and that they can start to criticise others harshly based on those . And they sometimes really seem to believe that they are right. Are they forgetting that behind the costume there is a person who might have different point of view? They might cosplay for their own sake, for fun not trying to achieve "a professional level". Or are these self-proclaimed critics just in love with their "cunning insights" that they just need to yammer about them? If contructive (as constructive) critique is wanted , it also will be asked for.

I might have said this before and will continue to say that cosplay is a hobby. Hobbies are not related to outer appearance. They are practiced based on interest and for enjoyment. Cosplay should not be restricted by looks, not of the character or the enthusiastic fan. In my point of view everyone are free to cosplay whoever they want. There are no regulations for cosplay if competitions are not counted. Even thought cosplay is a hobby which is really visual and even superficial, everyone does it regarding their own reasons and causes. And there is no wrong in that.

Do something useful

this week has been full of stitches and different kind of patterns. Because I can handle neither sewing nor pattering I was given a job to add something here. So here you go, pictures from our progress... taken weeks ago...in 2009...I should take new pictures.

armor in progress (pic by yoki)

this is something I can use, Woodfiller! (pic by yoki)

-yoki out

Weekly- Pick a pic

Hiron, also known as The Hunchback of Seam ripping. Pic by Yoki 2010.

Happy New Year everybody! After the holidays we are back in business. I'm so pleased to work with materials and techniques I know I can handle. After spending days, possibly weeks with pieces of styrofoam, sanding paper and chaulk I just love the rumble of a sewing machine. Our shoes are almost done. I think I manage to finish them tomorrow. Then I move on to the clothing and hope that I will avoid those stupid mistakes I did today. The picture was taken in a moment of a meltdown after sewing one seam incorrectly... twice. Yep, I can handle this...

The ultimate resemblance

I'm going to write a post about cosplay and mockery inside the fandom. One thing every cosplayer might have come across, is the argument of not looking like the character. That is going to be discussed in the up-coming post, but in the meantime entertain (and possibly educate) yourself with "What if Japanese cartoons were real?".

You can also try to guess who has gone trought some serious photoshopping.

Possible design for Debitto's jacket

I got myself Google Analytics. The reason is most likely my utter curiousity. Apparently Analytics doesn't only satisfy my appetite for sniffing around the trafic on our blog, but also to see how people finds our site. It's almost hilarious to read the search word list, but it gives rather useful vision of what people are seeking.

Debitto's outfit was one of them. I have come up with few sites where they sell the costume. They are easily found via Google or other search engines. But it's almost impossible to find good collection of reference pictures for Debitto's costume, because almost in every manga frame he is bent, stooped or partially blocked my Jasdero etc. When I was working with the costume I went trought many pictures to get the general view for the jacket. And it was actually really slow, some minor details were only drawn in few frames.

I have pointed out that I don't like manufactured costumes. One reason is the fact they usually lack the details. I thought I'd offer my alternative design for the jacket based on the manga illustrations. I came up with the cut, because in manga I didn't find any images with vertical seams. It's quite commonly used in leather jackets, which I think is the right material for Jasdero and Debitto.

I also gave my imagination a chance while choosing the fastening. One alternative could be poppers or buttons and over them would be overlapping piece of fabric to hide them. (Please, if anyone know what's it called officially, send a message!) I thought it would be natural to use a zipper, because there is one in Jasdero's vest. The other thing was the patches. I really don't know what they portray. In the sleeve there might be some kanji, but I'm not sure. Also the attachment in the collar might be with two poppers. It varied between references. The lenght of the jacket is over-knee. The way Debitto wears the jacket, hanging it over his shoulders makes it look like it reaches the knees. I came up with the other stichings to make the jacket look like a real deal, but only visible one in the references were the one on the hem. It's placed roughly three centimeters from the hem.

I hope this is useful to anyone who is going to sew the costume!

Basic drawing for Debitto's jacket by Hiron (2009).

If you want to more detailed information about the jacket, leave a comment!

Special Weekly- Pick a pic

Adulthood in sight! Happy birthday, Yoki!

Casual Sasori and Deidara from summer 2007. Pic by eila.

Tutorial - Dead and stressed effect for Bubblehead Nurse (without paints)

Prolog:

I have the worst type of acrylic paints. They differ drasticly in consistency from grainy and gobly to runny and bland and mixing those paints is a pain, because the result rarely is the one I'm looking for. Sometimes the colour seems fine, but when it dries it's something totally different. I never would have bought those paints, if I wasn't forced to. School regulations for art course, which was nothing more than pitiful. So I'm stuck with huge bottles of second-rate acrylic paint and I'm doing costume that needs to be stressed, rustic and believable... So I continued in the road of using stuff found from kitchen to finish my Halloween costume.

Staining buttons and shoes

I had bought the cheapest white buttons I could find from the fabric store. Tea dyed dress and nurse cap were already aged with goop and looked great. I had to come up a solution to make the buttons fit the costume and not to pop out as spotless and shiny. The solution was to use instant coffee, drop of water and all purpose glue. I used this technique for the shoes also.

I mixed a small amount of instant coffee in a tiny drop of water. Then I added glue to make the mixture semi-runny. It needs to be thick enought to stay on the button.

I paintes the buttons with "coffeeglue". For different surfaces and looks add different amounts of the mixture and let the buttons dry in different angles. If you want to strain the surface, tap the glue with a Q-tip when it's partially dry. Then let them dry completely. The result is cunning with unique look and little effort.

For the shoes I first painted a a white base with acrylics. Then I just added the "coffeeglue" and when it was dry I finished them with few splashes of goop.

Dead legs in progress

I wanted to use stockings as a part of my costume. I wanted some coverage and I didn't want to spend too much time doing the bodypaint. But I wanted my legs to look like... dead. I purchased a pair of grey stockings. For my purpose they needed to be synthetic fiber. Then I bought bleach. Fun fact: When you bleach synthetic fibers they don't become white, but yellowish.

First I took a bucket and threw the stockings in a water-bleach bath. I just wanted to wear out the colour a bit. After I had soaked the stockings 'bout two hours I took them out, rinsed them and placed them on the floor. I folded them from the knee and squirted undiluted bleach randomly over them. I let them be for another hour, squirted some more bleach and waited two hours before washing the bleach off. It recommendable to wash the stockings before use if you have sensitive skin.

Easy and un-deadly cool!

Weekly- Pick a pic

I just love this shot! Jasdero and Debitto from 2008. Pic taken by kolibri from Fighting Dreamers Pro.

Crazy timetable- High stress levels spotted

This week has been full of planning, cutting, cementing, sculpting and sanding. The vacuum cleaner has been singing and our hands are getting sore and dry... That's costume making.

I took great pleasure of drawing up a timetable for our costumes. It is ridiculous and I know that in some point we will fall behind. But then again it should motivate us to work harder. This current project is matched up from many different pieces and we are going to be faced with techniques we are not familiar with. I know I can pattern and sew pants and jackets in few days if I have to, but creating armor parts from scratch in few weeks will probably immobilize me for the rest of the year.

OOPS! A spoiler! Yes, our costume will include armor parts.

So I placed the armor parts as the top priority and the bases for them should be done before New Year. If we succees with them and our plans for the techniques actually work, the rest is like a child's play. Seriously, I would be in the top of my little world if I only saw some finished pieces before next year! I've have gone trought some worst case scenarios and I hope we never have to face them. The worst one might be starting all over again from the very beginning.

I put almost all of my spare time to work with the costumes. Gladly my job is quite easy-going. Yoki is going to graduate next spring, so she is working really hard with school right now. At the time I'm being the mad costumer, who is snappy and all over the place. I think my crankyness is cause of styrofoam dust, which must have slipped trought my respirator. Or it's just the stress. Oh, the stress. Maybe I should just stop worrying and work my butt off before holidays, which, even for the likes of us, will be duty-free.

(The holy timetable says: FREETIME)

weekly - pick a pic

finishing touches, hiron yoki and karan (almost), pic by irja

Choosing characters- Casualty Cosplay edition

Many people wonder which character they should choose and why. I've been planning on writing from this subject in general, but first I'd like to reveal how we have ended up with the characters we have cosplayed. I will go trought our pair cosplays original ones not included.

When we did our first cosplay pair, I was the one who chose the character first. I had just been introduced to Bleach and after a marathon of manga and anime published to the date, I took a liking on Matsumoto Rangiku, because of her feminity and outgoing personality. And perhaps the fact that she enjoyed alcohol had something to do with it too. The con we were going to attend was Ropecon, which I had participated two or three times before in random costumes. It was first time for Yoki and she had hard time choosing the character. She wanted to cosplay character from Bleach as I did. In the end she just picked up Hitsugaya Toushiro. She didn't particularly like him, but it would be natural to see these characters together. The uniforms was easy to make with the skills we had back then and we just couldn't resist the fact that we would have swords. When I look at the costumes now, there are many things I would like to redo, but then again, everybody have their first costumes which sometimes are just things to set aside.

The second pair we did was Sasori and Deidara from Naruto. God... I can't remember what was the reason why we chose them, but then again they jus fitted us really well. I think Yoki has a opinion on this one. I have some idea though... I think this was the first cosplay we chose as a team. Usually one of us come up with an idea and then the other one just goes with the flow. But in the case of Sasori and Deidara we ended up with our favorite characters in the series and they just matched. The height was so and so, personalities varied like ours do and we liked them. What else do we need? The funny thing with this cosplay was, that we had thought of doing one other pair cosplay, but then chose to drop it, because it seemed a lot of time consuming work. May I laught now? Making complex pieces of Sasori's body and Mayuri's head gear at the same time isn't a lot of work? Hohhohho... We had to use our imagination with Sasori, because his puppet form hadn’t been shown in the anime at that time. As colour reference we used one manga cover and if I remember correctly, one original art. I recall that Sasori debuted in the anime week before Animecon 2007.

At the time we were really ambitious and decided to do two cosplays. Yoki wanted to do Kurotsuchi Mayuri from Bleach. I had no clue that I would end up doing Akon. It was just a natural solution to our ”we need to do connected characters”-thinking. I think I also chosed Akon, because I hadn’t seen more than one person portraying him. The costume was easy and it would not take too much attention off from Mayuri's costume. I could concentrate on doing Mayuri, when my own part was quite humble. For Mayuri, his Yoki’s ultimately favorite character from Bleach. In fact, everyone of her favorite characters have some sort of mental issue. Mad scientist syndrome in this case. And Mayuri was the highlight of this pair cosplay. I was more like an add-on, which was fine really. I was satisfied with my work on the costumes and Yoki is like a hanger for my creations. And the more photogenic one.

Jasdero and Debitto was purely my idea. I had read D.Gray-man for some time and when I saw these twins the first time I just couldn’t pass them. I introduced grey-skinned Noahs to Yoki, and she approved them. Of course I had already thought that Yoki would portray Jasdero and apparently he was enough of a nuthead to fit Yoki's taste. The height difference between us, which is something like 10 cm at most, didn't matter, because Jasdero hardly ever stands straight. If I were to portray Jasdero, I would have serious problems with showing off my waist and stomack and also grinning the way Jasdero does. Yoki did not have any issues with these. Only thing she wasn't too happy about was the long blond wig. Without the grey make-up she looked really bizarre.

Our current project, which I can not reveal, fits the neutral-evil personality zone we have been accidentally been following. And if we ever finish this huge project we have another one already selected. The characters are more in the nuthead zone, I think.

When we choose characters we try to take in concideration our height, porpotion and on some level the personalities. We hardly ever cosplay characters we don't like, but can pick up the other persons interests. The restrictions we have are usually costs and a level of skills in costume making combined. I'm personally not going to start a project I know will include expencive fabrics and stuctures sewing-wise that I am not too familiar with. But as I always say... Imagination.

Weekly- Pick a pic

The outcome when taking pictures and having two dogs running around (2009).

New wig, new storage problem, new ideas

Yay, I have a new wig! Now I have a nice base to build Deidara's hairdo freshly. The previous one got partially send to where ever retired wigs go to... The part I could in anyway use have been fused with a similar one to be born as a short, boyish wig. The ponytail is from the original one and happens to be almost the right shade with the new one even though the producer isn't the same.

Not styled, only pinned to see how it would look like

After I have finished with the wig, we have planned with Yoki to do photoshoot with our crazy artists in their Akatsuki outfits. I think I will redo the undergarments also. They need some improvement and another choice in material. Current ones have uneven dye, which bothers me greatly and have suffered from seam ripping.

I don't know why, but I suddenly realized that we have some resemblance to these characters. Not only do I have long, blond hair and Yoki has short and spiky, we have some similar attributions in "art" as Deidara and Sasori. Well... I don't exacly blow up everything I have created, but Yoki is the more conscientous than me. In the series Sasori is portrayed as a teenager while Deidara looks like an young adult. I'm six years older than Yoki, but sometimes Yoki just acts more mature than I.

No wonder we picked up these guys from the bunch.

Weekly - pick a pic

and up we go...maybe, 2007

Tick mark for Snufkin

It took over half a year for us to make a vid from Yoki's Snufkin cosplay, but I must admit that I'm happy that we waited this long. The weather was perfect as Yoki described in the earlier post. Few more clouds would have reduced flares, but that is just a minor error seen only in couple of shots. Snufkin vid can be found from our Youtube channel.

Goddamit, it's really troublesome to be behind the camera! This was our most scripted shoot of all times and I was really driving for a good outcome. I didn't expect that it would take some serious work. I was exhausted after the day. Exhausted indeed, but happy. I'm not a professional, when it comes to cameras and all, but I think we managed well.

So what happened during the photoshoot? I took over all the practical stuff along side with the camera work. Looked place for the campfire, prepared it, carried stones and logs, tried to find stick for the fishing rod, chose the places, gave orders around and took care of Yoki's outerwear... to name some. We both got frostbites on our toes. It was close call that I didn't accidentally swim in the forest river AND in the lake. Then there were some minor casualties, but in general everything went fine.

When we were done with he shoot on the forest river and were walking back to our car, an another car passed us and one of the passengers, older lady stared at us with a big smile on her face as if she had recogniced Snufkin. Other than that, because we were surrounded with fields, few farms and forest we didn't have audience. We were toying with idea to stop by on the way home at the town centre, Yoki playing the Snufkin melody with her harmonica. But we were to tired, cold and hungry.

The other thing that was my responsibility was to edit the material. It took swearing, hours and crashes to complete. Now I'm considering an all out cleaning process for my nasty and evil friend. I bet Yoki was suprised when the vid was out on the next day of the shoot, knowing what the conditions are related to my computer.

This time I used royalty free music. Great pieces can be found here.

Here are some pictures from the day. Yoki will add some on her cosplay.com account.

Kuura (Frost if you translate it to English) chasing Snufkin

we kept our promise

this is a quick post
we managed to do snufkin's photoshoot within our time limit.
the weather was nice, sunny, a bit cold but not freezing.
no casualties happened (hiron tested the water temperature by accident) must be our record.

nuuskamuikkunen, photo by eila

the video will be out...hmm...next subject: behold the bubblehead nurse!

ready to eat some brains..or maybe not, pic by eila

-yoki out

Creepy Halloween!

Sneak peek of some sort for sake of Halloween. Have nice day with or without costumes! <3

Photoshoot... progress!

This saturday we'll be able to have a photoshoot! The weather forecast, if we can trust is, promises us sun. This is what we have been waiting for. We need to get up early in the morning to take advance of the short daylight period and I will be busy trying to make the shoot succesful and to make my own costume ready for the night. Halloween seems to be the most costume orientated day of the year, both of us dressing up. So exited!

Competitions- only for the talented?

This is a subject that has been recently discussed on Finnish cosplay forum at aniki, so I thought of revealing my thoughts about cosplay competitions.

We haven't participated in any competition so far, because there have been regulations that doesn't fit our current projects. It might be that we have a pair cosplay, when you can take apart in the competition as group, minimum three persons. And we don't wan't to compete against each other in individual competition, because... well, that is'n how we roll.

The categories in competitions are really hard to put together and they alter drasticly in different conventions. I can see the pain behind dividing the branches of cosplay in separate groups. J-rockers and anime characters can't be put on same categories, just because the sources and the reality aspect is so different. And levels of costuming skills and experience should also be taken consideration, if the goal is to offer equal chances to everyone. That makes four different groups already. And if you start to look for more evaluations you come up with more, that is for sure. Before you know it cosplay competitions are like dog shows, all categories have their own judges on their own rings.

I think the most functional assemble is to divide the experts and novises in different groups. If the convention has a theme, let's say, like japanese pop culture and fashion, there could be specified group for lolita, ganguro and other costumes related. In Finland I have seen this alignment of making something for everyone. Hello, that doesn't work and eats up audiences interest in the competition.

Even thought Finland is a small country, we have nice collection of conventions. It's likely that there will be enought competitions to attend to, even if they are more defined and narrowed. One convention shouldn't include everything. Not only for the amount of work it needs to be organized well, but also to help cosplayers finish their costumes properly and to be proud to show them off. And because the fan base and number of cosplayers have increased, it would be wise to make conventions more confined than they are now.

Of course you can't forget groups and pairs. They should have different evaluations than in individual competition, like show elements and dynamics. I haven't seen too many group performances which have intriqued me. Usually they are build on fanservice and yaoi, because they work for the audience. Ok, yes, you should entertain the audience, but the judges are the ones who should be convinced. Also with your costumes, even if they are not the first prior in evaluation. Sometimes costumes in group competitions are just pain in the eye. In pair or couple categories especially costumes and the craftmanship should be somehow in the same level in an entry.

One thing that personally irritate me, is the "And the next group entry is number... umm... number 18, because numbers 15, 16 and 17 haven't confirmed their participation." Well, that is nice. Perhaps we could have been on the stage if they would have informed earlier that those mentioned groups don't have the courage to step up and get their act together. I may be harsh about this, but I has happened to us. Young and enthusiastic cosplayers sizzle about their debute entrance on group cosplay competition and then they just lack the interest. Not all the drop-outs are like that. Some may have real issues, more than they just didn't feel like it.

That makes me think is pre-selection a bad thing? Nowadays bigger conventions require background tapes from the participants. That shows already commitment from the group and will reduce the number of drop-outs. So, good thinking. In individual contest pre-selection isn't that important. Judges work is made easier with forms, where competants need to fill beforehand information about the character. I don't know, haven't done them, but also descripting the costume as detailed as possible would be rather helpful. I say big no-no for purchased costumes in competitions, but everyone can't necesseraly make everything by themselves. Commissioned items as part of selfmade costume I see rather acceptable, if and only if the information about those objects have been given in advance. This way the judges can evaluate the costume as a creation of cosplayer and as a whole package.

One subject that has been discussed is the standard of the costumes seen in the competition. It has been pointed out that it has gone down. I have noted it also and really the best costumes can be seen outside the competitions, wandering around the area in all their grace. Which get to me to the prizes and positions. No more plushies and stupid honorable mentions which are handed out like free samples of tissues. Competition IS a competition. Sometimes cosplay needs to be serious business in order to get the hard working and ambitious costumers to participate. They don't step up just for pat on the head. They want criticism and proper evaluation. It would also make the judges work more interesting and profound.

In every competition I have seen so-and-so costumes worn by people who are eager to be seen on stage and taking part in the competition for the thrill of it. They are usually quite young and cosplay is their new interesting hobby. No, they should not be taken out, because they might grow to these hard working and ambitious cosplayers, but then again they should not compete from the prizes next to novises and experts who really are there for the win. There is always problem with half time shows. The time when the judges are making the decisions about winners it could be possible to have more playful and entertaining competition. Like show-class, newcomers or something. Selected jury could give honorable mentions for the participants and point out things that could be taken concideration when making a costume. This way real judges can concentrate on their work, the best cosplayers could be selected and the newcomers could have their moment in spotlight, gathering confidence and having a nice experience.

How to make that happen? Strict participation rules for the real competition. Of course they could wary between conventions, but all together they are way too loose right now. Seems like anyone who is quick enough will be qualified.

One matter that flares up a little fury inside me, is the case where talented cosplayers drop out from competitions because of some whining individuals, who can't take it when well made costumes win the prizes over and over again. That is really pitiful, because those cosplayers usually deserve to be the winners and have worked really hard for their costumes. Again I have noted that the whiny ones are more likely beginners. Note: the experts have also made their first costumes and usually they are not too proud of them and seeing pictures of them makes them want to have a moment of good old facepalm. Improvement is a result related to that and that is something I personally am trying to achieve. Hell, I try to beat everyone who have made the costume I'm working on. That is healthy competition.

Cosplay competitions are the main events I'm looking forward to when attending conventions. I want to see accurate and well made costumes that stand out and are worn by costumers who have put time and effort in making them. The other, rich and playful side of cosplay can be seen around conventions and in the internet. Fun and games for everyone equally, but also something to fulfill the needs of ambitious ones.

Weekly- Pick a pic

Prop ninja! Yoki appropriately prepared to sand her sword 2008.

Making of Bubblehead Nurse - Mask

Girl known as rainman at cosplay.com had made an awesome tutorial for Bubblehead Nurse, but for some reason I can't find them anymore. I used them as a guideline with few alterations. (For those who look for a tutorial for the movie version nurse, check out this tutorial by MithriLady.

Bubblehead Nurse- Mask

First thing to do is to construct the base for the mask. This is achieved by building it from newspaper and glue on a wig head. Everybody knows that a wig head is notably smaller than a normal head, which means that it needs to be padded.

I took two measurements. One from top of your head to the under the ear and other around the head. Then I padded the wig head with scrap fabric according to my measurements. And remember that you have a nose! Pad the face up and amplify the features a bit. When you are done with the padding wrap the whole thing in plastic, so that the glue doesn't stick to the fabric.

Then I cut newspapers to strips and started overlapping them with adhesive around the head. There is no rules how to place the strips. I made four layers and I don't recommend less. I used all purpose glue, because that was all I had home. I added a drop of water to it, to make it more runny.

After the glue has dried cut a back slit and trim the neckwhole according to yours!

When it was all done, I left the head to dry overnight. The next morning I cut it open with carpet knife from the top of the head to the back of the neck. I pulled some padding out to make the removal of the hollow paper mask easier. I roughtly cut eye holes and one for the mouth because I'd really would like to drink when wearing the costume. I also made the neck hole little bigger. I didn't have to make the back slit bigger, but if you have problems putting the mask on, then it's recommendable. The slit will be covered later.

Add tricot so that it overlaps to make the "seams" more durable.

For some extra support I put the mask back to the wig head and covered it with basic white tricot and glue. I love using this tecnique. It makes the mask more sturdy, but doesn't harden it like clay would. This is done the same way as with paper. Cutted facric strips are glued to the mask.

Don't glue the gauze too close to the eye and mouth holes. This way you can move it aside if you need to drink or perhaps see properly.

Then I took gauze and glued it on to the mask. I had leftover gauze from my school work, so I used it instead of gauze that I had dyed in tea. It was dyed, but it was just moderately aged (read: too white!). After I was done with glueing I painted the mask. The result is quite harsh, but it doesn't matter, because I was still in the middle of the progress. I used black, yellow and red acrylic paints.

Be sure that you have enought glue ready when working with fabric, which really sucks it up.

After the glue and paint had dried I added the second layer of tea dyed gauze. I had two different widths. First I glued the wider one on the mask. Then I repeated the painting process. The point of doing two painted layers is to make it look realisticly oozed trought. I added glue in the inside the mask and turned all loose ends of gauze inside to finish the neckhole. Then I added vertical strip of gauze on the other side of the back slit. When you put the mask on you can place the strip over the slit to hide it. I tried to fit the mask in my head after wrapping gauze all over the mask, but it didn't strech enough. If you work with elastic gauze, then you can follow radical-rain's tutorial!

Less paint is better. Do it with left hand (if right handed) to prevent "painted look".

Then I just wrapped the narrower gauze over the mask hiding the right eye-whole and seams on the lower layer gauze which bothered me. Tah-dah! Mask is ready. I'm still going to add this interesting "goop" following radical-rain's recipe to make it look more disgusting.

Almost finished!