updates & minishoot

blehh i'm feeling pretty crappy right now, recurring lower back pain and all around ickyness in the chest/abdominal area.

might be going into one of my short bouts of depression again well derp >A>

anywho, aside from the self-pity and moping around, i was able to shoot with my friend emily for a HoTD preview mini-shoot. thanks to her again for getting the prop for me and shooting/editing the photos.

although the shoot was only something like 15-30 minutes (rushed on my part since i had to leave early) i was able to learn and notice a few things about the costume as a whole, including adjustments that need to be made on the bow, the bokken, and everything as a whole owo plus we were able to get a few good shots down, not too bad considering the time constraints keke... all in all, i'm really pretty excited to cosplay saeko with emily as saya for AM^2... not to mention tearing into the costume and gore-ing it up ^0^~

the photos are here and going to soon be posted to my dA; make sure to go view them there too and comment/fave~

new cosplan: Akemi Homura + reference dump

yes i do realize i'm changing and updating my summer cosplans like mad, but i'm really excited about this one!! >w<

akemi homura from puella m-magi madoka magi... SCREWIT.... madoka okee ;3;

although i haven't even seen the anime yet, i'm still really excited, since from what i've read and seen, i really love homura's character and her outfit design... what i love even more... i get a cute little madokers to cosplay with >w< //i haven't watched it and i already have an otp

kekekeke madokers and homohomo ;V;


anywho, this post actually has a practical purpose for me; i'm currently in the process of gathering cosplay reference and researching the character. research would definitely be one of the first important steps in cosplaying a character, especially in this case, where i'm pretty new to the series *and* haven't seen it yet. either way, researching and looking for plenty of reference images definitely helps in understanding the character design and getting all those little details down oVo/// any who, i'll be gathering and depositing a bunch of reference images for myself, and hopefully a few of you guys out there might even find these useful ^0^///

i lucked out completely this time, though, since i remembered Kaika's post on her own homura cosplay, which i find to be extremely helpful in breaking down a somewhat confusing and complicated design (much more than it looks on first glance ;v;). this is the second time i've linked to her blog eheh.... OTL

here's another walkthrough, from an AC Paradise page, with a few tips on her shield, which was done with a few things that can be easily found around the house.

this one has a few notes about construction, as well as the tights which were rather confusing for me ;3;

a few reference pictures never hurt ^0^: (from google images; not mine)

shield references:

the product can be purchased here

side note: i just found the hgnsdlfkjdslfkj-cutest fan art ever... i'm reconsidering making a bow so i can hold it with my madokers and make really cute poses kekekeke >W<

well that's about it... for now... i guess that would be a small peek into how much goes into my cosplay process before actual construction begins oWo

till the next post, 

xoxo

~beni K

almost to the finish line!!

weeee second blog post of the day~

anywho, i just wanted to post some cosplay progress~ saeko busujima of HOTD

there's still a few finishing touches that i need for this cos, including tracking down a bokken or katana, and finding a way to increase my boob mass by 10 times (no i am not joking).

yes my bathroom has great lighting lolololol

obligatory derp.

i supposed i'll talk a bit about the outfit construction now... i wish i had take pics of the process now ;0;

uniform top: i got a shirt from goodwill that had the basic shape and sleeve shape down; originally the top had the strangest pirate-esque collar, but i tore a bit of the collar part anyways to attach the sailor collar anyways, so that wasn't much of a problem. i used a basic sailor collar pattern that i made based on a collar that i had made previously and some photos i found on google images. the side panels were done by cutting down the side hems of the base shirt, cutting fabric off of a shirt that i don't wear much anymore, and sewing them together. i made the bias tape that trims the middle and bottom hems myself with fabric left from the skirt and collar.

pleated skirt: this was made by myself from scratch. i had a lot of help from the pleated skirt tutorial on Kaika's blog; there are plenty of great resources, tutorials and posts over there and i recommend checking it out~ one thing that i do regret on making this skirt was the fact that i did not iron the pleats in before sewing the skirt together. i had not found my iron until afterwards, and i soon found that ironing the pleats in afterwards is ALOT more trouble than ironing the pleats in beforehand would have been. i used a standard-sized notecard folded in half as a guide when pinning the pleats so that their size wouldn't vary too much. ;V;

bow: this should be a relatively easy part, but strangely enough, i screwed up a couple of times before getting it like it is now. the first time i tried to make it, i made it out of only two rectangular pieces, the longer one tied around the shorter one. this one didn't really work out well when i sewed it to the bottom of the collar, as it stuck out oddly. the way i did it now, i used the two pieces and tied them together with a loop of fabric to keep them together in the middle and hot-glued a pin to the back of it for easy wearing.

socks/shoes: for some reason i was unable to find my pair of black knee highs so when i went to go look for them, i found a pair of my mom's that worked much better for the character. the shoes are also hers: brown loafers with a slight wedge heel to them.

wig: i had gotten this and cut the bangs a while back (like last november!!) but when i put it on again this time, i felt like it wasn't just right and i trimmed them a bit more... i still think i can do a nicer job of styling it, so i'll probably be doing that later on oWo

contact lens: yes, i am wearing contacts right now. haha i'm still pissed about these OTL i believe i got the barbie king blue lenses, but when i put them in, the color is not even barely noticeable on my darkish brown eyes. despite the fail in my opinion on the coloration, they're still pretty comfortable and have a noticeable enlarging effect... probably would be better for casual wear. i'm definitely going to be getting new contacts to wear with this cosplay (and probably a few others since blue is so versatile with cosplay)

makeup: i haven't done makeup in a loooong time, so i'm glad to have been able to practice a bit now. for the face, i did my usual primer/foundation/concealer/powder routine, along with slight contouring on the cheeks and nose. i probably could improve on nose contouring though =w=;;; as for the eyes, i forgot to put on eyelid primer which i could have done, but i'm not too used to it since i just got it. any who, i used a purple base for the shadow blended with some beige and shimmering white shadow on the inner corners and brow bone. afterwards, i lined my eyes in gel then pen eyeliner, trying to imitate the look of saeko's eyes, along with a fake crease over (monoliddie right here ;3;) . the eyelines are a bit messy since i'm not fully used to pen eyeliner yet, but the falsies i used helps conceal it. i used two pairs on each eye, one for the upper eyeline as usual and a pair of lower lashes to go along the eyeline i drew on the lower eyelid. i finished the eyes off by filling in my waterline and the gap between my real and fake lashes with white eyeliner. my lips are concealed and powdered for the typical anime look, topped off with lip gloss for saeko's glossy lips. i think that i could have been better off with a little less concealer though, since her lips are slightly more pink.




wowww i wrote so much kekekeke... congrats if you got this far haha~ i'll probably update with a few more pics after i figure out my boob padding and get a hold of a katana or bokken for saeko ^^


till the next post,

xoxo

~beni K

change in plans?

if any of you guys are or know cosplayers, you may know how fickle they are with cosplan... hehe these people who plan for cons a year or two later... i don't  even :C

well one of my cosplan for AX has changed (this is like the second time it has?? ... at least its the same character this time haha =w=;;;;)

instead of the default S.T.A.R.S. uniform yoko has in the PV, i'll be working on maid ver. yoko >w< (that is if the plans don't change eheeehhh)

for me, the design is a bit more appealing to me and definitely easier to make~

the only problem for me would probably be tracking down a proper wig for her... i've just sent in a wig order recently ;0; reminds me that i still have to order contacts soon... T^T

i'll also be opting to cos Howl from howl's moving castle on day 2~ oUo blonde version, first outfit along with my friend who is going to be doing the dark-haired version, and maybe we'll even have a sophie to cosplay with >w<

anywho, for my reference i'll put a couple of images of the outfits down here (i got them off of google images, they don't belong to me!)

full body refs are rather hard to find ;;

the back of his coat seems to be blue~

his earrings... fff //non-pierced here ;3;

kekeke i'll be off then loverlies~ (in the middle of organizing a group contacts order... writing this post made me get off my bum and do it eheee) 

xoxo 

~beni K