Saiyaka | Cosplay & Stuff ^^

Cosplay Feature: Colleen McCone “FoxyKitsune”

Saiyaka — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:48:15 +0000

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Yoko

Name: Colleen McCone “FoxyKitsune”
Cosplayer, Prop Builder
Location: Delaware, US
Experience:8yrs.

Skimpy clothes and huge guns! :3

I’m excited to begin my 2012 cosplay features with Colleen McCone, a cosplayer since Otakon 2004. My first feature was with Seras-V from Singapore, a phenomenal cosplay and prop designer. Bringing cosplay to a large audience in the U.S., Colleen creates all of her own clothing and props for her cosplay projects. She may have just started attending conventions since 2004, but she’s been Halloweening as video game characters since childhood. Nerd.

Chii… Chii! CHII!! A frilly pink dress and a “really shitty blonde wig…” later, she had her first cosplay – Chobits (Chii). Colleen called it, “Amazingly terrible.” First tries are what they are… Mine was a poorly cut black dress and a really shitty pink wig.

Chobits: Chii

A regular conventioneer, she’s attended several conventions over the last year alone, including, Nekocon, Anime USA, Katsucon, and Otakon. She also works as a booth girl for Chobie Studios – So keep an eye out! O.Ob

Evangelion: Asuka

Colleen is a super, crazy, awesome cosplayer and she does art stuff too, like paint and draw. She also likes pudding.

* Below is a Q&A section, so get to know more about how she creates her cosplays and read some entertaining stories!

Most difficult item:
I actually was commissioned by a friend of mine to make two engagement pendants from FFXIII. Easy right? NO. I decided to make them in plastic, since I had some Friendly Plastic lying around from a previous project and it seemed the most convenient. I swear to God, I burned myself every few seconds trying to make the damn things. Then when I got them PERFECT, and I just needed to straighten them just a tad bit more, I lightly heated them with the heat gun that I was using. They then proceeded to fold upon themselves and become indiscernible blobs. I wept.

Most embarrassing cosplay:
OH GOD. I decided in my younger years that I wanted to go as Warrior Rikku from FFX-2 (I was like…14. I didn’t know any better.). Ugh. At that point, that costume was WAY too difficult for my skill level, and it just looked like I was wearing a strappy weird patchwork quilt. With cleavage. It was pretty awful.

Hot to stay motivated:
Well, I have a lot of friends who cosplay or who are artists, so when I’m working on a project and I just lose steam as I work on it, my friends are right at my heels supporting me to get it done, and I do the same when it happens to them.

Most memorable convention:
My first convention ever: Otakon. It was so ridiculous. I didn’t even know what to expect, or if there would be other people cosplaying, but I went with a bunch of friends when I was 14 and was BLOWN AWAY. There were so many people, so much going on, and SO MUCH HENTAI. Holy Mother of God.

Proudest cosplay project:
Easy. My Asuka plugsuit. Even though there is a lot I would like to alter and fix on it, it was the first catsuit-like costume I’ve ever made, and in a really difficult material to work with (4-way stretch pvc). Even just engineering ways to get in and out of the costume was a chore, but it was SO worth it. I love that damn thing.

Strangest item used to create a cosplay:
Strange? Hmmm….Probably a plastic hanging mannequin for Asuka’s boob armor. I got plenty of weird looks when I got that in the mail.

Words of wisdom:
Always have fun. Never lose sight of the fact that this is a HOBBY. We are all just nerds playing dress up, and there’s no sense in bringing drama into the equation. Never let ANYONE tell you that you can’t do something or that you’re not good enough…cosplay is always better if the person wearing it has confidence.
ALSO….haters gonna hate

What she hopes people will remember from her cosplay:
“Wow, look at those neat seams!!!”

Best lesson learned through cosplay:
Don’t ever take yourself too seriously, have fun in and out of costume, and never make anything in 2-way stretch pvc.

Guys vs. Girls in cosplay:
I actually do think they are quite similar, as both guys and girls can get equal amounts of attention, have the same level of craftsmanship and showmanship, and both genders can enjoy themselves equally in costumes. HOWEVER, since there are many more females involved in cosplay than males, I find that females are more often than not the source of ‘cosplay drama’. But I guess that’s just a girl thing too

Closet cosplayer or cos ‘n tell?
Usually I’ll only tell people that I’m a cosplayer if they already know what cosplay or anime is. Cosplay for me is like Fight Club, you’ve got to be in the know before we talk about it together, because I’m not telling you otherwise. Its not that I don’t like to be inclusive, I just have other things besides cosplay that I’m involved in, and I usually just like to keep cosplay a compartmentalized part of my life.

Would like to cosplay as…
Hmmm…Asuka was my dream cosplay by far, but I would love to tackle Rei’s plugsuit eventually, probably in neoprene.

How to choose a cosplay:
I always cosplay as characters that I can identify with, from a series that I love. I’ve never cosplayed as a character that I hate, I just wouldn’t put that much time into someone that I don’t like.

Time spent:
It really varies, but I usually give myself a few months to finish a costume, working on and off, and this can vary depending on if there are props involved, or if I have to order materials from overseas. For example, bunny suits can take me just a few hours, whereas the Asuka plugsuit I made took months of planning, preparation, and construction. But I tend to work fast when there’s coffee involved, so that helps.

Self-Applied Make-Up:
YES. I am pretty particular about make-up actually, I’ve worked as a make-up artist for a theatrical company in my town, and my Mother was a cosmetologist, so I’ve been learning about make-up since I was quite small. I even have special convention make-up that comes with me to conventions, I’m that much of a dork.

What’s a normal photoshoot like?
FUN. I love just going with the flow, joking with the photographer, and bouncing ideas off of each other. More often than not there is also walking to different locations involved, weather permitting, since I love to shoot at different locations. I like photoshoots to be enjoyable not just for myself, but the photographer as well, so we can work together and capture some great images.

Cosplay Photographers:

Anna Fischer, Eurobeat King, Chris Mangune, and Mike Tyminski

Visit Colleen and tell her nice things and stuff!

Working!! Frilly Apron Tutorial

Saiyaka — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:22:53 +0000

Sewing. I don’t sew.
I hemmed a pair of pants once, and they fell apart in the wash…

Needless to say, I was very excited when my apron actually turned out to be wearable and fairly durable!~ :3 Also… I apologize in advance for the lower quality photos, as after I moved out to California I unfortunately sold away my expensive goodies for stupid grown up stuff – like rent and bills D: D: D:

What You Need:

Stuff and Things *^.^*

I bought 3 yards of yellow fabric (The lady looked at me funny, but I’d rather have too much than not enough…)
Yellow yarn

Optional Items to complete the look

Black fabric or an old western style bowtie
White button down shirt
Black poofy skirt (I used a fluffy, crinoline skirt, but a pleated skirt would be more accurate)
Black tights or knee high socks
Black dress shoes

Make A Hole:

I started in the top, middle of the fabric and drew the hole my head would fit through. It needs to be flat on the bottom, because that will go across your chest and round in the back to curve with your neck. I made it about an inch thick, so don’t start at the very top of the fabric!

Make A Hole!

Test, Test, Test!!

After cutting the hole, try it on to make sure the flat part covers from one side of your chest to the other and that it sits at the right height. I made mine to sit level with my armpits I think it looks most natural that way.

Continue to draw out half the apron and fold it over to trace an accurate other half for the full apron. I held the fabric up to mark how wide it needed to be around my waist and how short I needed it to be. You can choose to include the fabric that will be tied around your waist or you can add it later. I included it, because it was easier than cutting it separately and having more sewing to do…

After cutting out one successful apron from the yellow fabric, I traced a second one and pinned them together to make it thicker and less see through.

Apron Pattern - Doubled Up

Sewing. OMG!

After trying it on to make sure it tied properly and fit correctly and was the appropriate length I went to the sewing machine… I sewed the two patterns together and then folded the edges under and sewed around the apron to hem the edges. I also cut the bottom corners of the apron, so they were more round and not so sharp.

Adding the frilly edges was a lot easier than I had expected. I took a long piece of fabric and doubled it to make it nice and thick. Then you fold it as you sew it to the edge of the apron. I put the frills along the whole bottom half of the apron. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect, as it is supposed to be scrunchy and fluffy, so minor imperfections will not be too noticeable. Rounding the corners of the bottom of the apron help as you add the frilly edging. I just took a deep breath and started sewing fabric to the edge and folding every 1/2″-1″ or so and achieved a simple frilly apron look in about 15mins.

Frills, Frills, Frills!

It was simple and cheap. Just remember to use a faded yellow fabric. There are some really vibrant, yellow fabrics, but the dull yellow looks the best and seems to match more than some sort of bright, gaudy, sunshine puke yellow or something…

Here’s me (Popla) at Anime Vegas XD

Popla at Anime Vegas

Anime LA = Celty v1.95

Saiyaka — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 09:35:26 +0000

Living most of my life in the midwest, I never really kept up with all the cons, since everytime I heard of one, it was either in the west or east coast. Now that I’m out in California, I’ve started realizing I can actually attend these elusive anime conventions… Thus, I last minute decided to attend AnimeLA. I am quite excited. Celty v1.95 consists of a retouched helmet (helmet 1.05) and a cheaper/simpler version of my scythe (scythe 1.9). Asians are good at math.

My original Celty (Durarara!!) scythe was a PVC and clay build. Quite successful, but heavy – considering I was carrying it around for close to 18hrs in the blazing sun, awkward and unbalanced, and not portable or plane friendly. Once I got the damn thing to Baltimore, I left it there. Good riddance. Although, the materials cost me more than I really want to admit… all that paper clay, PVC, cloth, paints, and a smattering of various adhesives – all left to the winds and homeless people of Baltimore, MD. /sigh

In order to whip up something as a replacement for AnimeLA, I’ve decided on a much cheaper and simpler route. The idea stems from Ejhuay’s sign (Shizuo – Durarara!!).

Shizuo (Ejhuay Barnes) posing wickedly (=.=)/0

Materials consist of:

Retractable mop handle
Foam board
A strong adhesive
Paint

As you can already tell, it’s simple, portable and a lot cheaper. The downside is the quality of something like a scythe blade isn’t going to be as good. The edges won’t be as sharp and the whole thing will be a bit thinner, but once I cover it in the cloth like before, I doubt it will look to thin. Here’s hoping anyway. Like before, I will post a comprehensive tutorial once I finish the scythe. For now, enjoy watching as the mystery unfolds…

I bought 2 pieces of black foam board (Target) & made my outline with a paint marker (Sharpie!)

Cut out the outline... duh.

You can save yourself a lot of frustration by using an exacto knife. I tried using a scissors, but that was not nearly sharp enough. I ended up using the blade of the scissors as a knife – creating a perforated edge, then breaking off the pieces. The edges are rough, but this should be ok, since most of it will be wrapped in cloth.

Careful with the detailing when bending/breaking the board

You can sort of see where I connected the two pieces of foam board. I used some normal packaging tape to hold it together and reinforced it with Gorilla super glue. It’s made for foam as well as other surfaces, so it worked quite well. The foam board is very light, so finding a suitable adhesive was a lot easier than trying to find something that would hold over 5lbs. of clay together.

Thanks for reading! I hope to see you at AnimeLA If you are going to be cosplaying Durarara!!, I want to meet you!! Also, I’ll be looking for a photographer to get some nice shots of my cosplay, since I didn’t get many photo opportunities during Otakon

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Feature: Seras-V

Saiyaka — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:42:04 +0000

Seras-V as Zan Datsu

DeviantArt ID: Seras-V
Cosplayer, Prop Builder
Location: Singapore
Experience: 5yrs.

DeviatArt |Cure

Cosplay is awesome! This guy is awesome! He builds his own props and is an incredible cosplayer. Seras-V is one of the best male cosplayers I’ve seen in a long time and I’m very excited he agreed to be my first victim in a long list of cosplayer features I have planed.

Seras-V has been cosplaying for five years. Souske Aizen (Bleach) being the first. Since then he’s increased his cosplays from 2 per year to possibly 10 this year! Not only is he learning how to sew but he also draws, plays video games (obviously!), plays soccer, and is a bass guitar player in a band (awesome!). See? This guy is awesome!

Seras-V as Yaag Rosch

Being inspired by Shiguma Aika, found him being immersed in the world of cosplay more than he ever imagined. So many people (myself included) think cosplaying is something they might do every once in a while, “just dabble in it a bit,” as Seras-V put it, but after a while you look back and realize you’ve not only created tons of costumes, but you’ve attended several conventions, lost all your money due to cosplay and convention expenses, and joined entire online communities dedicated to cosplaying.

Cosplayers do what they do for many reasons. Seras-V says he’s continually motivated to do more and accomplish more – always wanting to improve. “There’s always one more character to do.” There is definitely a strong appeal to cosplay for those who appreciate more than just a show or a game. It’s an artistic expression motivated by an “inner drive to push oneself further.” He says he’s still inspired by Shiguma Aika and all her amazing cosplays today.

Seras-V as Alex Mercer

He’s most proud of his Blade Arm for his Alex Mercer (Prototype) cosplay. “…Slogged for two weeks to make the damned thing.” He wasn’t able to choose a single cosplay he was most proud of, but he said Cosfest ’06 was his most memorable convention and “the one con that made me decide to carry on as a cosplayer.” Speaking of memorable moments…

“It was my very first time cosplaying, as Aizen Sousuke. My hakama wasn’t tied nearly tight enough, and it came loose. I shudder to think what would have transpired had my reactions not been quick enough.”

…lol (I can hear the girlie cries of disappointment. )

AAHHHGGG!!! He' too fast!!~

I’m not a guy… Since Seras-V is a guy, I asked him if being a male cosplayer garnered any unusual reactions, but he said for the most part people seem to be fairly neutral or slightly interested, although he tends to be asked some embarrassing questions… He couldn’t really if the cosplay experience was much different as a male versus female and he said cross-dressing was out of the question. Darn.

Now go visit Seras-V and tell him how awesome he is!
Continue reading below for a few wise words and random trivia…

Advice:

“Never forget to have fun. They put ‘play’ in ‘cosplay’ for a reason. Be outgoing and make friends, it’s part of the spirit of cosplay.”

Yoda Wisdom:

“Humility. An inflated ego is the worst possible trait a cosplayer could have.”

How to stay motivated:

“Envisioning the end product usually helps. Sometimes though, when the process is long and arduous, I motivate myself by surfing the net and looking at pictures of others who have done the same costume.”

What he hopes people will remember from his cosplay:

“The effort behind it all. Several people have the misconception that cosplayers buy their costumes and props from shops just to wear them at cons. I hope people can recognize the amount of work that most cosplayers put into their hobby.”

Most like to cosplay as…

Raiden – Metal Gear Solid: Rising

Strangest prop item/material:

Mop Handle

Cosplay role model:

Shiguma Aika

Cosplay photographers:

Kirmu, CCC, Omake Studios (William, Swift and Kaze), Valefor and Windy.

Celty Helmet Tutorial!

Saiyaka — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 07:43:42 +0000

The cosplay is finally complete. I’ve documented some of my progress here and there, but now for the complete tutorial!

The scythe is more or less explained in my previous posts, so this first tutorial will be for just the motorcycle helmet. I’ll post a comprehensive scythe tutorial soon as well ^^b

Choosing A Helmet:

SevenZeroSeven: Youth Large

Most Celty helmets are too large. I learned that motorcycle helmets will more or less have the same size frame no matter what size you get, so the only way to get a smaller framed helmet is to find a children’s helmet if you can fit into one. I got a large youth SevenZeroSeven motorcycle helmet from the local CycleGear store, and it fit well and didn’t look too weird, although it still looked a tad large.

Visors and You:

Replacement Visor! Don't Paint! D:

Buy a replacement visor! If you paint the visor… you won’t be able to see! :O

It would be a good idea to buy a visor of the same brand as your helmet, to be sure it will fit. Also… if you buy your visor from a store, you can ask the clerk to attach it to your helmet for you… I would suggest this, if anything so you know what your doing, because I took my visor home and tried doing it myself… Let’s just say small pieces of plastic popped all over and my visor didn’t really go up and down too well after that ^^;;;

Kitty Ear Mode!

Now for the part you really want to know about…! You’re going to be de-mystified and left all empty feeling when you find out what I did to make my ears… no clay, no molding, no sanding, no special magic… just a cardboard soda box, masking tape and plummer’s goop.

Fast & Easy Kitty Ears!~ =^.^=

See what I did there?

Take a cardboard soda box (long 12 pack) and cut a section the short way, then cut it in half so you have an open-ended triangle.

1) Long 12 pack cardboard soda box

2) Cut short ways

3) Cut section in half for open-ended triangles

Then cut the bottom of the ears until it sits on the helmet the way you want. Don’t worry if this takes a few tries… I did it via trial and error. cutting a little off one side, then the other until it curved and sat at the right height and angle…. you want the outside of the ears to angle inward – toward the middle of the helmet. A lot of Celty helmets have the ears angled out, adding to the awkwardness of the look…

So… how did I attach the ears?? Regular blue masking tape! You can find it in the paint section of any store for very cheap! Tape in sections around the base of the ears, so to avoid wrinkling the tape. Once they are taped on, you can tape across the open areas in the front and back of the ears to make them look solid.

Faux Kitty Ears! :O

As you can see, I chose to prime and paint before putting on the ears. This just makes sure that everything under the tape and the ears gets painted… I used a standard primer and a glossy yellow paint. I used a standard paint brush at first, but the bristles left behind a texture in the paint… it was kind of neat, and would be cool if I wanted to make my helmet look like wood, but this was not the case! So I switched to a sponge brush.

The Details:

Sharpie Paint? NO WAI!!

I found the holy grail of detailing paint tools! Sharpie not only makes spiffy permanent markers in your choice of fine, medium and large tips, but they make paint markers as well! They also have tagboard paint markers, so be sure to grab the actual paint (for all surfaces) pen. They are better than wall paint, because the paint applies opaque and doesn’t blend with the yellow, giving a nice bright blue. You can also buy various point sizes, giving you a lot of flexibility when drawing

Sharpie... PAINT?!

A neat trick I used, was using a regular blue sharpie to outline the design, because the blue sharpie will look very dark blue. Then I filled in the design with the Sharpie Paint Pens. This gave a nice subtle stroke to the entire design, making it look sort of comic-book styled, plus it made the edges look really sharp!

Another nice thing about the markers, is that they really will paint on any surface. I used packaging tape at first over the ears and when I tried to paint over them with regular wall paint, it smeared and streaked, but the yellow sharpie pen I bought applied perfectly to the tape and, luckily was a good color match with my previous yellow paint!

Oh, yeah and instead of trying to fuss with dipping the ears inward to give them depth, I pushed in on the tape when taping over the openings in the front, to make it “dip” in slightly, then used black sharpie paint pens to color them in! Voi’la! Faux kitty ears!

Over all this took me about two days and it was much easier and way less time consume – oh and super cheap! compared to using clay, molding, stabbing yourself over trillions of years worth of sanding down bondo, crying over the mess, starving due to lack of money from buying so much bondo/clay/sand paper… Granted, it’s not a perfect helmet, like the back isn’t very accurate, but the general shape is correct and I took a lot of time making sure the small details were good to make up for some of the downsides.

Well, I hope this helps and best of luck on your Celty helmet!! Tell me how it goes and show me pics!~

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Durarara & Otakon Photos!

Saiyaka — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:12:20 +0000

I completed my helmet and made last minute adjustments to my scythe barely in time for Otakon this year! Whew~ I was gluing and painting in the hotel room… lol. ^^/

Look for my tutorial on how I created the helmet in the future. Too sleepy to write it up now, but I’ll be sure to post the details soon. Until then, enjoy these AWESOME OTAKON PHOTOS!

I was only able to take photos during the last day, because I cosplayed Friday and Saturday, so I didn’t want to carry my camera around with me… besides, have you ever tried taking photos while wearing a motorcycle helmet? It doesn’t work so well…

I met a very charming Shinra at the Durarara meet-up on Friday night =^.^= A very good crossplay, and I’m sad I didn’t have my camera to take a photo, but hopefully I will find it on the internet at some point… If you see any pictures of a Celty with a scythe from Otakon 2010, let me know!! I wasn’t able to do a proper photoshooot, so I have very few photos of my costume ^^;;; I got my picture taken a lot, so they must be out there… somewhere… <.< >.>

Here are some photos of me at our hotel. We stayed at the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore… it was a total dive O.O; Everything was old and broken… but it was only 2 blocks away… next year, I’m going to reserve a room at the Days Inn right next to the Convention Center…

Durarara!! - Celty

A friend of mine (Brian) cosplayed as Dotachin. Sadly, he did not get his picture taken as much, but he was the best Dotachin I saw at Otakon for sure!

Durarara!! - Dotachin

Lastly, here’s a pic of me and my friend, Ejhuay as Celty and Shizuo! I found this on Dfooz’s Flickr. He made the sign in like… a day! A retractable paint brush handle and foam board. Fantastic! I like the suit color he chose, too. Most people go with a standard black bartender suit, but his is more of a charcoal grey and looks really accurate

Durarara!! - Celty & Shizuo

I had so much fun, and I didn’t even buy anything from the dealers room! I suppose that’s ok, since I had to cough up $127 for airport parking… that was a downer after getting done with my 5hr. flight. It was such a great weekend, and I met a lot of really cool people!~ Hopefully I’ll meet even more cosplayers and super nerds next year!

Don’t forget to friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter! I post random crap on my DeviantArt profile as well, hehe. Next up… maybe the first ever CosplayCon. I’ll be slaving away at a few cosplays for next year’s AnimeExpo and Otakon…!

For some reason, people are searching for cosplay convention photos and not clicking the link to my photo gallery… I don’t know how to make it easier for you aside from the hot pink, bold link at the top… but here it is again:

OTAKON 2010 PHOTO GALLERY!!!

Helmet: Day 1~

Saiyaka — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:38:56 +0000

Finished with the scythe, Anime Expo is over… now on to my motorcycle helmet! ^^

Well, so far I’ve managed to break the visor connection on the side and a piece fell off the front of the helmet… :O

No big deal, but it does suck I won’t be able to move the visor up and down for comfort during Otakon… that reminds me… must get contact lenses! Oh my!

Original Helmet

I ended up purchasing a children’s large sized, full-face motorcycle helmet, lol. I bought a replacement visor that was darker. The image makes it look transparent, but when attached to the helmet, you can’t even see my face through it… so badass!~

I bought some standard, all-purpose paint primer from the local Home Depot and a few paint brushes. I used the normal, bristle paint brush, not a sponge brush. I find the bristle brushes allow for a more even application, since the pressure is fairly even when painting.

I applied two or three coats of primer and will be applying the yellow, glossy paint tomorrow! I’m certainly excited to see how this helmet will turn out!

My plans are to use a blue permanent sharpie for the Blue markings, because I’ll have more control over the strokes and cleaner edges… I should be able to find a good blue paint to match to use on the back of the ears.

OH, HAY! Look what came in the mail today!!

I ordered my catsuit as well as these amazing boots from Milanoo.com. They have a great selection of clothes, Japanese school uniforms, and complete cosplays! It’s a great resource for people who don’t sew. They will even accept custom orders… just make sure to take your measurements correctly… I measured my torso wrong… by 6 whole inches! Yikes!

Thankfully there’s a great tailor in LA… an old foreign man who also runs a laundromat, haha. Admittedly, it was quite awkward trying on my catsuit for him…

If you haven’t checked out Cosplay.com’s Otakon cosplay gathering schedule… do so! All Durarara!! cosplayers are gathering Friday, 7:00PM by the outdoor fountains. I’ll definitely be there, and you should too!

Anime Expo 2010 Photos!~

Saiyaka — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:43:46 +0000

>>ANIME EXPO 2010 PHOTO GALLERY<<

Anime Expo was SO MUCH FUN!!! I saw so many amazing cosplayers and met a lot of really nice people

The most entertaining event I attended was the AX Idol believe it or not. I sort of assumed it was going to be laughably bad, since my experience with otaku singers via online Rockband sensations has been… spotty at best. All the contestants in the singing and voice acting category were very talented. The competition was hosted by Johnny Yong Bosch and Cristina Vee. Bosch was very funny… his most memorable line being, “Don’t worry about it douchebag!” delivered in his best Koizumi voice from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya.

Judges included BangZoom! President Eric Sherman, producer and BangZoom! Vice-President Kaeko Sakamoto, musician/voice actor Jason C. Miller and voice actor Vic Mignogna. We all got a special live performance of Vic voicing Kaname-sama in Vampire Knight… muchly anticipated by all the ladies!~

Congratulations to the winners! Singing award went to a dude cosplaying Zero from Code Geas and guess what song he sang…?! Opening music to Code Geas. The voice actor award went to a sultry Erik Kimerer (Check it, he’s got Twitter!), who did a Kaname voice over to Vampire Knight. Not quite as sexy as Vic, but he did a very good “creeper in the alley” impression. It worked quite well!

AX Idol Singing Winner

AX Idol Voice Acting Winner: Eric Kimerer

I sat in on a few cosplay panels. Coming from my panel experiences at Otakon, I again had very low hopes they would be all that riveting, but once again Anime Expo has proven me wrong and revitalized my confidence in fan panels! I learned loads about cardboard. Srsly… I saw a gigantic firearm made entirely out of cardboard. I have some new tricks I need to experiment with when it comes to constructing my motorcycle helmet! The highlight of my cosplay panels was definitely the plunger launcher demo at the Steampunk panel.

Needless to say, I did a lot of stuff, met a lot of people and had a ton of fun!~ I’ll be registering for next year for sure. Remember to register before July 9th for the sexy price of $45!

Did you go this year? Going next year? Doing a Durarara cosplay for Otakon?? Friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and we can hang out! I’ll be taking my photo with every Durarara cosplayer I find… MUHAHAhahaha… ha… ha…!

>>ANIME EXPO 2010 PHOTO GALLERY<<

Anime Expo: Get A Free Photoshoot!~

Saiyaka — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 22:12:29 +0000

I’ll be attending the Anime Expo in a few weeks, and so I thought… This is a sweet, sweet opportunity to give back to the cosplay community by giving all you hard working cosplayers a few professional photos of your amazing cosplays!~ I also want to build my cosplay/portrait photography portfolio, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t getting anything out of this either…. >.>

SCHEDULE [Last update: June 24, 2010 | 7:04pm]

July 1: NO PHOTOS …Job interview for a Japanese Sushi & Karaoke bar ^^b
July 2: 11:00am-12:00pm
July 3: NO PHOTOS …I’ll be creeping around Crispin Freeman events and scheduled cosplay groups
July 4: 3:30pm-5:30pm

To setup a photoshoot:

1. Just stop by and ask! I’ll be the short Asian girl in Hello Kitty ears with the nice SLR camera, lol. I’ll be standing outside taking photos. I’ve never been to AX before, but I’ll try to stand near-ish to the main entrance.

2. Use any of the ways below to contact me and you can message me if you want me to look for you around a specific time (I even get all my messages forwarded to my phone, so you can even contact me during the expo!)
a.) Message me your cosplay character/game/anime – so I know who I’m looking for!
b.) Friend me on FB or Twitter so we can get a hold of each other… or just be super friends!

Facebook | Twitter | DeviantArt | MSN/AIM/Email: Saiyaka.Ieyasu@gmail.com

Want to know what events I’ll be hitting up at Anime Expo? Want to hangz outs wit meh? Click here for my AX sched.!~

3. If you are in the Los Angeles, CA area after AX and want to schedule a more extensive photoshoot, please consider me! Although, it will be for a small fee of $30 to pay for gas and supplies. I’m open to single portraits or groups.

As a cosplayer with no friends who are good at taking photos, I know what it’s like to want a good photo to remember how all your hard work paid off, because once the convention is over there are few other ways to bask in the glory of a completed project, so photos are important!

What you get (Totally FREE! ^^b):

1. 2-3 poses

2. 2-3 photos of each pose

3. HD copies of all photos (will send you a download link…)

All I ask…

1. You mention my name when you display your photos along with my website

2. Allow me to use your photos as part of my cosplay/portrait photography portfolio

Scythe: DONE!~

Saiyaka — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:30:48 +0000

So excited to be finished with my scythe! I put on the final layer of clay, primed, painted and decorated the whole thing. I added another PVC section that attached to the blade, so I could transport the scythe in a suitcase in three sections, and it lengthened it to 7 feet! Otakon restricts weapons and props to 6.5 feet, so I chopped off about a foot and a half to make the whole thing less awkward to hold.

This photo is right after I sanded down both pieces. I managed to get it pretty smooth after a few hours of mega-concentrated sanding… Clay dust was falling off me every time I shook my head, haha.

Priming time!~ I put on two coats. Then I painted!!! YAY!!!

I added ribbon around the blade and put little bows here and there to give it a stylized, smokey look. Most of this stuff is held together with tacky glue and double sided tape. I held the blade together on the PVC with glue - literally called “Gloop”. It’s really strong, takes two days to fully dry and strengthen, but is really awesome. Dries clear, so it worked great for what I needed.

Since the scythe is made out of foam and paperclay, it’s actually really light-weight! I really like how this turned out… next up?? The helmet! Oh boy…