Latest Cosplay Shenanigans
Jan. 27th, 2013 01:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinnatiousI really shouldn't be on LJ. I should be frantically painting and gluing things, or in lieu of that, maybe working on fic or perhaps reading up on the latest loudness metering standards in preparation for upcoming mixing sessions at work, or hell, playing some more FF13-2 or Virtue's Last Reward. Or sleeping, which I have not been doing nearly enough of recently.
But none of that would count as procrastinating! Which is all I apparently want to do currently, and making posts on LJ is at least marginally more productive than trawling Reddit.
Anyhow, I thought I'd share the progress of my latest attempts at cosplay! The deadline for this one is quite close, I have until Wednesday to finish, although I really need to be done by Monday night since I expect I'll be working late Tuesday and Wednesday (and will need to pack it Wednesday night).
So! Context for those not in the know. Because clearly Kain wasn't exercise in insanity enough, I somehow got convinced into Caius Ballad for a FF13-2 group cosplay.
This guy.
This is actually sort of exciting because Caius is pretty much the best Final Fantasy villain since Sephiroth, and has the theme music to prove it. The fact that he's voiced by Liam O'Brien (Kain Highwind and Akihiko Sanada) is delicious delicious icing on that cake.
It's also kind of painful because the more I've worked on this costume the more incredibly impractical it strikes me as being! I mean, the guy has little guide rails n his collar for his ultra-long headband thing. What the hell?! And don't even get me started on his arm or knee armour.
His headband is just... ridiculous. Ridiculously long, that is. And I had to pain both sides. It took the most of a five-set tennis match to do this.
I couldn't find the right kinds of feathers for his... I guess you could call them head decorations?... so had to actually dye them. And the pendants, too - I can't buy those anywhere! I first have to make the pendants, then string them together. :|
And can I just say, screw you Caius, and all of your stupid back detail that no one is going to see and isn't going to show up in hardly any photos.
Here's a shot of the front piece WIP. This part is actually complete now, thankfully. I had to adjust the dimensions a little since I am not actually a six-foot tall olympic male gymnast, and I also have t move n it which magical CG materials don't need to take into account.
I'm going to absolutely melt in it, considering it's 80% vinyl and craft foam. Great choice of summer cosplay! Seriously, where was my brain? So I invested in a cooling vest with gel ice packs in the pockets, like what suit actors use. In my kind of half-test wear it sort of had the unexpected side effect of chest-flatting and making the vest part fit better, so hooray for happ accidents there. (Although maybe now I'll look a little fat). It's actually turned out kind of awesome because I wound up using it in the heatwave we had recently. My only concern is the extra weight and suitcase space it will take up - the gel packs alone add about 3kg.
The most ridiculous and impractical thing of all, of course, is his sword. I mean, what the hell, Square. Seriously, what the hell. I am going to have to take so many shortcuts to finish this thing in time.
Given its size, weight is a huge consideration for this thing. I had to completely rule out paper clay or gesso any heavier materials - I've stuck mostly to cardboard and craft foam, which is probably going to rob it of a little bit of its three-dimensionality. It's actually too big to transport so I've had to make it in pieces. I'm kind of praying that it will still fit in my suitcase (especially considering I have to fit the rest of the costume, and, you know, actual clothes in there too.) I'm making it into its relevant pieces, but I may yet me forced to saw those into even smaller pieces and just... hotglue it back together at the destination. :/ Which will look a little ugly and compromise structural integrity, but a little weak and ugly is probably better than not having it at all.
I got the colours all wrong on the handle too, if I have time I'll repaint.Hahahah as if I'll have time for repainting. My wood-painting methodology leaves something to be desired, I checked out some tutorials but it somehow just didn't work for me. :/
Left to do:
- The sword, obviously. I've got it mostly all cut out and a good chunk of the structural detailing done, sans the very middle part, but I seriously need to be painting this like a madman tomorrow. Paint takes time to dry! And you can only paint one side at a time! I might have to skip the weathering and the varnish at this rate. :(
- The thigh armour. I've got it mostly cut out but am struggling with the topmost part.
- The goddamn arms. This is the part I am most concerned about. I've been putting them off, admittedly, because I hate working on sleeves and have no idea how to make it so I can actually bend my elbows.
- Wig needs to be cut and styled. I am not very good at cutting and styling wigs so this is scary. :|
- Need to string up the beads and feathers and attach to the headband and wig. I might have to do this on the plane or at the destination, but luckily it shouldn't take more than an hour.
- Have to add fasteners to everything to make sure it stays in place. I might do this at the destination too since it will only require bringing along some more glue and velcro probably.
It has the dubious honour of being the most expensive cosplay I've made to date - outstrips Kain comfortably (although to be fair, Kain was 90% cardboard and craft foam, which is not exactly expensive building materials). It was mostly due to the metres and metres of vinyl and beads, which turn out to be crazy expensive even when you take pains to try and buy mostly plastic and wooden ones. A lot of the little incidentals like feathers and metal snaps and fake fur added up too, not much on their own but all together... The scary part is I actually made some good savings on the cosplay thanks to craft foam I had left over from Kain, boots pillaged from another cosplay, and the wide variety of paints and varnish and glue also left over from Kain!
I always feel very guilty when any cosplay breaks the $100 barrier though. It's the same sort of feeling I get with formal dresses - so much money on something you're probably only going to wear once! Of course, you get the fun of actually making the cosplay too. But then, I have since found out how much some fellow (admittedly awesome) cosplayers spend on their costumes, and then don't feel so bad anymore. Apparently I'm actually quite budget, lol. (Although any money savings sort of disappear out the window when you consider I travel halfway across the country to those cons. *coughs*)
Even though I've actually been cosplaying for a while now, and have graduated to fully making my own costumes ever since Riesz last year, this will actually be the first time I've entered any of the comps or gone on stage. A little terrified, not gonna lie! Especially since we won't really have much time or opportunity to rehearse, since interstate actors and all. How the hell did we wind up in the advanced skit section? I've never been in a skit in my life. A bunch of the other members of the group are quite experienced at skits and stage cosplaying in general, they have perhaps not noticed I am awkwardly standing on their coattails and haven't figured out how to step off.
Luckily my part looks pretty simple, let's just hope I can move in my costume! Should be easier than Kain was, at least. (Kain is my new cosplay metric for 'uber-uncomfortable').
Aaarglkjlkagjdfg.
If the next chapter is late, this is why.
But none of that would count as procrastinating! Which is all I apparently want to do currently, and making posts on LJ is at least marginally more productive than trawling Reddit.
Anyhow, I thought I'd share the progress of my latest attempts at cosplay! The deadline for this one is quite close, I have until Wednesday to finish, although I really need to be done by Monday night since I expect I'll be working late Tuesday and Wednesday (and will need to pack it Wednesday night).
So! Context for those not in the know. Because clearly Kain wasn't exercise in insanity enough, I somehow got convinced into Caius Ballad for a FF13-2 group cosplay.
This guy.
This is actually sort of exciting because Caius is pretty much the best Final Fantasy villain since Sephiroth, and has the theme music to prove it. The fact that he's voiced by Liam O'Brien (Kain Highwind and Akihiko Sanada) is delicious delicious icing on that cake.
It's also kind of painful because the more I've worked on this costume the more incredibly impractical it strikes me as being! I mean, the guy has little guide rails n his collar for his ultra-long headband thing. What the hell?! And don't even get me started on his arm or knee armour.
His headband is just... ridiculous. Ridiculously long, that is. And I had to pain both sides. It took the most of a five-set tennis match to do this.
I couldn't find the right kinds of feathers for his... I guess you could call them head decorations?... so had to actually dye them. And the pendants, too - I can't buy those anywhere! I first have to make the pendants, then string them together. :|
And can I just say, screw you Caius, and all of your stupid back detail that no one is going to see and isn't going to show up in hardly any photos.
Here's a shot of the front piece WIP. This part is actually complete now, thankfully. I had to adjust the dimensions a little since I am not actually a six-foot tall olympic male gymnast, and I also have t move n it which magical CG materials don't need to take into account.
I'm going to absolutely melt in it, considering it's 80% vinyl and craft foam. Great choice of summer cosplay! Seriously, where was my brain? So I invested in a cooling vest with gel ice packs in the pockets, like what suit actors use. In my kind of half-test wear it sort of had the unexpected side effect of chest-flatting and making the vest part fit better, so hooray for happ accidents there. (Although maybe now I'll look a little fat). It's actually turned out kind of awesome because I wound up using it in the heatwave we had recently. My only concern is the extra weight and suitcase space it will take up - the gel packs alone add about 3kg.
The most ridiculous and impractical thing of all, of course, is his sword. I mean, what the hell, Square. Seriously, what the hell. I am going to have to take so many shortcuts to finish this thing in time.
Given its size, weight is a huge consideration for this thing. I had to completely rule out paper clay or gesso any heavier materials - I've stuck mostly to cardboard and craft foam, which is probably going to rob it of a little bit of its three-dimensionality. It's actually too big to transport so I've had to make it in pieces. I'm kind of praying that it will still fit in my suitcase (especially considering I have to fit the rest of the costume, and, you know, actual clothes in there too.) I'm making it into its relevant pieces, but I may yet me forced to saw those into even smaller pieces and just... hotglue it back together at the destination. :/ Which will look a little ugly and compromise structural integrity, but a little weak and ugly is probably better than not having it at all.
I got the colours all wrong on the handle too, if I have time I'll repaint.
Left to do:
- The sword, obviously. I've got it mostly all cut out and a good chunk of the structural detailing done, sans the very middle part, but I seriously need to be painting this like a madman tomorrow. Paint takes time to dry! And you can only paint one side at a time! I might have to skip the weathering and the varnish at this rate. :(
- The thigh armour. I've got it mostly cut out but am struggling with the topmost part.
- The goddamn arms. This is the part I am most concerned about. I've been putting them off, admittedly, because I hate working on sleeves and have no idea how to make it so I can actually bend my elbows.
- Wig needs to be cut and styled. I am not very good at cutting and styling wigs so this is scary. :|
- Need to string up the beads and feathers and attach to the headband and wig. I might have to do this on the plane or at the destination, but luckily it shouldn't take more than an hour.
- Have to add fasteners to everything to make sure it stays in place. I might do this at the destination too since it will only require bringing along some more glue and velcro probably.
It has the dubious honour of being the most expensive cosplay I've made to date - outstrips Kain comfortably (although to be fair, Kain was 90% cardboard and craft foam, which is not exactly expensive building materials). It was mostly due to the metres and metres of vinyl and beads, which turn out to be crazy expensive even when you take pains to try and buy mostly plastic and wooden ones. A lot of the little incidentals like feathers and metal snaps and fake fur added up too, not much on their own but all together... The scary part is I actually made some good savings on the cosplay thanks to craft foam I had left over from Kain, boots pillaged from another cosplay, and the wide variety of paints and varnish and glue also left over from Kain!
I always feel very guilty when any cosplay breaks the $100 barrier though. It's the same sort of feeling I get with formal dresses - so much money on something you're probably only going to wear once! Of course, you get the fun of actually making the cosplay too. But then, I have since found out how much some fellow (admittedly awesome) cosplayers spend on their costumes, and then don't feel so bad anymore. Apparently I'm actually quite budget, lol. (Although any money savings sort of disappear out the window when you consider I travel halfway across the country to those cons. *coughs*)
Even though I've actually been cosplaying for a while now, and have graduated to fully making my own costumes ever since Riesz last year, this will actually be the first time I've entered any of the comps or gone on stage. A little terrified, not gonna lie! Especially since we won't really have much time or opportunity to rehearse, since interstate actors and all. How the hell did we wind up in the advanced skit section? I've never been in a skit in my life. A bunch of the other members of the group are quite experienced at skits and stage cosplaying in general, they have perhaps not noticed I am awkwardly standing on their coattails and haven't figured out how to step off.
Luckily my part looks pretty simple, let's just hope I can move in my costume! Should be easier than Kain was, at least. (Kain is my new cosplay metric for 'uber-uncomfortable').
Aaarglkjlkagjdfg.
If the next chapter is late, this is why.
