Final Shoot of the Year: Setsuka Heel - Skip Beat!

Finally scheduled a little photoshoot with friends last week (12-21-16) before we settle down for the holidays. There were only three of us cosplayers and a photographer and even though it was slightly impromptu, we still managed to secure a good location and everything went by smoothly.

Cosplay Guidepost to Getting Started

The prospect of making your own costume can be overwhelming at first. I know it's not for everybody and it's completely okay if it's not your thing. However, if you decide to give it a try but have no idea where or how to begin, I have written down a highly recommended list that will help you through your journey.

Asami Sato Default Outfit Worklog / Tutorial

Check out more photos of this cosplay here

First of all, I made a big mistake of sewing the buttons on the wrong side. I looked at the reference photo and forgot to consider that it was a mirror image. I didn't have enough time and resources to do the entire thing again so I just pushed forward. With that in mind, here's my Asami Sato cosplay worklog and hopefully none would make the same mistake as I did if ever anyone decided to follow through with this. *kicks self*

From KorrAsami with Love; Iinchou goes to CosMania 2016

Finally after months of planning, my friend and I finally got the chance to do our dream OTP cosplay Korra and Asami. Since we live far away from each other, we rarely have a chance to do cosplays together (long distance and all) so we've been really looking forward to it.

I wanted to post Asami's worklog first but things just got pretty hectic before and after my trip that I only had time to sort this out today so I'll be going with this for the meantime instead.

2016 (Late) Life Updates

It's been pretty mellow lately. With the end of the year approaching, I just want to take everything easy. I have two more cosplays I wanted to finish but with the pace I'm going at now, i think i'll only be able to finish one of them but hopefully I'll be able to write a worklog of it before this month ends.

Although it's been pretty laid back recently, I'm happy with a lot of changes that occurred for the past year that made me even more motivated to pursue this hobby. I'm excited to make more costumes but for now, some personal updates...

K.K. @ TorCH Iloilo 2016

It really pays to give the costume a test run before debuting it on an event/shoot. The first time I wore my KK costume, I didn't have any idea how it would look like and while it didn't really turn out bad, there are some factors I haven't taken note of that needs to be anticipated.

TorCh(Tournament of Champions) Iloilo is a local cosplay event/competition in the city that took place last August 6. 2016 and I finally got the the opportunity to wear my KK cosplay again. After a few repairs and maintenance check, I'm really happy because of some improvements since the last time I wore it.

Some general tips for fellow costume-maker beginners

Stuff I wish I knew from the start...

Cosplay Craze RWBY feels & meeting new friends

With the recent RWBY season 3 finale still fresh in my mind, this event has been quite an experience for me. I love the series so much and despite its popularity, it's quite uncommon to find such devoted fans right here in the area so seeing so many people getting excited over RWBY cosplays made me so proud to be a part of the RWBY community.

Yang Xiao Long - RWBY Cosplay Worklog

This has been long overdue. I've been meaning to post this earlier but I've been pretty distracted with a lot of stuff. Yang has been the most complicated costume I've made so far with it's many pieces and intricate design. I had to learn a lot of new skills along the way but it had been quite a learning journey and I feel really achieved being able to complete this project.

Non-stretch boot cover tutorial / worklog

Another boot cover for my Yang Xiao Long Cosplay. I actually intended to buy a pair from a bargain shop but I couldn't find anything close and cheap enough so it's time for another DIY project.

Materials:

• a pair of non-wedge, heeled shoes(non heeled shoes will work as well but this tutorial will be working on a heeled one)
• socks
• non-stretch fabric
• interfacing
• 2 separating zippers
• snap buttons(the one where you can sew in)

Ember Celica RWBY prop cosplay tutorial

First of all, my reference was this post. However, I only have limited resources available so I'll be using an entirely different set of materials and had to improvise along the way. Still, I'm quite happy with how they turned out so here goes...

Main materials:

• rubber sheet (half a yard should be enough but make room for possible mistakes) - they're about 0.5cm thick
• spray paint (yellow of course)
• white/silver paint (acrylic/poster will do)
• empty thread spools (min. of six)
• red fabric(prefferably stretchable but non-stretch is alright as long as it's soft and thin)

Tools:

• super glue
• hot glue (optional)
• cutter & scissors
• unused newspapers/empty garbage bags
• black sharpie (or paint whatever you fancy)

(Click the photos for larger view)

My worst con-crunch experience ever

We've all been there.
Times where we've pushed ourselves to extreme limits just to finish our costumes on time but is it really worth to jeopardize our health over a hobby?

Leaving Mundania... take me back cosplay yesteryears

"As much as I bitch and stitch, I'm still enjoying all of it... the whole process. And it's gratifying to be able to present to people a piece of art to a community of people who can appreciate it for its artistic value... who understand and still have fun... and love it because it's kitschy... and ginchy and it's made from liquid metal gold sequinned fabric that nobody except figure skaters wear."

KK - Kekkai Sensen - Cosplay Worklog

photo and post-processing by Mike Sabido

Costume breakdown of the very first cosplay I finished this year. Biggest outfit I made to date and despite a handful of mistakes, I'm happy how good they turned out. No decent photos yet but might schedule a photoshoot sometime this year as soon as i find the time to do revisions on some parts of this costume.
[UPDATE 08/10/16]: Wore the outfit for the second time and finally had some nice shots.

Late Bandwagon Hopping; Afterthoughts

Bandwagon's long gone away but I just want to leave a few words of my own.

Same cosplay, three years apart. If there's one thing I finally managed to gather from those year difference is that don't sell yourself short just for the sake of what people will think. By the end of the day, none of it will matter if you had fun.

Setsuka Heel is portrayed as someone who is mysterious but also a strong, sexy and confident woman and a failed to let those characteristics show through in the first photo because I've been so busy being conscious of what other people might think:
"Am I being to sexy?"
"Please don't let this photo look to sensuous or people might get the wrong idea."
"What if they thought I'm doing this for attention?"

It's stressful and prevents you from having fun.

Try not to think too much about it. I learned to channel all my insecurities into going all out in my cosplays and keeping myself better. Focus on the positive and whatever keeps you happy and all those negativities will gradually fade. It will not be easy and it will certainly take time...heck, it took me a long while! But as long as you had the will to take that first step, then you're already getting there.

Happy cosplay! :)

CREDITS:
Mogami Kyoko as Setsuke Heel | Skip Beat(manga)
Photo by: Dan Rebuelta

Why I lost my enthusiasm in sharing my hobby to non-cosplay communities

This was one of the things I've been trying so hard to forget for the past four years now and I've been making great progress. However, something showed up while i was browsing through my timehop recently. Thinking about it doesn't bother me much anymore but it still feels quite unpleasant sometimes just remembering so might as well let it all out before completely letting go.

Chiyuki - Death Parade - Cosplay Worklog

Chiyuki was one of the easiest and most comfortable cosplay I ever did. It looks no big deal but it was the very first full costume that I made from scratch all on my own. It has been a huge cosplay leap for me since then and despite the many embarrassing mistakes and crooked stitches I made along the way, it was one of the proudest moment of my cosplay life.

Domed, No-Sew Cosplay Eyepatch Tutorial

So many tutorials on various eyepatches out there but here's how I made mine for my K.K.(Kekkai Sensen) cosplay.

Stretch Boot Cover with Removable Shoe Tutorial

There are tons of tutorials out there for various types of boot covers but here's the way I made mine. It's a combination of what I've learned from online tutorials and some I've adapted on my own from years of trials, mistakes, financial conditions and time constraints.

I've made several mistakes in the past by just gluing the shoe within the cover because it was the easiest way. However, I didn't have the luxury of buying new pairs(or even pre-loved ones) every time I make a new one so in this tutorial, I made a pair where you can easily just slip off/insert the shoes so that you can still use them for other stuff. It makes for easier cleaning too.

Motivation Post for 2016

Came in very late but figured I wanted to let out some cosplay sentiments before starting out the new year with new cosplays.