First of all, I wish an happy new year to everyone !
I wanted to start the year by writing a post about my 2011 costumes, and what I was planning for the beginning of 2012. So here we go !
2011 Review
I've done "only" 11 costumes this year. (Yeah, there's 12 pictures but I did nothing on one of them). I'm saying only, because compared to 2010 and its 21 cosplays, it seems to be nothing xD. That can be explained by the fact I really started to make cosplay shoots as a photographer this year, and it takes a lot of time too. But I really love being on the other side of the camera for a change, even if it's sometimes frustrating because you can't do both at the same time.
Mika ~
We are GoldenYes, you read it well, this is an outfit of the singer Mika, in his "We are Golden" music video. I did this costume for the fun, for a cosplay group featuring various singers from Shakira to Gwen Stefani, we some friends. The costume was not really fun to make, though, since I had to sew a whole vest with that odd and ugly collar xD, plus the pants. But we had a great time on stage and for the rest of the day
Takashi Komuro & Kôta Hirano ~
Highschool of the DeadI discovered this anime thanks to
alarzy, who also had the idea for this cosplay group. Since he's a photographer and not a cosplayer, we had a deal, he would cosplay with us as Kôta if I was making his costume. It was the first time I was sewing something for somebody else. It's kinda strange, and a little hard, but in the end, his vest was better cut than mine xD We still have to do some epic photoshoot with the girls, and some zombies.
George Koizumi ~
Paradise KissThis costume should have the "2011 failure award". You probably noticed the absence of blue hair. That's because the seller decided to cancel the order 2 weeks before the con, sending me an email basically saying "well, you've ordered this item one month and a half ago, but we're out of stock of it, but we waited all this time to tell you this, so that you're totally screwed and will have no time left to order a new one". Yeah, great, thanks. So I basically abandonned the project, but when
Lye1 insisted to have me as her George no matter what in order to hang together in the con's alleys, I quickly did a "May actually look like george from really far away in the dark version" with stuff from my wardrobe. I've planned a real cosplay of George for May.
Sanosuke Sagara ~
Rurouni KenshinI made this costume for Made in Asia in Brussels, because Watsuki (Kenshin's author) was coming to the con. I was really easy to make, and it was cool to use my real hair for a change, even if it was fixed with a load of hairspray. My only regret is that I have really few photos of this costume since we had no time to do some and we failed to find a proper place for the shoot in the con's area. I'll do a real photoshoot during spring.
Go Kato ~
Ai Shite KnightThe "WTF Cosplay award 2011". This guy looks ridiculous. Even when I was watching the series on TV when I was 6 or 7 years old, I was already thinking his look was completely kitsch... And that's actually why I cosplayed it for a group with
Ainlina, who was a fan of the show when she was young (probably because she shares her first name with the main character in the french translation, that can't be because she loves the male characters' design in this stuff :'D). We had great fun on that day.
Junnosuke Taguchi ~
KAT-TUN - No More PainI've been planning on doing some KAT-TUN costumes for a long time. Then, we discovered the NoMorePain song and decided that we'd try to do a dance cover of the music video on stage. It was my first full danced skit, and gosh, even though I really liked it, I'm not really good at this stuff :'D We turned a dance cover of the song on August, but we still have to edit the video before releasing it.
Ike ~
Super Smash Bros BrawlI've been wanting to cosplay this guy for 5 years. When
Pichu-no-Sekai proposed a Smash Bros group to me, I proposed her to cosplay Solid Snake. But I didn't could found a proper fabric for the suit, so I decided to cosplay as Ike instead. I'm quite happy with the result. I really like the wool fabric I used for the vest. I'll do the sword in order to shoot this costume soon.
Ganondorf ~
Legend of Zelda - Twilight PrincessThe costume I'm the most proud of this year. It was made for the french ECG prelims at Japan Expo, with
Lye1 as Link, and
lucioless as Zelda. This costume was really fun to make, and really challenging since it was my first real armor, and I had to wear padding to look bigger. I'm really happy with how it turned out, even if it's far from perfect (the painting job of the armor in particular was done in a rush and would deserve some additional work).
Portgas D. Ace ~
One PieceAce is, with Luffy & Shanks, my favorite character in the One Piece series. I hesitated for a long time before cosplaying him, because I'm not muscled enough and I was a little afraid to look cheap, but I tried, and the result is probably not as bad as I thought it would be xD I still have to finish the costume, since it was made in a complete rush, and I'll try to build some muscles for this summer, in order to redo some photos on the beach.
Kotetsu T. Kaburagi ~
TIGER & BUNNYT&B is definitely my favorite anime of the year. When I watched the first episode, I immidiately fell in love with Kotetsu. This guy kicks ass, I tell you. So I made the casual version of Kotetsu, and now I'm planning on realizing the Wild Tiger armor, for later. The jacket and the tie were made by
Lye1 as a surprise present for me <3
Prince Philip ~
The Sleeping BeautyCostume realised for a duet with
Lye1 for Japan Expo Centre, because that's her favorite Disney movie. It was really weird to wear some tights. Even though I made them with thick fabric, I was feeling so naked XD. Girls really don't envy you wearing that stuff all the time. I'm planning on sewing the cape and the hat for a photoshoot in the forest.
2012 Planning
The last years have been full of small projects I didn't necessarily LOVED, but that I did because I wanted to do some groups with friends. This year, I've decided to focus on projects I really want to do. Some of them since recently, and others that I've been delaying for ages. This planning just cover the first half of the year. I'll see what I want to do after that when the time comes. Just remember that like every cosplay plannings, it will certainly change a hundred of times until July
Japan Expo Sud - March 2-4
> Rikuo Nura - Nurarihyon no Mago
> Nozdormu - World of Warcraft
Epitanime - May 25-27
> George Koizumi - Paradise Kiss
> Hwang - Soulcalibur III
Japan Expo - July 5-8
> Duet with
Lye1 for the French ECG prelims
> Ezio Auditore da Firenze - Assassin's Creed II
Ezio might be delayed, if I see I don't have enough time to work on the ECG costume or if I don't find the correct materials. I completely fell in love with the Assassin's Creed series (except for the first one which is bOOOOOOOOring) 2 months ago when I started to play the second game, and I don't want to do some concessions on the costume's quality, so I'll wear it when it's done, no matter how much time it takes.
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