Sunday, 30 December 2007

Impossible backlog~@_@

Just realised that images due for the galleries have been piling up as I've got no time to create a gallery for all those shoots I took. The upcoming one should be the Gothic Lolita Angel but I'm having too much fun (to be honest) in this new year season to find some time to sit down and design web pages and images and buttons....etc.

Now I kinda get, why many kigurumi cosplayers on the internet doesn't actually use the "gallery" system. Not all, but more and more nowadays I find just post their picture on their main pages or a small column with very few images. Writing in my blog frequently isn't a problem, but making galleries can take hours from start to end with checks and all.

But still I really like the gallery style so that I can somehow archive my pictures online. In an average shoot, I try to take about 100+ images and then pick half of the nicer ones to be posted. I can't just post 50+ images on my main page, so I guess galleries are still necessary (and fun to use). I used to try and make full galleries consisting a video and omake in the past, but I think I'll just make image galleries from now on. And when I'm free I'll add videos if I have any. Phew~ the videos takes the longest time in the gallery update process... well not like ages kinda long... but its long. I take an average video length of about 4-5 minutes and then cut away the pose shifting scenes, the hair brushing and limping(from aching toes in heels >_<) scenes and then join the better parts from end to end to make 2-3 minutes. Then rendering and then followed by Youtube commenting and uploading... hehe. Almost feels like a uni assignment. Anyway I'll find time to open up the Gothic Lolita Angel gallery soon. Do stay tuned and please remember to write in the forums~^_^

Happy new year everyone, have you made your new year resolutions yet?
May all your new year wishes come true~<3

Saturday, 29 December 2007

Anata Baka~!??! >_<

I think there must be many anime lovers today who started watching anime during the craze which Evangelion brought about more than 10 years ago. I still remember that even though I've seen anime series often then, Evangelion was the first one which I've been really keen and serious about. Its story and theme was truely ahead of its time, and I think many find its religious setting extremely captivating. I still remember that the internet was overflowing with debates and theory discussions on the Evangelion TV series.

During that time, anime isn't as readily available, especially for translated subtitled ones. The titles are extremely limited and releases takes a long time to arrive. I still recall that I bought the Evangelion episodes on VCD, one episode at a time, in carboard wrapped CD jewel cases. Some episodes took soo long to get released and the standards vary very often. And yes Evangelion was the first anime title which I actually spent dollars and cents acquiring. I really treasured them, and I remembered watching each episode on the VCDs many times over.

Amusingly, the first episode disc I got wasn't episode 1 as it wasn't available then. I got disc 9, as I still recall was the fight between EVA-01 and EVA-03 (13th Angel Bardiel). If you've watched that episode, imagine thats the first serious genre anime title you're ever watched and the gore when EVA-01 tore up EVA-03 was... overwhelming, mind boggling even... for a 16 year old kid that I was then. The impact was so great, I had an urge of puking then when I saw(for the first time) gore of those levels in anime(for the first time remember, imagine the impact). Thereafter, the impression on Evangelion was "intense", "serious stuff"... like none other(in those lines). Like I said, Evangelion was way ahead of its time. That episode captivated me and made me an Evangelion fan eversince. Those were my secondary school days, it was almost as if I studied Evangelion for my exams. Hehe... no worries I still did outstandingly in my proper studies~

One of the things that attracted me to Evangelion was the design of the plug suits worn by Rei and Asuka. They were one of the first few "semi-naked" anime girls I've seen... in the mid 90s, anime hasn't got much of "scenery" like these. I did wonder then how I would love to get a pair of their plug suits. But its a far-fetched dream since cosplay isn't that well known those days and costumes like that were unheard of. Not to mentioned kigurumi cosplays.

10 years later today, in a short and rapid chain of events, I've done dozens of kigurumi cosplay. One after another, getting my dreams come true to cosplay as some of my favourite anime characters(and actually looking like them~^_^). Its by kigurumi cosplay that I'm able to cosplay one my oldest favourite characters in one of the most infamous costumes known. Well, those are the words which came to my mind upon finally completing the cosplay. Here I present you, my Soryu Asuka Langley... Anata Baka~!?!? I'm the best EVA pilot in the world~^_^

Friday, 28 December 2007

Equipments up & ready~










Finally, all of Soryu Asuka Langley's equipments are in place and good to go ~^o^
The above you see are the plugsuit's life support backpack and the suit interface wrist cuffs.
All that done, it will ensure optimum synchonisation with the eva unit inside the entry plug.
There is no way she'll lose out to baka Shinji and baka Rei now ~^_^
I wonder when the next mission for her will be~

Tuesday, 25 December 2007

Christmas gallery is up~^_^

Today is the 25th December 2007, Merry Christmas everyone~Hurray!!!
The Christmas'07 mode gallery is open, do drop in to take a look.
It is also the debut of Asuka, in red and white santa girl outfit.
More will be added into the gallery shortly I guess, but for now, it is open to mark this festive day~
Once again, have a wonderful Christmas day and an amazing New Year in a few more days~
Have fun~^_^

Monday, 24 December 2007

Merry Christmas all my dear friends~^_^


Yu, Meer, Santa girl>_< and Asuka will like to say to everyone, "Merry Christmas and a wonderfil and happy new year~!!!" Wishing all your Christmas wishes come true~^_^

I'll be updating the gallery soon with Christmas related pics soon, do keep a lookout and remember to write~^_^~<3

Tuesday, 18 December 2007

Camera expert please reveal yourself~

I've been offered amazing deals for CANON digital cameras and I was wondering if there are any offers worth making me upgrade from my Canon Powershot S3 1S into another. Just wondering if there is anyone familiar with Canon digital cameras to analyse and advise me on which CANON digital camera I would like.

Here are some features which I definitely need for kigurumi phototaking:
-Long timer or intervalometer, for times when I take solo photoshoots. Preferably intervalometer since it automatic takes shots within fixed intervals.
-Rotatable LCD panel.

Thats about it... and the other specs/features have to definitely be better than my current CANON S3 1S otherwise there is no point for me to upgrade. It wouldn't even be an upgrade. Oh yeah... and I need to state if I will take the offer by this Wed/Thu. I'm doing my own research... if anyone thinks they know enough to offer me advice, please contact me~>_<

Saturday, 15 December 2007

Blond Santa trial~

Its the Christmas season and looks who's out to play. Santa Yu~^_^
(Santa Yu~?? >_<)
Hehe... though the mood is in, the day hasn't quite arrived yet.
So a test photo shoot was taken first~^_^.

The costume is mostly made of wool and velvet. I haven't decided on the final accessories and style... but I'm thinking about it~

How do you find it?
Perhaps drop by the forums and take a look at the preview shots posted there. Merry Christmas~<3

Testing out the ears~^_^

This is just a test for the hair clips. Nothing is final.
So... is it alright nya~??

Wednesday, 12 December 2007

Wax sculpting... Complete~

Finally sculpted and carved the wax blocks away into the desired shape. Then used a hairdryer to smoothen the sides up. All that is left to do is to add the black lines into the clips. I haven't thought of how to do that but should be simple enough. I wonder how would it look like worn on the hair. What do you think of it?

I've got enough excess wax to make another set of these...hehe. Wonder if I gave these hair clips to an anime ignorant friend as a gift, would they wear it out in public~>_<. They would be cosplaying without even knowing it... or would that be a mean thing to do to someone??>_<

Tuesday, 11 December 2007

Made of wax~^^

After extensive melting and pouring and casting.... phew~>_<; Finally, I've got two pieces of wax which I can carve into the shape I need. Hope all goes well from here. The two pieces were made from a single large fat red candle which I had first grated into fine pieces. I then melted them in a metal cup before pouring it into a container. I was a little challenging to look for a container which is close to the final shape I wanted. This was what I've been spending my limited free time doing for the past few days. hehe~ I'll keep this place posted of new changes to the wax pieces.

I'll write up a new report of my new costume production process when everything is finished so you can see how I did "smelting" with wax for these toys... Its quite fun... but tedious~@_@
...>_<... it hurt when melted wax dripped on me by accident.

Thursday, 6 December 2007

Can you guess what I am making~?? ^_^

I'm making a new part for a new costume, can anyone guess what it will be? The costume is from a mainstream anime character so most people should know it ~^_^ It has been fun trying to select and use different materials to try and make accessories.

In the first picture, I use styrofoam to cut out the shapes I need whereas in the second image, I'm just using sponge-like foam. The cuts were made using a pen knife, they look neat doesn't it. ^_^

They both belong to the same costume so can you recognise those shapes? hehe... maybe I'll give a prize again to someone who can guess it right~^_^

Wednesday, 5 December 2007

Secret revealed in new fanart~0_o


Meer Campbell has a sister?!
Its never been mentioned before...hehe
Not until dxman decided to make a fanart of it ^_^

New fanart has been added into the fanart gallery.
Its another one of dxman's photo manipulations and it seems like he's getting better at it each time~^_^

Remember to drop in and check it out~<3

Monday, 3 December 2007

Chun Li Youtube video added~

As the title says, I've added a video of Chun Li in her official design costume on Youtube. Please drop in to check it out~^_^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf4ABsCa6Y4

^^
Please remember to rate and comment~thx!

Sunday, 2 December 2007

Chun Li official design gallery added~


Hi everyone, I'm guessing that most people have seen the Chun Li bracelets and cuffs which I made in the earlier posts. I've put them into use in a photo shoot in the official costume style of Chun Li. The new gallery has been added beside the former Chun Li gallery, so please visit the Chun Li gallery once again~^_^

Though the bracelets are kinda filmsy, I was quite satisfied with how it looked in the pictures. Its flaws are mostly not visible and I thought they looked rather hard...hehe. However the images made them look a little smaller but they are really quite big and wide with the spikes. It made typing a little hard during the live chat after the shoot. So most of the time I'm just typing with 2 fingers unable to rest my wrists on the table >_<.

I padded the pouch like things on shoulders with soft materials so that they look rounder, otherwise they would be quite flat. You can take a look at the former Chun Li gallery to see what I mean. The sleeves were also a lot wider so I had to close them up. Oh, in contrary to my previous intentions, I didn't used clipped on buns for Chun Li. The buns actually are holding my hair. Thats the only way since I wouldn't be able to hide the long hair otherwise. I bunned the hair up before putting on the mask so its easier for me... took a while to adjust it after putting it on but it was a lot easier if I didn't do so. Hope everyone likes the shoot~^_^