I suck at cosplay

Just a quick update . . . MY BOOTS ARE ALMOST FUCKING DONE!

I am almost done with these damn things!  Just need to weather the yellow armor patch on the left shin guard and I'm gonna call it done!  The boot album is below and you can see it for yourself, if you want.  I am not wearing the leggings that will complete the illusion of one continuous boot instead of separate boot and shin pieces.  I'll post the whole thing when I've got it all squared away and have some time.

Okay, I am definitely the worst at posting updates.  Hell, I'm terrible at just taking in progress shots.  But, I AM trying.  I'm just not trying too hard.  :)


Anyway . . . post!

A little about my partner . . . She is a geek, a huge one.  But she is also extremely shy and reserved and anxiety ridden.  So, when she said she said she wanted me to make her something to cosplay at Nebraskon along with her friends and I, how could I say no.  You know by now that I haven't been doing this stuff for long.  In fact, I'm pretty much so terribly green that I have no idea what I am doing half the time.  But, I did manage to swing two so far.

I was sick today.  It sucked.  Headache, hard time breathing, sinuses acting like assholes.  Well, not literally, but it was pretty gross.  I won't go into too much detail but there was a lot of . . . ummm . . . drainage.

Anyway . . .

As I was home, I decided I would try to be productive.  Whether I was sick or not.  Since I was in bed, I knew it couldn't be the boots, so I went with progressing on the drones.  Worked out well because I could stay in bed and watch Parks and Rec all day while detailing and assembling.  Was a good time!

So, it has been a bit with the posting. I really need to get better at that. Anyway, I have the main parts of the boots done! This is kind of a big deal for me because the boots were a total pain in the ass. I dunno why I had such a problem with these. It seemed every time I did some patterns, when I put them to foam, they didn't work. I built things up again and again only to have to start from the bottom after just a few pieces. It finally got to the point that I did rough patterns and mostly improvised around that for one foot and then mirroring that on the other. But, at least it is done.

As always, I have been terrible at in progress shots, so I can only really describe what I did and post the pictures of the final bits, sans detailing and paint. More info and pictures below.

Title says it all. I've been trying to make Wilhelm's boots for too long now and I keep getting more and more frustrated. I thought I had it sussed out and started cutting and using worbla. But 1/2 way through I realized it wasn't working and, once I put the pieces together how they would sit, they weren't shaped the way I had intended. So, starting from scratch again. Ugh . . .

Well, guise . . . it is done!

 

Some things I wish I could go back and change but mostly, I love it!

Time to look at the next prop I 3d printed - Moxxi's Maliwan Bad Touch.  The Bad Touch is my favorite Borderlands weapon.  While it isn't really a gun Wilhelm would probably choose, I don't care . . . I love it too much.  So, when I decided to do a Borderlands cosplay, I knew instantly what gun I would use.

For my Wilhelmina costume, there are a few things I decided to 3d print.  One being a Maliwan SMG (gonna paint it like Moxxi's Bad Touch) that I felt was too complex to try modelling or fabricating myself.  The other items I was sure I was printing is the Saint support drone and Wolf attack drone. I will go into Bad Touch and Wolf in other posts, but I thought I'd tackle Saint in this one.

Part two of my posts about 3d printing for cosplay.  I am going to go into some things you will need to know before you start planning to print.  There are some misconceptions about 3d printing.  That it is a super easy thing to do.  Just a push of the button and you have a finished product.  While that can be true to a certain extent, the reality is a little more complicated.  I try to explain some of that after the jump.

Alright, I've had some people ask me about 3d printing for cosplay.  I am not what I would consider an expert on the topic, but I do know a decent amount about 3d printers and printing in the home or on a small scale.  So, I'm going to do my best to cover it.  This will not be an all encompassing thing, but I'll tell you what I can and the post will also serve as a decent segue into my 3d printed props for Wilhelmina.

     Okay, so I haven't been great about going through the stuff I learned or even posting pictures of the Eiger costume.  But now I am working on my next project for Nebraskon - genderswapped Wilhelm I'm calling Wilhelmina!  I have only started the process a bit, so I figure this is a good time for me to actually document what I am currently doing.  So, with that in mind, let's start with my game plan!

The leg and boot armor was fairly simple to do, yet I messed it up and was forced to remake them a few times.  The resultant product was not ideal and I definitely wish I had been able to redo it one more time.  These are one more element of the costume I will be redoing for any future use.  So, here's what I used and how I messed up.

In this post, I go over the materials I used for my first cosplays (mostly Eiger).  I loved each of these for different reasons and I hated them with a fiery passion when it came to others.  The biggest things to remember when using any material is to research what application it should be used for, learn its limitations, and take some time to practice with it before you start seriously working with it.  These three things will result in less frustration and better looking results.  So, anyway, the materials I used . . .

Obviously, you are going to do a lot of cutting for any cosplay you might be working on.  I used a variety of tools and found each wear good for different applications.  Some were surprisingly good with materials I didn't expect.  On the whole I am glad to have every one of the tools I discuss down there in my arsenal and will use them for any project.  Put simply, ways and tools for cutting materials are diverse and not every tool will work well for every material.  This is what I learned.

So, there were quite a few things I learned after my first real (my previous one was more of a tiny thing and not a full on project) cosplay build and event.  While the whole experience was wonderful and eye opening, there are many things I would like to do better for future cons and cosplay.

This is the first post to go over my cosplay of Eiger from Shadowrun: Dragonfall.  This is really more for my reference to give me something to go back for future projects as well as a way to see my progress from project to project.  If this helps anyone else or anyone finds amusing, that's great too!  This is going to be really lengthy.  Sorry.

This past weekend was my first attempt at REAL cosplay at a con.  AND my first competition.  It was a big weekend and I learned a great deal.  I was excited to put all the crafting and tools away for a couple few months and have some time to do other things, but after the weekend at con I am already thinking of what I'm doing next.

So . . . I suck at cosplay!

     This blog will chronicle the stumbling attempts at cosplay by an old trans amateur who got to the game way too late.  I, of course, am that translady.

     The story of how I came to cosplay is pretty simple.  I always wanted to cosplay, or rather, I wanted to the moment I knew it was a thing.  However, I was too shy and anxious, too unsure in my capabilities of making a costume, and too indecisive about what to cosplay.  After a certain age, I used my oldness as an excuse not to cosplay.  The result of this balance between desire and fear was a perceived inability to do cosplay.  Three years ago I went to a local con and seeing all the local cosplayers strut their costumes, from the expert to the extreme amateur, lit a fire under my ass.  Finally, I felt I could dive into this and attempt to swim and I resolved to create one for the next year's con.

     Worried about how I would be accepted with what I had accomplished, I decided to dip my feet in the water by doing some work on a costume for a relatively OC.  Not entirely OC because the inspiration came from a particular piece of artwork in a roleplaying game book.  It was a relatively simple costume, merely requiring some modification of street clothes and a 3d printed cyberarm.  I finished it and wore it at the con in 2014.  While only two people recognized me from the source material, most seemed to enjoy the cyberarm and the costume.  There were, of course, the angry geeks that snort with derision at anyone who dares to cosplay as an OC character.  These are also the jerks that love to begin debates over the literal accuracy of a cosplay.  Even with these people, it was a great con and I had a marvelous time.  After the experience, I knew I had to create one next year.  In the following months, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and set about doing it.  I immediately began work.  This work was immediately rife with the joy, frustration, anticipation, and fear regarding the making and results of the costume.  I burned myself with heat guns, heat knives, and glue guns.  I cut myself with box cutters, exacto knives, and dremel tools.  I stuck myself with sewing needles, pins, and improvised tools.  But throughout the process I knew I wouldn't stop working on it.  I knew that anything that might happen would prevent me from enjoying the process and excitement about wearing it.  After a few months, I even added a second cosplay to my effort and even decided to compete in the beginner bracket cosplay contest.

Con came and I wore my first REAL cosplays.  I was afraid.  Very afraid.  But that fear was quickly asswuaged by the enthusiastic responses to the first cosplay I donned for the con.  As the day progressed, I simply had a ridiculous amount of fun.  When it came to the evening and the competition, I donned my complex and involved cosplay.  Everyone who came across me seemed to be excited by the cosplay and impressed with my efforts.  Petrified and full of anticipation, I entered the competition green room.  With increasing uncertainty, I watched the competitors ahead of me strut some absolutely astounding cosplays.  Now certain that I didn't want to do this, I was standing behind the curtain.  Before I could back down, the curtains open and I was committed.  Once on the stage, hearing the applause of the crowd, blinded by the stage lights and photographers flashes, and driven by necessity of being committed to this task, the adrenaline flowed.  The unadulterated joy of the stage poured into me and I felt like I was floating.  It seemed as if I was on the stage for a mere second when the time came to exit.  Taking the hand of the stage handler, helping me down due to the large height increasing boots I wore, I found I wanted to go right back.  I collapsed into a chair to watch the following cosplays exhausted and happy.  I knew I couldn't wait to do this again.  My mind filled with possibilities of next years cosplay.  I knew I was now addicted and I was a fool to deny this joy and hobby from my life.  The cosplay had me.

That brings me to now, creating this blog to set to text the journey from an old and terrible cosplayer to an old and good cosplayer.  Chronicling my joys and fears, successes and failures, and the costumes inspiring those feelings.  If someone chooses to read this blog, I hope they feel a vicarious joy that these experiences have brought me.  And if any of those people are afraid of diving into the dark and wondrous waters of cosplay, I hope this blog will encourage them to dive in these waters.  I hope to see them at the next cons I attend, despite their age and their skill.  When I do, I will beg to take their picture and share with them the unadulterated joy of the experience.