Happy Summer!
Happy Summer!
It's been such a crazy summer, and while I don't intend to get too carried away with this post, I wanted to share some pretty fun updates that have been going on.
Over the summer, I competed at Anime Expo for the World Cosplay Summit USA finals! It was such a crazy experience and while we didn't get the title, just being close in this race was more than enough for me and Shii this round. I definitely have plans to try again since it's still a brightly burning dream to do it, but I will admit how much work it went into to get this rolling in such a short amount of time!
Needless to say, it really tuckered me out. While I've been organizing my plans for the year, I haven't really done much sewing since AX given how much of a boot camp-like experience it was, but I sincerely don't regret. We had such an amazing wealth of friends, fellow cosplayers, family, and people in our community who showed nothing but love and support for us. Most importantly, we had such a wonderful mentor who made this process absolutely enjoyable.
Even though my current WCS plans for 2018 are underway, I wanted to at least try this time to get the rest of my cosplay schedule in order. To be quite honest, this past year was indeed a slower time for me but a period of growth. In a short amount of time with Sakura for WCS, I learned so much more about what I want out of cosplay and sewing that's been missing in more of my recent projects. I went through a period of time where I was productive and constantly at one picnic or another with a new uniform, but there comes a point when I realized that there wasn't much of a learning stretch after making the same seifuku over again (not to say that you can't have too many seifuku).
Originally, my goal was to start on Rose Witch from Shiei no Sona-nyl for this upcoming autumn, although a few factors came into play when I made a slight bit of a sudden change. Since Sakura, I wanted a real challenge and something that I felt would take what I've learned over the year and really transform my entire cosplay process. Naturally, Rose Witch felt perfect for it, along with the fact that I've wanted to make her for over 9000 years.
However, going back to AX, my group and I before Shii and I were going to do WCS was planning on competing at the AX masquerade to present out group collaboration for Final Fantasy XV. We ended up having to postpone this, which also allowed for Shii and I to independently compete. So now coming ALA this January, we will be finally presenting FFXV, since it's always been in the works and will be throughout the end of this year. Yet therefore, this pretty much leaves us with the open time we usually use in the fall to plan ALA and Fanime concurrently.
While working on our annual Fanime brainstorming, I came across some music that we all absolutely loved, and since last year our group has talked about wanting to do a skit idea from the visual novel, Code: Realize. When Amanda and I were thinking of cosplays for WCS, this originally was one idea, although we always loved the idea of sharing it with more of the characters. I've had Cardia on my list for quite a while now, so I was so happy when we pieced our audio together with the series, as well as came up with some preliminary sketches for some of the cool prop and set pieces we want to utilize.
The next part is difficult to admit, but besides WCS being a tiring experience, there's been a lot of difficult decisions during this time in my life, most of which affect school, work, and general life, all of which have had an profound impact on my creativity. While I'm constantly working on new ideas and am trying to keep as inspired as possible, it is a very exhausting time too. I've taken the summertime to rest and not force myself to love a project and turn it into an obligation. I'm also hoping that with this time, I can make a smoother transition into my new school and find a workable schedule that won't impede on my education or my creativity.
Thankfully, it's not a super dire place, and as always, you just need time and lots of reflection to make sure that you're going the right path. I've been vocal about being part of the game industry and work generally in a field that promotes storytelling and creative visual design. That goal is definitely there. <3
On the upside, there's also a possibility that I may be traveling abroad for a small trip soon, either at the end of this year or early next. It's been a dream of mine to go to England, so there's a lot of planning on my end that I want to have done so I can properly enjoy it, and also finish Cardia on time so I could have a photoshoot in London (or somewhere, anywhere)!
So besides Noctis for our FFXV project for Anime LA, and while our skit won't be till next year, my next major sewing project is CARDIA from CODE: REALIZE! <3
I caved in and did a makeup test for her tonight! I've been buying so many new cosmetics over the summer and since I'm a bit weird about wearing makeup to work, I've been afraid to just let them sit there and wait until Anime LA. I'm honestly happy with the direction of my makeup test and my overall plan on this cosplay, which I also think is due in part of how strongly I relate to Cardia as a character.
Last week, I purchased my base fabrics for her as well, and I've started working on files to properly design her headband. I also have several stills from the game to make sure I get all of the extra little details in, which are all quite exciting.
It's super awesome too that the anime will be out for Code: Realize in October! I was really happy with our timing on that. I've mentioned to friends that I'm weird with not watching a lot of anime during the summer, so I'll mostly watch Japanese and Korean dramas then but will be teeming with anime by autumn and winter.
Beyond Code: Realize, I'm insanely excited for Dies Irae and Dynamic Chord. I was a massive derp for Dies Irae back when I first played it in high school, and it later got me following light's games and into Soranica Ele. I was behind that Kickstarter 1000% because it's one of those awesome VN titles that really got shafted into never having a series back then. I don't play as many eroge VN as I do otoge nowadays, although I recently got into some new titles and there's supposedly another project by light that only has the splash site up, and it has me curious since their stories tend to be pretty well-done.
I played Dyanmic Chord last year, and admittedly I'm probably terrible for loving the feat. kyosho game the most. I'm also pretty sure that Idolm@ster Side M and a few others will be on, and I'm crossing my fingers for Dream Festival sometime soon because I neeeeeed Kurofune back in my life. I did start playing Sengoku Night Blood though, and I'm still deep into Kirameki Note. I picked up Code: Realize also in English because it felt weird not at least supporting the US copy, and I'll be picking up Collar x Malice soon.
As for other cosplay plans, I kind of have a pretty eclectic plan of, whatever I want to make whenever I have the time and money for it. I'm pretty sure on Cardia for the winter, Noctis and a few other FF details for our skit, both of which might buy my time until ALA, and then for sure a WCS costume that we'll have for the summer, and this pretty much leaves that open spot for another project during the springtime which I will tentatively give to Rose Witch.
I do have a few other plans:
- HANA - Collar x Malice
- Amamiya Yuuko - EF: a fairy tale of the two (the school uniform since I have a derpy version of her nun outfit from like over 9000 AX's ago.)
- Alice Liddell - Alice in the Country of Hearts
- Yuuki Asuna - Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale (the true version I wanna do because yes)
- Hino Kahoko - La Corda D'Oro (for a project with Mikari of Takeriya Samurai <3)
- Takemoto Hifumi - New Game (given that I work in games...making characters...best girl...)
- Kohana - Magic Kyun Renaissance (I wanted the uniform but I cannot find it and it was supposed to be my, 'I don't wanna sew it, I just wanna wear it' cosplay)
- Maybe this will be my year for Lovelive or Nanoha or some Gundam
- Maybe some more CLAMP or an Utena remake, or something Sailormoon? My year always has at least one of these to hit bingo.
It's been a year since Anime California. I'm being reminded of my Utena shenanigans. <3
Also Happy 1st Anniversary to Mystic Messenger this past summer! My Jumin-oppa dakimakura is on its way soon, so this is the year I will finally have a husband. <3
And Happy 3rd Anniversary to my Lime Project! <3 I'm planning on having a launching site opening soon to get the ball rolling. It's my first independent project, and I've poured a lot of work into it, and there's still so much to do. Clearly when I'm not sewing, I'm doing something else! Thankfully, it keeps my creativity going!
It's crazy how this time of the year was close to when everyone got into Yuri on Ice?! If only it was really winter and not 104 degrees here!
It's been such a crazy summer, and while I don't intend to get too carried away with this post, I wanted to share some pretty fun updates that have been going on.
Over the summer, I competed at Anime Expo for the World Cosplay Summit USA finals! It was such a crazy experience and while we didn't get the title, just being close in this race was more than enough for me and Shii this round. I definitely have plans to try again since it's still a brightly burning dream to do it, but I will admit how much work it went into to get this rolling in such a short amount of time!
Needless to say, it really tuckered me out. While I've been organizing my plans for the year, I haven't really done much sewing since AX given how much of a boot camp-like experience it was, but I sincerely don't regret. We had such an amazing wealth of friends, fellow cosplayers, family, and people in our community who showed nothing but love and support for us. Most importantly, we had such a wonderful mentor who made this process absolutely enjoyable.
Even though my current WCS plans for 2018 are underway, I wanted to at least try this time to get the rest of my cosplay schedule in order. To be quite honest, this past year was indeed a slower time for me but a period of growth. In a short amount of time with Sakura for WCS, I learned so much more about what I want out of cosplay and sewing that's been missing in more of my recent projects. I went through a period of time where I was productive and constantly at one picnic or another with a new uniform, but there comes a point when I realized that there wasn't much of a learning stretch after making the same seifuku over again (not to say that you can't have too many seifuku).
Originally, my goal was to start on Rose Witch from Shiei no Sona-nyl for this upcoming autumn, although a few factors came into play when I made a slight bit of a sudden change. Since Sakura, I wanted a real challenge and something that I felt would take what I've learned over the year and really transform my entire cosplay process. Naturally, Rose Witch felt perfect for it, along with the fact that I've wanted to make her for over 9000 years.
However, going back to AX, my group and I before Shii and I were going to do WCS was planning on competing at the AX masquerade to present out group collaboration for Final Fantasy XV. We ended up having to postpone this, which also allowed for Shii and I to independently compete. So now coming ALA this January, we will be finally presenting FFXV, since it's always been in the works and will be throughout the end of this year. Yet therefore, this pretty much leaves us with the open time we usually use in the fall to plan ALA and Fanime concurrently.
While working on our annual Fanime brainstorming, I came across some music that we all absolutely loved, and since last year our group has talked about wanting to do a skit idea from the visual novel, Code: Realize. When Amanda and I were thinking of cosplays for WCS, this originally was one idea, although we always loved the idea of sharing it with more of the characters. I've had Cardia on my list for quite a while now, so I was so happy when we pieced our audio together with the series, as well as came up with some preliminary sketches for some of the cool prop and set pieces we want to utilize.
The next part is difficult to admit, but besides WCS being a tiring experience, there's been a lot of difficult decisions during this time in my life, most of which affect school, work, and general life, all of which have had an profound impact on my creativity. While I'm constantly working on new ideas and am trying to keep as inspired as possible, it is a very exhausting time too. I've taken the summertime to rest and not force myself to love a project and turn it into an obligation. I'm also hoping that with this time, I can make a smoother transition into my new school and find a workable schedule that won't impede on my education or my creativity.
Thankfully, it's not a super dire place, and as always, you just need time and lots of reflection to make sure that you're going the right path. I've been vocal about being part of the game industry and work generally in a field that promotes storytelling and creative visual design. That goal is definitely there. <3
On the upside, there's also a possibility that I may be traveling abroad for a small trip soon, either at the end of this year or early next. It's been a dream of mine to go to England, so there's a lot of planning on my end that I want to have done so I can properly enjoy it, and also finish Cardia on time so I could have a photoshoot in London (or somewhere, anywhere)!
So besides Noctis for our FFXV project for Anime LA, and while our skit won't be till next year, my next major sewing project is CARDIA from CODE: REALIZE! <3
Last week, I purchased my base fabrics for her as well, and I've started working on files to properly design her headband. I also have several stills from the game to make sure I get all of the extra little details in, which are all quite exciting.
It's super awesome too that the anime will be out for Code: Realize in October! I was really happy with our timing on that. I've mentioned to friends that I'm weird with not watching a lot of anime during the summer, so I'll mostly watch Japanese and Korean dramas then but will be teeming with anime by autumn and winter.
Beyond Code: Realize, I'm insanely excited for Dies Irae and Dynamic Chord. I was a massive derp for Dies Irae back when I first played it in high school, and it later got me following light's games and into Soranica Ele. I was behind that Kickstarter 1000% because it's one of those awesome VN titles that really got shafted into never having a series back then. I don't play as many eroge VN as I do otoge nowadays, although I recently got into some new titles and there's supposedly another project by light that only has the splash site up, and it has me curious since their stories tend to be pretty well-done.
I played Dyanmic Chord last year, and admittedly I'm probably terrible for loving the feat. kyosho game the most. I'm also pretty sure that Idolm@ster Side M and a few others will be on, and I'm crossing my fingers for Dream Festival sometime soon because I neeeeeed Kurofune back in my life. I did start playing Sengoku Night Blood though, and I'm still deep into Kirameki Note. I picked up Code: Realize also in English because it felt weird not at least supporting the US copy, and I'll be picking up Collar x Malice soon.
As for other cosplay plans, I kind of have a pretty eclectic plan of, whatever I want to make whenever I have the time and money for it. I'm pretty sure on Cardia for the winter, Noctis and a few other FF details for our skit, both of which might buy my time until ALA, and then for sure a WCS costume that we'll have for the summer, and this pretty much leaves that open spot for another project during the springtime which I will tentatively give to Rose Witch.
I do have a few other plans:
- HANA - Collar x Malice
- Amamiya Yuuko - EF: a fairy tale of the two (the school uniform since I have a derpy version of her nun outfit from like over 9000 AX's ago.)
- Alice Liddell - Alice in the Country of Hearts
- Yuuki Asuna - Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale (the true version I wanna do because yes)
- Hino Kahoko - La Corda D'Oro (for a project with Mikari of Takeriya Samurai <3)
- Takemoto Hifumi - New Game (given that I work in games...making characters...best girl...)
- Kohana - Magic Kyun Renaissance (I wanted the uniform but I cannot find it and it was supposed to be my, 'I don't wanna sew it, I just wanna wear it' cosplay)
- Maybe this will be my year for Lovelive or Nanoha or some Gundam
- Maybe some more CLAMP or an Utena remake, or something Sailormoon? My year always has at least one of these to hit bingo.
It's been a year since Anime California. I'm being reminded of my Utena shenanigans. <3
Also Happy 1st Anniversary to Mystic Messenger this past summer! My Jumin-oppa dakimakura is on its way soon, so this is the year I will finally have a husband. <3
And Happy 3rd Anniversary to my Lime Project! <3 I'm planning on having a launching site opening soon to get the ball rolling. It's my first independent project, and I've poured a lot of work into it, and there's still so much to do. Clearly when I'm not sewing, I'm doing something else! Thankfully, it keeps my creativity going!
It's crazy how this time of the year was close to when everyone got into Yuri on Ice?! If only it was really winter and not 104 degrees here!
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