daybreakers

Ambitious is not usually a term I use to describe myself -- I don't have much in the way of career goals, and I've never been able to answer that whole "Where do you see your self in 5/10/20 years?" question. (When inevitably asked by students come interview time, what is your dream?, I totally bullshit about whatever topic they'll actually understand my answer for. Recently, becoming a fashion designer.)

But I'm coming to realize that in a few areas of my life, I actually do have ambition -- but I lack the drive to back it up. One is my long-term interest in small to mid-scale exportation of goods, despite recent setbacks with #fanservices. The other, as you're probably sick of hearing me blather on about, is cosplay.

I'm not a very good cosplayer. I mean, I have standards, but I don't have terribly much experience with proper garment and prop construction, and I procrastinate so badly that I'm very rushed for time before presentation at events. This blog post is one of those procrastination tools -- I'm supposed to be constructing a Captain America cosplay right now, for an event in two weeks. Guess who hasn't started cutting/sewing? Fortunately, Castiel is wearable, minus shoes and possible wig changes, so I won't be without a costume.



Yeah, I like to play dress up (and the prestige of not buying a ready-made costume) so much more than actually making it.

My wishlist for cosplay keeps growing longer and longer, not helped at all with the fact I'm apparently working on obtaining /all/ of Tony Stark's wardrobe, or at least off-the-rack imitations thereof. (My next post here will be all the reference shots I'm using -- if anyone else can make use of it, since I have yet to find any posts focusing on the non-battle-suits of those movies elsewhere...)

List of characters off the top of my head:
( Read more... )

...am noticing the tendency towards desiring to cosplay both characters in a pairing I like. ^^;; There's definitely a ton more I'm leaving off the list, but I'll have to add them in later.

Concurrent with (and vaguely mentally related to) #GISHWHES, I decided I wanted to find a trench coat. Castiel's trench coat. In order to, yanno, cosplay him. To this end, while out and about, accomplishing GISHWHES tasks with friends, I've been digging through used and regular fashion stores.

So. Flipping. Hard. To find something suitable I can afford. Burberry seems to make the closest approximation I can find here, excepting a few small designer shops (which are even /further/ out of my price range). Sigh.

On one such trip, I found a pretty cool trench -- not suitable for cosplay, due to differing design details, but as I had vaguely Cas-like clothes with me anyway, I decided it was an absolutely /smashing/ idea to change into cosplay in the middle of H&M's mens department. Wig and all.

( pix at H&M! )

On the walk back to the station, found some awesome red-lensed sunglasses. After the X-Men movies, I'm always on the lookout for them, and was pretty happy with this pair. Between these and the subsequent dinner in Shin-Okubo (Korea-town), K and I were discussing different potential characters, and one in particular got stuck in my head. Got home, did a bit of make-up practice for Castiel's five o'clock shadow, then decided, what the heck.

( hint: see userpic )

I'd like to try making fake mustaches/beards/sideburns, using latex as a base since I have a jar of it already. Has anyone had experience with this? Getting tips from one friend, but I always welcome more help.

Still have yet to start on either Gaara's outfit or props, and same goes for Renji's bankai variation. Whoops....and these are supposed to be done in a month...

Have submitted two items so far, and have another three possibles kinda ready? Seriously, the item list is ridiculous. Really really.

Who wants to help out? XD

In other news... who am I kidding, there is no other news. Other than somewhat old cosplay pix, cuz I don't think I've actually posted these yet!

Renji: Halloween party pix, both at school and not. I think you'll be able to tell :P
( ALL RENJI ALL THE TIME )

( ALL RENJI ALL THE TIME )

The wig doesn't spike nearly as much as it could, but that's intentional, as I wanted to be able to switch between up and down styles without too much pain.

Gaara: wig progress and make-up practice.
( OH NOES NO BROWS )

__________________
But seriously, if you have any original fills or ideas on how to accomplish some of those items, and don't mind me submitting them for Team #67, I'll gladly take them. You can reach me at feikoi [at] gmail.com.

Halloween! Favorite holiday, it must be said, for obvious reasons. I mean really -- candy? costumes? /Awesome/.

I've, uh, apparently decided to make a Gaara costume this weekend. Yes, I am fucking insane, but I have permission to wear a costume at one of my schools next week, so I wanna do something new.

(or, well, said permission:
Me: Hey, can we do a Halloween class in October?
Head teacher: Sure, what do you want to do?
Me: Well, halloween words, bingo, talk about Halloween in America...and hey, I have a lot of costumes, I can bring them in for the kids to try on.
Head teacher: Sounds fun!
Me: So its okay that I wear a costume to class?
Head teacher: Okay.
....[note that this takes place half in Japanese -- the teacher's English is better than a lot of elementary school teachers, but is still probably on par with my Japanese, so, uh, who knows if we got the same thing out of the convo, lol])

( was playing with make-up )

I may get another wig -- perhaps the exact same wine-red bob, but one I won't feel bad chopping up until it's short enough to spike a bit. (I really like this wig, I have it in like, four colors? Especially fab since they're under Y1000 each.) Or I might buy one from the Nakano shop, since I'll likely stop in there this week. 

Oh, I haven't mentioned! In Nakano Broadway, down the hall from the fannish stores, is a cosplay shop. Now, I hadn't looked at the wigs there before, because I was expecting the typical Mandarake/cosplay shop prices. But my friend was picking up a wig to do Babydoll (Sucker Punch), and so I helped her out, and wow, they're cheaper or comparable to Maple. Awesome. So she now has a loosely curled wig down to her ass which looks awesome, and I'm thinking about getting it in orange. Remember that post I made about cosplaying Shatterstar? I think this might work (it's on the slightly darker end of oranges, like the first wig pic or Bodyline's orange) -- actually, the style looks rather like the first wig as well. I have a pic of my friend wearing it, but haven't gotten permission to post it. Anyway, it was closer to Y4200 at the Nakano shop -- less than Maple, more than the unstyled wigs in Nippori, but as Nakano is closer, I don't have to pay as much in train fare. \o/

I've ordered green mesh contacts -- they're the UV ones, seen here, and I haven't managed to find a non-blacklight pic of them, but hopefully they'll a) fit, and b) work color-wise. (My blue eyes as a base should help with this.) So far, I've ordered all of my contacts from YouKnowIt.com (which has a few mirror stores -- bodyjewellryshop, foureyez, etc.). Communication when you email them with questions is pretty meh, but they're cheap, AND they offer free international shipping. Win. I've ordered, hmm, I guess this makes my sixth pair of contacts from them. The most recent pair, Mystic Green, do not fit my eyes at all, which is weird -- everything /should/ be the one general size, since I'm not ordering them prescription (which I should get my eyes fitted for anyway, but hasn't happened yet), and I haven't had this issue with any of my other pairs.... I haven't gotten a response from the one email I sent the company, but whatever, I'm only out $15. (Yes, they're that cheap. It's /awesome/.)

Btw, these are the one's I ordered: http://www.youknowit.com/online-shop/i-glow-green-screen-contact-lenses-pair623283.cfm

....My posts are Digression Central, aren't they. Whoops.

My wig collection has reached... *counts* 13 wigs? Most of them were purchased for under Y2000, and actually decent quality at that, and I'm pretty sure I've worn all but three of them out and about already. (I also have like, five or six pairs of color contact lenses, but let's not talk about those right now.) I like playing dress-up, period -- if it's cosplay as well, all the better :D

I mention this because, on my ever-growing list of cosplays I wish to do someday, a couple characters that have been burning at the back of my mind for quite a while now. I really have to blame luciazephyr and her big damn fanmix, A Chicago Triptych, for my recent desire to cosplay the Leanansidhe (Dresden Files). 

In the more recent descriptions of Lea, her hair is described as fiery gold. What the hell does that look like, I asked. @skysailor99 offered up the following pic as a gorgeous color sample, thanks love.



And with that in mind, Marcia Cross's hair color looks like a good real life reference, if it were styled crazy long and curly/wavy. (Photo ganked from www.hairstyle-blog.com) 



( ETA: oh hey more ref pics )

If you have any alternative ideas to Lea's haircolor or style, please let me know! Additional input is always welcome~

Anyway, as soon as I had seen that, I was like, wow, you know, that looks like it could work for Shatterstar's hair, who I've been wanting to cosplay for years.

( Apparently, I have a weakness for all redheads )

And so, the wig search begins. Below the cut is where I'm stashing wig notes and other related cosplay research on these two characters.

Locally, two shops I know are within my price range, namely Bodyline and that nameless wig shop in Nippori, and possibly Maple as well. Online, well, I'm not terribly certain as to quality of said wigs. There are a lot more hairstyles available in the western shops and more expensive stores in Japan, but the fiber quality is different. If you have any recommendations, please let me know!

( Costume research here~ )

I spend far too much time researching this stuff, lol. I'm partial to the first wig, though it's a little darker than I was hoping, considering current comic canon colors (bright orange) and the photo refs I'm looking at. Actually, the "orange" color from Maple? Looks like it matches the photos best, which is weird, but I can go with that.

Yeah, so I've been filling up my sketchbook pretty steadily while at school. Sometimes, it's because I have a lot of downtime and no internet, and sometimes it's because I like to show off for the kids. (Yes, the elementary school kids. Shuddup.)

Anyway, I keep hearing, Sensei, who's this, what character, for all my fashion sketches, as well as repeated requests for Draw X! And I'll be the first to admit, I'm really not practiced at drawing anything but clothing, so. I've been practicing.

( i never said i was good yet -- wips below the cut )

I like Renji. I like drawing Renji (and his tattoos). I should probably get better at drawing in general though.


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Reminder: I'm running a Comiket 80 pick-up service -- more details here!

Update 4/24: This service is now closed to new orders. I want to make sure I have time to visit all the circles requested so far. If you've already contacted me with your order, you can still edit your request list up to the deadline. Thank you for your understanding. 

Super Comic City 20 is coming up! I'm offering my doujinshi pick-up services again, so please let me know how I can help! Taking place on May 3rd and 4th (during Golden Week), Super Comic City is one of Japan's larger fan conventions, with 24,000 spaces over the two days. Fun, huh? You can follow the link above for the official Akaboo event page, or check out the Pixiv event pages for Day One and Day Two to see some of the circles that will be participating!


So how much does it cost?
The overall cost of the service involves the following:

• Price of the items (JPY)
• Y800 per circle, or 30% the cost of items from that circle (whichever is higher)
• Large/delicate goods handling fee, if applicable
• Shipping and handling fees
• 5% PayPal fee

Exchange rate is calculated at the current market rate (Y1000 JPY = $12.00 USD). Payment is through PayPal, preferably in USD, though I will also accept JPY.


Here's how it works:

1. Get me a list of the circles and titles on your want-to-buy list. Want goods? Let me know! Large/awkward goods may incur an extra shipping and handling fee. 
2. I'll check the final list with you, and send you an invoice for down-payment. Down-payment is USD $8.00 per requested item, plus agreed-upon goods fees.
3. Event! You relax, I shop! (And cosplay, as time permits :3)
4. I'll let you know what items I was able to pick up from your list, the estimated shipping and handling costs, and send you a final invoice, minus down-payment. (If I was unable to pick up any of your list, or the final invoice is less than your down-payment, a refund will be given of the appropriate amount.)
5. After I receive your full total, I'll ship your package out within a week, via the shipping method you selected and paid for. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment here, PM me, or email me at feikoi [at] gmail [dot] com. Order deadline is April 30th, EST, so get your order in now! In the case of multiple requests for an item with limited availability, it will be first come, first served. Thank you!


EVENT SUMMARY
DATE: May 3-4
ORDER DEADLINE: April 30, 11:00 EST (May 1st, 00:00 Japan)
DEPOSIT DEADLINE: April 30, 23:59 EST (May 1st, 12:59 Japan)
CONTACT: feikoi [at] gmail [dot] com
FEEDBACK: View here
NOTES: The pamphlet is no longer available for pre-order, due to earthquake issues. I'll try to help with circle questions, but don't have the official list on me this time.

I will be offering my doujinshi and goods pick-up services once again, this time for Haru Comic City! This pan-fandom event takes place on March 20th, so I will be taking orders through 3/18 (US time).

Here's a summary of the process:
1. Get me your list of the circles you'd like me to visit, as well as any specific requests. This includes a Do Not Want list, pairing information (if applicable) and flyer requests. Links to circles/titles are appreciated.
2. Want goods, too? Goods that are large or awkward to carry may have an additional fee. Let me know what you're looking for.
3. Have a spending limit? Check out the fee breakdown below and let me know your limit, before or after commission and shipping fees. (Also, put your wishlist in order of priority if your budget is tight!)
3. I'll confirm the list with you, and start prepping lists and maps for the event. Deposit of expected commission fees should be paid through PayPal before the event.
4. Event!
5. After the event, I'll contact you with the results and a tentative subtotal. I typically use SAL small packet service, which takes about 2 weeks to the US, and costs Y80+Y100/100g. If you want to use a different shipping service, just let me know.
6. Once I double check the order list and shipping estimate, I'll confirm the total with you. Please send the payment via PayPal in USD or JPY.
7. Order will be shipped that week (usually the day following payment, if there are no scheduling issues).

Note: Single item requests will be considered on a case by case basis, and are also subject to the minimum commission fee.

Fee breakdown (for this event only):
#Price of dj/goods
#Commission: Y500 per circle purchased from or 30%, whichever is greater. For figurines or large/awkward goods, there is an extra fee, to be discussed. Also, commercial booths and wall circles (popular ones, often with a long wait) will also incur an additional fee of Y500 per circle.
#S&H: Y200 + SAL small packet fees (under 2kgs)
####Payment through PayPal in USD at current exchange rate (or in JPY if you'd prefer) before shipping.

Please comment here, PM or email me with any questions or orders!

DEADLINE: 3/18, EST
CONTACT: feikoi at gmail dot com

(x-posted to LJ)