SYDNEY SUPANOVA 2013 CONVENTION [DONE]

Hope you're all doing well!

Sydney Supanova convention 2013 has finally passed by and I have to say it has got to be one of the most enjoyable SydNova I've been despite the crappiest weather. I think because I cosplayed characters that people knew and also got to hung out with such amazing people and friends.

For me, I don't really check the stores because I don't really buy anything- it's more of hanging out with people and cosplaying and hopefully be able to get pictures. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hold onto my camera and my phone is just too laggy (I now use an Iphone 3GS since I lost my other phone) so I wasn't able to capture any pictures.

Sydney Supanova 2013 was a 3-day event from Friday 21st June 2013 to Sunday 23rd June 2013. Here's a video that a friend of mine recorded and made which sums up Saturday and Sunday of the convention which also features me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwjDrsZ05QQ (will add the video player once blogger recognises it on youtube)

Please do like the video and subscribe him for more awesome videos. Also please like his facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SFVproduction

I was really busy on Friday working and finishing on my friends and my cosplay for Saturday so I didn't end up going to it. But I saw some pictures from fellow photographers and cosplayers and they look amazing.

On Saturday 22nd June 2013, I cosplayed as Blood Moon Akali from the Free online game League Of Legends.

Photography by Pandographi

I cosplayed with a group of friends and amazing people who were also doing LoL [League of Legends] and it was just so fun. Surprisingly there were also many other LoL cosplayers that we didn't know and also surprisingly ALOT of people knew the cosplays which was really amazing. Our group was actually larger but due to the timing of the convention and also many of our friends have their final exams, they weren't able to make their costume and props on time. Also some members of the group got lost haha! BUT I'm sure the photoshoot organised sometime end of the year for the group will be amazing.

Photography by Pireze

Had some annoying encounters with the costume as it was slowly falling apart such as the mask on my head and my props and my wig especially when we haven't even gone on stage but luckily my friend Tim (as garen) had masking tape which saved the day.

We entered the cosplay competition as the LoL Orgy (no idea who came up with the name LOL) and surprisingly we won as the best cosplay group. The comp kinda trolled us while we were on stage and screened the Dota 2 logo.. them plays.. haha! Unfortunately the prize for the WHOLE GROUP consisting of 9+ people was only ONE certificate. Our friends tried to ask for more since it's just a piece of paper with no specific name but they refused so we were left with just one for our group leader Tim. Which was alright but the thought of giving just one and refuse to give more when it's a piece of paper with no specific name or anything is abit.. yeahhh. Oh well.

Photography by RaitoPhotography

Overall Saturday was really fun and worth the pain in heels and even with the bad rainy weather. Was just amazing being able to see friends and meet new people and hang out. Also being able to be recognised and get photo taken and having shoots.

Friends Kee on the left and Chey on the r ight. Was great seeing you two! <3 Photo by Kee

Sunday was really laxed since it's the second day of the convention and we were all tired from Saturday so we left the house at 12.30-1pm and got ther around 1.30-2pm. I also went out to my local area in my cosplay to buy some cakes for friends to share around. The weather was still bad but wasn't as bad until the afternoon. I cosplayed as Togashi Yuuta from the anime/manga Chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai. 

Photography by Kee

To be honest I had no idea what to cosplay for Sunday and especially this convention was more western-based, literally no idea. At first I planned to cosplay Yukina Kou from the Boy's Love Anime/Manga Sekaiichi Hatsukoi but alot of things came to my mind which made me hesitate to cosplay such as being at a western-based convention, the weather and my wig color. After browsing on Facebook a while I saw my friend's preview of what she was doing which was Takanashi Rikka from the Anime/Manga Chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai which I was suppose to cosplay with them but I forgot about it and her preview looked really good. So I thought to myself maybe I should revert and cosplay with them. Before doing so I had to look through my cosplay costumes to see if there were any blazers I could modify and so I had one, my Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu blazer. Got some satin ribbon out and doublesided tape and tried covering and replacing the trims. After successfully covering and taping the trims, It was official and decided that I will be doing Togashi Yuuta. Took out my red tie and start sewing the ribbon stripes and borrowed my friend's vest. Also I had the wig already from a previous testing which was great. So that's really the story to how I ended up with this cosplay. I know right, cool story bro but I'm really happy with it :D.

Rocked up with our mini group :D

Dekomori by Arisu , Rikka by Tammu , Yuuta by Me ,  Photography by Mukuroma

I always have so much fun with these two. They're literally chuunibyou's LOL! We did see another small group of cosplayers who also did Chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai but instead of a Yuuta they had a Nibutani which was really awesome and we were able to get a photo with them towards the end of the convention.

Sunday was mainly just hanging out with everyone and doing photoshoot with our friend photographers and yeah. Saw many amazing cosplays and also saw more League of Legends cosplay which was sooo cool!  Mainly hung indoors since the rain was really heavy and also they didn't let us hang out in the foyer which was annoying so yeah. Overall very laxed day :)

Bunch of us taking pics with a 3DS because normal camera's are too mainstream ;) Photography by Aoki

And that sums up for the convention weekend.
To finish off the post, here's a preview of a service photoshoot I had with the awesome Dat of Kise x Kagami  from Anime/Manga Kuroko no Basuke ;)

Photography by Pandographi

Stay updated to Pandori's blog for more updates of the service shoot. :) It's quite something that's for sure ;D

http://pandographi.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/%E3%80%9025-o6-2o13%E3%80%91kuroko-no-basket-kise-x-kagami/

Until then, stay well & take care!

Cosplay Test: Genderbend Rei Ayanami from EVANGELION

Yo! Hope you're all doing well :)

A couple of days ago my friend Kenny linked me to an image set on tumblr on genderbenders of Evangelion female characters and I just had a moment to myself because the art was SUPER nice and so I definitely had to like and reblog it. And also added that I am definitely cosplaying it whether it was for photoshoot or convention- I'm cosplaying it. :D

Here is the tumblr link : http://dannchu.tumblr.com/post/46931074468/cosplaying-it-enough-said

And here are the images (sorry I don't know who the artist is but credits to you and thanks for the amazing work) :

Originally I wanted to do Asuka Langley Soryu (orange hair with red suit) BUT I think my friend Kenny wanted to do it instead which was fine with me because I know he's an Asuka fan and he would definitely suit the image heaps better than I would. SO I decided to do Rei Ayanami (blue hair with red eyes) which was great :)

I realised something with the male version of Rei Ayanami art is that he looks awfully familiar and then it triggered me that he looks like Aki Ayamatsu from the Yaoi manga/OVA "Sensitive Pornograph". =_=;;;; 

Here is the comparison pic:

But yeah anyway~ back on topic to cosplay test, I did a cosplay test with the male Rei Ayanami with what I had which was great because I had a light blue wig, red contact lenses and bandages.

So this is the result of my cosplay test :

I think the cosplay test was alright. I'm quite happy with the result. I didn't wear foundation hence my blemishes still showing through but yeah. 

Surprisingly the makeup took WAY longer than expected with a total of 1-1.15hours! The main reason it took so long was because I couldn't do the crease makeup correctly without looking so exaggerative and also I wanted to experiment with using false lashes on male character cosplays. Especially since in the artwork, the artist exaggerated the lashes quite abit so it took me a while to achieve some visible lashes since I've never worn false lashes when cosplaying male characters before.

Here is a close up of the makeup:

• Contact lenses : "Vassen Dolly Plus" or "Dolly+" in Red
• Eyebrows : 88 Eyeshadow palette from Ebay
• Crease makeup : Combination of brown and taupe colors in the 88 Eyeshadow palette and K-palette 24 hour 1 day tattoo liquid eyeliner in Jetblack
• Eyeliner : Maybelline Stiletto Liquid Eyeliner in Jetblack
• Bottom false lashes : "キュート (cute) eye" by Diamond Lash 
• Contouring & Highlighting (nose and cheeks) : "Nose Shadow" dual contour powder from DAISO

That pretty much sums this blog post. I'll definitely like to reattempt this again since it was fun.

Please let me know what you think :)

Until then stay well, take care!

"Litchi Hikari Club" inspired

Hope you're all doing well,

It's been a while that I've blogged and in all honesty, its mainly because I have no idea what to blog about and I honestly don't want this blog to be TOO personal since there have been some issues here and there in my life at the moment since I'm done with university now and currently facing money and life crisis situation and yadayada.

So I apologise for the lack of post. BUT I will try my best to post as often as I can, in hopes that people do read and visit the blog :)

SO back to the post's topic.

I randomly did a cosplay-ish makeup test that was inspired by the manga "Litchi Hikaru Club". Saw my awesome friend, Grace, 's costest of this series and it just looked so good that I had to try it since it was pretty simple and just needed some little bits and pieces. The key point to this cosplay was the makeup. To replicate the look, its all about the pale skin, dramatic eyes and bold red lips which is hard to pull off without looking ridiculous. So here is the reference I based off from zerochan.net 

(image link : http://www.zerochan.net/962104 )

I actually don't read the manga nor follow the series so I have no knowledge of the characters so I just did the makeup based on how I think it would look like and threw on Yamato's wig since its black and yeah. My red contact lenses haven't arrived yet so I just turned to photoshop, but here's my attempt:

So yeah, kinda looked like the third guy from the left in the reference picture.
The lips are drawn actually larger than my natural lips since my lips are quite small, so i just emphasised it with a red lip liner. 

My face doesn't seem white enough still even after mixing white children face paint with my foundation but yeah, I guess its alright since I don't really want to look too ghostly hahaha!

Also don't have an actual gakuran so I used a black chef's jacket which was close enough in my opinion haha! The hat is just a pvc party police hat which I use for Genderbend Stocking cop version.

But yeah! sharp eyebrows, dramatic eye makeup and lashes, bold red lips and red nails and contouring for sharp features all checked.

Anyway time for bed, goodnight & take care!

Hope you're all doing well,

Recently uploaded a video on YouTube which was answering the questions that was asked on my Tumblr and in the Youtube comments as well as a few on my Facebook page from friends.

To be honest (like I mentioned in the video) I wanted to upload another video before 2012 ended, in such that it would be unforgettable etc. But things went wrong as the makeup just didn't look right and my eyeliner smudged due to my eyelids getting oily from the extremely hot weather. The end-product of the video was supposed to be me crossdressing as a lolita and look somewhat like this: 

But yeah, just didn't happen. I actually had no makeup except lip gloss in the picture above, thank goodness to instagram effects and contrast to somewhat hide some of my manly features ahaha!

But anyway here is the video to the answers of the questions, please check it out:

So sorry that it's 12 minutes long. I mumbled quite alot so I'm just gonna answer some of the questions here so it's somewhat easier to understand and also I can elaborate on some parts :)

Question 1: Do you attend any conventions? Such as Supanova & SMASH? (conventions that are in Sydney)

I attend almost all conventions in Sydney except the newer conventions such as Armageddon and Eb Expo. For 2013, I hope to be attending:
- Mini Animania 
- Supanova day 1 & day 2
- SMASH
- Main Animania day 1 & day 2.

And hopefully if I'm able to travel this year, I'll be able to attend a convention in Singapore.
But yeah, still not sure about everything due to just graduated from university, so have to go job hunting and finding my first ever job which won't be sure if I can take days off etc etc. BUT I REALLY WANT TO ATTEND ALL THE CONS AHAHA!


Question 2 : When did you start cosplaying and how did you get into it? What was your first cosplay.

I first started cosplaying in early 2009 and attended Mini Animania 2009 as Ichiru Kiryu from Vampire Knight. To be honest I didn't know that this dressing-up-thing was called cosplay. I actually bought my costume for my school formal in 2008 because I just wanted something flashy for my final formal and yeah. Wore to the con in 2009 and had my hair tied up and styled and hair sprayed silver. I had no knowledge about wigs and also back then wigs weren't so readily available nor is the quality as good as today. But yeah people started recognising my character, had interviews done and made so many new friends. It's just the attention to be honest, I never had such great attention and I actually didn't mind being appreciated so that's how I got into cosplay :) 

Question 3: How did you remove acne scars or made it less noticeable?

My skin infection scars haven't been removed to be honest, they're actually there but less noticeable on camera. There are days where my scars look extremely light and barely even noticeable and there are days where my scars just look so dark and visible. 
For cosplay to hide the scars the best i can, i use concealer and a good foundation which both have high coverage. The foundation I use is the Rimmel's Lasting Finish and the concealer is use is a concealer palette from Ebay which is an imitation of Coastal Scent's concealer palette. Both products work really well on my somewhat-oily-skin and has a really high coverage with a powdery finish. Please note that everyone's skin is different so the product choices may differ.
The only thing though is that i wouldn't recommend the concealer palette for dry skin users as the cream consistency may show the dryness of your skin more. Try look for a liquid or pen type concealer or even double up heavy coverage foundation.

Question 4 : Where do you buy your wigs/extensions?

I usually get my wigs on Ebay or from a friend of mine who gets it from FantasySheep. There are times where my friends do get me wigs on Taobao which i have no knowledge about. 
For Ebay, i usually try to go for the cheapest wig since cosplay is such an expensive hobby- i'm always trying to keep the budget as low as possible. In saying the cheapest wig on Ebay, i do look at the seller's rating and what they major in. Some Ebay sellers sell cosplay wigs but aren't majored in wigs but in gadgets instead - i'd avoid buying from these sellers as you are somewhat not guaranteed that it'd be a good quality wig. 
Look for Ebay sellers that major in wigs and sell other wigs and cosplay wigs, it's more trustworthy and you can somewhat negotiate with them more easily if anything goes wrong. And of course, always check the ratings and read some of the feedbacks even (especially the negatives and neutral) because it prepares you to know what to expect as some Ebay sellers just use taken pictures.

Question 5 : When did you start cosplaying/singing/etc.?

I started Cosplaying and Singing in 2009 when high school already ended and was starting University.
I started getting into Dancing towards the end of 2010 as I was inspired and getting into the 踊ってみた(odottemita) hype.
For makeup, I was getting interested towards the end of 2009 or early 2010 where I discovered Michelle Phan and just constantly watched and followed her video, but wasn't until late 2010 I started getting my hands into makeup and testing it etc.

Question 6 : Who do you love cosplaying & what is your dream cosplay?

It was super hard to decide as i enjoy cosplaying all the characters i've done so far as there's always ups and downs to all cosplay. But the best and most worn costume was Eager Love Revenge Len.

It's just so comfortable and fun and easy to wear. And also there wasn't much hassle in making the outfit since most of it was modified from clothes i had already.

My second (equally first) would be Kise Ryota from Kuroko no Basuke. Despite everything was bought [super thanks to Shirley (http://18skylark.deviantart.com/ ) who asked me to cosplay Kurobasu with her as Kise and bought the wig and costume for me] i felt that it made my name get out there more, i guess in otherwords i got more known and my popularity increased. It's somewhat like my identity, "DANNY." oh the kise cosplayer from Sydney Australia.  Besides that, super fun and casual to cosplay.

My dream cosplay would be anything that screams "DANNY."  Something where people will know who i am because of that cosplay (similarly like Kise Ryota). Preferably something flashy and i put alot of effort in but simple cosplay works as well :)

Question 7 : Advice to beginner cosplayers?

My main advice is just go all out, be confident and have fun. Because cosplay just makes you have a whole new identity and its a hobby where you attention is seeked so whatever the public says or whatever looks they give you, be proud and just walk. Easier said than done, i know. I was always so nervous cosplaying at first because of the general public, worried how they would see me and all but after a while, i told myself that i'm cosplaying for a reason, which is to have fun and not waste a con day hiding. And from then on my confidence level increased and yeah. Though to be honest, i still do get nervous from the general public but most of the time- i'm always "I DONT CURR" AHAHA!
Just remember that cosplay is an expensive hobby and somewhat time consuming and that you're cosplaying for a reason, and that reason is to seek that attention and have fun. And when i say seek attention, i don't mean to be in everyones face- i mean to get photos and be recognised. :)

Other advices is to always look back and forth at references so you are able to replicate and be accurate. Because when you're accurate- you just feel proud that you're on the spot and able to portray that character well. Also saves you being judged so much since us cosplayers always judge one another regardless if you're perfect or not, it's just how we all are because of the community and the competitions but yeah, just don't let it get to you. References are your best guide owo)b

Another would be doing cosplay test and makeup test (what we call costest) prior to cosplay day. Reason being is that you are able to fix and modify certain things way beforehand and also serves as a guide to what you can do and how you can do it. Which this saves so much time rather than on the day figuring out how to draw your eyeliner etc etc. So definitely recommend doing many costests.

Question 8 : Cosplayer Starter Makeup Kit for beginner cosplayers?

I will make a video one day, sometime within this year and hopefully early too. I'm just looking around for products which is really helpful and suitable for all skin types. I think I might just work around the products i use for myself.
But the basic makeup kit for cosplay, well for makeup in general is:
→ Foundation
→ Concealer
→ Large Eyeshadow Palette (SUPER HELPFUL- can play around and be multifunctional)
→ Eyeliner
→ Bronzer

Some other things which i didn't mention in the video which are good essentials are:
→ Finish/Setting Powder
→ Blush/Bronzer/Contour Palette
→ Lipliner or color which is similar color to your lips
→ Lipbalm (MUST)
→ Some basic makeup brushes (angled brush, powder brush, eyeshadow brush)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And thats it for the summary and questions of the video. So sorry for the super long post, Have a great weekend and take care.