EVA Unit 01 at AX2016

EVA Unit 01 ready for battle. Finally getting my Anime Expo pics up. As with Anime Expo, my life has been chaotic and very busy. On that note, Anime Expo was absolute madness. I have been to Anime Expo and other huge cons before but never have I ever seen a con so crowded and full of people. I remember when Anime Expo was in Anaheim, and they were able to have the opening ceremony in half of the ballroom. I also remember that was the first time I ever experienced cosplay. What a magical memory...anyways... I gotta say, standing in a line for 2 hours outside in the heat in latex and spandex was not the best time in the world...

BUT beside that Anime Expo was pretty damn fun. I didn't really hit up any panels but I got to talk to so many amazing cosplayers and fellow anime fans that it really made up for standing in line for so long. Plus it was so fun to have other people recognize my cosplay! As I have said before, I love putting a twist on classic characters (which makes me sometimes hard to recognize) and Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most classic anime every made, so of course I wanted to cosplay something from it for Anime Expo. The only problem is that I don't really like any of the human characters! But I always did like the Eva Units, so I decided to do the most classic mecha, EVA Unit 01. I just knew that I wouldn't be able to handle wearing a full mecha cosplay so to compromise I designed a dress version.

This dress and outfit was the next step in my sewing and cosplay journey. Before this I had never sewn latex before, and it was quite the challenge. However, THANK GOD for Ya Ya Han fabrics! Her fabric (the purple portion) was much easier to sew than the straight up latex portions. Beside that I think I am slowly getting better at working with eva foam and worbla! Working on this one cosplay has given me a lot of confidence for future cosplays (which I have the next five planned). I am literally sitting here planning my next cosplays and am so excited and the thought of showing my hard work. Until then TTFN, ta ta for now.

Wondercon- Pocahontas & Ms. Marvel

Finally! At this point, even I was like, "Lauren! Get your shit together and get these pics posted!" But what can I say, I left for Japan a 2 days after this, and then decided to edit pictures from the photoshoot in San Diego, some of my Japan pictures, and Fashion pics. My wondercon pics just fell to the wayside. BUT here they are now. I decided to combine the two days I went, as I did not take that many pictures on either day and felt like one post was enough (especially with this delay).

So, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post I busted out my warrior Pocahontas cosplay again, and still loved it. Except that darn wig. But, I got to meet so many awesome people while wearing this cosplay! I met lostweasleychild, mrleozombie, Italiacosplay, and theofficialariel! The cosplay community is so welcoming and nice. But it also made me realize that I seriously need to improve my cosplay skills, because all the people I met were so amazing.

On the second day, I went as my version of Ms.Marvel, and while I loved my original sketch of this design I think I can improve on it. I think part of the reason was my fabric choice, too shiny, sticking on the tail of the dress haphazardly, and my insistence that I put boning in the bodice of the dress. Sigh, if I had listened to my original instinct I think the dress would have turned out a lot better. But I actually started sketching a new version of this outfit and hope to make it for Long Beach Comic Con (or maybe update my Dee cosplay, she did get a new outfit update in the comics...). During the day, I shot with a few photographers, and have posted a few pics to my instagram (go check it out!). I will say dressing up as Ms. Marvel was super fun because she is such a fun and somewhat goofy character that it allowed me to be a little silly in my pictures. Writing this out, just makes me want to cosplay her again more....

I have decided to take a small break from cosplay, and focus on improving my sewing in-between now and my next con. My next con will be Anime Expo in July where I hope to have another twist on a classic character! Until then, TTFN ta ta for now.

Warrior Pocahontas in the Woods

Wow, I am so behind on posts. I took these shots over a month ago in San Diego at a cosplay meetup , and gotta say this was the perfect spot to take Pocahontas photos. Everywhere was so "nature-y" and beautiful that I really felt at home. I just wish it hadn't been such a pain to find parking! The same time this cosplay photoshoot was happening there was also a cherry blossom festival and wedding! So, you can imagine the parking lot situation. I think it took me 30 minutes to just out of the parking lot so I could park across the street from the park. Lesson learned, arrive on time and know your surrondings before arriving.

While taking these photos I met some awesome other cosplayers, and ran into them again at Wondercon (those pictures coming soon).  But it just made me realize the how amazing the way cosplay can bring people together. I probably would never have met these people, but I am so glad I did, and hope to run into them again soon.

So, onto my actual cosplay. My cosplay is based on Sadyna's version of Pocahontas where she is a wild warrior (go check out her other artwork as well). When I first saw her artwork, I knew I had to cosplay it at some point, but was so intimidated because other cosplayers had already done it. Then I realized, I shouldn't be intimidated, and just do it! And I am actually really pleased with how it came out! I was actually so pleased I wore it to the first day of Wondercon, I just wish I could figure out a way to stop my wig from tangling so much (untangling it is a pain, and causes it to shed *tear*). If anyone knows the secret of preventing wigs from tangling, please let me know. :D

I will be taking a break from cosplay until Anime Expo in July, but hope to have a post in between now and then discussing my journeys in cosplay. I would also love to hear from other cosplayers about their journey, so please chime in! I also hope to get back onto a more normal posting schedule now that I am done traveling (can't wait to share my pics from my most recent trip-if you follow me on Instagram you would already know where I went). Until then, TTFN ta ta for now.

Obi Korra Nobi at Anime LA

Woohoo! Only one week behind in posting! I got my pictures from Anime LA up in a reasonable amount of time! Pretty awesome!

As I said, these are pics from Anime LA at the end of January. I was looking for a con to go to because I suddenly felt very inspired during December and just had to make this cosplay come to life as soon as possible. And you may ask, where the hell did the idea for this weird mashup come from? Well, after watching the Star Wars The Force Awakens  of course! I loved the whole thing and knew I wanted my next cosplay to involve Star Wars somehow, so I decided to combine one of my favorite kick butt characters with one of the greatest series in the galaxy to create: Obi Korra Nobi. Plus, Korra is trying to bring balance between the human world and spirit world, and in Star Wars the Jedi are all about bringing balance to the Force. So, I made a warrior for both universes, who will bring balance and unity.

I was so proud of this mashup that I even got a little drawing commissioned by one of the artist in Artist Alley (Sebasun - go check out his artwork, it's amazingly cute!). I plan to get it framed soon. Plus I got to go to the Star Wars photo meet up and had a blast talking to fellow Jedi and avoiding the Sith (jk).

And I have to say I was super impressed by this con because almost 40% of attendees were in cosplay! It was amazing to see so many other cosplayers and their creations. I wish I had taken some pics with my fellow cosplayers (I did get one with a group of Avatar The Last Airbender, who were amazing, but wish I had gotten more). And definite shout out to my friend who was so understanding and walked around with me taking a bunch of pictures (I just like to have evidence of all the hard work I put into my creations). And another shout out to my other friend who made my lightsaber (she also made my Maleficent staff, she's just amazeballs).

I am already starting my next cosplays for Wondercon and am already freaking out a little about the amount of work I have to do, but excited at what the final product will be! Until then, TTFN ta ta for now.

Dia de los Muertos Maleficent at Comikaze

So, I am officially a month late on posting my pictures from Comikaze...sigh. What can I say, life gets in the way. But I am glad that I am finally able to share pictures of my Dia de los Muertos Maleficent! My cosplay was based off of Peter Steigerwald's art (he is an amazing artist at Aspen comics, go check out his art!). When I was at Comikaze, my friends and I found his table at the convention and I was able to take a picture with him and thank him for doing such awesome artwork. He was so kind and even gave me a print of Maleficent! Sweet!

Wandering conventions is always fun, and this time was no exeption. I was sad though because I really want to do a meet up with a group of people from Youtube, but because of a misprint in the schedule I missed the meet up :(. I think I will also go two days next time, there were a bunch of panels I wanted to go to but they were all on Sunday, but I couldn't pass up going to a convention on Halloween, the best holiday of the year!

While I had a great time at the convention, I was so tired that I didn't attend the cosplay ball at the end of the night *tears*. Wearing that headdress all day was pretty tiring. Oh, and btw my headdress is made of worbla. It is actually my first time working with worbla and I actually like how it came out (but I still see places I could make improvements). Looking at other people's worbla creations makes me want to work with worbla even more (but it's soooo expensive *tears*). And my friend made my staff, lights up and everything! Whenever anyone asked for a picture and I turned on the light, people went "ooh! Wow!" So I got to thank my friend officially for making such an awesome staff. Well, until my next cosplay/convention. I wonder what I will do next! TTFFN, ta ta for now.

Lana! Lana! Lana! at Long Beach Comic Con

Another con, another cosplay (that I have done before). Seriously, being Lana is so much fun! Whenever I am Lana I get yelled out so much! And I don't think I have heard "Danger Zone" so much in life! And I loved it!

I really like Long Beach Comic Con because it is such a small con and it's crazy the amount of people you run into! I ran into Thomas of SoCalCosplayfoto (https://www.facebook.com/socalcosplayfoto) and did a quick shoot with him! Which led to other photographers wanting pictures (if you happen to see a picture of me floating on the internet, let me know!). Plus I was in a video with Nerd Reactor and Archer (aka mynameisnotbrucecosplay): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5cYL08gfj0 .

Chatting with other cosplayers and going to panels is always such a blast. I love hearing how other people made their cosplay, and what inspired them to do it. Like, meeting probably one of the best 10th Doctor copslayers, left me a little star struck (and listening for the Tardis). I mean, seeing a Morrigan cosplay from Wicked and Divine was awesome! As well as seeing,  Over the Garden Wall, Wirt and Greg, cosplay (they were my favorite young cosplayers). Plus watching the Cosplay competition at the end, was actually super impressed by some people's innovation! The only awkward thing was walking back to my car in this cosplay...let's just say this dress is very short, and people are not always so nice. Until next time, TTFN ta ta for now!