Aela the Huntress Cosplay Information/Tutorial

I chose to make this costume about a month ago, while playing through Skyrim. I just loved Aela's outfit, especially the back of it, and thought it would be a challenge for my not-so-awesome sewing skills. At first, I was hesitant because she was dressed very scantily, but as my fiance worked on his Nightingale costume (also from Skyrim), I thought about how cool we would look together and decided to go for it.

I first went out and bought the most perfect suede fabric for both the top, skirt, and arm pieces. I then made a duct tape mold of my body so that I could "build" the intricate top more easily. Here's a quick tutorial on how to make your own duct tape mold:

Tip #1: Try not to look like such a dork while you make it!

Tutorial: Duct Tape Mold
You need:
- Duct tape
- Old shirt
- Scissors
- Someone to help you

1. Put on the old shirt and begin wrapping it in duct tape. I started at the base and worked up to below my bust line. I then went from the top of my chest down to the rest of the duct tape.
2. Once it's covered in duct tape, cut the shirt up the side (under an armpit) so that you can take it off
3. Tape over the cut and the form will retain it's shape.
4. Optional: You can stuff it with what ever if you'd like it to be more durable.

I began by creating a pattern using paper taped together on my duct tape form. I then pinned the paper to the fabric, cut it out, and sewed it all together. It took me quite a while to sew everything, and I had a few problems with the revealing nature of the top, which meant I had to tweak the design a bit to fit my body and to be a little more modest than her version. I used about 2 yards of brown suede fabric and 1 yard of green suede for the arm bands.

Don't worry, I'll do a write up for the Nightingale soon!

I got my boots from macy's, instead of making boot covers because I'll actually wear the boots again. However, making boot covers is pretty simple if you don't want to spend the extra $$ on boots, just be sure to get more of your brown suede fabric.

I made the armor plates, shoulder pads and belt buckle from cardboard. I cut it out, then hot glued twine to create the swirly designs. I then used fiberglass resin to harden the carboard, and bondo to smooth out the edges. I spray-painted the armor with a textured silver and distressed it with black and brown acrylic paint. I actually attached real rabbit fur to the shoulder pads and shin pads, even though Aela doesn't have that, but I felt it added to the huntress look. It also made the pieces pop against the brown outfit. I attached the armor to my outfit with velcro so that I could transport the costume easier.

For my hair and makeup, I simply straightened my hair - as my hair color is very similar to hers. I used black and red eyeshadow to create a smokey eye and used black face-paint to draw on the lines across my face.

For more images of the cosplay, please check out my DeviantArt page. I'll also be doing a writeup for the Gears of War armor that I created and for the Nightingale costume in the upcoming weeks.

As always,
LadySnip3r

PAX East 2012: Saturday

Saturdays are always the busiest convention day, especially at PAX East. We decided to not go in costume in the morning so we could check out the show floor. We bought some merch, got some swag, and took lots of pictures. After a pretty relaxed morning, I got changed into my Gears of War Cog armor for the Epic panel. The panel featured Cliff Blezinski and Mike Capps of Epic Games and they answered questions from the online community and audience. Most of the questions regarded Epic's future plans, and they announced that they are working on a PC exclusive title (going back to their original roots). I had the chance to ask my own question which went something like this: "What was the motivation behind adding in female soldiers to Gears of War 3? And will you continue to have female characters in your upcoming franchises, such as Fortnite?". They replied by saying that they wanted to have women in the Gears of War game the entire time, but they really wanted them to have their own animations different from the guy's. After Gears of War 2, they recieved feedback from the gaming community that quite a lot of women were playing Gears and that they wanted to see female characters. They also said that they will definitely be having female characters in their upcoming games. It's definitely a step in the right direction and I look forward to seeing more and more female characters in video games. After the panel, we met up with some Gears of War cosplayers and took some really cool shots. Later that evening, we went to the Gears of War Meet up where we got a chance to meet Cliff Blezinski and Mike Capps. I got them to sign my lancer which will forever hang in my game room. We then went to the Bioware Base, a room off the main showfloor, and hungout with Bioware and Crabcat. They had a cosplay event, so we got some great pictures of all the Mass Effect and Dragon Age cosplay. We also got a chance to get some professional pictures done of our own cosplays.

 

Click read more for the full gallery of pictures!

PAX East 2012: Friday

PAX East 2012 was a total blast this year! Since we took so many photos and had so many great memories, I'm going to spread it out over a post for each day.

Friday of PAX East was a busy day. I went dressed up as Aela the Huntress from Skyrim and DarkSnip3r went as a Nightingale (also from Skyrim). We attempted to check out most of the showfloor that day, but with DarkSnip3r's scary face mask, he couldn't really see. We walked around and took pictures of as many cosplayers as we could find and ran into one of our friends from last year, cosplayer Dale (You may recognize his Gears of War costumes). We also hit up the Mass Effect 3 panel where Bioware discussed some aspects of writing the third game and answered audience questions. We all had to leave before the audience questions since only one of us had actually beaten Mass Effect 3 - We did not want any spoilers. It was really interesting to hear about how the writers of Mass Effect had to collaborate to write multiple conversations, for both paragon and renegade, depending on which of the characters in your playthrough lived through the first two games. They said it was like trying to write a conversation between two character who could potentially both be dead. There was also a lot of Mass Effect and Dragon Age cosplay at the panel, and we managed to run into Rana McAnear - the face of Samara. Assassionista interviewed her a couple of months ago on being the face of a video game character, and it was great to see her again. She was cosplaying as Samara which was totally crazy and amazing.

Since this post is very picture heavy, please click read more to see the entire gallery of photos!

One More PAX East Update

PAX is less than a week away and I've got my definite costume schedule! Here it is:

I'll be on the showfloor most of Friday, so feel free to come and say hi. I'll be accompanied on Friday by a Nightingale cosplay done by my Fiancè, DarkSnip3r. I'll also be at the Epic Panel on Saturday and they're doing a cosplay meetup for Gears of War at the Triforce Booth Saturday at 5.

I also have updated my deviantart page with some pics of the cosplay and have progress shots on my facebook page.

I'm super exicted for PAX and will try to post as much as possible during the weekend, wi-fi permitting.

As always,
LadySnip3r

Lara Croft Cosplay Tutorial/Information

I thought I might do a costume information/tutorial article for my Lara Croft cosplay from the 2012 Tomb Raider game. Please let me know if this sort of thing is helpful, and I'll definitely do some more! Also, if you're awesome at costume-making and have any suggestions for ways to improve or better ways of doing something, please share - this is a learning environment!

The Decision
I chose to cosplay as Lara Croft from the new Tomb Raider game because she's the first Lara Croft I actually feel like I connect to, both on a character and design level. She retains the best qualities of the previous Lara's (strong, independent, intelligent), and adds a more realistic element to the famous lady through her more "natural" looks and vulnerability. I whole-heartedly support the movement the designers are doing with her new look and wanted to design a costume around the new Lara.

The Materials
I used quite a lot of store bought things in this costume, as most was just clothing. I bought quite a few pairs of cargo pants before deciding on the pair I did because I couldn't find a suitable color. I also had some difficulty finding pants because I'm super tall. I'm 5"10 so finding pants is extremely difficult. The pants I chose are actually way too short for me, hence I added the tall wool socks. They hold down the pants, while adding a more hiker look. After I bought the pants, I used sandpaper to rough up the knees so they looked worn. I also ran it through the washer and dryer a few times to loosen it up.

I used boots that I already owned to cut some costs. I wish they were brown, but I used sandpaper to rough them up just like the pants so that they didn't look shiny. Luckily, I wore the boots to PAX East last year, so they got tons of wear and tear walking around all day - perfect for my survival look.

I purchased the tank top in, what I think, is the most perfect color ever. I looked so hard for that perfect shade of blue-gray. I actually found that particular tank top at Ann Taylor Loft for the very affordable price of $10. I used a white tank top that I already owned underneath, to add a layered look.

As much as I love the costume, I have struggled with the leather holster. I made a makeshift holster for NYCC out of pleather, but I think it stands out from the costume in a bad way. I'm hoping to improve this costume over time, since leather is expensive, so I will add more information as the costume changes.

I made the necklace out of clay and leather. It was fairly simple to do, but very fragile. I also made the bandages out of ripped linen fabric. I wanted them to look like something Lara would actually use in a tight fix for bandages. 

The Tutorial
Or How To Fake A Dirty Look

My lovely fiance actually did my makeup for Lara Croft and I think he did a fantastic job. Here's a quick tutorial of how to achieve the same thing:

Supplies:
- Brown Hairspray dye (Available at Halloween Costume stores)
- Brown Facepaint
- Blood capsules
- Charcoal (ground up)

1. Make sure your skin and outfit is clean and oil-free so that they makeup will stick better.
2. Apply brown hairspray onto paper towel or sponge and lightly sweep on areas you want light dirt. Focus on areas that would get dirty if you were actually the character.
3. Use brown facepaint on your fingers to streak areas that you want to look like mud-like dirt. We used lots of this to accent the lighter dirt.
4. Break blood capsule and drip onto areas that you want realistic blood look. Let it drip to where you want, and lightly dab or use a hairdryer to dry the blood. Now, the blood had to be reapplied a few times during the day because it faded into my skin, so keep this in mind for conventions.
5. Use ground up charcoal to smudge over blood, dirt, etc. This will darken everything up and really give it a realistic overtone.

Notes:
- Remember to make everything pretty evenly dirty. If you dirty up your face and shirt but skip your chest or arms, it's going to stand out against the dirt.
- Bring lots of those makeup removal wipes as the face paint and hairspray takes a heavy washing to come out.

I hope this article was helpful for any of you future cosplayers - Feel free to comment with any questions and I'll be happy to answer. I'll be wearing this costume at PAX East 2012 on Sunday and I hope to see you in Boston!

As always,
LadySnip3r

Booth Babes are NOT Cosplayers

Post-convention I spend the majority of my time googling images from the convention. To be honest, I'm just looking for pictures of myself. I invested time and money into my costume and I want to be recognized; whether it's someone yelling out, "Hey you're Lara Croft!", getting my picture taken, or finding myself online. It makes me feel like my costume was worth all of my effort.

While doing my ritual post-convention googling, I stumbled across several "cosplay" galleries. Now these galleries, usually entitled Ladies of Comic-Con or Sexy Costumes, mostly contain pictures of booth babes. I know they are booth babes because they're usually holding signs promoting their product or brand, or are not even in any "real" costume.

"Cosplay" Source

 For those of you who don't know what a booth babe is, I'm going to attempt a definition (without any hatred or bias). Booth babes are women paid by a specific brand that has a booth at a convention, to stand around the booth, take pictures with fans, be ogled by boys, and generally just look hot. They don't have to be nerdy, or even enjoy the convention. In fact, they usually look like they do not want to be there.

Those are PJs from your booth, NOT a costume. (Source)

I personally think they are ridiculous. I understand the whole concept of sex sells and the stereotypes that go along with gaming and other nerdy hobbies, but seriously, what year is this? They make me feel uncomfortable. Why can't booths promote their brand without scantily clad women? I'd even settle if there were half naked guys promoting stuff too, but I have yet to ever see a guy booth babe.

As much as I have a hatred of booth babes, I understand their presence at conventions and I can resist from punching them (most of the time). What I can't understand is how on earth they are featured on cosplay galleries! They didn't make their costume, they didn't choose it, they didn't do anything at all. These booth babes are being featured when other cosplayers, people who actually made their costumes or at least put in effort to be dressed up, aren't getting any recognition. It is so frustrating to me.

Uh, nice..costume? (Source)

I know this rant won't accomplish much, but I can say that Assassionista will never feature booth babes instead of real cosplayers (Only reason why their pics are in this post is to prove my point). Let's just hope that one day we can live in a world where they don't exist.


As Always,
Till then,
LadySnip3r

For REAL cosplay, please see post below.  

PS. What are your thoughts on Booth babes? Love em or hate em?

New York Comic-Con Coverage

This past weekend was the New York Comic-Con in New York City. The event took place from Thursday to Sunday and featured everything from video games to comic books and all the geekery in between. The Assassionista team were able to attend Thursday and Friday and took some great shots of the event, the fans, and the cosplayers.

Unfortunately we couldn’t make it for the entire weekend due to a complication with our accommodation plans, but we definitely made the most of the two days that we were there. Thursday was only open to press and VIPs so we were able to check out a few popular games.

The first thing we did when we arrived was basically ran to the Mass Effect booth where we knew there was a playable demo. Now this demo was the same one that was featured at previous events and cons (From E3 onwards), but we really wanted to try it out for ourselves. It was very combat heavy, highlighting the new melee combat options. I really enjoyed the new cover system and to me it played a lot like Gears of War. I missed the dialogue in the demo, but I really didn’t want any plot spoiled until I can play the entire game. The graphics were looking great, but as Chris Priestly pointed out to us, it’s an old build of the game. He promised the game is looking beautiful and if it’s better than what we saw, it definitely is. Mass Effect 3 is one of my most anticipated titles of 2012.

That night we also checked out the majority of the show floor, seeing everything from comic booths to merch stores. We wanted to get the most out of the show floor while it wasn’t as busy. We picked up a bit of swag; including real life batarans, comic book fashion accessories, and a Sailor Moon poster (my favorite).

We also played a little bit of Halo Anniversary multiplayer. It definitely plays the same as Reach, but the nostalgia is what sets it apart.

Our Thursday night ended with hanging out with our friend Jessica Merizen. If you don’t know Jess, you really should check out one of her many projects. She’s the community manager of Bioware and the other half of CrabCat Industries, a cosplay company. We met Jessica back at PAX East and were thrilled to meet up with her in NYC and catch up on gaming and life.

My Lara Costume

Friday was our big day. I cosplayed as the new Lara Croft and got some great feedback. It was awesome meeting some Tomb Raider fans and such an honor to be asked to be a part of the Tomb Raider’s 15^th Anniversary Art Event. We met Meagan Marie, the community manager for Crystal Dynamics and a fellow cosplayer, earlier that day and I was a little star stunned. I’m a huge fan of her cosplay work and was really hoping to meet her at the convention.

Meagan Marie and LadySnip3r

Tomb Raider 15th Anniversary Event

Two Laras and Meagan Marie

I was also interviewed for Spike TV, which was really cool. I’ve been interviewed for TV once before, but it always is so intimidating to me. I’ll definitely post a link the video once it’s online, but basically they were covering the cosplay for the convention. I was so honored to be selected out of the other fantastic cosplayers.

Spike TV

We spent most of Friday taking pictures of cosplayers and were astounded by the sheer amount of them. We also saw a few stars that day including Chad Michael Murray and Stan Lee.

We attended only one panel unfortunately, but it was a great one. We were a part of IGN Beyond Podcast’s live podcast panel. If you listen the podcast, I’m actually in it on one point commenting on the Mass Effect co-op multiplayer. It was super fun and great to see some of the Playstation side of gaming.

One of our last highlights of the event was meeting Mac Walters, the lead writer of the Mass Effect series. He was hanging out at the Mass Effect booth and was super friendly. We discussed his recent achievement of making it onto the New York Times Bestseller list and the upcoming Mass Effect game.

Mac Walters

We really had a great time at NYCC and hope to stay in touch with the people we met there. Let us know your NYCC stories if you were able to attend!

Feel free to email me if your cosplay was featured on the site and we can credit you! Also, please let me know if you got any shots of my Lara Croft cosplay at the convention! I’d love to see them.

As Always,

LadySnip3r

Cosplay Gallery

Chun Li from Street Fighter

Captain America

Scorpion from Mortal Kombat

Assassin's Creed

Jesse from Team Rocket in Pokemon

Cosplay from Silent Hill

Robot Chicken!

Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII

Game of Thrones

Sub Zero from Mortal Kombat

Spartan from Halo

Tony Stark

Hope from Final Fantasy XIII

Back to the Future

Ivy and Bane

Tali from Mass Effect

Show Floor Pictures

DarkSnip3r and his Ugly Doll

EmperorSnip3r

Playing around with the Triforce Lancer Replicas

So...many...PLUSHIES!

We're buds.

Liara Statue revealed - Gorgeous!