Otakitty's cosplay blog

Table Top Day!

2013-03-31T11:08:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was international Table Top Day! I attended an event over at Coolstuff Games in Hollywood, FL. My friends had a lot of fun playing non-stop for about 5 hours! They got to try all sorts of new games, but I was busy gathering footage and interviews for my multimedia project...

I'll leave you with some pics of how it went :)

My friend's table. They're giving Power Grid a try.

The dudes from dicetower.com trying a new game.

Ladies and Gentlemen, anyone?

Joseph and *one* of his Magic card stacks.

The good stuff.

The crew at Coolstuff Games.

Look at all these people playing games!!

Board games raffle give-aways!

Bob brought his own stash of games to share.

Victoria was playing a game of Yugi-Oh and Risk. Simultaneosly.

This group was playing Relic, which looks totally awesome...

I want to play this game.

Game calendar @ Coolstuff.

These guys were too good at Yugi-Oh.

A game of Battlestar Galactica.

This asian guy wanted to take a pic with me and my equipment... he was kinda awkward...

That's all I got! I'll be working the next few weeks to put together the footage I gathered for a mini movie about board games. I really wish I could've played some of the games!

Oversexualization of Cosplay?

2013-03-19T12:37:00.000-04:00

I posted a comment on Nerd Caliber's article "Sex Sell: How Cosplay Could Die (yea, you'll have to click to read it, since I won't copy-pasta their material) an after stumbling upon it again after about a year, I feel it still portrays my views regarding the sexualized aspects of this hobby.

So here goes:

I’ve seen this article making the rounds and it’s weighted on my mind. A bit. It’s naïve to conclude that the over-sexualization of cosplayers will eventually lead to the medium’s demise, like it’s pointed out in the article itself, most of the designs for female characters in games and anime catered to the tastes of young adolescent boys. If anything, seeing these designs realized is what has increased the popularity of cosplay, and it will only continue to do so. It looks like sex will be an effective catalyst for interest for a LOOOONG time.

I fall mostly within the scope of exhibitionist cosplayers, yes I do find the processing of making the costume enjoyable, but I am also well aware of the kind of photos I take and the emotions they inspire in some people. Do I find it dehumanizing when someone praises my purposely framed assets? No, because I’m impersonating the image of a character that is not real, despite how “deep” the character may seem, despite the issues they might have or how much I might identify or feel a connection to them, they’re fiction, and my purpose is only to present a fan’s reflection of that image.

To people that cross the line, I directly tell them to refrain from acting in that manner in the future and that is effective enough. Recommendations of ignoring or expecting such comments might give a sense of acceptance toward such feedback; these days most sites give you the tools to regulate such comments, or block users that start harassing. If you don’t tell people what you find acceptable or not, they’re not going to learn since they didn’t have the decency to be aware of it in the first place.

People that don’t actively participate in the hobby might not be able to grasp the amount of work that is involved in pulling off some outfits, and as such, can’t really appreciate it; you can’t get mad over that. You can’t tell people to stop liking your hobby or participating in it because they don’t fit your idea of what it’s supposed to be about (“out with all the newbs that buy their costumes!”), it’s like getting mad that obscure band you liked got popular.

Each person will like cosplay for their own reasons, and each person will appreciate it differently. It’s within your very own power to choose the kind of people you associate with or that you want to appeal to when you create your cosplay image.

A guy called Saleth gave my comment "Fatality" win. :p
What is your take on the article, or my comment?

Felicia Cosplay Gallery 2

2012-12-16T21:28:00.000-05:00

This costume manages to always be super popular, and most people will assume it's Felicia, even when it's missing many parts to rightfully make it look the part.
Nonetheless, it's always fun to wear a catgirl costume!

kitty stretch

Morrigan & Felicia

=kissu=

booty!

What's your favorite thing about Felicia? is it her blue hair? The strategic placement of the fur? Her bubbly personality? Something else?

Kitty Photo Gallery 1

2012-11-21T19:49:00.002-05:00

Do you love kitties? I sure do! I can't count how many kitties I've taken care of in my lifetime, but I always try to take pictures of them while they're in my hands.

Zugi has been around for a long time, but she's kinda cranky.

Baby Muta taking a nap, he was such a cutie.

Nidalee & FIU Golden Panther -sketch-

2012-11-14T23:47:00.001-05:00

This is actually for a school project, a sort of challenge/commentary on the remixing of culture and how the internet enables that.

I thought League of Legends and the champion skins could serve as a good example. At this point she looks like a pretty generic Nidalee, but it's the colors that should give her the "FIU" theme.

Golden Panthers GO!

Posted via email from otakitty's posterous

Oerba Yun Fang Cosplay Gallery 2

2012-08-22T23:22:00.000-04:00

Some more pics of my Fang! All of these were taken at Animazement 2010.

The FFXIII Girls! The cute Melvin is Vanille, Junicorn as Serah, and Anason as Lebrau.

Watermelon Nails!

2012-08-15T16:03:00.000-04:00

It's summer! I can't take the time/space that I need to lay out all my materials and work on cosplay for the time being, and sometimes I even get too lazy to draw, but lately I've been trying out different designs for my nails...

The other weekend I went to a picnic with my friends, and I had the crazy idea to paint my nails like a watermelon, here's how I did it:

After manicuring my nails, filing them and applying a base coat, I added a shimmery polish to the top portion of the nail.

I want the bottom of my nails to look like the rind of a watermelon, so I used these tip guides to help me make even lines. I've read that you can also use masking tape, but I've yet to try it.

I put the guides to separate where the lines will be...

And paint it green~

I used these two shades of green, because I don't like either one on their own. I used Pure ICE in Wild Thing as the base color (it's rather neon and flat) then the NYC polish to add a layer of shimmery green.

I waited about 2 minutes before removing the guides, but maybe I should've waited longer because some of the polish peeled back; ideally the "rind" part should cover the white bottom of the nail, like a french manicure.

Next up is some pink! My intention was to layer the polish in the style of syrup nails, but my polish was not sheer enough nor did I have sufficient layers to pull off the right effect.

The initial shimmery layer is some very discontinued Old Navy polish >_< and then Pure ICE in Splash for the pink.

Only after I was done did I realize I should have put the lighter shimmery color along the "rind" (towards the bottom) and build up the darker pink from the top of the nail down to better resemble a watermelon... in any case...

The next step is to add some watermelon "seeds" I used this Sally Hansen shade called Flirt, it's a very dark burgundy red.

I used a toothpick that was dabbed in polish to pain on my seeds. A steady hand is key, most of the seeds should be toward the top.

After the polish has thoroughly dried, I applied a generous layer of quick drying top coat to protect it, it also smoothed some of the lumps from my dubious paint job :p

There you go! That's how I spend my Saturday mornings!

A collection of early drawings

2012-08-08T22:28:00.000-04:00

Some of my very early digital drawings. I think I had more focus to churn out artwork back in the day....

Taking a relaxing bath at the Onsen.

Catgirl Miako-chan

Miss P in her school swimsuit.

Takumy and her virtual boyfriend, Kaizer.

If you're interested in seeing more of my art, you can visit my DeviantART Gallery ^_^

Red Haired Maid Cosplay Gallery

2012-08-03T22:11:00.001-04:00

Maid outfits are one of my favorite cosplays ever. I wore this to Yasumicon 2008 with my dear Tewibewi. We had a lot of fun being silly and taking fun pictures.

If you didn't know... Tewibewi is the founder and event organizer of the Yasumicon conventions ^_^

maid+megane!

girls from the maid cafe

some fanservice...

with a Jiraiya cosplayer

This one's my favorite photo of this set! We practiced this jump so many times until we could get it in a photo XD

My outfit was actually custom made based on a design I made for Kunicon's mascot girl Kiriko. It was first worn by the mascot girl/model, but as Kunicon ended I got to keep both of her costumes (the other one was a school uniform).

It was a very tight fit, since the original model really had anime-like proportions!

Ootsuki Mina Cosplay Gallery 2

2012-06-26T17:11:00.001-04:00

It's about time I put some photos here from the photoshoot with Morataya in my Ootsuki cosplay at Megacon 2010, although, technically these were taken at the hotel, and not the convention center because I really liked the playground by the pool area.

I love sunny shots!

All photos by Morataya Photography.

Yasumicon Mascot: design + cosplay!

2012-03-26T23:28:00.010-04:00

Back when I wasn't even a student at FIU, I was rather involved with their Anime Club, and in 2006 I revamped their club mascot and made a couple of illustrations for their annual Yasumicon convention.

I went ahead and made a cosplay for the original design too!!

Well, the costume consisted of a red vintage kimono, a purple obi, a brown swimsuit and a slightly modified blonde wig... not much to actually "make".

a pic from 2006 Yasumicon.

Testing ma posterous

2012-03-17T20:40:00.001-04:00

this pic is from last year's car trunk sale at Tate's

Posted via email from otakitty's posterous

Mio Akiyama "Don't Say Lazy" Cosplay Photo Gallery 3

2012-03-01T11:30:00.000-05:00

The last set of my Mio "Don't say Lazy" cosplay. The only thing I was missing was that little baton~

Girl in Sheer Nightie

2012-02-17T23:22:00.001-05:00

click for full size

I didn't work out a decent BG for this picture, but I still like this girl very much. There's a nude version too...

Taking a Break

2012-02-09T14:25:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to make this "announcement" for quite a while now, especially now that MegaCon is approaching and I keep getting asked if I'll be going.

Since 2011, I had made the decision that I would not attend any more conventions for the rest of the year and possibly until 2013. The only convention I will likely attend in 2012 will be SuperCon, only because it's costs next to nothing for me to go to this event.

I will be attending university full time during this year, and since I'm not proficient at multitasking (or obsess too much about cosplay to allow time for anything else) I will simply take a step away from the scene until I take care of my goals. There's also the possibility I might be moving later on in the year and I should tidying up to prepare for that transition.

I still have one "big" cosplay project I've been working on and off to complete and may debut this year, but I'm in no rush.
Also, I gained a bunch of my weight back because I was sick for a couple of months; which makes me reluctant to show my (fat) face in public until I've worked myself back to shape.

Hopefully, this year I will go on a REAL vacation with my boyfriend instead of traveling to an event!

this could happen if you don't take breaks...

Una Pausa

2012-02-09T14:22:00.000-05:00

Hace un tiempo ya que tenía la intención de hacer este "anuncio". Especialmente porque en unos cuantos días va a ser MegaCon y varias personas me han preguntado si voy a ir.

Desde ya el 2011 había decidido que no iba a atender ninguna convención mas por el resto del año, y posiblemente hasta el 2013. El único evente que posiblemente atenderé va a ser SuperCon, simplemente porque no me cuesta casi nada ir allí.

Durante este año estaré tomando clases en al universidad a tiempo completo, y ya que mi obsesión con el cosplay apenas me daba tiempo para hacer cualquier otra cosa que eso, lo mejor que puedo hacer es apartarme de este hobby hasta que haya realizado mis metas. También puede ser que me vaya a mudar este año y quisiera estar preparada para cuando suceda.

Todavía tenía un projecto por acabar, pero lo estoy haciendo poco a poco y ninguna presión por apurarme. Y para acabar, me puse un tanto gorda a final de año porque estuve enferma, y la verdad que no quiero salir en público hasta que tenga mi figura decente otra vez.

Bueno, quizás ahora tenga el chance the tomar una vacación DE VERAS con mi novio, en vez de pasarmela de evento a evento!

un necesitado descanso~

Mio Akiyama "Don't Say Lazy" Cosplay Photo Gallery 2

2012-01-12T21:58:00.000-05:00

Photos from my second photoshoot as Mio-chan ^_^ This time I had Junicorn as my Yui-chan

Miranda Lotto Cosplay Photo Gallery

2012-01-04T16:02:00.000-05:00

The first time I wore this costume was back in 2007. I can certainly say now I will finally retire it. After some minor adjustments, I got some good photos of this costume at Katsucon last year.

Good bye Miranda~!

all these pics were taken inside an elevator...

found a Miranda at Katsucon wearing her civilian dress from her first appearance <3

Kunicon Program Book cover

2011-11-17T16:28:00.000-05:00

Do any of you remember the Kunicon/OtakuCon events in Miami, St. Louis & Atlanta? Well, I was behind most of the artwork that was made for the promotional materials of the convention. This particular cover never made it to printing, because the boss thought it looked like there was "something" going on between the two girls...

You can read more about it here and view my other Kunicon artwork as well!

Mio Akiyama "Don't Say Lazy" Cosplay Photo Gallery 1

2011-11-08T14:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a collection of my first photoshoot in my Mio Akiyama costume:

My Otaku Room!

2011-11-03T16:00:00.000-04:00

Would you like to see how much of a dork I am? Well, just check out this room!


That's what my layout was like, until I had to make room for this: drawing desk!
That's when I switched things around, and apparently decided I didn't have enough posters up.

Let's have an inventory of the toys I currently have on display:

Bome's Halloween-Tan
Shunya's Cocona, of course
Komugi-chan	All my maids, hanging together
Karen from Onegai Twins
Onegai Teacher beach set
Never enough Mahou Shoujo	Firey Asuka!
A chill Rei,	and an uber cute Aero Cat Rei!
Lillith and Morrigan book ends
a set of Drakstalkers girlies
Hakufu and Ryomou
Sakura-chan sits on my monitor
Ootsuki	Mari
Mizuho in her green bikini	chibi Minmay
Comic Party!	I dunno, but I like her
Queen's Blade Annelotte
Oh sweet Annelotte...
Love Hina's towel-clad Shinobu
last but not least, the awesomest Felicia ever scultped

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T15:30:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween everyone! ^_^

Soul Eater's Blair Cosplay Gallery 2

2011-10-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween everybody!! The first time I wore my Blair costume was for Halloween of 2009! I thought it would be great timing to have this post today XD!

Illustration by mangaka Atsushi Ōkubo.

with Junicorn as Mizune

Junicorn as Mizune and Tewibewi as Nurse Morrigan.

All the photos by Morataya.

Kuro Daikon ♠ Black Radish Mina Weapon - 2

2011-10-02T15:46:00.002-04:00

photo by Orz_Phtogrphy

I had been working on my weapon props for Ootsuki since earlier in this year, I had attemped to McGuyver my way into making these props with whatever I could find that could in some way resemble what I needed, yet the outcome to all my efforts resulted in this:

The original shape of the plastic cauldrons had warped because of the expanding foam, I couldn't really achieve a smooth surface with paper mache + primer + bondo, which ended up making the props much heavier than I had intended them to be. It was an all around failure T_T

As my luck would have it I met the talented Jessie Melero who has the most amazing workshop my eyes ever had the privilege to witness upon. O_O

Jessie was kind enough to take on a professional approach to making my weapons and I got to watch, learn and photograph this process.

Jessie has urethane foam of varying densities in his shop. My main concern was the final weight of the props, so the foam that was chosen is not very dense -therefore light- almost resembling the texture of a dried up sponge.

(click image for large view)

From a huge block of foam, the circumference of the props was drawn in and then two square blocks were cut from it.

After that the foam was cut with a knife to get a rough cylinder shape.

"It's as smooth as cutting butter" he said... Which is true, if you're not careful and cut your foam too hastily huge chunks will come off, since it is easily sliced.

(click image for larger view)

After this point, the center of the cylinder is marked and lines mark how much needs to be cut off to prepare for the sanding stage.

You can see my Ootsuki Mina figure next to the foam, and behind the stack of leftover foam that resulted from the initial cutting, this foam scraps will be great for some smaller props!

After the second rough shape was achieved, Jessie hand sanded those cylinders into submission with a crazy sanding rod/knife!

(click image for larger view)

The sanding knife still left some roughness, once the two pieces were closer to the final shape, they were further smoothed out with sanding paper.

Because of the it's low density, the foam has to be covered with fiberglass to give it a protective layer and smooth surface. Coats of primer and spot fixing putty (the red spots) finalize the smooth finish of the props.

Jessie used two coats of Design Master's spray paint for the color. This brand of paint dries very fast!

The rods were made out of two wood dowels Jessie had lying around, the tips were sanded down until the desired shape was achieved (which kinda resembles a stake and could be dangerous if you're not careful...)

The radish weapons have a small hole on the top where the rods are inserted and stay in simply with pressure. The bottom has a carved out area to insert the radish leaves.

photo by pgw-Chaos

The radish leaves were made with green foamies and attached on a posterboard base that was then attached to the bottom of the radish using sticky velcro and later on hot gule as I became pressed for time.

The end result were some incredibly smooth and shiny looking radishes! Considering the large size of the prop each radish weighted about 3 lbs. which was much lighter than what I was making before.

The day of the shoot the Florida heat was on full power to make us all suffer and after about 3 hours of walking around and taking photos I was having a hard time keeping a grip on my weapons (cuz my hands were sweaty inside the gloves) or lifting them very high. I had to carry these props the entire time they were with me, since putting them down on a hard surface could chip the fiberglass or damage the leaves, taking all that into consideration (and the need to increase my arm strength...) I'm so glad they were relatively light!

Chocolate Misu's Red Hot Summer

2011-09-28T16:20:00.003-04:00

click the picture for a larger view!

To tell the truth, I prefer Tira Misu over Chocolate, but my sketch of Tira in her swimsuit did not turn out as nice as I imagined, so I only completed this drawing XD.
I love Rei Omishi's art style, it was the main draw for reading the Sorcerer Hunter comics.