So I know I'm a little late, but I got distracted by an Anatomy and Physiology midterm when I got back (summer session). But better late than never.
I had an amazing Animazement this year. I made it my goal not to put any undue stress on myself, (which I have an exceptional talent of doing), and to try and let things roll off my back if at all possible. It made for a very fun weekend.
My one negative comment for the weekend would be the horrible limitations they put on photographers this year. Basically, if your equipment looked "too professional" (which generally meant any camera with a detachable lens, or any kind of light stands), you were told to leave the convention center. Although I could maybe see their reasoning if I thought really hard about it, the main frustration was that no one was informed ahead of time. So all these photographers who had spent money on badges, hotel rooms, and fixing up their equipment, had to either just go home, or spend the entire weekend shooting outside. It wasn't too hot, which was fortunate. But the wind was pretty horrific. I felt so bad for them. But I digress.
Thursday I checked in early and just relaxed. Hung out with a few people while I could, since I knew I'd be spending most of my weekend applying or removing makeup. As usual, it was great to get to see so many friends. I already miss them terribly.
Friday morning I got up early and put on the Demon Nurse from Silent Hill 3. She is quickly becoming one of my favorites. The makeup application is really enjoyable, and peoples' reactions are wonderful. For some reason, people seem to be more comfortable coming up and talking to me in this costume than many of my other horror cosplays. Don't ask me why. I was fortunate enough to shoot with the amazing Kungfufish Photos and Jayce (Animazeguy). They're both really sweet and great at what they do. Hope to have some of those shots up soon.
Friday evening,
,
,
, and I donned our Mean Girls cosplays. I've gotta say, horror cosplayer or not, I've never had more fun in a cosplay group than this. It took about 30 seconds for us all to just accidentally slip into character and just be silly around the con. Those ladies were simply fantastic. We were fortunate enough to shoot with both Robert and
, and had a blast being just ridiculous. I'm pretty sure poor Soulfire will have to wade through a decent amount of pictures I ruined because I just couldn't stop laughing. Oops. I have a couple of hers I can't wait to post here.
Saturday was a really big day for me, because it was Memory of Alessa day. I gotta say, I was crazy nervous about doing her makeup until I actually got started, and just found things falling into place. Gotta say, I love it when that happens. I also have to thank
for sharing her speckling technique with me. It really helped to fill in the empty space, which is a problem I feel I've always had. Thank you so much! The entire process took 6.5 hours, and was occasionally a bit tedious. She's just got so much muck and yuck on her! But in the end, I was really proud with what came out, especially for my first go. As I always say, I'm very much a novice at makeup, and just appreciate every chance I can get to try and learn a few new things. And this costume taught me sooooo much. I didn't get much chance to wear her around the con (I started application later than I should have, and didn't get out until about 6:30 that night), but I was fortunate enough to do a shoot with
, whom I'd basically been stalking for months about shooting this costume. My bad. I've only seen one picture from that shoot so far, but it made me squeal. Cannot wait to start posting those.
Sunday at the con was just a relaxing day. Packed everything up and meandered. Later that afternoon I met up with Soulfire again, and we drove to an abandoned church to take pictures of my Shattered Memories Cybil Bennet cosplay. It was a lot of fun, though I promise that next time I'll study up, and learn how to properly hold a gun. I am very thankful for her patience.
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Thank so much to all my friends for being their awesome selves, and thanks to the photographers who shared some of their precious time with me. I had such a good time.
I plan to head back to that church in a couple weeks to shoot another horror costume with
. Not going to say what the costume is, but it is one I've done before. Just never really gotten satisfactory pictures of it before (you know, where I actually had any idea how to apply makeup or pose for a picture), so I'm really excited to do it. Yay! Not quite sure what's on the horizon after that. Class really starts up in the fall, and I'm not sure yet what the schedule's going to look like. We'll see.
Happy crafting everyone!