Loooong post ahead, and chock-full of dorky goodness. Just a warning :)
(I won't feel bad if you ignore this one)
Last weekend was New York Comic Con...I look forward to it every year, especially since I always wear a costume! hehe. Sadly, Dave did not cosplay- it's kind of a long story, but basically we didn't realize that we would be able to attend on the same day until that week (due to sold out tickets and such!)
I've
always wanted to dress up as Clobberella. If you are familiar with the cartoon Futurama, you might know of the character. In one episode (yes, I was a character that only exists for 20 minutes!) the "gang" acquires a tube of Miracle Cream from Dr. Zoidberg, and they discover that the cream gives them super powers! Leela's alter ego on the New Justice Team is Clobberella. Here's what I was going for:
Ok...I'm sorry, but this ends up being my pose for a lot of the photos. I was hoping to practice dynamic poses and whatnot, but once I got to the con I ended up defaulting with this!
I was so thrilled when I arrived to see a familiar face...there was a couple dressed as Scruffy and his wash bucket! haha!!
I also ran into a Professor Farnsworth and Dr. Zoidberg...
...as well as Zapp Brannigan and Kif! I'm so sad that I didn't get a copy of the picture I took with them (someone else snapped the photo, then they disappeared!)
As we were posing for the photo, Zapp was in character- he had his arm around me and was whispering creepy things to me in the Zapp voice- things that he would likely say to Leela on the show (or was he just being creepy for real? I'll never know...)
A bunch of people wanted to take my picture, and I found them popping up on the internet this past week. Here are a few highlights:
There's that pose again....
This is probably the most unique picture, by some guy who was hired by Destructoid to take some photos of cosplayers:
Someone even said that my costume was in their top 10 of the whole convention! Awww...that makes the effort of making the costume all worth it!!
Speaking of making the costume, I'll give you the quick rundown in case you were curious about my DIY.
- The red bodysuit was purchased for $20something from a discount dance supplier. Not making it from scratch saved a bunch of time!
- I made the logo on my chest by applying fusible interfacing to some sturdy yellow fabric, cutting out the pieces by hand then putting some liquid glue around the edges to prevent fraying (I couldn't find my fray block stuff, but the glue worked just fine!). I backed all of the pieces with this black chalkboard "fabric" I found at Joann's...that stuff is awesome! Then I hand sewed it on.
- The "boob things" (not sure what else to call them, lol!) are foam bra inserts that I covered with a stretchy fabric
- I also sewed on those little panels on my stomach- I think they are technically supposed to be cut-outs, but I certainly wasn't going to do that!
- The shoes are old black boots that I never got rid of (I have this compulsion to never throw anything away that I might need for a costume in the future!)- and I covered them in fabric. I followed a tutorial I found online (sorry, I lost the link), but basically you pin stretch fabric around the boot to fit, take it off, sew it up, then slip back on.
- I had to cut and style the wig- the one I purchased was only $12 on amazon (yay!) but the hair was super straight and down to my butt. Did you know that you can curl cheap synthetic wig hair? Just make sure it is on the lowest setting :)
- The eye was a challenge. I formed thick-gauge wire to fit around my eyes and the bridge of my nose. Next, I used some plastic packaging (it was actually the plastic from some Studio Calico wood veneers!) and used my heat gun to soften it so I could mold the shape of the eye. I then hot glued it into the wire frame, and covered it with a white fabric that I could see through. (yes, I was actually able to see!! A little tricky to see details, but I was perfectly fine walking around). I used more of the chalkboard fabric I mentioned earlier to make the mask, and adhered the eye to the mask with some more hot glue.
- I needed some kind of purse or bag to carry my phone, money, ID, etc....so I thought it would be best to make a bag that also serves as a prop! I totally love this bag- almost enough to carry around on an average day! I wasn't using a pattern, so I can't tell you exactly how I made it, but hopefully it speaks for itself. I made the label on Photoshop, then printed it onto cardstock and used my Xyron to laminate/apply permanent adhesive- it's technically a big sticker. It's peeling off a bit on the edges, but it survived quite well all day at the convention.
- I was scared I was going to lose it, so I sewed a little strap on the back. Oh yea- and the cap is from my toothpaste! Inside of the bag, along with my personal belongings were some business cards. I thought it would be cool if Clobberella had some cards to hand out. I included a bunch of quotes from the show and from the New Justice Team's theme song. People got a kick out of them!
I went in costume on Saturday, then roamed the show floor with Dave on Sunday. I encountered some more awesome costumes!
This is Edward Elric from the anime "Fullmetal Alchemist." He and I are pretending to use a transmutation circle!
Oh my gosh...Blankman! Do you remember him? This guy was spot-on.
Excellent crossplay (genderswapped) Loki and Thor. I love and appreciate the handmade details in their costumes. I also love that they weren't "sexy Loki and Thor"- too many chicks at Comic Con do that.
Haha..this was fun- a Monster Hunter fight!
Of course, the main attraction at Comic Con is (or at least it should be) comics! My favorite thing to do at a convention is walk down Artists' Alley, and meet the people behind the artwork. I always stop by David Mack's booth (sorry, no photo of him)- his paintings are so inspiring! I especially love what he does for
Kabuki- I don't actually read those comics, but I have them and look at the gorgeous pictures!
Another inspiration,
Alex Maleev- we snapped a pic as he was painting.. awesome!
We bought a sketch from Scott Kolins (and grabbed a shot of him drawing):
Here it is, hanging on our wall- we have a rotating display of sketches we get, and now this creepy Harley Quinn has a special place right in the center!
Speaking of our comic artwork, in our hallway, across from the sketches I just mentioned, we have a wall of
original comic pages. These are awesome. I love seeing the little pencil marks and sketch marks that disappear when they get scanned in for printing. It's cool to compare them with the final page from the comic book, which we display below each one.
Wow, that was a doozy of a post. If you've made it this far, I'm proud :)
For other cosplay posts, please check out...
NYCC '12 (Black Widow and Hawkeye)
NYCC '11 (Rogue and Gambit)
PAX East '12 (Beat and Gum)
I still need to share pics from PAX '13, and I hope to post pictures from the conventions in prior years too.
If you don't care about costumes, don't worry- I have a few cards I've made recently that I still need to photograph- they should be coming soon!
