You can either have smooth, unbruised, and generally uninjured limbs, OR you can work with animals.

I can’t believe I forgot to post this here! Despite being crazy ridiculous busy leading up to Christmas, I actually managed to do a seasonal shoot! Huzzah!

Also featuring a special guest appearance by my cat, Soot. He loves to “help” during my photo shoots! So of course I have to let him take some photos too.

From my cosplay Twitter!

So a couple days ago, some folks braved my long-dormant social media accounts to make sure I’d seen this tweet:

And after getting over my initial (rather emotional) response, I wanted to reply properly, and explain just why that hit me so hard.

So back around twenty years ago, the internet cosplay and costuming scene was very different from today. The older generation of sci-fi convention costumers was made up of experienced, dedicated individuals who had been honing their craft for years.  These were people who took masquerade competitions seriously, and earning your journeyman or master costuming badge was an important thing.  They had a lot of knowledge, but – here’s the important bit – a lot of them didn’t share it.  It’s not just that they weren’t internet-savvy enough to share it, or didn’t have the time to write up tutorials – no, literally if you asked how they did something or what material they used, they would refuse to tell you. Some of them came from professional backgrounds where this knowledge literally was a trade secret, others just wanted to decrease the chances of their rivals in competitions, but for whatever reason it was like getting a door slammed in your face.  Now, that’s a generalization – there were definitely some lovely and kind and helpful old-school costumers – but they tended to advise more one-on-one, and the idea of just putting detailed knowledge out there for random strangers to use wasn’t much of a thing.  And then what information did get out there was coming from people with the freedom and budget to do things like invest in all the tools and materials to create authentic leather hauberks, or build a vac-form setup to make stormtrooper armor, etc.  NOT beginner friendly, is what I’m saying.

Then, around 2000 or so, two particular things happened: anime and manga began to be widely accessible in resulting in a boom in anime conventions and cosplay culture, and a new wave of costume-filled franchises (notably the Star Wars prequels and the Lord of the Rings movies) hit the theatres.  What those brought into the convention and costuming arena was a new wave of enthusiastic fans who wanted to make costumes, and though a lot of the anime fans were much younger, some of them, and a lot of the movie franchise fans, were in their 20s and 30s, young enough to use the internet to its (then) full potential, old enough to have autonomy and a little money, and above all, overwhelmingly female.  I think that latter is particularly important because that meant they had a lifetime of dealing with gatekeepers under our belts, and we weren’t inclined to deal with yet another one.  They looked at the old dragons carefully hoarding their knowledge, keeping out anyone who might be unworthy, or (even worse) competition, and they said NO.  If secrets were going to be kept, they were going to figure things out for ourselves, and then they were going to share it with everyone.  Those old-school costumers may have done us a favor in the long run, because not knowing those old secrets meant that we had to find new methods, and we were trying – and succeeding with – materials that “serious” costumers would never have considered.   I was one of those costumers, but there were many more – I was more on the movie side of things, so JediElfQueen and PadawansGuide immediately spring to mind, but there were so many others, on YahooGroups and Livejournal and our own hand-coded webpages, analyzing and testing and experimenting and swapping ideas and sharing, sharing, sharing.  

I’m not saying that to make it sound like we were the noble knights of cosplay, riding in heroically with tutorials for all.  I’m saying that a group of people, individually and as a collective, made the conscious decision that sharing was a Good Things that would improve the community as a whole.  That wasn’t necessarily an easy decision to make, either. I know I thought long and hard before I posted that tutorial; the reaction I had gotten when I wore that armor to a con told me that I had hit on something new, something that gave me an edge, and if I didn’t share that info I could probably hang on to that edge for a year, or two, or three.  And I thought about it, and I was briefly tempted, but again, there were all of these others around me sharing what they knew, and I had seen for myself what I could do when I borrowed and adapted some of their ideas, and I felt the power of what could happen when a group of people came together and gave their creativity to the world.

And it changed the face of costuming.  People who had been intimidated by the sci-fi competition circuit suddenly found the confidence to try it themselves, and brought in their own ideas and discoveries.  And then the next wave of younger costumers took those ideas and ran, and built on them, and branched out off of them, and the wave after that had their own innovations, and suddenly here we are, with Youtube videos and Tumblr tutorials and Etsy patterns and step-by-step how-to books, and I am just so, so proud.  

So yeah, seeing appreciation for a 17-year-old technique I figured out on my dining-room table (and bless it, doesn’t that page just scream “I learned how to code on Geocities!”), and having it embraced as a springboard for newer and better things warms this fandom-old’s heart.  This is our legacy, and a legacy the current group of cosplayers is still creating, and it’s a good one.  

(Oh, and for anyone wondering: yes, I’m over 40 now, and yes, I’m still making costumes. And that armor is still in great shape after 17 years in a hot attic!)  

Editing in the tutorial link: http://entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html

I almost forgot! In case you prefer your Yasha a little quiet and sad instead of vaguely threatening!

If you wanna reblog on Twitter! –> https://twitter.com/AnimusPanthera/status/1190056096511266816

Costume and photos by me! Model is also me!

Special thanks to my friend @jfoxphoto for helping me to light this shoot, and to my friend Eliot for lending me that sword haha

Yasha Nydoorin is from Critical Role season 2, and belongs to Ashley Johnson

Here they are! My special Halloween Yasha photo shoot! These ones have the “vaguely threatening” aesthetic I was going for haha - I’ll post the other ones tomorrow! Anyway, I’m SUPER proud of this shoot. I’ve never done low-light photography, and never mind low-light self photography, and I couldn’t possibly be more pleased with the results :>

Costume and photos by me! Model is also me!

Special thanks to my friend @jfoxphoto for helping me to light this shoot, and to my friend Eliot for lending me that sword haha

Yasha Nydoorin is from Critical Role season 2, and belongs to Ashley Johnson

From my other account <3

**CW SFX makeup, simulated bruises/cuts/black eye**

I can’t believe I haven’t posted these here yet!! I’ve been playing around with self-photography for the last year or two. Just recently I bought some studio lighting and it’s made all the difference! I’m finally getting photos I love.

Anyways, a cosplay magazine I like recently announced a comics theme, and I also recently caved and bought a second bow, so of course I had to do a quick shoot so I could submit to the magazine! Since this costume is mostly bought (all I really did was trim the wig and cut some fingers off some gloves), I decided to flex my SFX makeup skills a bit, too :> A lot of my kit had gone bad (been a while, I guess), but I think I managed to do good with what I had - just some cheap eyeshadow, red lipstick, and a little bit of cheap Halloween “vampire” fake blood.

Modeling, styling, makeup, photography, and editing all by me!! Wig is @ardawigs Natasha Classic in deep brown

From my cosplay account :>

assuming an average body weight of 8 lbs this bitch can stomp you with 40 lbs of force in less time than the blink of an eye. we stan

Secretary birds as antifascist symbol

After over a month, I’ve finally finished the Princess Tutu paper craft! 😭 It was actually kind of surreal putting them together because I’ve been staring at the paper line art for so long, and it was just a wonderful moment when the piece finally comes alive after so many days of hard work and head scratching.

Just for fun, the two photos in the middle of the set were from me playing  around a little bit with lighting to get a stage light effect. The anime had dramatic lighting for certain scenes and this is my attempt to copy a little bit of that effect. 😚

@sailormoonsub

Item: Hat of the Tailor, +6 on skill checks related to the crafting of clothing or fabric. The needle may also be used as a small rapier.

New Endangered Art Book!

I’ve finally decided on a title for the next book from Endangered Art Books! It will be Into the Ether, which was suggested by Eric Buchert (@atanak74 on Twitter!). So the next step is submissions! But things are going to be a little bit different from the last book.

First of all, this time around there will be a flat, upfront payment for artists instead of royalties. It will start at $70 per illustration submitted (maximum of 3). With one exception (a hardcover upgrade), ALL the stretch goals on the Kickstarter will be raises for the artists, and artists will be paid half as soon as the Kickstarter money clears and the rest upon receipt of their submission(s). Because I will not be able to pay artists prior to a successful Kickstarter, completed illustrations will be due 1 month after the artists are paid their downpayment. Therefore, your submission right now is basically just you claiming the species you would like to illustrate - you are not required to produce any artwork until and unless you get paid!

In addition to the flat fee, all participating artists will also receive a complimentary copy of the book and will be able to buy additional copies of the book at cost, in case you want to have copies to sell or give to friends.

HOWEVER: I want to have a logo and cover art ready before the Kickstarter goes live, so these artists will be paid prior to the Kickstarter at their usual rate. If you would like to be considered as the cover artist or to design the logo, please send me an email with your rates and a link to your portfolio.

SUBMISSIONS:

Just like Losing Altitude, this book will NOT be juried. If you think you are good enough to be in it, you are! The theme of this book is endangered animals that are not well known. So, no tigers or pandas here. You may choose any species which is listed as vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, or extinct in the wild on the IUCN Red List, which can be found here:

https://www.iucnredlist.org/

(I may species listed as endangered via other authorities (for instance, national or state endangered species lists) if citation is provided.)

Your submission need only include the species you would like to claim. Species selection will be first come first serve, so if you have your heart set on a particular species I recommend claiming it right away!

If you would like to submit to Into the Ether, please send me an email with the subject line “Into the Ether” to:

info@endangeredartbooks.com

OTHER CHANGES:

Aside from the different payment format, I will also be making some other changes to streamline the process this time: the information cards for each species will be shorter, and will be completed before the Kickstarter goes live, and I will be using a fulfillment service to ensure orders are fulfilled in a timely fashion.

ALSO! If you want to publish an art book that has a message about conservation and/or endangered species but have no idea where to start, Endangered Art Books would like to help! Whether you just need advice or would like to print under the Endangered Art Books label, I want to help get your book out and into the world. If you are looking for help publishing your book, please feel free to email me at any time at info@endangeredartbooks.com.

It doesn’t look like I posted this here, it’s @animuspanthera‘s Orghrig Rhona! I finished this a little while back, but it was a birthday gift 

I’m taking jewelry commissions! Brass and copper starting at $30, silver at $80, additions such as stones also available.

If you’re interested, please send me an email at animus.panthera [at] gmail [dot] com