Overwatch Soldier Costume How-To

Last year at BlizzCon 2015, Mario, Dino, and I wore our wildly popular Overwatch Soldier costumes. Originally, I was supposed to wear Pharah to BlizzCon but due to tight scheduling, we decided to put her off until 2016 so we can do her the justice (ha, get it?) that she deserves.

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Photo by Winged Mammal, edited by Alice Roy

Mario and his brother Dino had already decided to make Overwatch Soldier costumes, inspired by the guys that we see in the background of some of the Overwatch art, like this one:

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We made the decision to wait to finish Pharah the day before we were going to leave for BlizzCon, and though I was devastated, I quickly decided to make a quick version of the soldier costume for myself. I’ll cover how we put my costume together at the end of the post, and it’s a much easier (though not necessarily cheaper, depending on your materials) way to make the costume. Continue reading

Zagara Costume Break Down

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Photo by Steve Groves of ESI Media


Holy cow you guys, am I in love with this costume. This was the very first costume I’ve ever made that I was just grinning the entire time. I had some issues with the cape and wig, but throughout making the dress, I was just in love!

This costume basically started with me turning to Mario and saying, “I want to wear a big dress to BlizzCon this year.” I’ve always been in love with the Zerg, and thought about doing Kerrigan (this was way back in January before Countess Kerrigan was a thing) so I talked to my amazing friend Carissa (link is to her Facebook page, check out her work!) about helping me figure out the costume and getting my ideas onto paper.

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She blew it out of the water. This is exactly what I had in mind, and I was in love from the beginning! (Warning: Super long post ahead!)

Continue reading

BlizzCon 2014: SO CLOSE!

So… as of today, we leave for BlizzCon in 14 days! We’ll be driving down on Tuesday, stopping halfway, and getting to our hotel on Wednesday. This year we’ll be spending the con with Mario’s mother and brother, and we’re super excited to share the experience with them- especially since they’ll both be cosplaying!

I’ve been preparing for the con by putting up several video tutorials on our YouTube channel, so I wanted to post them all here for you guys, too!

Since we didn’t update here, Mario has set aside Urzael until next year, and will instead be wearing Roller Derby BRova! Here’s a preview of my Zagara- I decided to go with an original 18th century version.

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And just for you guys- a makeup test!

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We hope to see you all at BlizzCon! Make sure to say hello if you see us!

Auriel from Diablo III Costume Break Down!

Photo by OTL and MLZ studios

Photo by OTL and MLZ studios

(Note: this isn’t going to be a full blown, step by step tutorial because I don’t have that many photos, but I’m going to try to cover everything I did! Feel free to ask questions in the comments, we’re always happy to help!)

So, Auriel! This costume was made for Blizzcon 2014, and based off of Auriel, Archangel of Hope from Diablo III. Continue reading

(Way, way late) Blizzcon Recap

I am seriously sorry you guys, I was certain I had posted about Blizzcon and our final costumes here, but apparently not! It was an insanely busy weekend and it passed by too quickly, as most conventions do.

Photo by OTL and MLZ studios

Photo by OTL and MLZ studios

 

Auriel turned out beautifully, it is easily one of my most favorite costumes in terms of aesthetics. It wasn’t exactly fun to wear (the wings were supported by a harness that made them feel like a super heavy backpack on my shoulders, and I’m not known for my strength) but I loved the reaction from it.

Photo by Davann Srey Photography

Photo by Davann Srey Photography

Mario’s costume also turned out beautifully, exactly as we imagined it. For more photos, check out our Facebook page!

We’re also in this amazing video by MLZ and OTL studios! We’ve shot videos with them before, and they are always so amazing to work with and know exactly what needs to be done to showcase the costumes.

Over all, the convention was amazing, we met so many people (we also hosted a cosplay dinner the night before the con) and made a lot of friends! Honestly, Blizzcon is less about seeing the convention and more about cosplay for us. We enjoyed walking around the con on the second day out of costume, but we aren’t the type to try to watch too many panels! Though, there was one on cosplay, which was very informative and helpful. You can see that one below, too! (It’s over an hour long, fair warning!)

Thanks for reading, everyone, and I’m working on some in progress and finished commission posts to be up in the next week or so!

 

 

Anime Expo Roundup!

At Anime Expo 2013 in Los Angeles, California, Mario and I debuted several costumes- Queen Ashe from League of Legends, and Raphael and Cassandra from the Soul Calibur series.

1069223_10151710227589834_1239349677_nWe had a lot of fun with our friends who were in the Soul Calibur group with us- Tonksceratops cosplay, above, made a beautiful Viola (2p version). Her husband Tony Hsu took all of the photos marked hsutography!

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Wearing Jayce and Queen Ashe was a ton of fun! Super hot, though. That’s what we get for wearing them in July in Southern California, I guess!

ETAN2067Photo by Ed Tan

Anime Expo (AX) 2013 untitled-1855We have a TON more photos on our Facebook page in the albums, so make sure to check those out! Write ups on those costumes to come soon!

 

A Lesson in Layers

We often say that it’s important to build your costume in layers- to break down your costume into more manageable pieces to sew or build. Here is an example of how we did that for Jayce!

Jayce, from League of Legends

Jayce, from League of Legends

Here’s Jayce, he’s a pretty cool guy, but he’s got a lot going on. He’s got knee armor, gloves, greaves, a coat, some chest…thing? and this collar that stands up in a way collars really shouldn’t. I’d show you my terrible drawings breaking it down, but I’m not sure you’d be able to really make heads or tails of them, so here’s how we broke down the costume into layers, and the order we put them on!

2013-03-01 14.38.05We started out with a long sleeve under armor shirt, the pants (with a belt holding them up, the belt secured in the back), the shoes, and the shoulder armor strapping.

2013-03-01 14.38.11The strapping was inspired by a side gun holster- front and back both clip on to another strap coming from each side of the shoulder, and the shoulder is held on and supported by the strap going around his arm, and down to his belt.

2013-03-01 14.38.52Next, the coat!

2013-03-01 14.39.46Then the chest armor. These pieces are all glued together but were originally three separate pieces. It’s held on by a strap that goes around his neck, like some weird awesome medallion. The straps on the side are purely cosmetic.

2013-03-01 14.43.48Then the greaves and knee armor! These are held on by snap clips and straps that run around the back of his leg. The armor on the shoes are from worbla and glued on there.

2013-03-01 14.45.39After that, the collar. The front part is tucked in behind the chest piece.

2013-03-01 14.50.37Lastly, the finishing touches! Gloves, bracer, and both shoulder armors are strapped on and ready to go.

 

We’ll probably have a nice tutorial up at some point on the mace and costume, but this post was to demonstrate the importance of layers!

 

Blizzcon 2013 Announced!

Just in case you’re living under a rock (or just haven’t been on the internet lately), Blizzcon 2013 dates were announced today! It will be at the Anaheim Convention Center on November 8-9. This year, Mario and I will once again be making costumes!

blizzcon2013My plan is Auriel, angel of Hope, and Mario is still hoping to truck along with Fel Reaver! More updates on those when we get them going.

In other news, we have been crazy busy with school and costumes for Emerald City Comic Con, March 1-3. We don’t have much longer to work on them, so we’ve been working on them constantly! Mario is working on Jayce, from League of Legends:

jaycecloseWhile I am working on Cassandra, from Soul Calibur IV.

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We have been uploading countless photos onto our Facebook page of our progress (if you don’t like it yet, the like button is on the right side of the page!) but here are a few photos for the blog!

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That’s all for now, we’re sorry for being terrible with our podcast schedule but these costumes are pretty demanding lately. We hope to have a new episode up after the con!

 

 

 

Video Tutorials: Fiberglass Sword Blank, and Shaping a Fiberglass Sword Blank

Just in case you guys are new or don’t watch us on Facebook, Mario and I have put up a few new video tutorials on our Youtube channel. We will be posting a few more: how to make a scabbard, and how to finish the sword. I have also posted a few videos on face and body painting! You can see these below, or go to our Youtube page to check out all of our videos!

Podcast! Starting Commissions, and Wonderflex!

Here is our fourth podcast! We are sorry for the delay, we had guests in town.

Photo by Tony Hsu

Click here to listen!

Links mentioned:

New Orleans Comic Con

God Save The Queen Fashions notes on Commissioning 

Volpin’s Wonderflex Tutorial

Silence Drowns Craftmanship Contest Tips 

Neil Gaiman on Cosplay

Music by NoppZ (at OverClocked ReMix)

Thanks for listening!

 

Remember to check iTunes, the podcast should be up on there shortly!