Anime North pics and a dressform question

[ladyofthethread]

“Please, follow me. I have just the pet for you, right behind this door…”


So, here are the rest of my brother’s photos from Anime North. I love this photo of Count D, taken by the Chinese paneling in the basement. *_* I look appropriately pale for D, the door looks like one you could find in the back of his shop, and I seem to be beckoning some unsuspecting customer off-camera to their doom. The shadowy corner in the upper left adds a touch of creepiness, too.

I did Photoshop out a door in this pic because it was distracting (my brother didn’t want to do it because a friend had borrowed his tablet). It was painted to match the wall but the doorknob (which did not match) was right behind my arm. That’s why there’s a break in the wooden trim running along the base of the wall. ^_^;



There was a padlock on this set of doors which hikaruchan said we should try to hide by standing in front of it. It still showed up in a couple of pictures though so I got rid of it in Photoshop. XD;






It’s weird to see Count D’s claws on Renrin…


We went outside for a few pictures, too. A bit windy but I guess it worked.


Why do I feel like there should be sparkles floating above my right hand?


Nope, the background on this isn’t cg. :-D After we split up, my brother said he wanted to try some photos with the lights on the wall near the hotel ballroom and that was how they came out from a distance.


“Hmm… What’s this?” Most of the kirin probably don’t see much modern technology… *laugh*


Okay, on to Terra pics. I have a mask because it was a prop for my masquerade walk-on. Hikaruchan posted a video of it on youTube if anyone cares to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJpUnoj-k80 My talents are definitely in the sewing department rather than the performing department. ^_^;; The Best of Show Dynasty Warriors group is in that clip, too, as the last entry. Turns out I was actually the fourth to last entry; not sure why I kept thinking I was third to last.



It was a few hours after the masquerade and around 11PM so I think I was just tired and not very smiley by this point. ^_^;



This was the only full length picture my brother got and unfortunately, my left arm blends into the side of my dress, making me look fat. >_< I kind of wish now that I’d done some kind of corset top for this costume because I’ve noticed that the scarves make the dress bunch a bit and look lumpy around the waist. -_-;






And a few pics of an amnesiac Count D. *laugh*



I was sort of thinking of the mirror image pic from the beginning of the chapter with D’s sister but I don’t think this turned out very interesting. ^_^;;





D discovers a new animal? :-D


“Will you help me find my memory?” Silly Tsubasa crossover since Count D had amnesia when he wore this outfit. XD Have to see if I can do something about those stray strands of hair in my face in these last two pics because they make it look like my mascara ran or something.




And a question if anyone here is familiar with adjustable dressforms… I ordered a Singer dressform from JoAnn’s and it was delivered yesterday. I didn’t have any problems getting it assembled but when I was trying to set it to my measurements, there were several times when a dial would go snap and jump back down to a smaller measurement.

So, I’m wondering, is that normal O_o; or do these things just not work well with bigger differences between measurements since my measurements don’t all match up to one standard pattern size? (I was trying to set 38” for the bust and hips and 27.5” for the waist.) We always had the solid, non-adjustable forms when I took classes at Parsons so I’ve never worked with an adjustable one before. If anyone knows a way to avoid the form snapping back to smaller measurements on its own or has other tips for working with these forms, suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. ^_^

Comments

[rukawagf.livejournal.com]

wow the setting is rally nice. especially first few pics XD I like that ancient door, so useful!

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks. And yes, those old doors were useful! :-D

[tyrus.livejournal.com]

Nice pics.

And good job in photoshop! I wouldn't have known there was a door there by the wall. You could probably copy the bottom trim piece to a new level, move it and scale it. And then you'd never know.

I really like the focusing on the first Terra pic, and the composition on the second wide balcony pic with the chandelier on the right.

For the mirror image, try a square crop to see if that makes it more interesting. Cut out the table and distracting people to the right. You might even crop in tight and cut a bit of your shoulder. You might want to clone out the little yellow shirted person by your sleeve too :)

I wish there were doorways like that at ANext :(

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestions. :-) I had wondered if I could fill in that break in the wood trim but my Photoshop knowledge is really limited and I figured it might be a bit too complex for me. ^_^; (I usually leave the photo editing to my brother and mostly just do basic things like resizing or brightening on photos off my own camera.) The door turned out to be relatively simple to remove since I only needed to get rid of the outline and the knob; the uneven paint job on the wall probably help hide it, too. Maybe, I can experiment with filling in the trim when I have time. ^_^

Yeah, I wish there were doors like that at cons around here, too. I tend to do a lot of Chinese style designs and never have appropriate settings to use locally for photos. :-(

[neoangelwink.livejournal.com]

so prettty the new d outfit came out great ^_^

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks! ^_^

[novaraven.livejournal.com]

my dress form is the adjustable kind and yes it's very difficult to set new sizes, it does like to slip back alot. I just keep whacking it till it works ^^; If you want you can tie a string around the waist part to keep some tension on it. I did that once to make sure when I was doing a 24" corset thingy.

All your pics turned out so beautifully! I especially luv the renrin ones that are outside. Your wig looks all flowey and perfect!

The ones of your new D outfit are just too cute. I wish I had worn a D on that day too for you. We really must coordinate our D's better next time we're at the same con. ^^

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Hmm… Okay. Not sure if the string would help in my case since I seem to be having a bit of trouble getting the form to expand to my measurements and stay open. The problem seemed to be mostly with dials for the bust measurement which made me wonder if the form just has a problem holding hourglass shapes since the bust area would have to open much more than the waist. ^_^;;

Thank you. ^_^ The Renrin pics from outside did turn out nicely. The wind actually helped this time!

Yeah, it would be nice to coordinate better but the distance to the hotel kind of threw my costume schedule off. ^_^; I ended up not getting to wear some things as much as I hoped and not having a chance to wear the new outfit until Sunday. It would have been nice if I had been able to fit it in on Friday, too, since I remembered you telling me you already had the Hellsing group planned for Sunday. Plus, the masquerade basically ate most of my Saturday.

Hmm… Next time we’re at the same con… *thinks* Other than AnimeNext in a few weeks, I should just be staying local for the rest of the year. (I’m kind of ready for a break, too, after having 3 big cons within 2 1/2 months of each other. ^_^;;) For next year, I’d attend AnimeNext as usual and would like to go to Anime Boston again but otherwise, I’m not sure yet. It’s too bad we live so far away; I won’t fly and 10 hours each way is too much of a trip to do all the time. :-( I think that Anime Boston in 2009 is tentatively scheduled for Memorial Day weekend though so unless that changes, I definitely wouldn’t be making Anime North that year. (Their dates seem to keep bouncing throughout the spring. Last year, they were Memorial Day weekend; this year, they were a bit after mid-April; and next year, they’re at the end of March.)

[novaraven.livejournal.com]

AN is getting far too spread out to make costume changes convenient. That's why I've taken to only doing one costume a day at that con. At other cons I usually change for the evening but I rarely bother at AN. If I get all the way back to my hotel room it's to sleep. But the renaissance is the better of the hotels for price and room size so I guess it balances out.

I didn't even get to a single panel and I missed watching the masquerade because the trinity blood photoshoot went so long and then I had to get back to the hotel and help people change so they weren't overheating. That corset nearly had my sister passing out under all the hot photo area lights. If it weren't for going back so early in the afternoon I never would have had time for my dragon robe at all.

Boston is one of the american cons I'm most interested in. I'd skip AN for it just for the chnace to travel. I don't think I could handel otakon or any of the other bigger American ones. And Boston has a few nice museums I'd like to stay the rest of the week and see. The main problem is the timing for that one. I'd have to take the greyhound all on my own to get there. Most of my cosplay friends would rather save money and got to AN instead.

We'll have to see how things work out, and pack costumes accordingly. ^^;

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Anime North does seem rather spread out in terms of hotels but I guess that’s somewhat necessary when a con gets to be that size. The walk to the con center at Otakon last year wasn’t as bad but hiking across the convention center more than made up for it. I did not like that set up. -_-;

One of the nice things about Anime Boston was that everything was connected. The con hotel this year was a huge Sheraton which was connected to a mall and the entrance to the con center was in the mall, right next to the hotel. The mall also connected to a Marriott at the other end and a second mall. So, you never really had to go outside. They’re supposed to be using the Marriott just for next year (I guess the Sheraton wasn’t available then) so it’d be a longer walk then but it’s still indoors which is good because it’ll probably still be cold out in late March. There aren't as many little things but they have a nice set of cosplay events, too. ^_^

AB is my favorite so far of the larger cons I’ve attended. I didn’t like Otakon much because it was so massive, hotels were very expensive, and there was really very little programming I was interested in for a con that large. That’s why I decided to try Boston and Anime North this year rather than going back.

But, yeah, it would probably be more difficult and expensive to get to for you. :-/ I assume with the late March timing for next year, your friends might still have classes and not be able to travel then? A hotel room for this year at con rates came out to about $200 a night after taxes, which is a good bit more than the hotels at Anime North. And there’s bus fare on top of that, which I’d guess is at least another $100. You’d definitely need to save up if you wanted to attend AB instead of AN. ^_^;;

[novaraven.livejournal.com]

sadly, my sister says she's not coming to AN next year. Her boyfriend would rather go on a trip to BC instead. That leaves my cosplay group down by two people and my own boyfriend is trying to get out of cosplaying too. An is getting very old for me. I think I will save up for Boston and maybe be brave and go to Otakon as well.

I'll have to tone down my cosplaying and just do pair costumes for myself and a partner. Things like Genju no seiza and Twelve kingdoms seem easy to pack since they don't have huge hoop skirts or massive props or armor. And they're happy bright colours with an exotic feel to them. I think I'll be alright even on my own. ^^;

I hate that I don't have a cosplay group for next year, but people have other things planned already. It's so hard to find reliable cosplayers who will actualy show up and be part of a group. We always start out with about ten people and end up with around half who actually get their costumes done on time. ><

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Aww, that’s too bad that everyone seems to be dropping out of your group for next year. :-( That must be frustrating. -_-

It would be great if you could manage to make it to Anime Boston though. And if you had a Twelve Kingdoms costume done by then, I’d definitely bring one of mine so we could have a pair. ^_^ (although it probably would be a very random pair since both of mine are minor characters that don’t connect much to many others ^_^;;)

Let’s see… *checks AB website* The dates for next year are March 21-23 so that would give you about 9 months to save up for it. I think hotel info usually doesn’t go up until the fall but if it’s about the same as this year, a room would be around $200 a night. Hmm… I wonder if I could talk my parents into letting you room with me and split costs if you’re able to come. They’re rather paranoid about these kinds of things. ^_^; A couple of my brother’s friends go to AnimeNext with us and room with us there but they didn’t have the money to go to Boston so my brother and I had a room to ourselves that con.

[novaraven.livejournal.com]

I am going to ask around and see if anyone else from my area will go with me so we can split costs. It's a bad time of year because people are thinking about Anime North and it's far cheaper to go to.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Okay, I hope you can manage to find some that would consider it. It is true that it'd be much more expensive to go to than Anime North because of bus fare on top of hotel costs. :-/

Unlike AN, AB gets started late Friday morning or early afternoon. And with the long trip from Canada, you'd probably want to arrive the day before and book at least 3 nights at the hotel. I don't know if anyone would be up to jumping into a con immediately after a 10+ hour bus ride!

[gothic-lolita.livejournal.com]

Sparkles, you say? Behold my 3-minute Photo-chop! XD

(Eh, it looks better in PS, somehow...)
As for the dressform, maybe you can wedge something into the "cracks" in it so it doesn't spring back? I have never worked with one so I have no idea how it works.

[gothic-lolita.livejournal.com]

Redid the effect with pre-made sparkles from Paint Shop Pro, looks much better IMO :p

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

LOL

Hmm... I suppose that's an idea although it might be a problem to have things sticking out of the cracks when I'm working on something fitted. Guess I have to see if I can find some way to make this work and if not, send it back.

[thimbles.livejournal.com]

The photographs turned out fantastically! What awesome scenery for a backdrop too (especially the doors). I love the mask you used with the Terra costume.

Good luck getting your dressform to work!

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :-) The mask matched up pretty well, considering I just bought it at a costume shop. I'm lucky that red and gold seemed to be one of the more popular color combinations for ready made masks.

[heartxofxlilith.livejournal.com]

Oooooooh These photos are SO gorgeous!! You are amazing as always :3

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks. ^_^