Photoshoot: Genderbent Makoto from Free!

How's it going, everyone?

Summer is going by way too fast, if you ask me.  I'd love to be able to hit the lake at least once or twice before fall arrives; I will have to think of a way to make that happen.  Maybe a pool would be better.  Growing up, my summers from the time I could walk were spent taking swimming lessons at the local pool.  As a result, I have a strong love of swimming.  I swam competitively in high school for a couple years, but the atmosphere just wasn't right for me, but I still love to lap swim for exercise and for fun!

Maybe now you can imagine my excitement when a swimming anime was started airing last summer-- Free! After years of having only basketball, football, soccer, tennis anime and manga to read, I was overjoyed when they announced the swimming anime!  Call me a fangirl or whatever, but I am totally obsessed.  I love all the characters, but Makoto is the one I can relate to the most, despite my love for the water.  So what do I do when I love a character in a series? Cosplay them, of course!

Now, if you have seen glimpses of the anime at all, you probably are wondering how I would cosplay a tall, muscular dude.  That, my friends, is where I took the creative liberty of "genderbending."  In all honesty, this was totally a closet cosplay.  My current training suit is green and black, I had green contacts laying around,  I have an adorable orca stuffed animal for the "official animal," plus some green track pants and flip-flops and I was set!

Ideally, my hair could have had a little more of a green tinge, but considering I haven't spent much time in the chlorine lately, I settled for my natural blonde hair.  But paired with some cute bangs and a green ribbon, it turned out pretty good!

All in all, this was so easy and fun to do.  Normally I spend a ton of time planning cosplays and photo shoots, but this one fell together so spontaneously that it was a weird feeling to me!  My husband was kind enough to humor me for the impromptu photo shoot last weekend,  and we had so much fun at the little lake we went to, but the water was way too frigid for any decent swimming. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Heading to KuroNekoCon this weekend in Spokane! Super excited to visit this con again.
Until next time,
Alycia

Winry Photoshoot!

Hi there!

I hope everyone's summer is going well.  I can't believe we are more than half-way through July already.  Luckily, I've been able to have some good times with friends and family, and it seems like weekends fill up with plans quickly!  Work has been hectic, but that is a pretty common complaint I have.  Had a nice, long weekend due to the Fourth of July, however, so I knew I had to spend some of that extra time to do a photo shoot with my Winry cosplay!

Winry is a cosplay I completed for my very first Sakura-Con I attended in 2010.  The overalls were my mom's old work overalls from the farm we lived on, and were white, so I dyed them a light purple.  The handkerchief I wear is also from mom.  I purchased the black tube top, and found the sandals at a thrift store.  The wrench I carry around is one of my dad's.  So in short, its a very meaningful cosplay to me.  Additionally, Fullmetal Alchemist is still one of my favorite anime/mangas to this day, and who couldn't love Winry??  I think she is a great character.  

Back to present day, I realized I didn't have any photos of my Winry cosplay that weren't taken at Sakura-Con, and there is either someone or something in the background, or I have an incredibly derpy face.  So I dug it out of my closet, dragged Brenton down to my parents house, and we took some photos!  More specifically, we took photos at my dad's garage, where there are all sorts of cars, parts, and miscellany hanging around for photo shoot fun! Despite the heat, we had a lot of fun, and here are the best of the best!

I think it was obligatory we get some photos with an old Volkswagen body outside my dad's garage.  That old part I found? Yeah, I have no clue, it was just sitting there, begging to be puzzled over.  I have a feeling Winry would be able to figure it out, oops! Haha! And of course I found a kitty to cuddle! That's Toby, a stray who adopted my family.  He is no Den, but he was kind enough to allow photos.  

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret now, I have one more photo that isn't here that is my favorite of the whole day.  Instead, I'm going to post it exclusively on my deviantART account.  Just to clarify, I have no intention of abandoning this blog, but it is just nice to offer diversity once in while! So if you are interested in checking it out (which you totally should be), here is a link: deviantART.  I only have a couple galleries up right now, so if you are a frequent reader of my blog you should be familiar with most of the photos.  But it is nice to have them in one place rather than search back through old blog posts.  

KuroNekoCon in Spokane is only a couple weeks away now! I've preregistered and reserved hotel rooms, and am very excited to be attending this con for the second time!  I'll be in my Winry cosplay there, can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Alycia 

Update: Oops, June flew by!

Hello, friends and family of the interwebs!

Wow, June sure passed in a hurry!  It feels like I blinked and it passed.  I know I crammed a lot of stuff into June, like visiting family for a week, spending time with friends and coworkers, and making time for myself and my husband.  It also possible I may have rediscovered Magic: The Gathering, and have spent a great majority of the past two weeks collecting cards and playing games, but I will plead the fifth on that matter, haha! That all said, I really enjoyed myself through all of it, and I feel more rejuvenated for it!

I haven't been totally slacking off; I just haven't been broadcasting it in my blog, oops! So instead of rambling on, I'm gonna make a list of things I've been up to, and ideas floating through my mind.

1) Made a deviantART account for Heart and Soul Cosplay.  For those who don't know, deviantART is an online community for any sort of artist.  I like how accessible and easy to navigate their gallery layout is, compared to Blogspot for example, hence the duplicity.  I only have one gallery up right now, of my Erza cosplay, but I will definitely add more.  Here is a cute little link to take you to the Heart and Soul Cosplay profile:  http://heartandsoulcosplay.deviantart.com/

2) Pre-registered to go to KuroNekoCon in Spokane!  This is "Spokane's Premier Anime Event."  I also attended last year and had a great time, so am really looking forward to going again.  And while I've started a new cosplay (more on that later,) this con is only a month away and I don't think it is feasible for me to be able to finish a brand new cosplay in that time frame.  I think for this year, I will wear my Winry cosplay again.  It's fun, its easy to wear, and I still loooove Winry and Fullmetal Alchemist so I think I have made a good choice.

3) Did a proper photoshoot with my Winry cosplay! I will make a post with the photos soon; Brenton captured some good ones!  All my photos of Winry before have been from Sakura-Con and were rushed photos, so it was great to take our time getting some photos in.

4)  I think I may have said this before, but my next cosplay is going to be Kiichi from Karneval.  See the Google search results here: click! The manga and anime for Karneval are super pretty, and I'm excited to cosplay Kiichi because I think she is a fun character, and the cosplay will be a new challenge for me.  Plus I've always wanted to cosplay a character with a scythe, and have blue hair, so this all just lined up!  In fact, tonight I dyed the fabric to start making her dress, and getting that done was the only thing impeding my progress before, so I should be able to move pretty quickly now.  Yay!

5) I've been brainstorming and planning out an original costume/cosplay design.  I'm trying to keep it all a bit of a secret, because I might start selling some of the props I make for it in a store, but the designs I've been drawing out are pretty awesome and I am incredibly excited.  I want to drop a hint for you guys, but then I might spoil it! So we will see how long my self control lasts, hahaha!

6) Been seriously thinking about making a Facebook page for Heart and Soul Cosplay.  Right now, I only put the updates on my personal Facebook, but I feel like I'm spamming all my friends and family on there too much.  I mean, cosplay is what I'm passionate about and thats what excites me and makes me want to post something on Facebook, so maybe I should create a separate Facebook page for it?  Would anyone reading this want to like my Facebook page? Do you think I should go for it? I would really love to hear from everyone on this, so feel free to comment below, or tweet at me or email me.

Anyways, I think that is all I have to say for now.  Sorry there are no pictures this time, but I will have more pictures to post soon.  If you made it this far, thanks so much for taking the time to read this.  I would also super appreciate any input on making a Facebook page, so don't be afraid to tell me what you think!  I hope everyone has an awesome week, and please keep an eye out for more updates!

Sincerely,
Alycia
@whimsyAly
heartandsoulcosplay@gmail.com