This is Halloween, Everybody Make a Scene!

First off, Happy Halloween Everyone! I hope this day has brought you much fear and happiness!

To really understand me, you have to know I love Halloween; this has always been true. As a child, I did the whole Trick or Treat thing. We also spent each Halloween at my Nana's house, because it was her birthday. This is our first year without her, and it is very different. Although we didn't do anything last year at her home, we still saw her. I miss her, but I know she would want me to live today to the fullest and not be sad on her behalf; she would have wanted me to have fun. So, that is just what I did. 

Ever since around November 1st of last year, I've been planning for Halloween. I wanted this year to be so much fun, and it was, to some extent. At much consideration, I decided I was going to dress up as Stitch, from the hit Disney movie, Lilo and Stitch. This year, I went to the hockey game at school dressed up (Friday). I had so much fun. After, I roamed around our dorm(s) and met people dressed up. On Saturday, I was planning on hitting a party of some kind, but it was cancelled do to the fact we had a mini-blizzard. Most of the state was effected badly and we are still without power in many spots. So, while getting ready, we lost power and I was forced to stay in. However, it was exciting seeing everyone and again, walking around. Plus, I love snow more than anything!

Halloween weekend concluded tonight. Because of the storm, we lost school today, which meant a free day to study and catch up. Tonight, our dining hall was running a costume contest and I entered; I'm hoping to hear tomorrow if I won a prize or not. In addition, I spent most of tonight in costume, even when studying and hanging out. To me, Halloween will always be a chance for me to cosplay. 

So, as I mentioned, I cosplayed/dressed up as Stitch for Halloween. This decision came after I saw a costume someone made online. It looked incredible and I loved the artistic approaches she used. So, I decided (many months ago) I wanted to cosplay Stitch at a convention. Well, as it turned out, people suggested I do him for Halloween and I'm so glad people did. It was awesome cosplaying in October (as I was missing it) and it gave me a lot of practice. I plan on cosplaying it for at least part of a day at Anime Boston 2011. I'm hoping to hit at least 3 more cons next year because I am running out of time to do these things. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off. 

So, onto the costume. Below I'm posting a rough tutorial for how to do it and pictures of me dressed up. I'll try to be a clear as possible. Please comment if you have questions or have something to say...

Materials

• Blue Hooded Sweatshirt
• Blue Jeans/Pants
• Foam Paper (Craft Paper)
• Scissors
• Chalk (White)
• Needle/Thread
• Fabric Glue (Optional)
• Blue Light-weight Gloves
• Acrylic Paint (Dark Blue, Red, White, Blue, Light Blue)
• Fabric Paint (1 darker and 1 lighter than the sweatshirt)
• Patterns for Stitch's Ears (I'll provide these)
• Sharpie
• Compass (Optional) 
• Fabric Strip (Preferred Red)
• Face Paint (Blue and Black)
• Hair Color (Blue)

1. To start, gather all materials. The first step is to prep the sweatshirt. Find an image of stitch that shows the pattern on the front and back. Take the white chalk and outline the pattern on the hooded-sweatshirt. 
2. Once satisfied, begin painting. Use the lighter blue fabric paint on the front. Note that it shouldn't be too much light, only visibly. 
3. Once that is painted, allow about 2 hours to dry and add a second coat or touch it up.
4. When dry, create the back pattern and paint with darker paint. Repeat the previous step.
5. While the sweatshirt is drying, you will make the ears. Taking the pattern I have, create Stitch's ears. For more info on this, visit Stitch's Ears Tutorial on this blog. After they are completed, paint them with the appropriate colors. I mixed Cobalt and a darker blue to get the base and used Scarlet mixed with White to get the pink fleshy part. When they are done, use the needle and thread to stitch them into the hood of the sweatshirt. It is best to lay them out to make sure they are even. Also, make sure they are stitched in well.
6. After the ears are done, it's time to make his name tag. Cut out a circle from the foam paper (I used a compass). Paint the circle red and allow to dry. When dry, write "Stitch". Cut a whole above the words and add the fabric; there should be enough to tie around your neck loosely.
7. The next step is to create the gloves. To do this, take your foam paper (I used blue) and make nails. To do this, I just played around until I go the right size and shape. Once you get your size, cut out enough so there are ten. Now it's time to stitch them into the gloves; to do this, put the nail onto the material and slide the fabric up slightly; the nail base should be covered slightly. Finally, use the needle and thread to stitch them in. I recommend re-stitching and cutting out extras as they will eventually fall out.
8. The last step is to apply the face and hair makeup. The goal is to color your eyelids and around the eye (slightly) black. Then, add the blue around the black. The blue should cover your eyebrows and extend over your nose. Also, add black to your nose top for a nose. For your hair, have a friend spray the blue into your hair in quick, light layers. Practice the makeup to get it right and make sure to only apply it after the sweatshirt is on.

In addition, a few tips I have:

• Always allow 20 minutes for makeup. 
• Check ears and nails before use.
• Fabric glue might be as good a sewing.
• Make sure everything fits first.
• Take precautions while painting.
• Open windows when painting. 
• With the hair, protect your clothing and face.
• Only spray your hair in AREAS WITH VENTILATION.
• Take plenty of pictures!

 So that's my Halloween spiel.  I hope everyone had a superb day and is looking forward to next year! I can't wait to cosplay this again soon (157 Days)!

Webcam Shot of Final Product. This picture has emphasis on the makeup.

Stitch Costume!

Stitch's Claws... up close.

Again, make-up close-up.

The finished product as seen at the Hockey Game. This is generally what it should look like.

~Other pictures of mixed cosplay...

Surprised Sora with Stitch Makeup. A interesting Halloween Town variant...?

 

Keyblade master

My absolute favorite picture of myself! I love the happy look on my face!

Hey there!

 

My Life, In a Nutshell

Hello everyone who actually reads my blog.

So ya, it's been a very long time since I've updated this. I haven't exactly gotten used to this who blogging thing just yet, but I'm trying. I feel as though no one I know will be/is interested in what I'm doing here, but whatever; my goal is to spread my creativity and tell my story.

So, as I mentioned, I've been away for a while. School has picked up and I've been busy with a lot of stuff. It seems like everyday I get tied down working on something One day I'm reading and watching about a New Guinean culture, the next I'm converting DNA to RNA and creating protein chains; my academic life is "interesting" to say the least.

Since returning to Umass, most of my time has been devoted to studying and working hard. I've got a heavy course-load, so life gets pretty complicated. However, I did get to have a few fun times. For instance, my friend Paige came to visit for a weekend, and it was amazing. I miss her so much when I'm here and it was nice to see her. In addition, I've caught up with some really great friends, learned that I love How I Met Your Mother, etc.

In addition to the fun stuff, I've also moved forward academically. I finally managed to get my classes down about two days before the end of add/drop. I'm happy with what I've got, although some days the work is daunting. I have to say, my Genetics class has made a complete 180. At first, I was intimidated by the age and knowledge differences, but now I'm doing the work with a group and understanding so well that people ask me for explanations. It's a great feeling.

As far as myself overall, I'm doing well. I've managed to beat the sickness that is going around... I just hope I can keep it up. Unfortunately, I had an accident last Wednesday on my scooter. I was in the street and I hit some trash that wasn't supposed to be there. Needless to say, I flipped over the handle-bars and slid on the asphalt for about two feet. I'm alright, nothing broken. However, I've got some bad road-rash and scrapes on my left and right knees. In addition, I peeled off about four layers of skin on my left hand; good times. I'm, at least, not discouraged; I plan riding again next week when I'm more healed.

With my art, things haven't been going so great. I did about twenty sketches this summer, based on manga I was reading, and they all came out pretty decent; I actually will upload them sometime in the near future. Since then, I haven't worked on much. I managed to move forward on my Wayfinder, but it didn't come out as good as my Stitch one. I also have been working on my new Keyblade, which looks decent. Other than a little bit of work here and there, I haven't gotten much done. My goal is to bring some art stuff home this weekend to work on; I really enjoyed being creative this summer and I really want to get back into it. In addition to the Wayfinder and Keyblade, I'm working on my Stitch and Riku cosplays; I've got the latter one about half way done, I just need to get a white vest, a black zip-up sleeveless shirt, and a pair of jeans. After that, it's just the wig and keyblade. As for Stitch, I have all the ideas, I just need to make it snowball.

On the subject of cosplay, it seems like the convention season is dying down. I was desperately hoping to go to Another Anime Convention in New Hampshire next weekend, but the plans didn't work out. After that, there are no more plans until Anime Boston. I'm getting kind of excited for it, although I do wish I could get to more than one each year. I've wanted to hit a few more over the season, but it just doesn't seem to work out. I'm hoping 2012 brings a big year for travel.

So that's my life, in a nutshell. I am working hard academically, desperately wish I could get some more time for crafts, and wish I could cosplay more. Being as it's getting to be early in the morning, I'm going to wrap this up. From my warm and cozy bed I can see a sheet of paper and a pencil... I kind of feel the need right now to sketch for a little while, help me spark my creativity again.