Kigurumi Beginner Guide

Something has been on my mind lately. I noticed that there's a lot of resources on how to make Kigurumi masks out there, specifically technical instructions like, what clays to use, how to create a negative mold, how to use fiberglass, things like that. What I don't see often, however, is HOW to make an anime-style face that looks good, and looks like the character you've chosen. I'm not the most knowledgeable person in the world, and there's probably many people a lot more qualified for this than me, but I do know a thing or two about anime style, so I'll give it a go.

This is going to be a "How To" for beginners wanting to make their first kigurumi mask, and who want to base it off of an existing anime, game, or manga character. If you're going to make an original character, I'm sure some of these tips can help too.

Anyway, let's start at the very beginning.

Quick Update

Ah, it's been a while.
Have a video, too lazy to upload photos!


It's Iris in her (almost) full outfit, and my friend Ashley!

My next post is gonna be a doozy, though.

Knapcon 2012 / Sakura Matsuri

Picture by Cody Nakamura

Hey there, finally getting to updating this thing.

Towards the middle of April, Jovina held her usual spring meetup, but this time under the name "Knapcon" (Kigurumi North American Perfomers Con) in the hopes to transform the get-together into a real convention! About 10 showed up, which is pretty good, all things considered. The event was in-line with the DC Sakura Matsuri, and is where we did our performing. It was a ton of fun! Meeting and chatting with everyone was also a real treat, they were all friendly and helpful and a lot of fun. I hope to go again next year, and maybe see some new faces! I think it'd be an amazing event if more and more people continue to go.

Don't have much more to say than that, we kigged in "shifts", and I got dressed up in the early afternoon, and manned a camera or enjoyed the festival otherwise. MJ and Setphanie were so helpful with my kimono.

I'd say the top photo is the best photo of me.. the rest aren't as flattering haha.

We took so many photos with people, it was crazy.

The morning shift! Stephanie, Cody, MJC, and Nerupo

We spent a lot of time at the photobooth.

I also found quite a few cosplays!

I got some sweet Anpanman masks :3c
There's also super cool picture of Iris over at FestivalDC.com! (4/50)

I only posted a small portion of the full report, you can see just about all of the photos over at Jovina's website.

That's all for now!

Anime Milwaukee 2

Another set of lovely photos from AMKE!
Taken by Chase Wirth, they look super awesome! Thank you again!







I think I definitely want to go to Anime Central.

Anime Milwaukee

Went to Anime Milwaukee on a complete whim last weekend!

The bodysuit I got didn't fit, so I wasn't planning on going to any cons... but I decided the very night before to try my hand at tailoring the thing, since it couldn't be any worse off than it was, anyway. Did a pretty bang-up job, I think! I'm gonna replace it eventually, but it's nice to actually have a zentai now, quality of the stitching aside. So yeah, I threw on a school uniform I had lying around, and headed to the con! I forgot to bring my good shows though, bleh.

My camera's battery is completely dead and useless, so I couldn't get any pics myself. However, I did find a couple online after the con, and something cooler too!


Proof I need to pose in front of the mirror more often. Big thanks to a fellow con-goer for uploading this one, nabbed it from a youtube slideshow.



This awesome picture comes from this guy's gallery. Lots of photos of the other cosplays at the con.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif



I show up in this video at 0:55


And finally, I got filmed by the Nostalgia Critic while he was walking around with a video camera, and show up for a second around 0:27!
http://blip.tv/nostalgiacritic/nostalgia-critic-ponyo-5974334

As for now, I've finally gotten hired, so I'm working on getting Iris's actual costume and all that jazz.

I'm not dead!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, still getting a lot of things figured out.
Life seems to be going in a pretty good direction right now, so expect things soon!