Video of the Week #25

Round-up of seven cosplay videos from four August 2013 conventions.

Cosplay week 34.4

Cosplay By:  Neon Puppets
Cosplay of: Alice in Wonderland's White Rabbit
Photo By:  Izzie
Location: England

Cosplay week 34.3

Cosplay By:  Illyne
Cosplay of: DC Comic's Wonder Woman
Photo By:  Shudan Pictures
Location: Japan Expo (Paris)

11

Cosplay Week 34.2

Cosplay By:  Vavalika
Cosplay of: Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt's Scanty
Photo By:  Marianna Orlova
Location: Moscow, Russia

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Cosplay Week 34.1

Cosplay By:  Gerard-Uchila and BeltUKl of Infinite Soul Cosplay
Cosplay of: The Last of Us' Joel and Elie
Location: Spain

Cosplay Interview #3

Bill Doran

Home: Seattle, WA, USA
Age: 31

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CosWeek: What kinds of stuff do you Cosplay?
Doran: I usually cosplay things from video games. I've done stuff from Dragon Age, Team Fortress, and Mass Effect.


CosWeek: When did you start Cosplaying?
Doran: I started back in 2009 when some friends and I decided to go to PAX as the blue team from Team Fortress 2.

CosWeek: What got you started?
Doran: I've always been into costuming; I used to go to renaissance faires frequently as a kid. I got into it more recently as a fun thing to do with my friends and I very much enjoy the craft.

CosWeek: Why the prop-making business?
Doran: I started taking commissions on a whim as people from the internet started asking me to make things for them. Before I knew it, I had more commissions than I had time to finish, so I quit my job to build props full time.

CosWeek: What kind of props do you make?
Doran: I tend to go for weapons from video games.

CosWeek: What is the wildest thing you've been asked to make?
Doran: I haven't actually had too many outlandish requests yet. Some things that I find a little weird is when someone will ask me to make a prop of a real gun that was used in a TV show or movie. Something that is already available to buy, either as a functional firearm or an Airsoft gun. I prefer to make things from scratch don't exist in the real world yet.

CosWeek: So why is your commission store closed for 2013?
Doran: My commission schedule for the entire year filled up just a couple of months in, plus I ran a Kickstarter campaign. I'll be spending 2-3 months fulfilling the rewards from that here soon. Since I'm a one man operation, I decided to close my commissions for now, since sorting through those emails was eating up a lot of valuable crafting time.

CosWeek: Tell us a little about your Kickstarter Project.
Doran: I tried out something new by designing my own prop space gun and running a Kickstarter to get the funds for the tools and materials to make a whole bunch of them! It was a resounding success and I will be making many of them in the coming months.

CosWeek: How many of the gun kits did you sell?
Doran: About 130.

CosWeek: What was the gun kit named?
Doran: The gun line will be called the "Dracogen STV-1". An absolutely amazing and generous man named Steve Dengler backed my project at the highest level, earning him the reward of naming the gun line. He chose to name it after his extraordinary investment company over at dracogen.com. I couldn't be happier.

CosWeek: Would you do a Kickstarter again?
Doran: I most certainly would!

CosWeek: What are you wearing to this years cons?
Doran: The big one right now is Dragon*Con in less than a month. My wife and I are working on something really rad, but we're keeping it a surprise! I'm also going to BlizzCon, so I think I might do a Ghost costume for that one.

CosWeek: Which Con do you consider your "HOME" con?
Doran: It's gotta be Dragon*Con. That's my favorite and I get to hang out with all of my very best costuming buddies!

Cosplay Week 33.3

Cosplay By:  2voo, Dido, Miyo and Ara
Cosplay of: Atack on Titan's Eren, Mikasa, Levi and Armin
Photo By:  Amaranth
Location: South Korea

8,8,8,9

Cosplay Week 33.2

Cosplay By:  Rei Doll
Cosplay of: DC Comic's Catwoman
Photo By:  Kifir
Location: Russia

11

Cosplay Week 33.1

Cosplay By:  Yaya Han
Cosplay of: Marvel's Phoenix Force
Photo By:  Patrick Calilung
Location: San Diego Comic Con

15

Video of the Week #24

Five videos from Anime Expo in LA

Cosplay week 32.3

Cosplay By:  Matt Elliott
Cosplay of: Doctor Who's Eleventh Doctor
Photo By:  Erik Tande
Location: Denver, CO

Cosplay Week 32.2

Cosplay By:  Caity Bair & Nikki B
Cosplay of: Macross Frontier's Ranka Lee & Sheryl Nome
Photo By:  Jei Arsenault
Location: UBC, Vancouver, Canada

8/14

Cosplay Week 32.1

Cosplay By:  NanjoKoji & Ravenic
Cosplay of: Viewfinder's Asami Ryuichi & Takaba Akihito
Location: Germany

Video of the Week #23

Cosplay Week 31.3

Cosplay By:  Kyra, Ryan, Lynette Grandmaison
Cosplay of: Doctor Who's The Master, The Doctor and Rose Tyler
Photo By:  Don McCaskill
Location: Cosplay Day 1

5/11

Cosplay Week 31.2

Cosplay By:  Sarah-Jane
Cosplay of: Homestuck's Kanaya Maryam
Photo By:  Don McCaskill
Location: Cosplay Day

9

Cosplay Week 31.1

Cosplay By:  Trekkie Chick
Cosplay of: Black Butler's Grell Sutcliff
Photo & Edits By:  Don McCaskill
Location: Cosplay Day 1

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Video of the Week #22

This is a fantastic addition to my article on Cosplay Photography Rules. Bill Doran of Punished Props has the right idea when it comes to the state of our art. By our art, I mean Cosplay.

Cosplay is about enjoyment, personal fulfillment and creativity. I photograph for those very reasons and I encourage anyone that is ever going to take pictures, to find the kind of images they like. For me its people in amazing costumes enacting a character, and me capturing them bringing it to life.

Do what you want in the way you want, so long as it is safe to you and others. Oh, and remember to have a little fun as you...

Freak the Mundanes!