youraveragenerdstudio

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Simple DIY Black Canary - Justice League Unlimited

I am a firm believer that if you want to have a costume of something you don't have to make everything yourself. Often times you can find what you need at a better cost to you (when factoring in time and money). 

Black Canary in the DC universe tends to have a pretty classic look. Her Justice League Unlimited (JLU) tv show version is not a big departure from her comics design. 

I wrote a tutorial putting this entire costume together for Halloween Costume Supercenter. If you are looking for a quick costume of a badass lady this one will definitely fill your needs. You can see the full tutorial here.

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omg omg OMG!! I lied. I didn't know what was in here!! At the @goldbubbleclothing launch I bought a pair of #eva leggings. there was a color problem in the print run and they had told me they would send a new pair. I TOTALLY forgot about the replacement pair until I saw them with my latest order from #thelastunicorn line. They are #BEAUTIFUL and honestly the fact they remembered and kept track of the replacement like this after many many months MEANS A LOT. I know a lot of people get upset that production takes time from this company but they really do care and this RIGHT HERE is a great example of that. #goldbubble #leggings #evangelion #lastunicorn #fashion #awesome #takingcareofbusiness

[youraveragenerdstudio]

Harley Quinn Makeup Test - Costume Supercenter Woochie Vampire Kit

To go along with my review/tutorial on cosplaying Arkham City Harley Quinn from the Batman video games, I am going to share my make up test with you. You can read the review here or view the note I made about it on my Facebook page.

Harley Quinn's character design gives her a lighter complexion for her face instead of the more classic white paint and eye mask look.

I tested out Costume Supercenter's vampire make up kit.

The kit comes with:

Three cream makeups (grey, purple, black)

setting powder

fake blood gel

fangs

latex application sponge

powder puff.

For Harley I used what is pictured to the left. The grey makeup, setting powder and two sponges. 

Admittedly I was concerned the makeup was not going to be white enough but I was very pleasantly surprised!

I have mentioned this before but it is IMPORTANT enough to mention it again. If you have never used a product like this (a makeup that is covering your skin in this case) you need to test it on a small patch of skin to see if you produce an allergic reaction. You DO NOT want to put something all over your face only to realize that your skin does not like it and you break out in a rash or worse. 

THE STEPS

Let's get started! 

Step One FOUNDATION : I prepared my skin by having a clean face. This just means I had previously washed my face (about an hour before, you don't have to do it that far in advance it just worked out that way for me). I then took the Triangle sponge (white) and lightly dabbed some of the grey makeup on it and then used the same light dabbing to sponge the make up on my skin. 

Step Two SETTING: Once my face was fully covered I applied the white setting powder with the larger round sponge. I did this placing the sponge on top of the open powder bottle. Shaking the bottle so that some powder would stick to the sponge. Then, applying the powder to a section of my face at a time. This take a bit of time so take your time and make sure you apply the setting powder to your entire face. 

Step Three MASK IT: AC Harley does not have a traditional mask. Instead she has some heavy eye make up. for this I used my own makeup. First I applied some eye shadow to cover my entire lid. I then focused on my top eye lids and creating a wing at the lid corner with a small eye shadow brush for greater control. I used an eye liner pencil to line my lower eye lid and thickened the line with eye shadow again. 

Step Four SELFIE: Like a real professional it's time to put on the wig and take a couple of selfies to see just how the test came out. I think it's pretty great for a first time test! 

VERDICT

I was very pleasantly surprised with the make up kit and think it does a GREAT job for this version of Harley. It the grey makeup photographs very well even though it looks light in person. I recommend this kit to anyone who is looking for something similar and doesn't want or need the stark white face paint of other SFX kits. 

[youraveragenerdstudio]

Harley Quinn Makeup Test - Costume Supercenter Woochie Vampire Kit

To go along with my review/tutorial on cosplaying Arkham City Harley Quinn from the Batman video games, I am going to share my make up test with you. You can read the review here or view the note I made about it on my Facebook page.

Harley Quinn's character design gives her a lighter complexion for her face instead of the more classic white paint and eye mask look.

I tested out Costume Supercenter's vampire make up kit.

The kit comes with:

Three cream makeups (grey, purple, black)

setting powder

fake blood gel

fangs

latex application sponge

powder puff.

For Harley I used what is pictured to the left. The grey makeup, setting powder and two sponges. 

Admittedly I was concerned the makeup was not going to be white enough but I was very pleasantly surprised!

I have mentioned this before but it is IMPORTANT enough to mention it again. If you have never used a product like this (a makeup that is covering your skin in this case) you need to test it on a small patch of skin to see if you produce an allergic reaction. You DO NOT want to put something all over your face only to realize that your skin does not like it and you break out in a rash or worse. 

THE STEPS

Let's get started! 

Step One FOUNDATION : I prepared my skin by having a clean face. This just means I had previously washed my face (about an hour before, you don't have to do it that far in advance it just worked out that way for me). I then took the Triangle sponge (white) and lightly dabbed some of the grey makeup on it and then used the same light dabbing to sponge the make up on my skin. 

Step Two SETTING: Once my face was fully covered I applied the white setting powder with the larger round sponge. I did this placing the sponge on top of the open powder bottle. Shaking the bottle so that some powder would stick to the sponge. Then, applying the powder to a section of my face at a time. This take a bit of time so take your time and make sure you apply the setting powder to your entire face. 

Step Three MASK IT: AC Harley does not have a traditional mask. Instead she has some heavy eye make up. for this I used my own makeup. First I applied some eye shadow to cover my entire lid. I then focused on my top eye lids and creating a wing at the lid corner with a small eye shadow brush for greater control. I used an eye liner pencil to line my lower eye lid and thickened the line with eye shadow again. 

Step Four SELFIE: Like a real professional it's time to put on the wig and take a couple of selfies to see just how the test came out. I think it's pretty great for a first time test! 

VERDICT

I was very pleasantly surprised with the make up kit and think it does a GREAT job for this version of Harley. It the grey makeup photographs very well even though it looks light in person. I recommend this kit to anyone who is looking for something similar and doesn't want or need the stark white face paint of other SFX kits. 

[youraveragenerdstudio]

Everybody Cosplay! This Time Harley Quinn.

Preface

There is really no denying it at this point. Cosplay is becoming more and more popular. Opinions vary on if this is a good or bad thing. My personal thoughts? It doesn't matter! If you want to dress up; do it! Luckily for all you cosplay fanatics out there who are itching to get into the game there are tons of ways to go about it. And I mean tons. 

The internet is a plethora of information for creating, finding, buying and making costumes based on the characters you love (or love to hate even). Many veteran costumers have shared their knowledge and personal trials in cosplay creation.

Now, I know that it can be a very intimidating thing to create something from scratch. Fortunately you don't have to! I am a firm believer that anyone can don a costume, because to me, cosplay is about fun and personal satisfaction. You'll never please yourself if you are running around trying to please everyone else. 

What Am I Even Trying To Say?

The cosplay community has been on my mind in a few ways recently. Just as much as I love making my costumes I want to give back and help other cosplayers too. I've hosted panels for beginner cosplayers before at cons and have also posted different reviews and tutorials around the internet. This time I want to share how I would cosplay if I was not going to sew anything myself.

Buying pre-made costumes from online stores is a great way to start out. 

 Getting Started

One thing I believe is important in cosplay is picking a character you have some type of connection to. Otherwise, I don't particularly see the point in spending the time and money (and I mean $$$$) on creating something you don't really care about. The connection could be anything! Maybe you identify with that character or maybe you wish you had some of their qualities. Maybe, you like their story and just appreciate them for that. 

I have had a long appreciation for Harley Quinn despite the many many iterations of her that show up all over the place. Classic Harley is a dream. I also have a love of the Arkham games and while I like Harley and her design in Asylum, I really love it in City. 

 Let's Get To It

Costume Super Center is one of many online stores that you can buy costumes from. They have a range of costumes from those Sexy -insert anything- Halloween costumes (gotta love 'em) to more screen accurate higher priced items. As mentioned above I wanted to try the Harley Arkham City costume on for size to give it a good ole test in the cosplayer realm. You can  a lot if you have a good base costume or base materials. 

The Costume As A Whole

It is important that you be familiar with your sizing. Not all sizing is Small, Medium or Large. If you need help knowing your measurements there are several tutorials on how to get them out there for you. Here is a simple one incase you don't like to Google things. For those curious about the costume listing you can find it here. 

Advertised Product VS Actual Product

Compared to a screenshot of the game (and for the price) this is a pretty damn accurate version of this costume in my opinion. It is IMPORTANT to read all information associated with something you are buying. There is a disclaimer with this costume that the pants color does not match the top color. If I was not aware of this beforehand I would have been disappointed about the color difference. I chose this costume knowing the difference existed and was still happy with everything as a whole.

There is indeed a noticeable color different between the pants fabric and the top fabric. It's not ideal but it's possible to workaround it. If you are fine with the color difference, great! If you want to be a little more adventurous and try dying it darker that is also an option.

The Fit

Overall the costume fits as expected and pretty well to my measurements. I chose a Small based on my top measurements (chest rather than hips). I was more concerned about the top fitting since it was half vinyl and the stretch of it was more of a mystery to me than the pants. The Top fits as expected as do the pants. The belt and choker necklace also fit as expected. I have a fairly small neck so I will need to adjust the chocker to fit me tighter. The provided belt fits well and just like the necklace closes as the back with Velcro.

The biggest issue I have with this costume is the gloves. The part the covers your arm is perfect and has no fitting issues. The finger holes for the gloves on the other hand (hur hur) are to small for even my stupid tiny fingers.   

Over All

I am very happy with the costume as a base to improve upon. The number of hours it would take to plus materials it would cost to make this worth it in my opinion. 

I give this costume 4 out of 5 stars

Accessorizing Will Really Make This Costume Shine

There are several very easy things you can do to make this costume even better. 

Gloves.Buy some fingerless gloves and remove the attached gloves from the arm sleeves. You can simply cut off the gloves and either hand sew the newly cut edges down (so they won't fray) or glue them if you are uncomfortable with sewing. 

Belt.Buy an actual belt that closes all the way around instead of it velcroing at the back. This is useful if the sizing is off for you your you want a more screen accurate belt. 

Shoes! This may be a little more for the adventurous beginner but buying and modifying shoes as a necessary part of cosplay. This version of Harley has very specific boots and if you really want to wow it's a good idea to look into making boot covers. This can involved sewing but for Harley's boots I think you can get away with some clever gluing and assembly. You can also buy boot covers for this version of harley from other places like Ebay and Etsy.

Makeup and Wig. Both will really finish off the look all together. I have several go to wig sellers that offer pigtail wigs. There are a couple of options for harley. You can either get a short bob wig and two ponytail clips. Or a full pigtail wig that actual has a part down the back. I won't go in depth to wigs here as there is a lot to be said on them. For Makeup I am going to try this kit and see how it works out. It is very important to know your skin allergies when trying something new. And to test anything you haven't used before on a small patch of skin to see if you have any sort of adverse reaction.

This costume is perfect for a beginner cosplayer who wants to cosplay the Arkham City version of Harley. Especially if you're willing to do the easy extra steps to round out the whole costume. 

[youraveragenerdstudio]

I haven't posted much #cosplay stuff recently so here is a picture by the fabulous @mind_fall of #evangelion #Asuka from Q. it's a little more #fashion than movie accurate but whatever! it was really fun to shoot with him again earlier this year.

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And this lovely photo from @knightmare6 too! I love how you can see my #ladyrainicorn leggings :3 #sakuramatsuri #nofilter #princessbubblegum #flowers #cherryblossom #festival

[youraveragenerdstudio]

I want to share some #flower #princessbubblegum with you! This photo is from a new photographer I had the pleasure of meeting, Rudi Bishop. Taken at #SakuraMatsuri #nofilter

[youraveragenerdstudio]

it's #Asuka time at @springfestny my panels start at 12:15! RH 418. workshop 1

[youraveragenerdstudio]

New #asuka wig test! It's super full and way more hair than my other wig. Love the color too! Maaaaaaybe I'll try it out next week in some photos :p

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this was suppose to be for children #atlantaaquarium #picturespam #work #onsite

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the part where I am really tiny #atlantaaquarium #picturespam #work #onsite

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more #picturespam deal with it @darkain hah!

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penguin! #atlantaaquarium #onsite #work #picturespam

[youraveragenerdstudio]

and then there were penguins #atlantaaquarium #work #onsite #picturespam

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hey girl. #atlantaaquarium #work #onsite #picturespam

[youraveragenerdstudio]

I love the shit out of sea horses#atlantaaquarium #onsite #work #picturespam