Cosplayer of the Week: Sapphire Eve

Sapphire Eve is an English model and cosplayer who takes heavy influence from Japanese culture her work, that’s singing too! If anime is your thing, look no further as Sapphire Eve has done it all, and then some.

Rem Tokimiya
Photo by Ian Parker

Age: 19

Location: Cheshire

Favourite food: Vegetable gyoza

Who or what first inspired you to start cosplaying?

It was actually back when I was 14, I was a little bit obsessed with Black Butler and after searching for my favourite character (Grell Sutcliff) on Google images I saw people dressed up as them. I really wanted to as well but just didn’t have an excuse. After researching a little more I found out about cosplay and Manchester MCM so convinced my Dad to let me do a car boot sale to buy my first ever cosplay! It was amazing going to my first con, even though I queued for around 4 hours to get in (the queues were very bad that year) I was suddenly surrounded by like minded people – as someone who was very quiet at school, suddenly becoming such an eccentric and confident character helped me become more confident too, I’ve never stopped since. Anime made me start cosplaying but my amazing experiences in costume and the lovely people I’ve met along the way made me carry on.

Weiss Schnee
Photo by Elusive Nature Photography

What was your first costume? How does it compare to some of your more recent work?

My first costume was Grell from Black Butler as I mentioned how much I loved them above. Back then it was a fully bought costume with an unstyled wig, I didn’t even wear a wig cap! The shoes were wrong, the gloves were missing but at least I tried making the glasses chain with a broken necklace and skull shaped beads – 14 year old me was very proud. In my more recent work, whilst I definitely wouldn’t call myself a seamstress by any means as I do still often buy costumes, I have become much more confident in posing and performing. As Grell in every picture I clearly can’t contain my excitement at being at a con and being that character but since then I’ve learned so much more about posing and acting to the point I’ve even been asked to do some out of cosplay modelling work! My wig styling has improved a tonne and whilst my makeup definitely isn’t the best it had certainly improved. I’m definitely a stickler for the details now – I spend a fair amount of time remaking (or often making for the first time) details for costumes. I’m looking forward to making the buttons and accessories for Uzuki Shimamura’s limited SSR from The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls but what I’m looking forward to even more is the performance I have planned to go along with this costume that hopefully I can do at Birmingham MCM!

What would you say is your most complex costume to date?

Whilst it wasn’t impressive by any means (and was falling apart by the day of the con) it would definitely have to be Goro Akechi’s Crow costume from Persona 5. I worked out that I made this costume in around 40 hours, it was a busy time at college and I could only make the costume at my partner’s house but when you fall in love with a character from a new game a month before London MCM it has to be done! Without my partner helping me to individually make those tassels that I swear I still see in my dreams (and Matt Mercer cheering us along with a few episodes of Critical Role playing in the background) it would never have been possible. Goro Akechi also became my favourite costume overall – his uniform version, that is. After that mess I’m not sure I’d ever revisit his Crow outfit! Being him also inspired the performance I’m most proud of so far – I wrote a parody to Popular from Wicked sung by him about the events of the game. It was so fun to write and perform and not only did it have some good feedback from the audience on the day, but it has received a fair bit of love online too.

Goro Akechi
Photo by Tim Roberts Photography

Do you have a dream cosplay you’d like to work towards one day? Can you used anything you learned from Akechi to help you?

Actually one of my dream cosplays is also from Persona 5, but it’s a bit of a spoiler! All I’ll say is it’s the villain with the black mask. Akechi helped me so much with so many things, particularly more androgynous makeup styles, my first few experiences binding my chest (properly, not like the time 15 year old me tried to use cling film – it’s not wise to try that!), posing as male characters and actually being comfortable in my own body, even when I may get a little bit of hate online for the character I’m choosing to be. More than anything my Akechi cosplay taught me just how much of a perfectionist I can be. I tried to make the badge for the jacket 4 times before I was happy with it! But yes, the binding and posing as a masculine character particularly will come in handy for the black mask given that he’s male and it’s a rather form fitted suit. The makeup and contouring I practiced won’t really matter unfortunately given its a full helmet but the androgynous/boyish makeup will definitely be necessary for a lot of future plans!

Panther (Ann Takamaki)
Photo by Dr Whero Photography & Cosplay

If you could give newbie Sapphire Eve any advice, what would it be?

Don’t let nerves hold you back. When you want to enter a cosplay talent show or masquerade, do it. When you want to learn Japanese, push yourself. When you want to learn to sing in Japanese, you definitely should. If your props fall apart you can make a better version when you get home. Don’t ever be scared away by what you can’t currently do and there will always be someone better than you – admire them but don’t get hung up on comparing yourself to them. Let them inspire you, not intimidate you. And finally, there will come a time you might choose characters based on their popularity rather than who you love. You will regret it, please never stop cosplaying for you. Keep performing, keep acting, keep singing, keep being weird and keep on being you despite what anyone else might be doing!

Rise Kujikawa
Photo by Tim Roberts Photography

Past Cosplayer of the Week

Cosplayer of the Week: Corvidae Cosplay Emporium

Hailing from North East England, Corvidae Cosplay Emporium is made up of a fearsome duo of foamsmiths and sewing masters. They’re no strangers to guesting and judging at cons all over the UK, and looking at the calibre of their work, it’s not hard to see why! We caught up with Olivia to talk more about their costumes. Orochi and NobushiPhoto by Dr Whero Photography Age: 24 Location: Thornton Favourite food: pork belly ramen Who or what first inspired you to start cosplaying? I’ve always loved costumes but games were and are the most inspirational thing for me. The same goes for Ryan, the other cosplayer that makes up Corvidae Cosplay Emporium – we’re both massively inspired by games and making characters come to life. Taniks the ScarredPhoto by Dr Whero Photography What was your first costume? How does it compare to some of your more recent work? Our first costumes were when we were very little – our families have always been into us making and wearing costumes. Mine was a big foam Flounder when I was about 5! Ryan used to have kid’s armour that he would take on camping holidays to castles and he would run around pretending to be a knight! But our first cosplays were when the first images for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate came out; we knew it would be Victorian England so we made steampunk Assassins. In comparison to recent work they were good but very sewing based and amateur-ish. Ryan’s good at sewing as he used to work at a tailors, but since then I have completed my degree in costuming so all our patterns are made from scratch from our own basic clothing blocks and then adapted into what we want. We also are a lot better at foam work and use more technical things such as a 3D printer, airbrush, we resin cast and use LEDs in our cosplays too. They’re a lot more advanced these days! Monster Hunter World huntersFeaturing Kamui Cosplay What would you say has been your most complex costume so far? Probably the Monster Hunter World costumes that we won the Cosplay Championships at London Film and Comic Con in last year. They were complex base patterns, the armour was mental and we had to use a lot of different types of foam with different densities and thicknesses to achieve the final result. We used foam clay too, which was the first time we had worked with it. There was LEDs that had to change colour, weapons that are taller than me (and were a pain to get on and off the underground with!!!) and we had props to go on stage with to make our performance more interactive. We made the 3D files and printed numerous sections of the build, which was great fun as it was the first time we had utilised the 3D printer for complex designs, and we had about 5 weeks to make the costumes around working… safe to say we didn’t sleep for 4 days before the competition. I’ve never been so tired and pumped in my life! The costumes still aren’t done either – there’s lot we want to finalise or aspects that need changing (the Championship was the first time we both wore our costumes so there’s a bunch of stuff that can be reworked to make them better) but the entire thing took so much out of us, those costumes are packed away and we’ll sort them out when I can cope with looking at them again! Metro StalkerPhoto by Dr Whero Photography Do you have dream costumes? Can you use anything you learned while making your Monster Hunter outfits to help? For me it would be to replicate a Kaiju from Pacific Rim, it’s my all time favourite film and I would absolutely love to have the skills to do a good job with it. It’s an end goal though, it’s nothing like anything we’ve done before and I need to learn more about old school character methods from filming to attack that bad boy with the vigour that it deserves! Ryan says his dream cosplay would be Predator, either original or elder, because of the cape! I think realistically he poses the skills required to make it, but again it’s a case of wanting to master different techniques so we can both really nail the costumes and do the original inspiration proud! What’s your favourite part of the costume making process? We both love working with foam – making a 2D design into a 3D detailed reality, that’s an amazing feeling. The figuring out of how to put the costume together and how everything will work from a technical perspective is always good fun, especially considering how we need all our costumes to be not just aesthetically correct but also correct and fitting to the settings you’d find them in (like fabric choices for a Samurai costume or the cut and sewing techniques on a sci-fi piece) and, most importantly for us, that we have to perform in them – performance and being the character is the most important aspect in our eyes, so the costumes must be designed to withstand this. Then there’s obviously the final piece, when you’re wearing it and people respond to you as though you’re the character – I absolutely live for that narrative that people create with you in costume. Hunter from DestinyPhoto by Dr Whero Photography Like this:Like Loading... [...] Read more...

Cosplayer of the Week: Bacon, Bitches & Cosplay

I believe I discovered Bacon, Bitches & Cosplay by accident while looking up something completely unrelated, but her name made me chuckle so I thought I’d check her out; I’m glad I did! This German cosplay is a master mermaid, a brilliant seamstress and a dab hand at creepy makeup. Bacon, Bitches & Cosplay is a great all-rounder. Twi’lek Age: 25 Location: Bavaria Favourite food: bacon, of course! ValkyriePhoto by BildRausch Who or what first inspired you to start cosplaying? That’s a tough question. I think it was a Marvel-related fan group on Facebook that I’m part of. I met a few members in person and we had the idea of a Marvel cosplay group, which worked out great! After a meet at the Leipzig Bookfair, we founded our cosplay group, “Young Avengers Europe” and we still cosplay together now. In the beginning, I only made Marvel cosplays, but now I have many fandoms. FaunPhoto by Eschnapur Photography What would you say is your most complex costume so far? I don’t think I have very complicated costumes, I’m currently working on a post-apocalyptic outfit which is a lot of work, but it isn’t finished yet. I think my most complex is Medusa from Inhumans because I made everything except the shoes. I even braided 6 metres of wire in the hair! MedusaPhoto by BildRausch What’s your favourite part of the costume making process? The best part for me is wearing the costume, either at a con or on a photoshoot. I have so much fun really playing the character. When wearing costumes at a con, in German we would say “berufsrisiko”. You have to watch out that you’re healthy, hydrated, etc. If my feet hurt, I take off my shoes. If my head hurts, I pull off my wig. It’s so simple and I don’t care what other people say about it! Do you have any advice for new cosplayers? Just do it! If you fail, so what? Cosplay is about having fun, keep going until you’re happy. Narcissa MalfoyPhoto by Vanity Art Photography Like this:Like Loading... [...] Read more...

Cosplayer of the Week: Nirel Cosplay

Despite being a relatively new cosplayer in the grand scheme of things, Nirel Cosplay blew me away with the sheer quality of their costumes from the moment I discovered them. You want anime cuteness? Gaming badassery? The Dark Lord himself? Don’t worry, Nirel’s got you. SamaraPhoto by Steeve Li Photography Age: 22 Location: Paris Favourite food: croziflette (a French dish based on Reblochon and pasta) Paladin T21Photo by Marc O Carion Moc Who or what first inspired you to start cosplaying? It was Shoko and Jerome Cosplay. In 2013 I went to my very first Japan Expo in Paris. I already knew what cosplay was, so I wanted to watch the cosplay contests, especially the ECG (European Cosplay Gathering) finals. There they were with their awesome Monster Hunter cosplay, they were amazing on stage, I had tears in my eyes! They won the contest. Two years after, I finally started to cosplay, and every day I keep thinking about their performance, and it motivates me a lot. Maybe one day I’ll be able to make cosplays as great as they do! LokiPhoto by DriStudio Photography What was your first cosplay? It was “Le Nain” from “Le Donjon de Naheulbeuk”, a French MP3 saga! I made it with really cheap green foam, and as it’s a dwarf I had to make a beard, so I bought a Santa Claus beard and orange hairspray, mixed them together and tada! My chainmail was just a grey fabric, so it was really cheap dwarf. What would you say has been your most complex costume so far? As I like to improve my skills with every costume, they’re all complex in their own way, but I think the one that introduced me to the most different techniques is Gimli. I had to make real chainmail, and a beard! I had to work with leather, armour, fabric, and make up! GimliPhoto by Christian Poulet What’s your favourite part of the costume making process? I think it’s painting, I’m a perfectionist on that. I need to have the right shade with the right shadows and lighting so sometimes I can use five different shades of the same colour on just one armour piece! Do you have any advice for new cosplayers? Keep trying! Keep trying new techniques and challenging yourself, and never forget to have fun. NightcrawlerPhoto by Steeve Li Photography Like this:Like Loading... [...] Read more...