Shots From MCM London Oct 2016

Heyya Everyone!

Whilst at MCM last month, I met up with the other page models for ItsTheNerdyLife [here is the Instagram and Facebook links for the page]. And whilst we were all together, the page owner, Danny, took some shots of us in our cosplays.
I received mine yesterday and I absolutely adore them!! He has done such a fantastic job, and I am thrilled with how they have turned out. I cannot wait to get more photos taken by him in the future, as not only is he very talented, he is lovely to chat to, and makes you feel really comfortable an at ease.

Here are the shots he took of my Black Widow cosplay. If you wish to use any of them please message me first, and ensure that we both get credited for the images:-

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Danny’s photography pages are linked below, go and show him some love and tell him Brii sent you!

ItsTheNerdyPhotographer Instagram Page

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

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MCM London Comic Con October 2016

Heyya Everyone!

So the MCM weekend has passed, and I’ve had such a fantastic time! On the Saturday I was Blind Mag from the movie Repo! A Gentic Opera. This costume was a lot of fun to make, and I loved the overall look, however the boots I had which were screen accurate, were absolute agony to walk in after about 2 hours. I brought a pair of thigh high flat boots with me to change into, but by then the damage was done. We only stayed till about 1:30pm, so unfortunately I missed meeting up with a lot of people, even though I kept an eye out for them. The only person I was able to locate was Ash from AMG Piper Props, we had been Snapchatting our builds to each other in the lead up to MCM, and I was desperate to see his Charizard armour! It was incredible up close, the shading and texture on it was so detailed, I was in awe!

I was there with my friend Emma, who was wearing the Melisandre dress she had commissioned me to make, and she looked amazing in it!! We will be organising a photoshoot together once I finish off my Daenerys dress for May 2017.

On the Sunday,  I went as Black Widow from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I absolutely ADORE this costume, I am so so proud of how it turned out! Not only is it incredibly accurate, it is immensely comfortable for all day wear, and I can see myself bringing her to many future cons!

I managed to find a lot more people this time round, and managed to attend a meet up of the other page models in ItsTheNerdyLife. We have all become so close, like a family unit, and it was amazing to meet them all in person. We have a few cosplay plans together for next year, and I am so excited to see how they all turn out!

Danny, the founder of ItsTheNerdyLife, took some amazing photos of our group, and of my costume – and I absolutely adore how they have turned out!! He is a great photographer, and such a lovely person, we had an awesome chat whilst shooting, and I cannot wait to work with him again!

One of my highlights was the Iron Throne Experience, who were at MCM. I sat on the Throne with my Black Widow cosplay, and the pictures were awesome! I really hope they come back for the May MCM, as I will be wearing my Daenerys cosplay, complete with Drogon, and it would make for one hell of a picture!

Overall it was another successful MCM, and I am looking forward to May and October next year! I will soon be starting my builds for 2017, So be sure to follow my Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, to follow them as I work!

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

 

A Very Useful Site For Cosplayers & Photographers

Heyya Everyone!

Just wanted to share an awesome site I think will help a lot of you!

Have any of you had this issue; you go to cons, you get stopped by loads of people for pictures, but can never find them afterwards? Or you take an awesome picture of someone’s cosplay, but don’t remember their name afterwards to follow or tag them? I know I have, after every single con!

This awesome site allows you to post your favourite cosplays and pictures you’ve taken from conventions, and then you can credit the people who helped create them, like the photographer, the costume creator and makeup artist etc. It also allows people to comment on them, so if you are the cosplayer in the picture you can be credited.

I think in the lead up to MCM, it’s worth making an account at CosplayWon, so we can all find each other’s pictures! I’ve got mine and will be posting my pictures to it each evening of MCM this weekend! I find the site much easier to use if done on a PC or tablet, as it’s not yet optimised for mobile.

Much Love!

Sabrina
xXx

MCM London October 2016 Cosplay Plans

Heyya  Everyone!

As a lot of time has passed since my last update, we are almost at the weekend of MCM October, which I am attending next Saturday and Sunday.
As I am still on my gap year from work, I have had extra time to care for my family, sort the plans for our wedding, and work on my costumes – and as such, both my costumes for the convention are ready with over a week to go!

I will be attending MCM London on the Saturday as Blind Mag from Repo! A Genetic Opera, and the Sunday as Black Widow from Captain America: Winter Soldier.

However, if the weather stays as cold as it has been the past few days, I will be bringing Black Widow on both days. I will post an update on my Instagram and Facebook the morning of MCM to show which costumes I am wearing on the day.

I also have some of my commissions there aswell, Emma will be wearing the Melisandre and Maya costumes she commissioned from me, posts on how I made them, and what she will look like should you want to keep an eye out for her, will be posted soon.

If you see me at the convention, please come up and say Heyy, as I love meeting you all!

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

Lilith and Mordecai – MCM May 2016

Heyya everyone!

Sorry once again for the silence,  I get so distracted working on my costumes, caring for my Nan, wedding planning and updating my Instagram, that I keep forgetting to update my blog!
That changes now, for reals!

Since my last post was about the lead up to MCM in May, I’ll start there. My Lilith cosplay was updated for the event, and I finished my Mordecai commission for my client.
MCM was great fun as usual, and I got a brilliant shot of our two costumes together, taken my by Fiancee.

The highlight of our day was when Jason Liebrecht stopped us for pictures, and said that Karl was the best Mordecai he had ever seen! I was beyond proud!

I hope to organise a photoshoot with these costumes at the beginning of next year some time, and will keep you all updated when the images will be posted!

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

Countdown to MCM London May 2016!

Heyya Everyone!

It’s only 4 days till MCM London May 2016! This is where the mad rush begins to ensure everything is completed on time and ready for the weekend.

Within the next few days I will have completed my commissioned Mordecai costume for my client to wear on the Saturday of MCM, and I am so excited to see how he likes it!

After taking my Lilith costume out of my costume wardrobe, I noticed that some parts of it had taken a lot more damage than I thought, whilst other parts looked a bit basic, and could do with updating.
The most damaged piece was the shin armour for my boots, due to someone stepping on my boot, the base part has completely snapped off. I’ve used my heat gun, along with contact adhesive to re-attach the armour to my boot, and ensure the bond stays strong, even if another person treads on them. I have also repainted them, as the old cell shading was very basic, and my skills have improved greatly in the 2 years since I made this costume.

The shirt and jacket also had a bit of an upgrade, as the cell shading was very one dimensional, without any highlights. So I repainted the whole shirt, adding plenty of highlights and weathering, to make it look scruffy and dishevelled like her’s does.

One of my biggest issues last time, was that the wig covered most of my right eye, as I styled it on a mannequin head much smaller than my own – the wig looked perfectly styled on the mannequin, but on me the proportions of the spikes, and there placement, were a bit off. I have since purchased a mannequin head the same size as my own, and restyled the spikes to give it a more game-accurate look.

As I was in a rush to complete this costume when I first created it, I didn’t have time to make the correct trousers – I just cut up a pair of grey jeans and used those.
As I wanted the costume to look accurate, I thought that the trousers could use an update. I found my old pair of light brown trousers, and marked the shape of her chaps onto them – as well as where the holes and cuts are. The holes were cut out with a Stanley knife and pulled at until they frayed, then cell shaded with black fabric paint. I used various shades of brown, black and white fabric paint to colour the top of the trousers grey, to match her trousers under the chaps, then the inner parts of the thighs a darker brown, as her chaps are two colours -then added more cell shading over the top.

So my Lilith is now updated and ready to wear on the Saturday of MCM, and I will be wearing my Katniss Everdeen wedding gown on the Sunday.

Let me know if any of you are going, come up and say hi! I can’t wait to meet you all 🙂

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

 

 

 

 

 

Mordecai Costume Commission – Update 2

Heyya Everyone!

In my last update, I showed you all how I created Mordecai’s shoulder armour, leather vest and red body straps. Since then, I have got all of the cell shading done on the red straps and on the armour piece – and they look so great!

For Mordecai’s trousers I created a pair of combat trousers, cell shaded along all the seams and added highlights to make them look creased and crumpled – just like how Mordecai’s look. To keep them as comfortable as possible, I decided to create the knee brace on his left leg using just fabric paint. I used various tones and shades of brown, white and black, to make trick the eye into seeing it as a raised, 3D piece.

My next big job within this commission was Bloodwing. I adore Bloodwing and think she looks incredible – I was so excited to recreate her! I used thick wire to make an armature and fleshed it out with newspaper, to ensure it remained as light as possible. Once fully fleshed out, I covered her in multiple layers of paper mache to ensure she was strong and could withstand a blow (I’ve found that people at conventions don’t tend to value personal space, or the hard work that goes into costumes and props). To create the beak I used polymer clay and carved the holes and grooves into it to make it the perfect shape – this was then attached to the head and the seams covered with paper mache. All the details were added on with foam, and canvas fabric was used to make the wing membrane. Once fully dry, the bird was primed, sanded and then painted using acrylic paint. When dry, the cell shading was dry brushed onto the wings and body. As I wanted Bloodwing to stand up on her own, and not need to be held all day by my client, I decided to create a bracer and attached her feet onto it – once this was laced up, it would hold Bloodwing in place on his forearm. I used acrylic paint to paint her and add the cell shading, using in game screenshots to ensure I had her the exact right colours. Once the body was painted, I glued her feet to the bracer, then painted the legs. The bracer was then given a layer of brown spray paint, and cell shaded to fit the borderlands look.

 

The final part was to attach the red cell shaded strips onto the dreadlocks I created. This would complete Mordecai’s look, tying everything together. I used acrylic paint to add cell shading onto the dreadlocks, and the costume was complete!

 

If any of you are heading to MCM London on the Saturday, keep an eye out for Karl in this Mordecai costume!

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

 

 

 

Scholl Gel Activ Insoles – Extreme Heels

Heyya Everyone!

As I have mentioned before in previous posts, I am a product tester for BzzAgent, and love every second of it. I have been sent some amazing products absolutely free, to test, try and review for all you lovely people out there!

This time I was sent a pair of Scholl Gel Activ Insoles to test – I chose the ‘Extreme Heels’ variety to try, as they are the style of shoes I wear the most.

This was the perfect product for me to be sent to test out, as I don’t own a pair of heels lower than 4 inches, and I wear them on a very regular basis – whether it’s out shopping with friends, or going out for lunch with the family. I have tried out various types of insoles in the past, and have never been able to find one that agreed with me.

The packaging of these insoles is really great; it has a cut out on both sides of the plastic, allowing you to feel the insoles, which I think is a great feature as it allows you to judge their thickness and flexibility. It has all the necessary information on the back, including how to attach them to your shoe in the optimum place for comfort, and the packaging itself is plastic around the insoles to protect them from bumps and knocks before buying, with the outer piece being cardboard, meaning you can easily get the insoles out without scissors – we’ve all bought something in the past that has been completely encased in thick plastic and you have to wait till you get home then dig around for scissors, and have to hack away just to get it out!

As I stated earlier, I chose the Extreme Heels option. They have very small bobbles all over the front end, and a thin ridge of gel which I assume is meant to go near the ball of your foot, just before where the toes start. It also has a large oval shaped cushion of gel which will sit in the arch of your foot to give extra support. When taking them out I was immediately surprised that they are so small, they look like insoles for toddlers! It hit me then that they would only be for the ball of your feet within the shoe, which seemed a bit odd as your heel also takes a lot of stress and pressure whilst wearing heels. One feature I really liked was that they are self-adhesive, I’ve always found that my insoles slip around in my shoe, and when I take my foot out the insoles doubles back on itself and comes out too – but this should mean that’s no longer an issue.

I chose to stick these into the heels I wear the most, my sand coloured suede Fiore shoes with the wooden heel. As these insoles are extremely flexible, it was a bit tricky sticking them into my shoe, they wobbled about like a wet fish! I got the left one in first time but had to redo the right one twice to get it to sit in the perfect place. I recommend lining the wider part up half way down the toe area of the shoe, and slowly smoothing down the back to avoid air bubbles and to make sure it’s straight.

I wore these shoes out in the morning to go out for lunch and then shopping with a friend, and as I was wearing a skirt, I wore them with hold-up stockings. My foot slipped in beautifully and I didn’t notice a difference in the size of the shoe, they didn’t feel tight or uncomfortable, so the insole had no effect on the shoe’s sizing which is a big plus! I could feel the bobbles of the insole and it was an odd sensation at first, but as soon as I got used to it I found it quite relaxing.

Later that evening I went out to town for drinks with close friends, and as I was wearing the shoes with slim fit trousers, I wore them with just bare feet. There was an immediate difference, the shoes immediately felt tighter, and my feet didn’t slip into them as smoothly as they did when I wore my stockings. I couldn’t feel the bumps on them as much with bare feet, they just felt like plain gel insoles to me, still cushioning, but without the added massaging feeling. My foot felt like it was stuck to the insole, it didn’t move about as freely as it usually does, or like how it did earlier with stockings on, there was no freedom of movement, and it wasn’t comfortable at all. After about half an hour I noticed that my feet felt really hot and uncomfortable, nothing like when I had worn them earlier. About an hour into the evening I had to take my shoes off, and only put them back on to hobble to a taxi, no way I would be able to do my usual walk home in them!

When I got home I took off my shoes and saw that I had a nasty blister on the edge of my right little toe, no doubt caused by the insole not giving my foot anywhere to move about, causing it to rub against the side of the shoe. Never in the 4 years I have owned these shoes have they ever given me a blister, so I think it’s fair to say the insoles contributed to this nasty surprise.

My next test was whether or not they could be transferred from one pair of shoes to another. I gently lifted up the thinner end of the insole and peeled it back from the shoes sole – and disaster. It was pulling the shoes lining out with it, causing it to loosen from the shoe and flap about. This made me absolutely furious as I take amazing care of my shoes, yet these simple pair of insoles have almost wrecked a pair I love. After very gingerly lifting the rest of the insole out, they were free – meanwhile my shoes were put aside to be mended at a later date. The insoles were still sticky and easily attached to a new pair of heels with no worries – and they will now stay in these shoes forever as I don’t want to risk another pair getting damaged by there powerful pulling power!

One other complaint I had was after reading the back of the packaging in depth, I noticed it stated it was suitable for shoe sizes UK 3-7.5. This seems ridiculous to me as most high street shoe shops sell up to a size UK 9, so the insoles should reflect that, otherwise it leaves a considerable amount of people unable to use them to there full potential. I also find that they are quite narrow across the ball of your foot, I have quite wide feet so I found that my foot went over the edges of the insoles, which wasn’t exactly painful as the edges of the insoles are tapered and thin, but it was a bit uncomfortable at times, especially when I was wearing the shoes without any stockings or tights as I could feel where it stopped.
It would be wise for them to make a wide fit option and go up to a larger shoe size, as not all of us have small, thin feet.

Overall I think that these insoles are good quality, providing you don’t remove them from the pair of shoes they are attached to. I also think they work a lot better, and are most comfortable if used when wearing tights/stockings. I think the pricing is average for a pair of insoles, especially since they cannot be moved from one pair of shoes to another.

Let me know what you guys think about the various insoles on the market, have you used a pair that was brilliant? Do you find them useful, or a waste of money? Would love to hear from you all!

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

Mordecai Cosplay Comission – Update 1

Heyya Everyone!

Thought I would post a quick update on how my Mordecai cosplay commission is coming along. I’m so excited to have been commissioned for another Borderlands costume, as I love the art style of the games, and creating real life versions of the costumes are a lot of fun. Creating the cell shading on clothing, whilst being incredibly time consuming and at some times tedious, is always worth it as the end effect is striking and eye catching. I thoroughly enjoyed creating the costumes of Lilith from Borderlands 2 for myself, and Maya as a commission for a close friend; plus they had a fantastic reception at MCM London October 2014, especially at the 2K booth where we were mistaken for staff and asked for numerous pictures. And as a thank you for helping them promote Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and our characters at their booth, albeit unintentionally, we were given a lot of free Borderlands merchandise which was amazing, and the team were so enthusiastic and friendly.

My Lilith cosplay – MCM London October 2014

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As I had been using a lot of Worbla recently on other costumes, I decided to start by making the shoulder armour piece Mordecai wears. After measuring my client to get every measurement required, I made a base from foam, covering it in Worbla for strength. After priming and sanding, I spray painted it with a matte grey spray paint – and attached the added details.

   

 In the next few days I will be finishing off the cell shading on the armour piece, and give it a coat of sealant to complete it.

After creating the shoulder piece,  I moved onto the top, vest and straps that Mordecai wears. I used a grey T-shirt as the base for the top, everything would be stitched onto this. I’ve used a brown faux leather for the the vest, adding all the cell shading onto it with fabric paints.
The straps were made from red cotton fabric, cut into 2 inch wide strips. The cell shading was done using the same fabric paints used on the leather for the vest.

           

I still have to add cell shading highlights to both the vest and the straps, then they will be complete.

Hope this has been useful to some of you, if you would like any more information regarding the costume, message me 🙂 I’m happy to help! I will be uploading a full walkthrough/tutorial page for this costume once it is completed.

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx

Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice review

Heyya Everyone!

Yesterday evening myself a group of friends finally got round to seeing Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. This post may contain spoilers for those of you who haven’t yet seen it, so please be warned!

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It’s worth noting that I went into this film with very low expectations, with my biggest gripe being that so much was shown in the trailer; we knew that Doomsday would be the main villain fight, we saw how Wonder Woman came into it, and we saw that Lex Luthor already knew the identity of both heroes.
It’s a common thing nowadays for an upcoming movie to have numerous trailers, however I really dislike this – take Avengers: Age of Ultron as an example, if all the trailers they released were watched one after the other, you easily had about half of the films scenes shown. I miss the days where one trailer was made, and you could go into the film excited and speculating about what may happen plot-wise; not see the build up and think “oh, this is where so-and-so comes in”. I prefer to be surprised, however with social media being as dominant as it is, it is virtually impossible to not have things spoilt. I avoided watching any of the Civil War trailers after the first one, however I went on Instagram one day to post up a new picture, and bam, a big old picture of Spiderman from the new trailer. I wanted to launch my phone across the room, why did that need to be shown in the trailer? How much more amazing would it have been to go in and watch it, and then to see  Spiderman’s entrance, the whole cinema would have gasped and cheered.  Alas, no.

Anyway,  I digress. Personally I found the whole storyline of Dawn of Justice to be rather dull, for a considerable amount of the film, nothing substantial happens. For a superhero action movie, there were only 3 fight scenes, all of which felt incredibly drawn out and strained. I have never been a fan of Superman but I enjoyed Man of Steel, however in this film, Superman felt like such a wooden character with very little emotion, even during his scenes with Lois, there was no real connection, their love and bond felt fake. Also during the Doomsday fight, there was no drive, no anger from Superman – this creature had the capability to destroy the world and everyone on it, a world he chose to protect, and yet he just seemed to be going through the motions with very little feeling. This is in no way an attack on Henry Cavill or Amy Adams, as I think they are both terrific actors, but as an actor you can only so much when the script and directing is so poor.

From the initial released cast information, I will admit my biggest worry of the film was Ben Affleck as Batman – I just didn’t feel he was the right choice. However in my personal opinion, he was the best part of the film. He had the mannerisms and attitude of Bruce Wayne perfect, and as Batman he looked the part, I liked the voice and he had that strength and drive, the willingness to go to any length to one-up Superman. He was a very believable Batman, and it was great to see him flourish in this role.
I also thought that Jeremy Irons did a brilliant job as Alfred, he had just the right mix of humour and attitude, whilst still remaining caring and protective of Bruce. He also has one of the most amazing voices, and a voice I recognise the second I hear it.
Another excellent casting choice was Jesse Eisenberg as Alexander Luthor, Lex Luthor’s son – his acting in this role was amazing. Granted he was the only character who was really fleshed out and the  one given the biggest range of emotion – all of his lines were brilliant, especially the speech in the dinner party, he gave it his all and you could really feel the desperation and obsession with taking out Superman, and how he would do anything to destroy the false God once and for all.
Although I really loved watching him, I couldn’t help but feel that at times, he started to verge almost into a Joker-like persona, mainly during his big speeches where his mannerisms and tone changed, he reminded me of Heath Ledger’s Joker in the Dark Knight, and especially in the final scene in the prison. That maniacal laughter as it faded out would have been perfect for the Joker, it didn’t work so much with Alexander.

I enjoyed watching Wonder Woman, for the brief moments she was in the film; I feel she could have been in the film for a bit longer, her fighting in the last fight scene was very convincing, even if every time she moved she grunted and screamed like a tennis player. Gal Gadot was a good casting choice for Wonder Woman, although I still believe that she should have been more muscular – let’s not forget that Diana Prince was an Amazonian princess and is known for her strength and Demigod status, I feel more powerful thighs wouldn’t have gone amiss!

Overall I think it was a tolerable film, with an average plot and poor scripting. The actors did a good job with what they were given to work with. I won’t be buying this on Blu-Ray when it comes out as I don’t think I fancy sitting through it again.

Let me know what you guys thought of the film, it will be interesting to get your take on how it was.

Much Love,

Sabrina
xXx