Monday, 17 December 2012

Midnight - the many shades of cosplay

Midnight, like many conventions, was a great place to catch up with old friends, or meet face to face for the first time with people you know online.

One cosplayer I was pleased to see again was Jimmy Mann, who I had made a shirt for a few years back.

I’ve seen him at a few events now, including LFCC in July and Nor Con in September.

I like his style of cosplaying. Rather than spend months seeking out the right jacket, the right trousers, the right shirt - he blocks in the costume with anything that’s about, adapting and literally butchering where necessary!

That gets him out there cosplaying, before upgrading each garment as the opportunity arrises.

His Fourth Doctor costume is a great example. A stumbling block for the series 12-look is often the knitted diamond-checked cardigan. Jimmy found a plain brown one and PAINTED the design on.

Up close it looks ropy - but in all his photos and from a distance it looks GREAT and has gained many admirers.
Later he’ll upgrade if possible, but for now he has a great costume.

This weekend I caught up with Jimmy again to find he was already doing the new Matt Smith look with purple frock coat - though this isn’t a frock coat (its a coat that used to be his ten coat - now cut to length) and it didn’t start out purple (a quick once round a machine dye put that right). But again it looks great in his photos.


But the one thing I am not a cosplay-nazi. There is nothing wrong with cutting a few corners and getting a quick result, though I freely admit I’m of the opposite end of the spectrum and will research and perfect my patterns and fabrics until I am absolutely satisfied with the result.

My own Fourth Doctor costume, and soon to be seen Sixth are testament to that.
So it’s nice to get the chance to show them off once in a while and get some new photos wearing them.
It just so happened one of the official photographers for the event, Ciaran Brown, was a client of mine who’s shirt has been recognised at random American sic-fi conventions where even Doctor Who isn’t the main fan draw.

So it didn’t take much persuading for him to take a few decent shots on his professional camera, larking about with K-9!

These are my favourite pics from the ones Ciaran took for me.
Thanks to Ciaran Brown for taking the photos and letting me share them through my blog
Thanks also to Thomas Seymour for letting me take the reins of his superb K-9!
The full story of my time at Midnight,
can be read here
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