Tuka, the Teenage Elf. It's been a while since I last cosplayed an elven character. When the first promotional images of the characters from Gate came out, I found it odd how Tuka seemed so simple in comparison to the other two girls. Watching the first episode she made her appearance, I immediately clicked and I was like, "So what if she is plain, I'm cosplaying her no matter what." She's such a sweet and gentle thing, I just couldn't let her pass.
For the ensemble, I bought a cheap white stretch shirt and cut it short and sewed the edges. The hair accessory was made with a thread's spool, wrapped in cloth which was then painted, and wrapped with brown ribbon. The blue bead is just a random bead I had, painted with dark blue nail polish. It's probably the trickiest piece to wear, as to string through a strand of hair was quite the challenge with a small opening in the bead. Her necklace is just a plain red ribbon, which I painted to match the colour of the muffler. I've since added a small bead to weight the necklace down, as during the shoot, it kept lifting out from my shirt. The red muffler is sewn with lycra, for the ease of slipping it down and over my head while maintaining the size. As for the jeans, I took an old pair that I wore since I was 11, shortened it, and painted the lighter blue part with acrylic paint. I would have painted it with fabric paint, but I ran out and I forgot that I had fabric textile medium, so, every leg movement produced a frictional sound. The ears are made with regular craft foam, with the ridges made with hot glue. I painted it with regular acrylic, but also used my own concealer and compact powder to match my skin tone. The grey buckle on the belt is just a small piece of leather, spray painted and stuck on via double sided tape.
I'll always call this my most spontaneous cosplay, as I actually did everything within a day before the photoshoot. A shoot that was also planned on a few days before. We initially wanted to shoot at a place with lots of lalang (it's an official word in the dictionary, y'all!) but that place was now off limits. So, we drove for about half an hour to another location and randomly found the spot we ended up shooting at. It was done pretty quickly, and I took a few bites from some fire ants.
This character is such fun to run around in as it is so, so, so comfortable. Despite being rather plain, she still seems to catch people's attention. I suspect that it must be the elf ears, as they are pretty long and moves when I move my ears, haha.
For the ensemble, I bought a cheap white stretch shirt and cut it short and sewed the edges. The hair accessory was made with a thread's spool, wrapped in cloth which was then painted, and wrapped with brown ribbon. The blue bead is just a random bead I had, painted with dark blue nail polish. It's probably the trickiest piece to wear, as to string through a strand of hair was quite the challenge with a small opening in the bead. Her necklace is just a plain red ribbon, which I painted to match the colour of the muffler. I've since added a small bead to weight the necklace down, as during the shoot, it kept lifting out from my shirt. The red muffler is sewn with lycra, for the ease of slipping it down and over my head while maintaining the size. As for the jeans, I took an old pair that I wore since I was 11, shortened it, and painted the lighter blue part with acrylic paint. I would have painted it with fabric paint, but I ran out and I forgot that I had fabric textile medium, so, every leg movement produced a frictional sound. The ears are made with regular craft foam, with the ridges made with hot glue. I painted it with regular acrylic, but also used my own concealer and compact powder to match my skin tone. The grey buckle on the belt is just a small piece of leather, spray painted and stuck on via double sided tape.
I'll always call this my most spontaneous cosplay, as I actually did everything within a day before the photoshoot. A shoot that was also planned on a few days before. We initially wanted to shoot at a place with lots of lalang (it's an official word in the dictionary, y'all!) but that place was now off limits. So, we drove for about half an hour to another location and randomly found the spot we ended up shooting at. It was done pretty quickly, and I took a few bites from some fire ants.
This character is such fun to run around in as it is so, so, so comfortable. Despite being rather plain, she still seems to catch people's attention. I suspect that it must be the elf ears, as they are pretty long and moves when I move my ears, haha.