Steampunk Photos Bushnell Park, The Final Installment

Finally, the last Steampunk Photo Shoot post from Bushnell Park. This post has one extra picture than the others, because I wanted to wrap things up here.

Here is a nice one of Kelley and I posing in front of the fountain looking super cool. By now the wind had let up a little and the sun was starting to make things a little easier for us. That is why I think that the fountain pictures came out especially nice. The colors were all really fantastic around us, even for late fall.

I think this is a nice dynamic shot. If you have been reading my earlier postings of photos from this shoot, you will see me talking about my strategies to look slightly off balance in an effort to get a dynamic shot. Well, I was certainly off balance here, but tried not to let my face show it. That nice wind that made that awesome line with my skirt also almost pushed me over.

This is another nice one for its density of detail. Look at all those things to look at!

A very epic shot in front of the fountain.

And finally, the perfect lens-flair shot. We got this one on our first try. It looks just like a movie poster to me. Thank you for reading!

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Even More Spectacular Steampunk Photos!

Alright, two more steampunk posts to go until I have posted all of the photos.

We will start here with perhaps my favorite shot of my costume from the entire shoot. I am not even looking at the camera and this shot came out to say everything I wanted to say about this costume and this character. Well composed, well lit, and the wind was finally taking a break. You can see every part of the costume here and everything is moving together. So glad we got this shot.

Here is a nice one of us walking across the field in our outfits, and what a green field it is.

Here is another really nice on of kelley posing with the statues of the fountain, looking just as majestic, herself.

And another one of me crossing the fountain.

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Steampunk in Bushnell Park Continued

The third installment of our steampunk photo shoot in Bushnell park!

I love this shot. I feel very glamourous in it and I loved that doorway because it shielded me from the wind and the sun and allowed me to actually pose with my face as well as my body. This is one of my favorite shots of my costume as well because everything is behaving and falling just where it is supposed to. I think the shadows are great, and the composition awesome.

This is a shot of Kelley’s behind. She spend a lot of time in her butterfly bustle, and wanted to be sure to document its wings.

Here is another cool shot from in front of that cool old wall. In this instance the wind was actually working in my favor to give me some movie-star hair. I also like that I managed to keep my eyes open. You may notice some differences between this costume and the same one which I wore to New York Comic Con. Here I decided to trade in my adventure boots and leg warmers for some heels to create a longer leg. It works better in some shots than others, but I do like the look.

Here is a fantastic shot of kelley crossing the fountain. Very glamourous, very colorful, and very well lit. More on the way!

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More New Steampunk Photos

Another set of photos from our recent steampunk photo shoot in Bushnell park. 

Again I want to remind everyone of the wind this day. This doorway was quite a place of refuge for us, where the wind could make our eyes water and our noses red a little bit less.

Not sure what I am attempting to do over by this wall here, but it is a cool looking wall, isn’t it?

We also found a lovely fountain to take pictures by which was also period accurate, just like the bridges and walls we are seen with.

Pretend walking around the fountain is harder than it looks. I wasn’t moving here, but I had to position my feet one in front of the other like I was walking like a lady. It gave the wind a much more toppley Shauna to push around. When posing, you always want to elongate and twist your body in seemingly unstable ways. In fact, the more off balance you look, the more dynamic and whimsical that picture will be. In my effort to look off balance, I think I almost fell into that fountain like four times. But my skirt looks awesome, doesn’t it?

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New Steampunk Pictures Are Here!

Hey all, I finally have all the pictures back from the recent photo shoot of my new steampunk outfit. The photo shoot was conducted in Hartford at the beautiful Bushnell park. Many of the park’s landmarks were built during the victorian era, giving the shoot that extra touch of authenticity. Now, as exciting as these photos are, you know I can’t give them to you all at once! I will post four pictures at a time, as to not make the posts too long. So check back all next week!

This first picture is of me in my American-gypsy-cancan costume. In steampunk, it is customary to invent a character on which to base your costume. Mine is of an American pioneer dancer. Though this photo shows off the costume really well, it was terribly windy that day, and a good chunk of my shots featured my hair all in my mouth and over my eyes.

This is a shot of our lovely behinds! This photo shoot was of both myself, and my friend Kelley. Also an American character, but in this case, she is a former soldier. Both of our characters are said to have fled the states after getting into some sort of trouble. That’s about all of a backstory we needed to make some pretty unconventional steampunk outfits for our unconventional characters. Despite all the frills and lace, they are strong, risqué, and independent female characters for this conservative alternative era.

This is the front of Kelley’s costume. Again, she looks great here despite the wind and the freezing cold temperatures that day.

And the last photo for this post; the two of us together. These photos are just a little teaser for you. There are plenty more spectacular shots to come! Thanks for reading.

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Photo-shoot Tomorrow!

Great news for those of you who have been following the creation of my latest Steampunk costume! I am scheduled for a photoshoot tomorrow morning in a park in CT to better document the costumes which were overwhelmed by New York Comic Con. I have made a few accessory changes to the ensemble, and am excited to finally get some decent pictures of this costume, and the costumes of the other ladies in my Cosplay group. I should have pictures for you shortly. Thank you again for following me!

I also hope that everyone had a lovely Halloween! If you didn’t, I hope you have a great party to go to this weekend. Because of Hurricane Sandy, Halloween didn’t feel like Halloween for me this year. Not much to do in terms of decorating because it would just get blown away, and I never did get a chance to go buy a pumpkin to carve.

I know that there are several million people out there still without power, and I hope that they are all warm, fed, and in good spirits. They probably did not have an awesome Halloween. These freak Halloween storms are quickly becoming an annual occurrence it seems, and I hope that after this tragedy people will wake up to the real effects of climate change! How many storms is it going to take? Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and it is a shame to see it ruined two years in a row now by freakishly strong storms. Strong storms are bad news anytime of year but those which occur during the holiday season are all the more devastating. This should be a season of celebration, not of mourning and recovery.

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Steampunk in the City: New York Comic Con 2012

Finally, I have gotten the photos back from New York Comic Con. This  year I headed into the city with a big group of friends to get our nerd on. All the ladies in the group, four in total, attended the convention in steampunk. Below is my costume, mixed in with some group pictures including the other lovely ladies of my cosplay group, MetaCosplay.

I find New York Comic Con to be too crazy and crowded of a convention to cosplay a popular character. There is no room to have your picture taken anyhow, and the days are so long that not having to worry about a wig or high shoes is really the only way to make it through. New York City is exhausting, so a comfortable steampunk or street clothes is the only way to keep me in a good mood after a long day of crowd-wading and line-waiting.

This Steampunk is my own original design, imagined through an effort to make a steampunk the likes of which I have never seen before. The character is an American “business women” from the western frontier, who got into some “trouble” and had to “flee the country.” She is now essentially a high-class gypsy, traveling with friends and associates from both the U.S. and England.

Our group was supposed to meet up with a photographer from Nerd Caliber on Saturday of the con to have some better pictures taken, but in the madness of the con and the lack of cell-phone service at the Javits, we never connected. Which is just as well because I have some edits I would like to make to the accessorizing of this outfit. If the weather holds out a little longer, the ladies and I should be able to arrange a real photoshoot in early november. But for now, these pictures are all I’ve got.

The convention itself was a great time, but mostly because of the good company. As I said, the convention was too crowded to take pictures at, so I don’t have much else to report! Again, I will hopefully have more, and better pictures of this costume next month.

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Steampunk Progress Pics

Hey readers,

As per requested, today I have some low-resolution progress pictures of my upcoming steampunk which will debut at this year’s New York Comic Con. These pictures were either taken on my cell phone, web camera, or in low light so I apologize for the grain or blurriness, but at least the debut will be that much more special for the image quality.

This first picture of a progress picture of the skirt. I drafted the pattern myself and it involves a lot of ruffles! The skirt is now complete and this garment alone took about 30 hours to complete.

Here’s a picture of the incomplete bustle, which is now also complete. I once again drafted my own pattern and constructed the piece myself using some beautiful brocades and a textured satin.

This picture isn’t exactly of progress but it is a compilation of patterns that I ALMOST used. There was a pattern sale going on while I was constructing my steampunk, and while I only used one of the patterns featured here for the top of the costume, I got a lot of inspiration from the pictures and did a lot of sketching and revising on their account. They would all make great steampunk patterns and hopefully they can be useful to you.

This is a quick shot of the vest in progress. Those laces will not be final and are just to test what kind I need. Not that kind, that’s for sure. The laces will ultimately go down my whole back. You can also see some of the back of the finished skirt. That’s my process update for now! More to come later this month.

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Steampunk Fashion Sketch & How to Design an Original Costume

Hey everyone,

I have a little treat for you today. This October my cosplay group MetaCosplay and I will be debuting a new steampunk group at New York Comic Con. Here I have a fashion sketch on which I am basing my costume. I did this little doodle in pen and colored pencil one day while I was trying to work out all the colors. Now, I may not end up following every detail to the letter; I edit costumes heavily during construction as I see exactly the way things fall. In fact this is not my preliminary sketch by any means, but actually my third or fourth revision. But seeing as I am already half way into this costume’s construction, I think that it will come out looking pretty close to this particular sketch.

This method of costume planning may be helpful for you to see if you like to make original works. I always start with a sketch, even when cosplaying an existing character. I can better get my head around a costume’s construction if I draw it out myself, even if I know exactly what it is going to look like because I am following another’s design. But in the cases of original costumes, I find sketching and re-sketching to be an essential part of the process.

Here are some tips for designing your own original costume:

1. Start with the silhouette. Details, in the beginning are not important. Start with the general shape of the costume, and chip away at it as if you were carving a block of wood.

2. Have a color scheme in mind from the start. Don’t just make two garments in two random colors and hope that you can find a third color to tie the two together. Have an idea of a color family that you want to stick to. If you do get in a color pickle, remember the neutrals. Neutrals help tie together colors that seem totally unrelated.

3. Look at what you already have to work with. Dig through your fabric bin at home, get out all your old patterns, and see what undergarments and accessories you can already use to cut down on your work and expenses. I’m not saying you should assemble things you already own and call it a “new” costume, but if you already have a boat load of blue fabric, maybe you should consider using blue in your design. If you already have a hoop skirt, you can achieve great skirt fullness without that added expense. Etc.

4. Remember that light colors make you look bigger, and dark colors make you look smaller. Keep this in mind when placing your colors on the body. If you want your waist to look smaller, don’t wear a yellow belt. If you want your shoulders to look wider, don’t wear a black sweater.

5. Don’t forget the footwear. Shoes may not be the star of your costume but they can ruin the illusion if they don’t fit the style. For an original costume, why not look at the shoes you already have and design something that goes with? Or you can use your costume as justification to buy shoes that you’ve wanted anyway. Unless you have extra money to burn, don’t buy shoes that you will only wear once for an original costume. You have flexibility here! So flex.

6. Be realistic about what your body will look like when the costume is done. Don’t design a risqué costume with the intension of losing weight. Don’t make a costume a size bigger because you plan to “bulk up.” Even if you manage to lose or put on the weight, it doesn’t mean you are going to feel any different in your skin. Design a costume that you would be comfortable wearing TODAY. If you look even better in it in three months, that’s great.

One final thought: I always like to make things that I can wear on multiple occasions and with multiple costumes. This isn’t always possible, especially with statement pieces or costumes that are made as one big piece. But things like your standard white bloomers, khaki adventure pants, a white chemise, or a black belt are things that can act as a base for thousands of costumes. Try working some of these basics into your design and then when you’re in a pinch for a halloween costume, you’ll have plenty to start with.

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TGNESE interviews: costumers, vendors, performers, and exhibitionists.

Here are two more videos of the Interviews that I conducted at The Great New England Steampunk Exhibition. These interviews feature some fantastic costumes, and even more fantastic personalities. What an exciting bunch, these Steampunkers are!

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