@Ewing4686:
Hey Ichnob, saw the Anime Expo pics of you guys over on your facebook page, looking pretty awesome! Looking at your Akainu outfit, did you use some sort of age make-up to get his facial expression? If not, you must just have a really good grimace to capture his style! Also, no love for the flower? I was looking at the pictures and it seemed like something was missing and then I realized there wasn't the corsage on the suit, just ran out of time to find a good looking one? But besides that, the costume looked great, the magma arm looked really cool in those actions poses with ace and shanks.
One last question, for the admiral coats, how did you guys make the epaulettes? I imagine the gold tassels came from Michael's or some other craft store? And how was the actual epaulette itself crafted? Keep up the great work, and I'll hopefully have some preview pics to post if I get my Akainu done early before Otakon!
Good eye, Ewing. The flower was something I left behind at my house before I got to the hotel. So come actual day, no flower. Which is why none of these pictures will be going up on my CosCom and ACE profiles yet. Took me a while to find a really good fake flower to act as a boutonniere, too. Ah well, that's what the upcoming SK Cosplay & Friends Marine Photoshoot is for.
Yes, the old-man wrinkles are make up. binkx helped me with it, however, I'd like to learn how to do it myself as well. She has a book about contouring with make-up, so I'll be borrowing that after Comic Con. Luckily, I didn't have to put any make-up on my forehead since I was wearing a hat the whole time. For any shots without the hat during the photoshoot, I'll have full make-up on. Also, since the shirt covered up so much, I didn't bother with the tatoo for the gathering. It'll be there for the photoshoot.
iroha and Kaizoku-Syn know more about the epaulets than I do, so hopefully one of them can answer. But the trim we bought at a specialty trim store in the L.A. fabric district. Similar stuff can be found at Michaels and Joanns also, it wasnt' custom or anything.