PMX Holiday Anime Swap Meet (12/4 + 12/11 CA)

PMX is co-sponsoring a Holida Anime Swap Meet in both NorCal and SoCal this December.

On December 4, 2010 is the Valley Gakuen & Pacific Media Expo "Holiday Anime Swap Meet" from Noon to 6pm at the Valley Japanese Community Center. First 200 people get a free bag from VIZ with raffles every 2 hours. In addition to the swap meet there'll be screening Pokemon the movie @ 1 pm and Naruto The Movie @ 3 pm

This event is FREE

Valley Japanese Community Center
8850 Lankershim Blvd
Sun Valley, CA 91352



Then on Dec 11, 2010 up in Los Gatos, CA is PMX NorCal Holiday Anime Swap Meet + Hall Cosplay Contest from 12 to 6 pm over at Nordall Hall Sons of Norway Lodge. Hourly raffles from Bandai and PMX and cash prizes for cosplay contest at 5 pm. And it is all FREE !

This event is FREE

Nordall Hall Sons of Norway Lodge
580 West Parr Avenue
Los Gatos, CA 95032-1508


BTW : Do you know any cosplay gathering/events in the United States that you like me to mention ? Email me the details w/links to cosplayinamerica@gmail.com / subject : cosplay events

Dang ! Pixel Ninja from Sweden has done it again ! I have no words at all to describe this. Just go to her website. Photographer is Carl Oscar

Volpin Props' Portal Gun

Amazing is all I can say. Check out Harrison Krix's work. He's a graphic designer by day and design props in his off-time. If you look his website you'll see some of his earlier creations such as TF2: Force-a-Nature, Light Staff (Final Fantasy XI), Daft Punk helmet and Mass Effect M8 Avenger Assault Rifle.

His biggest claim to fame (or at least how I found out about him ) is his Big Daddy he built in '09 and was used in the Aquarium photo shoot.

Cosplay on Ice (12/11 Omaha, NE)

Hmmm.. I see a trend here with cosplay on ice ! Yet again, found on Cosplay (I usually check out cosplay.com, meetup.com as well as Facebook events for cosplay-related stuff.

Some friends and I want to start up a "cosplay on ice" event in the Omaha area, and want to know if people would be interested in participating. We are not "hosting" the event though, and we will have to share the rink with 'normal' people.

December 11th, 7:30 to 10:30, $6 admission and free skate rental
Moylan Iceplex
12550 West Maple Road
Omaha, NE 68164

Also, if anyone is interested, there could also be a broomball game (hockey without skates, but still on ice).

Yup, so if you are interested, go over to the Cosplay.com page and let her know !

About.com/Manga : Best Art Book 2010 "Cosplay in America"

I was pleasantly surprised today to find out I made About.com/Manga's list for 2010. Really surprised in fact. I never though my book would be mention on a manga site ! Big thanks to Deb for selecting my book !

As the product of over five months of cross-country travel, many hours and hundreds of photographs, Cosplay in America is a lovely art book that captures the spirit of fun, camaraderie and creativity of the North American cosplay community. Ejen Chuang's photographs do what similar photo books weren't able to do: show cosplayers as real people who like to dress up as fictitious characters, and treat them with respect for their passion for the anime, games and manga that inspired their costumes.

I've received so many thumbs up from folks who tell me that it is refreshing to see regular folks cosplay. I've met hundreds if not thousands of people on my tour, an amazing opportunity to meet and hear opinions from different parts of the country. One girl at Fanime in San Jose, CA, remark that most male photographer's "are interested in one specific type ... and not particularly interested in certain other types. It is refreshing to see someone who clearly understands what cosplay is about."

New People @ San Francisco

(photos : New People Facebook page)


Earlier this year in Jan, I attended a local San Francisco con called AOD (Animation on Display) held over at Hotel Kabuki in Japantown of San Francisco. My friend took me New People, a shopping center sort of across and down the street from the hotel and my jaws dropped. New People is a beautifully designed, very pleasing slice of Tokyo here in America ! I was instantly jealous that it was here in San Francisco and NOT in Los Angeles where I can go visit anytime I want. *sigh*

V I D E O

Cosplay in America book video

Check out my YouTube page for videos I make while on tour.

NYC cult cable-access show Media Funhouse interviews Forrest J Ackerman. In 1936, he attended the 1st World Science Fiction Convention dressed in a futuristic spacesuit. Perhaps this was the first step in the direction of costuming at a convention.



Even in the 1970's, costuming was already becoming part of the convention scene. As you can see in this 1973 Star Trek convention, the use of a countdown to alert photographers to wrap up taking photos is seen - and is still used today at cons.



Here in these short clips from WesterCon 39 in 1985 you can see costuming and masquerade. There's even Ghostbuster cosplayers here with smoking ghost traps.

In 1990, Project A-kon (now called A-kon) was held in Dallas, TX and is America's longest running anime con. In 1992, Anime Expo began in Northern California before moving to Southern California in 1994. Currently Anime Expo is the largest anime convention in America with 47,000 attendants.



Here you can see a cosplay skit of Evangelion held at Anime Expo in 1998. ACP's Youtube channel has other early skits. Just type in the year into the search box.



San Diego Comic Con 2005 - Disney Princess' skit.



With the advent of digital photography, the amount of videos and images have exploded. This 2010 video is done by Ackson Lee at Otakon(established 1994) , the largest anime convention on the East Coast in Baltimore.

Senzai Winter Festival (12/4 Orange County,CA)

Found this over on Cosplay.com event forum.

A splash of color in a beautiful park, and games to keep the day fun and entertaining. From a balloon dart wall where you win Artwork from all types of Artists, to the main Event, the cosplay contest, you're sure to have a lot of fun at the 1st Inaugural, Senzai Winter Festival.

The Cosplay Contest is not our only Cosplay related event however. We will also be having a Prop Contest, where Cosplayers have a chance to win for having the skills to make wondrous little things out of nearly nothing, as well as the Skit Contest.

Make us laugh, make us cry, make the fan's scream in joy, it doesn't matter, the day will just be about having fun and enjoying the world of cosplay, for the wondrous place that it is.

Check the Cosplay page for updates. GingaDreamer is running the operation.

December 4, 2010 noon to 6 pm

Laguna Niguel Regional Park
28241 La Paz Road
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

T O U R

(SakuraCon 2011)

Dec 30, 2011 - IKKiCON (Austin, TX)+

Jan. 6-8, 2012 - Anime LA (Los Angeles, CA) ++

Jan. 26-28, 2012 - Ohayocon (Columbus OH) +

Feb. 17-19, 2012 - Katsucon (Washington DC)**

Mar. 16-18, 2012 - WonderCon (Anaheim, CA) +

Mar. 31, 2012 - ComCom (Mexico)

Apr. 6-8, 2012 - Anime Boston (Boston, MA) ++

May 25-27, 2012 - Animazement (Raleigh, NC) *

June 29 - July 2 - Anime Expo (Los Angeles) ++

* Dealer's Hall w/Mage Creations

**Dealer's Hall w/Epic Cosplay Wigs

+ Photographing. No artist alley or dealer table.

++ Artist Alley table

PLEASE NOTE : There are other vendors carrying my book through out the country. Look for book vendors - those who carry ONLY books. They should have copies of my book - just ask :) The largest one will probably be COMIC CELLAR - they are hitting most of the big cons in the country. Also look for AnimeBooks.com at mostly big shows too. For those on the West Coast, there is Phil Davis Books + Treasures.

Cosplayer : GreyFinch
Photographer : bishop002700

source

Artist Alley (or how I spent 8 hours of my day at a con)

(My table @ Otakon 2010)
Yes, this is my first year ever doing artist alley and I pretty much jumped right into the waters by hitting 10 artist alley in 6 months time. I'll give you some little hints I've picked up along the way. Obviously since I am selling a book, my experience is different from the typical but I hope some of my experiences can still help you out.

First of all, I found PandaBuddha's "Artist Alley Survivial Guide" very helpful. She has really great info in here if you take the time to read through it.

First thing I do when I decided to go to Artist Alley is to research it. Usually on their forums are feedback threads from previous year so I go through it and get a general idea of how the con is. I'm also looking to find out if artist alley is inside of a room or out in the open. Inside of a room is better. There is set-hours and you can leave you stuff behind since they lock the door. Out in the open are cons where they have tables set-up in a general area and you'll have to breakdown or carry your stuff home at night. The positive aspect is you can be there longer. I think Metrocon in Tampa was my longest one - I finally wrapped up close to midnight and there were STILL artist there hoping to catch the post-rave crowd. Reading the forums also gives you an idea of what problems they may have the previous year. Example : if many people complain how cold it is in the room, then I bring a jacket with me just in case they didn't fix it.

Sanrio 50th Anniversary Pop-Up Tour

(New Orleans stop)

Well, the Sanrio 50th Anniversary "Small Gifts" celebration here in Santa Monica may be done but their pop-up tour celebration is still on the road ! Last weekend it was in New Orleans and their next stop is Atlanta, GA for Nov. 26-28 @ Atlantic Station 171 17th St NW Atlanta, Georgia 30363 from 10am to 7pm daily. Since is this their 50th Anniversary, they have some special items only available on the tour.

The rest of their tour :

Dec 2-5: Miami, FL
Dec 9-10: New York City, NY

By the way, here's a video I found on YouTube showing the Santa Monica celebration.

Christmas in the Park (12/4 San Jose, CA)

(OscarC)

Yet another holiday cosplay gathering ! This time it is up in NorCal in San Jose for December 4, 2010 during the annual Christmas in the Park event. Every year, locals volunteer time to put together this San Jose tradition that started in 1950 and now draws 400,000 people over the four week holiday season to wander among the Christmas wonderland. And of course it makes the perfect opportunity for a cosplay gathering !

Event starts at 2 pm and will probably run till 8 pm and folks will be meeting over at S Market St & Park Ave (right across from where Fanime is held) at the large Christmas Tree by the stage in the middle of the park.

Bekalou on Cosplay.com forums is organizing this event so read more here and here's photos taken last year by OscarC.

P U R C H A S E

8"×10" Hardcover, 272 pages, full color photography book Japanese/English language

ISBN-10: 0615349064 / ISBN-13: 978-0615349060. Retail price $40.00 USD

For international (outside the United States), click here.

I'll be in artist alley at Anime Boston and Anime Expo 2012 and with Epic Cosplay wigs at Katsucon 2012. If you are at those conventions, I'll have copies of my book available.

L O C A T I O N S
==================
These are locations I am aware of that are carrying my book. This is not a full list so if you don't see a store in your city/state, please check with your local comic book store and I am sure they are happy to help. If you know of a store not on my list, please let me know and I'll add it ! cosplayinamerica@gmail.com

For those who travel to conventions, there'll be a number of vendors carrying the book. Foremost will be Comic Cellar as they are at most of the bigger anime and comic book cons in the country. Others include Animebooks and Phil Davis Books & Treasure.

// UNITED STATES //

ARIZONA

Samurai Comics Phoenix
1051 E. Camelback Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85014
602.265.8886

Samurai Comics West
10720 Indian School Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85037
623.872.8886

Samurai Comics East
1120 S. Country Club Drive #102
Mesa, AZ 85210
480.962.1123

CALIFORNIA (Northern)

Kinokuniya Books
1581 Webster St # 165
San Francisco, CA 94115
415.567.7625 ‎

Kinokuniya Books
785 Saratoga Avenue
San Jose, CA 95129
408.252.1300

Therapy
545 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.865.0981

Therapy
1445 Grant Avenue
San Francisco, CA 93411
415.781.8899

Therapy
1348 Burlingame Ave.
Burlingame, CA 94010
650.375.0678

Therapy
250 Castro Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
650.691.1186

Therapy
347 E. Campbell Avenue
Campbell, CA 95008
408.866.8999

Therapy
366 Main St.
Los Altos, CA 94022
650.917.7918

Therapy
525 Main St.
Pleasanton, CA 94566
925.931.0545

CALIFORNIA (South)

Gallery Nucleus‎
210 E Main St
Alhambra, CA 91801
626.458.7482

Meltdown Comics
7522 West Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323.851.7223

Munky King

7308 Melrose Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90046

323.938.0091

Royal-T
8910 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232
310.559.6300

Wacko‎
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323.663.0122

FLORIDA

Tate's Comics‎
4566 N University Drive
Lauderhill, FL 33351
954.748.0181

MARYLAND

Brainstorm Comics and Gaming
54 East Patrick Street
Frederick, MD 21701
301.663.3039

NEW JERSEY

The Artist's Eye

3 North New York Rd. #7

Smithville, NJ 08205

609.404.4224

NEW YORK

Dream in Plastic

177 Main St.

Beacon, NY 12508

845.632.3383

Forbidden Planet‎
840 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
212.473.1576

Kinokuniya Books
1073 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10018
212.869.1700

Undiscovered Realm

44 N. Central Ave

Hartsdale, NY 10530

1.914.437.8278

NORTH CAROLINA

East Carolina Comics and More

4110 Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd

New Bern, NC 28562

252.633.3250

OHIO

Seann's Anime & Comics

5442 Monroe St. Suite 2
Toledo, OH 43623

1.419.720.9544

OKLAHOMA

Atomik Pop
7884 South Western Avenue
Oklahoma City, OK 73139
405.635.0848

OREGON

Screaming Sky Gallery
1416 NE Alberta Street
Portland, Oregon 97211
503.922.1500

TEXAS

Domy Books‎
1709 Westheimer Rd
Houston, TX 77098
713.523.3669

Insomnia Video Game Culture
5169 Cypress Creek Parkway
Houston, TX 77069
281.440.1405

Ooples
7460 Callaghan Road Suite 410
San Antonio, TX 78229
888.667.5378

WASHINGTON

Kinokuniya Books‎
525 South Weller St
Seattle, WA 98104
206.587.2477

// CANADA //

Sakura Media
4700 Kingsway (Metropolis at Metrotown)
Burnaby, British Columbia
Canada
1.604.419.8824

// MEXICO //

Dead Bunny‎
Blvd. Diaz Ordaz 3316 Local 1-B
72500 Puebla, Mexico
52.222.2444083

// WORLD //

Outland Store + Art Gallery

Zeedijk 22

Amsterdam

The Netherlands

1012 AZ

+31 (6) 29347215

Taken at SakuraCon 2010 (Seattle, WA) (Source)

Photographer : masa-kocha.deviantart.com

"This is Cosplay" (11/30 Miami, FL)

If you happen to be in Miami early for Art Basel , come check out Gallery CS for the opening reception for "This Is Cosplay", a group art show.

DTC and CS Gallery present This Is Cosplay, an exhibition presenting the coalescence of art and cosplay through photography, performance art and other mediums. Featuring works by Lazaro Diaz, Annette Orozco, Sogeth and Ejen Chuang.

Cosplay is more than just putting on a costume, it's creative, it's high fashion couture, it's performance art. People adopt archetypes and take them from 2D world into 3D realization, not only through costume and makeup, but also through performance art verging on a ritual.

The reception runs from 7 pm to 11 pm and you'll get a chance to see some of my large prints which haven't been seen outside of Los Angeles until now. My book is also available at the opening though I won't be there :(

Gallery CS
787 NE 125th St,
North Miami, FL 33161-5611

(Right across from MoCA. Map)

UPDATE (11/29)



Photos of my images on the gallery's wall. By the way, thanks to the ICON, one of the top labs here in Los Angeles for printing my work.

UPDATE (12/2)


(photos : Flash! Fotography )



(Photos : Morataya)

More photos here and here and here.

CLOSING RECEPTION is Sat Dec 4, 2010 7-10 pm. Yup, it is a short show :)

HezaChan's Tokyo Game Show Experience

I have a dream of making it out to Tokyo Game Show one of these days. With over 180,000 people who attend this, TGS definitely beats out San Diego Comic Con 140,000+ folks. TGS is a video game expo so it fits more with E3 and GenCon more than with SDCC or AX . TGS was held on Sept 18-19 this year. I've been to many cons in America but have never been to a con outside of America so I'm always curious to find out how the con experience is overseas especially with cosplay.

Happily, HezaChan had a chance to cosplay in Tokyo in Sept 2010 and posted a video about her experiences on her YouTube.

Judging from some of the photos I've seen on Flickr from TGS, I expect it to be a madhouse of cosplayers and especially photographers....waaaay more photographers in one place than I have ever seen.

( Flickr/TokyoFashion )

I also became familiar with an America living in Japan - Lady Lara Jones's "Cosplay Research Project". One of her latest blog she recounts her experience at Layer Paradise which according to Danny Choo, is one of the bigger cosplay events in Japan. It is an interesting read and gives some perspectives of cons in Japan.

C O N T A C T

Email : cosplayinamerica@gmail.com

Facebook / Twitter / DeviateArt / Tumblr / Flickr / YouTube

Vocaloid Day (11/27 San Francisco, CA)

November 27, 2010 @ JapanTown in San Francisco is a Vocaloid gathering. Here's the Facebook event page. So far 33 folks have signed up. Event is listed to start at 11 am.

Cosplayers on Ice (12/11/10 Atlanta, GA)

Video from 2009 "Cosplayers on Ice"

If you live in Atlanta, marked down this date : December 11, 2010 3-6 pm cuz it's time for MomoCon's 4th Annual "Cosplayers on Ice" event !

The event is held at Centennial Park Ice Rink in downtown Atlanta, GA. There'll be door prizes, as well as cosplay photo shoot. The event is free except for the skating part as there is a rink fee and skate rental fee. All the info can be found on their Facebook event page.

Event is held by MomoCon & SeishunCon

INTERVIEW : Maridah (Sacramento, CA)

Photo : Maxim Stensel

I’ve seen Maridah at Fanime and Anime Expo for the past two years. When I started this book project, she was cosplaying Saber and completely mobbed at both cons I saw her at. I decided to shoot her an email to ask about her cosplay.

Well, first of all, tell me how you got into cosplaying ?

I attended a magnet high school for theater, so I had taken a few costuming classes. This was around the same time I became interested in anime and wanted to go to a convention. At the time ‘cosplay’ was just starting to gain interest in america, and it seemed like a fun idea for me to show up to a con in a costume if I was going to go…I ended up making 3 costumes for myself and a couple for friends for that first con. One of these was an Auron from Final Fantasy 10 for a friend, which meant working with leather and all sorts of things I hadn’t tried before in school. From the get-go I was taking on challenges, something that I think has stuck with me. As soon as the convention started I was hooked. I made so many good friends that first con, and cosplay really appealed to my interest in making costumes, so it was a perfect fit.

PMX

Dorothy as Velvet (Odin Sphere)

PMX (Pacific Media Expo) is one of the smaller cons here in Los Angeles. Earlier this year I had a chance to meet the owner of Epic Cosplay, a wig company that is also traveling to con circuit here in the States and we spoke of combing forces. Since we both travel the con circuit, the thought was to save money by sharing expenses.

It made sense to me and I had plans to bring my photo set-up with me on tour next year so this was the perfect chance to put it together and test it in a real-world experience. Obviously giving the numbers, I didn't expect to sell many books - just enough to make back the cost of my half of the booth space. Honestly, I was there to test out some new ideas more than anything else.

Obviously we had to do some re-arranging to make sure my photo booth and their wig stock can be display and we had a chance to figure some kinks out.


Epic Cosplay booth

Myself personally, I was also testing out a different photo strobe equipment. I usually travel with a Profoto 7B but these things weight close to 20 pounds and are heavy as can be. I rented a Profoto Acute 600R which is lighter and less power - though I am inside so I won't need to overpower the sun or anything like that. The pack worked pretty well and now I'm hunting for a used kit online to purchase.


Me w/L4D folks

Awwwwwww yeah !