This is my cosplay of Ulquiorra Schiffer from Bleach, worn to the first day of Ozine Fest 2008 last weekend. This is one of my favorite costumes, however uncomfortable the makeup was. I have to say, when I first encountered this character (and could barely spell his name) the thought of cosplaying him didn't even cross my mind. My friends eventually convinced me to try for the sake of our group. From Ichigo [link] I turned into Uryuu [link] then Bankai Ichigo [link] then Renji [link] and suddenly, I'm an Espada.

This is just a convention snapshot by Gian, but I was surprised at how it turned out because lighting is usually pretty bad during indoor events. Great settings, man! _{I did a bit of editing though, since there were Samsung logos around the glass thing behind me.}

I've been getting a lot of questions about this costume ever since I posted pictures from last weekend, so here we go.

BONE HELM
The bone helm was constructed using rubber foam sheets, with a butchered plastic toy helmet as a base. My main contribution was the base and figuring out a way to keep it on my head. The rest of the work was by Miguel *merkymerx. _{In return, I dyed and cut his Grimmjow wig. [link]} It's a shame that the paint job isn't too visible in this shot, so here's a better look at it: [link] _{(photo by ~keizihism)} I'm thinking of adding on molding putty or something to give more dimension to the ends of the tier things and making the curves look more organic.

SHOES
Miguel and I also customized Arrancar boots for our group, but you can't see them in this photo so I'll have to link you again: [link] _{(photo by ~yaoiangel14)} Rubber foam sheets = a cosplayer's best friend. Sadly, we weren't able to work on the zanpakutos in time because finals came right before the con. Next time, then.

FABRIC
I have Kat ~moonlightflight to thank for helping me pick out just the right kind of fabric for our costumes. I forgot the exact term for it but it was just about perfect. It was thick, opaque and slightly heavy so it looked neat and didn't wrinkle easily or look floppy; it also made the pleats on our hakamas look neat. And thank Aizen it wasn't shiny. I needed help with the tailoring, though.

MAKEUP
I did my own face, and let me tell you - I have never worn so much makeup in my entire life. I can barely recognize myself. _{My face was stuck like that for the entire duration of the con because that's Ulquiorra's default expression; I hope the people I talked to didn't take it the wrong way by thinking I was upset or something.}

Initially, I had no clue as to how to achieve Ulquiorra's skin tone so my friends helped me out a lot. I was wearing several layers of around FIVE kinds of unfamiliar makeup. Green cream gunk, moist white cake things, something called summer cake, white powder foundation... I'm not entirely sure.

I just treated them the way I treat art materials and pretended I was painting. Only instead of a canvas, it was on my face. Well, it seemed to work anyway. After the skin color was done, I just drew in the rest of the face details, again pretending I was just drawing. I used liquid eyeliner to shape my eyes, thinking of it as going over sketches with an ink brush. Then I used actual paint for the green tear patterns. _{It's too bad my green contacts aren't too visible. I should try to get a more vibrant pair for next time.} As if all that gunk on my face wasn't enough, I had to turn my hands white and wear black nail polish. Gah.

Going back on topic, I'm glad I didn't go with face paint because from what I've seen, that stuff tends to smudge a lot and gets messy after a while. The makeup actually had a dry, matte finish and didn't come off easily. I know because getting it off my skin after the con drained the last of my energy.

Aaand that's it. I've rambled on enough already. I know it's far from perfect but that was my take on Ulquiorra. I'll keep working to make it better. The team for that day was:
myself as Ulquiorra Schiffer
Miguel as Grimmjow Jaegerjacques
Kat as Inoue Orihime
China as Kuchiki Rukia

Some group shots from the event, by Chy ~shinyredballoon
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In time we hope to do a proper shoot with more characters, but for now you may see more pictures from the convention HERE.