As a cosplayer and prop maker, I thought it important to write down my goals for the new year to hold myself accountable on actually achieving them, so here are my 10 cosplay goals for 2017.
1. Kanan Jarrus. I’ve talked about this one a whole lot–I’m working strictly on Season 3 Kanan right now, but depending on how my work load goes and how well I do getting things crossed off of my list, I’m hoping to work backwards to also do a Season 1/2 Kanan. The nice thing is that there is some reuse between those two versions (blaster, lightsaber, belt, and pants) which makes a second Kanan a little more doable.
2. Super stretch Kanan goal. I’d also like to add one or both of the Kanan’s that Lorna Ka came up with. I LOVE both of these renditions of Kanan (essentially a Season 1/2 and a Season 3 samurai version) and would love to wear them some day. Seriously, go check out all of her amazing art too.
The first part of my Kanan build write-up is already available, with more coming soon. Remember, my Patreon supporters get behind the scenes and early access to all of my builds!
3. “Finish” my Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. While it’s technically done “enough” (heck, it won first place at RenCon), there are still a few things I want to enhance about the parts I already finished, plus I want to add a literal whole other layer–Ashitaka’s outerwear (rain coat and riding pants)–as well as potentially some electronics. If you’ve seen the movie, you can probably guess what I’m talking about.
4. Paladin armor for Keith from Voltron: Legendary Defender. I finished my casual Keith cosplay last year for SDCC and wore it to a few cons since then. It will be nice to have two versions of Keith to be able to switch between!
5. Secret Cosplay! My Patreon supporters go to vote on my super secret cosplay for this year. They got to choose from two different characters that are both from books and movies based on the books, and both characters were portrayed by the same actor (though quite a few years apart). If you have any guesses, let me know, but otherwise, the reveal won’t be for a while. 🙂
6. Attend more conventions. I’m planning to be at Emerald City Comicon (March 2-5 in Seattle, WA) this year. I’m also planning to attend SakuraCon (April 14-16 in Seattle, WA), Dragon Con (September 1-4 in Atlanta, GA), Rose City Comic Con (September 9-10 in Portland, OR), and RenCon (Dates TBA in Renton, WA). I’d love to attend more cons, but, for now, that’s my whole schedule. Depending on which weekend PAX Prime gets scheduled for, I’d love to go again. Last year it was the same weekend as DragonCon so I didn’t make it.
7. Give Back. While I don’t want to make any promises yet about what I’ll be doing at any of the conventions, so far there are four panels at ECCC that I’m waiting to hear back on for approval–two I’m the moderator for and two that I’m a panelist for, and I’ll also be working at the Cosplay Repair Station at both ECCC and SakuraCon. Cosplay Repair Station is my way of giving back to such a wonderful community. They help do free repairs for cosplayers. I’m hoping to not only help a lot of people and meet a lot of cosplayers but learn a lot too!
8. Give Back More. Another way I’m hoping to give back to the community is by teaming up with the SoDo Makerspace here in Seattle. They want to make the Makerspace a part of the local cosplay community by offering meetups, classes, and workshops. Myself, along with some other great cosplayers and prop makers, are working with them to plan out some great events and opportunities for learning and community building. You can check out the video from the first meetup posted by Punished Props.
9. Patreon Goodies. I have a lot of good stuff planned for my Patreon as well. Lots of tutorials, videos, how-tos, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, polls (like the aforementioned voting on my next cosplay), and cool giveaway items.
10. Do more commissions. Lastly, I am indeed open for commissions. The latest one I finished (on New Year’s Eve, no less) was the Rito Harp from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. I have two other commissions on my table right now that are for a client for ECCC. The first one is Shiro’s Galra arm (we’re planning to do some photos together!) from Voltron: Legendary Defender. It’ll be the first prop I’ve done with electronics, and I am VERY excited. The second commission I have in the works is currently a secret. The behind-the-scenes and work in progress are currently only being shared with Patreon supporters and won’t be publicly revealed until ECCC. If you’re interested in a commission, hit me up and let’s discuss!
I’d love to hear about your plans for 2017 as well. Leave a comment here to share your own plans for 2017!
