New year new plans

[Arking]

My silence on here of late comes from having jumped head first into trying to finish some longtime costume projects and clean out some old trunks of material. I'd become a real hoarder of fabric and my grotto was starting to look a mess. I used to cosplay a lot and early this fall I decided to try my hand at doing Cupid (with real moving wings) and Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones. Both are...unfinished but close. I also managed to grab some more neoprene to remake my tail this time with just gently sculpted silicone over neoprene.

Being into photography and finally coming out of a 6 year long funk I motivated myself to workout more, and shape up as well. I'm happy that my creativity is coming back and I'm planning a few photoshoots for May once I complete these costumes and finish my body goals. Relevant to Mernetwork I guess is that I think this time I'm going to try and do some Little Mermaid crossplay (thanks brainwashing instrumental soundtrack). It's been done before but I'm going to try my hand at both a tail as well as a full period suit and casual wear for some shoots. Thankfully the coast of British Columbia is fairly diverse and I think I can recreate a couple iconic scenes from the animation. It'll also give me a chance to bring to life some prop characters of Sebastian, Flounder, Scuttle and rope a friend in to play Eric.

Anyone else have any big plans this year?

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[Arking]

Score my friend agreed to be Eric provided I make the costume. I also sourced the cutest little crab ever that I can alter into a Sebastian.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zghhQCZmdPI
Isn't it so CUTE! :dance: I like his little shuffle.

I'll also be modifying one of those swimming fish pool toys into Flounder, already have a sculpt planned.

[Keiris]

Can't wait to see it all come to fruition!

[Seaspray Mermaid]

That is so exciting! I can't wait to see (sea) what you come up with!!

[Arking]

Can't wait to see it all come to fruition!
Oh THERE you are! I was wondering where your fins had swam off too.

[Arking]

That is so exciting! I can't wait to see (sea) what you come up with!!
Thanks, this will probably take awhile as I have a few other costumes in the works that need fixing so please hang in there!

What you can expect: The same dude who's going to be Eric (pictured on the right) will be doing Tom Riddle in my Harry Potter set of photos, and then I've got Game of Thrones to finish. @_@ I'm notorious for starting projects and then getting swept up in a current of something new. But my Tumblr (http://arkingarts.tumblr.com/) has been active lately catching all the activity as I touch up and do all the detailing and embroidery on some of the costumes. While that is going I can focus on adding scales to the new tail which I think will just have the waist fins like in the animation so I don't need to concern myself with a fleshtone blend. ^-^

The four major scenes I'd like to recreate in costume are:

Jig & The Storm (A Curious Encounter) - Ariel peaking over the deck with Flounder watching the dancing. Green screen using a wooden table I just built and lots of stock photography

The Grotto - Using green screen again and hand sculpted and painted styrofoam with a combination of underwater photography and I finally get to use my DJ H20 Led Light for this one!

The Rescue - Eric on the Beach with the palace in the background using scene replacement. Lighthouse Park, BC pictured on the right will be the staging area and Chateau de Chillon will substitute for Eric's seaside palace overlaying where the lighthouse is in that scene. With the scene/image reversed to give the illusion of looking at it from the other direction (to match the Chateau and animation) and modifications to the architecture to better fit the animated depiction including the lighted pier.

Kiss the Girl Lagoon - Sunset pond scene with fireflies possibly the hardest to accomplish but using the Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park, BC as the primary backdrop with photos taken elsewhere (likely on land) and green screened back in for the final image.

I intend to try and make use of my film skills with this so each one will actually be a gif file when I'm finally finished, which should also explain why both props for Sebastian and Flounder are mentioned to be animatronic. I just need to re-skin and repaint them so that they better fit. Small scenes I can do on my own will be The Dinner Scene, Bedtime, and the Wedding Announcement all land based ones with simple costumes that would feature the small animatronics more than costumes.

[Keiris]

Oh THERE you are! I was wondering where your fins had swam off too.

Ha! The last few months have been waaaay too busy with creative obligations and travel for work but I'm beginning to see the light! Another large canvas sitting at my feet for a client but had to give my eyes a break so thought I'd see what the Mers were up to as I don't swim here much.
Your friend looks like a good Eric. Is he going to carry you off into the ocean? ;)

[Arking]

Ha! The last few months have been waaaay too busy with creative obligations and travel for work but I'm beginning to see the light! Another large canvas sitting at my feet for a client but had to give my eyes a break so thought I'd see what the Mers were up to as I don't swim here much.
Your friend looks like a good Eric. Is he going to carry you off into the ocean? ;)
Ooh pics soon I hope! You're like me then getting busy in the off season.

The friend was just asking me about whether he should start working out for it. He could pick me up last summer with some effort and I've lost a fair bit of weight since then but I think he might have to hit the weights a bit to be able to carry me anywhere and look graceful doing it. As it is though he's in luck I'll be the one carrying him onto land. :P

[Keiris]

Now I'm jealous...

[Arking]

:shark:

How I imagine you approaching the situation...you being the fishy and he being the smiley. :P

[MermaidAiera]

I just decided to re-contract with my company here in Japan, so I'll be away from my tail for another whole year :cry:

I'm thinking of having my mother bring it for me this summer though when she visits again. I don't think I can handle another summer without it! My goals for this year are to get that dang tail to this side of the globe!

[Arking]

I just decided to re-contract with my company here in Japan, so I'll be away from my tail for another whole year :cry:

I'm thinking of having my mother bring it for me this summer though when she visits again. I don't think I can handle another summer without it! My goals for this year are to get that dang tail to this side of the globe!
That can be a tremendous struggle and quite costly. Hopefully she can do that for you. I had to leave a lot of my belongings when I moved, it's taken me forever to get them back to me. :(

[Keiris]

:shark:

How I imagine you approaching the situation...you being the fishy and he being the smiley. :P

:lol: You know me well....

[Arking]

Just filed my taxes...oh how I loath doing that. It's been such a pain in the neck going through this process annually, 94 pages of forms to file because I'm from the USA living abroad. :(