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A blast from the past! I never released these images for some reason eventhough I made and wore Misty May back in 2008. I sometimes forget what costumes I've made and what shoots I've done lol.

Character: Misty May - Otaku no Video
Costume made and modeled by me
Photography by Geoffrey Nicholson
Reference images of Misty May: [link] [link] [link]

I watched "Otaku no Video", a Classic Gainax anime about a Otaku taking over the world, a galaxy even, about 15 years ago while I still lived in Germany and the anime scene was brand new in Europe. For someone like me who grew up with anime and mange in China, it was like discovering the fandom all over again. I loved the fun and cheesy way Gainax presented the Otakus to the world, and created Misty May as the original mascot girl - the original anime bunny girl even - to charm the world! BOME came out with a gorgeous Misty May figure a few years ago which inspired me to make the costume and show some Old School love.

More images and info on this costume and how I made it on my website: [link]

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Teaser image from the Christmas themed photoshoot I did with BGZ Studios [link] Since I made this costume ON Christmas last year, I missed the chance to take Holiday photos with it. Was very glad to pull it out this year for some shots.

Darrell came over with giant bags of Christmas decorations, lights and fabrics and we created a very merry set in my living-room. I can still find glitter on furnitures and on the floor lol. Darrell does minimal post-processing so the lighting in the photo is from his awesome set up that day.

Excited to see more shots, I will share what I get back! Thank you so much, Darrell, for the photos and beautiful decorations.
Check out BGZ Studios on Facebook here!
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Costume Construction:
This cosplay is of Urd, from the classic anime Ah! My Goddess. Many anime girls have little Christmas outfits and I already had the wig for Urd (I've been planning another costume of hers for a while). The design is based on an outfit Urd wears in one of the episodes, but I changed it a little bit to fit my taste in fashion and shape. For example, the neck bow in the design is green and ack I really dislike the green/red color combo, so I changed it to red. And I made flare sleeves instead of gloves because I often have to handle money and sign things at cons, so gloves would have been annoying.
100% of the materials were found at home - the red velour is left over from my Scarlet Witch cape (I loved being able to use up all the scrap!) and the white fur was acquired at a clearance sale ages ago. I even had the boots already from another sale.
Costume constructed in a day over Christmas weekend (after much lint rolling the excess fur off the velour). I made a self-lined corset, top stitched and reinforced, with boning and eyelets for lace up, drafted a pattern for a three panel skirt and flare sleevelets. I also made a matching Santa hat and hand stitched the fur trim onto all the hems.

Other Deviations of this costume:

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Uploading more shots to round out my gallery. I need to stick my costumes in folders but it's such a daunting task as I have so many...

I love Marvel and X Men, and the 2nd live action movie was my favorite out of the bunch. Plus I totally dig Kelly Hu's outfit, especially the black jacket/corset hybrid and the adamantium claws.

I made the jacket, which was interesting to say the least, what with the leather ribbing and quilting and full corset lace back. I had to pattern it out myself and it took 2 days to sew together. I spent hours on just the sleeves alone.

Brian of BountyHardware.com [link] made the adamantium claws for me, they attach straight to my fingers and are sized to each of my nails.

I was wear contacts for this shoot as well.
You can see more info and photos of this costume on my website: [link]

Photo by Benny Lee

Other Deviations of this costume:

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Character: Lady Sif - Thor (Marvel)
Costume made by Yaya
Photography by Kevin Green
Makeup and model: Yaya

Kevin gave me photo CDs from all the cons this year so it was like an early Christmas of piccies! I really loved these portraits of Sif taken inside the Marriott at Dragoncon. The lighting was filtered through the large windows on the 10th floor, making it a nice photoshoot location admist a huge crowded convention. Also, if you squint, the background could pass for Asgard. ^_-

Costume construction notes:
I made this costume for San Diego Comic Con after gathering materials and reference for several months. I love badass warrior girls and the color red, so Sif was a no brainer! I really liked her character in the comic book as well, from the fact that she grew up with Thor and trained along side him, to their on and off romance over the years, and Sif's strong, loyal and courageous nature.
I used a mix of materials for the costume, from suede to leather to metallic 4-way stretch to fur and wood. I drafted patterns for all the pieces and made everything within about 3 - 4 days. The corset is steel boned, and it was fun to make arm and leg armor pieces. I also enjoyed beading the wig and making the adornments on the hips.

Full gallery and thoughts on my website: [link]

Other Deviations of this costume:

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Yaya Han signed Posters

Eeeeh brand spanking new photoshoot with LJinto, taken this past weekend in New York City!
as Poison Ivy - costume made and modeled by her
Catwoman made and modeled by me.

Jenni took us to this decrepit bridge right by a graveyard with all this graffiti and fences... really great location for a Gotham city shoot. I had to climb all the railings like an idiot while Jenni was all vixen and ladylike. We had a blast posing in these outfits, and the cold, shocked onlookers and low lighting didn't faze us a bit!

Thank you, LJinto, for doing the photoshoot with us, and thanks also to Judy, Adam and Cole for trucking along in the cold and darkness of Gotham.


Other Deviations of this costume:


See more info and photos of this costume on my website: [link]

*********** Yaya on Facebook [link] ***********
*********** Yaya on Twitter [link] ***********
Yaya Han signed Posters

A blast from the past! I never released these images for some reason eventhough I made and wore Misty May back in 2008. I sometimes forget what costumes I've made and what shoots I've done lol.

Character: Misty May - Otaku no Video
Costume made and modeled by me
Photography by Geoffrey Nicholson
Reference images of Misty May: [link] [link] [link]

I watched "Otaku no Video", a Classic Gainax anime about a Otaku taking over the world, a galaxy even, about 15 years ago while I still lived in Germany and the anime scene was brand new in Europe. For someone like me who grew up with anime and mange in China, it was like discovering the fandom all over again. I loved the fun and cheesy way Gainax presented the Otakus to the world, and created Misty May as the original mascot girl - the original anime bunny girl even - to charm the world! BOME came out with a gorgeous Misty May figure a few years ago which inspired me to make the costume and show some Old School love.

More images and info on this costume and how I made it on my website: [link]

*********** Yaya on Facebook [link] ***********

Another image from photoshoot collab with LA Fashion Photographer Aileen Luib

Probably my favorite shot so far - I can't believe how delicate and sensual Aileen's photographs are. I am not that graceful!!

The outfit I'm wearing is the original Peacock costume I designed and made. I also did the hair (well, wig styling) and makeup. For those who are wondering about the gold lips - I used MAC Amber Lights eyeshadow mixed with clear lipgloss ^_-

From Aileen's portfolio I could see her unique and soulful point of view as a photographer and I was excited to shoot this theme with her, since I don't have many of these types of images in my own portfolio.

Visit Aileen's website, her work is so beautiful! [link]

Here is her facebook too: [link]

Related Deviations:

Yaya's FaceBook: [link]

Thanks, Kevin Green, for shooting with me! It was hard to find a suitable location for Daenerys, so we just looked for a secluded spot without people in the background.

What to say about this costume... the character is Daenerys of House Targaryen, from the book series "A Song of Ice and Fire", which the TV Show "Game of Thrones" is based off of. I've been a fan of the books for about a decade now, and have planned to make a Dany costume since the first time I read the series. She is and has always been the character I love the most, and relate to the most.

Those who haven't read the books may not get my costume, but this is simply my personal interpretation of the character Daenerys, and I tried to be as accurate to the major descriptions as possible, such as the golden silver hair, silver bells and braids, purple eyes, the colors of the dragon, and costume materials/elements.

To explain a bit about the costume:

I always knew that I wanted to dress in Dany's iconic Qartheen traditional dress from "A Clash of Kings", 2nd book in the series, but for a long time debated how to pull off the look without it being offensive. Women in Qarth wore airy silk and/or lavish samite dresses baring one breast proudly, which reminds me of the breast baring fashion of the ancient culture of Minoa. Literally, breasts (aka WOMEN) were a symbol of wealth and power, not just sexual objects. Daenerys in the books (Minor spoiler! Skip if you want!) loses just about everything and puts all her stakes into the city and people of Qarth, who crown her and acknowledge her sovereignty. To pay respect to them, she dresses in the traditional gowns - a young girl near alone in the world brave enough to expose herself to a city full of strangers, and she does it with dignity and pride.
The feminist in me just loves that about her, and it's always left an impact on me.
So no matter what, I wanted to make the Qartheen gown.

I pulled inspiration from the books (obviously), the wedding gown in the TV show, various artworks of Daenerys and my own fantasy artwork style and costuming taste. I thought lavender would really suit the silvery golden hair and the silver accessories, and I wanted the gown to flow because Qarth would have been a sweltering place to live in, and also because summer cons bear similar climates. So a slight color changing chiffon it was! I made the gown in 2 layers so it wasn't see-through bwaha, and there was a bit of a debate which chest strap to omit O_o. I truly think that there is no universal rule which side to expose, so I went the right side - in line with Valyrian Resin's licensed Daenerys statue [link] and the artwork of Dany on Wikipedia [link]

Also, I am right handed and holding the dragon was much easier with my primary hand.

So the dragon came about because I needed something to cover myself with, in order to be legal in public lol. I meant to sculpt a dragon but 2011 turned out to be INSANE so I bought a dragon statue and altered it with the help from Chris Donio and Brian Boling. Chris and Brian cut the beast apart and repositioned the legs and tail, re-sculpting the details and filling the piece for more durability. Thank you both for all the help! I painted the dragon and had to pick which of Daenerys' three to represent. Drogon, the black and red dragon, is the strongest of the three, but black shows every imperfection and would have looked odd on my very light costume. I thought green would complement the colors of the costume the best, so I made the dragon into Rhaegal!

I should add that the dragon was strapped onto me so I didn't have to use any hands to hold him, rather the cradling pose was for show. And as an extra extra precaution, I wore pasties.

As for the rest of the costume - I made a waist cincher after I found a silver dyed leather hide that still had the fur patches on it. I thought it was so interesting, luxurious yet raw looking that I had to spurge the $80 on the hide. Thank you, Kathy of God Save The Queen Fashions [link] for letting me use her industrial machine to sew the leather.
I also wanted a belt and arm bands so I bought upholstery fabric and various trims and forced it all through my machine (breaking several needles along the way). I spent an evening decorating the pieces with beads and chains.

The wig was two wigs sewn together and it has a lace front for a more natural look. I braided a lattice work into it and sewed more beads and bells into it, so I jingle when I walk

The necklace is of Indian heritage because Daenerys as a newly crowned Queen received gifts from all different empires and cultures. Her accessories were diverse and I wanted something decorative on my neck.

For Dragoncon I plan to add more details to the costume, now that I've worn it once and see what's missing. It was an amazing experience to meet GRRM himself as well as the cast of "Game of Thrones" at SDCC. I will make a separate blog soon about the experience, but leave you for now with a shot of Emilia Clarke and me - Dany x 2! [link] She was so kind and gracious to her fans and I really appreciated the opportunity to show her my costume. <3

More photos coming soon, sorry for the mega long description. XD

Other Deviations of this costume:

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My favorite duo shot from this photoshoot!

as Poison Ivy - costume made and modeled by her
Catwoman made and modeled by me.

Jenni took us to this decrepit bridge right by a graveyard with all this graffiti and fences... really great location for a Gotham city shoot. I had to climb all the railings like an idiot while Jenni was all vixen and ladylike. We had a blast posing in these outfits, and the cold, shocked onlookers and low lighting didn't faze us a bit!

Thank you, LJinto, for doing the photoshoot with us, and thanks also to Judy, Adam and Cole for trucking along in the cold and darkness of Gotham.

Other Deviations of this costume:


See more info and photos of this costume on my website: [link]

Photography: Jay Tablante
Styling & Costume Creation: Yaya Han
Make-up: Yaya Han
Hair: Ara Fernando
Art Direction: Raffy Tesoro / Jay Tablante
Production Design: Raffy Tesoro
Digital Imaging: Ryder Aquino
Model: Yaya Han
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I had the incredible privilege to be invited to collaborate on three cosplay photoshoots with renowned visionary photographer Jay Tablante this year.

This is the result of the first shoot! Amber from Sucker Punch!

We started planning in the spring of 2011 and finally in October, days before NYCC, we shot together in 2stopsbrighter Studios, New York City.
Jay and his team, who flew in from Manila, were ultra professional to work with and my job was mainly focused on making the costume to my highest standards, and looking the part of Amber the day of.
Ara, an amazing makeup artist and hair stylist, helped me get the Amber hair just right.
Raffy is a great poser and art director and between him and Jay, they really made me push the poses. I was originally sitting on a stool and had to kick up my legs and hold the pose for as long as possible. Quite a work out for your stomach muscles lol.
While my work as the model was done after less than an hour for this cosplay shoot, the team worked hard on creating this incredible final image. Jay even went out to the Chino Airport in California to shoot the image of the airplane! I honestly don't know how they are able to turn a photo of me on a stool against a white background into this gorgeous retro war propaganda poster!
I couldn't be happier with Jay and his team's amazing work! Stay tuned for more faboo cosplay images from these guys!