deviantART: gallery:yayacosplay/11394380

Fiora - sitting pretty

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:42:47 PDT

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Costume: Fiora - Nightraven skin - League of Legends
Made/modeled by Yaya Han
Photographed by Martin Wong [link]

This image is available for a limited time as an 11x17 signed poster!

This is my full armor set & sword for Fiora - League of Legends. Made out of Worbla (sword made out of wood, hilt made of Worbla). This took over 4 weeks of learning a new technique and using a new material -it was a good and agonizing experience lol.

Couple of facts about this costume:

- I made it myself, which was a bitch. But I loved the process too! The material for the armor is Worbla, a Thermoplastic from Europe. The paint used is acrylics brush on over a spray painted base color.
Worbla is available for purchase in the Americas here!

- In the Nightraven skin, Fiora actually does not have the red streak in her hair. Yes, I am wearing red contacts.

- No, I'm not tall enough to be an accurate Fiora. But I chose this costume for the grace and dignity of the character mixed with the dark cool armor design. My motto is that anyone can cosplay whoever they want. This is a hobbyist community

- I thought about distressing this armor but Fiora is actually very prim and proper as a Duelist! She would not allow her armor to be dirty and dinged up

- Although I have worn this costume already, it's still not entirely finished. There are some things I want to add to the bodysuit underneath.

I learned how to use Worbla through Kamui Cosplay. Her video tutorials are here: [link]

And here: [link]

Faye and Ein

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:33:21 PDT

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Faye cosplay made instantly 1000 times better by having Ein in the photo.
Faye costume made/modeled by Yaya Han
Ein cosplayed by Radar from Brooklyn Bark! ([link])
Photography by Anna Fisher! [link]

I've always wanted to cosplay Faye Velntine, not just because Cowboy Bebop was such an influential and iconic Japnese animation series, between the storyline, animation quality, MUSIC BY YOKO KANNO, character development... but also because Faye is one of anime's all time coolest female characters.
The costume itself was fairly easy to put together, I sewed the top and booty shorts, cut and sewed two wigs together to create the signature Faye hairstyle, and altered the remaining pieces such as boots and red shirt.

Having an Ein to pose with was the bestest ever!

Other Deviations of this costume:

Jessica Rabbit poster

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:55:35 PDT

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Jessica Rabbit - Who framed Roger Rabbit
Costume made & modeled by me
photo by Brian Boling

This image is available as a 11x17 inch high quality poster, printed on glossy cardstock! Only until the end of April!

Direct link to all posters: [link]

Construction Info:
Jessica Rabbit has always been one of the most mesmerizing cartoon characters to me - as a kid she made me watch the movie over and over again, and as a cosplayer, she was always a huge challenge for me to portrait. I've been collecting materials for her for almost 2 years, and wanted to make this costume to the best to my abilities.

The shape is not photoshopped, just clever cosplay engineering.
I drafted & made a custom corset to create the extreme shape and then made the dress to fit over it. I engineered 2 Victoria's Secret Miraculous bras into the corset, which is steel boned coutil. The extreme illusion is created by pulling in the waist, padding the top and wearing a booty bump hahaha.
The dress itself is made from a spandex sequin fabric, and 1000+ S20 Swarovski crystals are glued on the fabric for
extra bling, tedious time consuming handywork with help from Mary Cahela. I specifically chose pink instead of red for the dress because in the movie her famous singing scene features a pink dress. I also like the color combo: orange hair/pink dress/purple gloves more than the red dress which can sometimes come across as "lady of the night" in certain lighting. Pink makes the entire outfit look more cartoon-y!
Here is a reference image of Jessica in the pink dress.
Here is a youtube video of Jessica in the pink dress doing her famous stage performance from the movie.
Here is a work in progress collage of my Jessica Rabbit dress.

I adore my wig which is a Matilda from Arda Wigs! Styled with help from Ara Fernando!

Other Deviations of this costume:

Psylocke: X-Men

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 16:48:11 PDT

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Character: Psylocke - Marvel's X-Men
Costume made/modeled by Yaya
Photography by Chris Gomez
Photo location: New Orleans

This is a brand new Psylocke costume! I cosplayed Psylocke back in '06 but wanted to make a new version, more grounded in Reality. I drafted my own patterns for the bodysuit, arms/legs, boot covers etc, and sewed everything in a day utilizing two contrasting fabrics, heavy duty spandex & stretch pleather. The only piece I re-used from the old Psylocke costume is the sash.

We also wanted to approach the photo with a more realistic flair, which is why I just used my own hair up in a top knot. The background was a large carpet which Loretta and Brian held up for us while I sat on it. Chris found a Katana for us as well!

Fiora - League of Legends

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 06:21:51 PDT

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Costume: Fiora - Nightraven skin - League of Legends
Made/modeled by Yaya Han
Photography: LJinto
Photo Edit: [link]

I love this photo manip!!!! *_*

The Power of the Geass

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:09:42 PDT

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Character: C.C. - Code Geass (Artbook dress)
Costume made/modeled by Yaya
Photography by Silas of SAKS Photography [link]

Gaaaaaah such a gorgeous photo, I'm so happy with it! I need a Lelouch to take my hand!!! Or give me pizza.

This was shot in Copenhagen, Denmark, during J-Popcon where I was a Guest Judge! My first time working with Silas, who was wonderful and such a sweetheart, and got photos back to me in record time!!! There are more from this set, I will post some
Please check out his page and see his other amazing photos from the event and his fashion photography as well. So talented!!
[link]

Costume construction notes:
I made the templates for the butterflies and trim by cutting up the actual CLAMP artwork and sizing it up on the computer to myself. My friends Jessica and Megan helped me trace out the templates to make patterns, and together we transferred all the patterns onto fabric which I already cut and sewed into the skirts. Then I cut out all the trim and butterflies with a soldering tool, which took many days of breathing fumes and sore/burnt fingers. I also made the bodice, sleeves, hair pieces, choker, shoulder straps, petticoat... everything to complete this costume.

Chun Li - Jay Tablante Collaboration

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:43:24 PDT

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Behold the magic that is Jay Tablante and his Team! I just had to wear a costume and jump a lot. They did the rest!!!!!

Make-up: Yaya Han
Hair: Ara Fernando
Styling / Costume Production: Yaya Han
Art Direction: Javey Villones
Digital Imaging: Ghani Madueno
Model: Yaya Han
Art Nouveau style Chun Li costume designed by

En garde! - Fiora, League of Legends

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 05:39:57 PDT

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Fiora in action! You can see the contacts and the armor really well in this great photo by Martin Wong! I love every and all of Martin's photos - SO GOOD!!!

Costume: Fiora - Nightraven skin - League of Legends
Made/modeled by Yaya Han
Photographed by Martin Wong [link]

For my first armor project, I guess it could have gone worse lol. This was DEFINITELY a trial run, lots of things to tweak and fix and improve upon. Also, ouch, wearing armor hurts. But it didn't fall off or apart, and the paint held up really well, too. Material used is Worbla Thermoplastic, which you can purchase at my online store at: [link]

Anovos Star Trek TOS Red Dress

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:24:40 PDT

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Officially licensed Star Trek The Original Series Uhura's Red Dress Uniform, made by Anovos Productions, LLC

I was asked by Anovos to model for them at San Diego Comic Con and do a photoshoot in the TOS red dress from Star Trek. This company's reproduction is the most accurate in existence, trust me, I've seen one of the screen-used dresses.

Oddly enough, during the 2 hours I modeled for them at their booth at SDCC, Attack of the Show came by with "Community"s Danny Pudy and did a short spoof video with him and me that aired on G4TV that same day. They dressed Danny Pudy as Spock!! I've yet to see the footage since I was at the con that entire weekend, not sure if they have it online somewhere.

Check out Anovos' full production line of licensed high quality Star Trek and Battlestar Gallactica uniforms: [link]

You can also follow them on Facebook here: [link]

C.C. - Code Geass cosplay

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 02:29:42 PDT

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Character: C.C. - Code Geass (Artbook dress)
Costume made/modeled by Yaya
Photography by Paul Tien

This is the other costume I killed myself on for Katsucon 2013. I bought a 15 yard roll of this heavyweight dark red satin months ago and was just wanting for enough time to make this costume. Katsu was a perfect excuse to make a cupcake dress because I wanted something pretty to host the World Cosplay Summit in!

I made the templates for the butterflies and trim by cutting up the actual CLAMP artwork and sizing it up on the computer to myself. My friends Jessica and Megan helped me trace out the templates to make patterns, and together we transferred all the patterns onto fabric which I already cut and sewed into the skirts. Then I cut out all the trim and butterflies with a soldering tool, which took many days of breathing fumes and sore/burnt fingers. I also made the bodice, sleeves, hair pieces, choker, shoulder straps, petticoat... everything to complete this costume.

Fiora - Worbla armor process

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:07:49 PST

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I thought I would share a collage of in progress photos of my armor making experience, as Worbla is back in my store [link]! Celebrate all the Worbla!!!

My Facebook has a lot more detailed progress photos of this build: [link]

This is my full armor set & sword for Fiora - League of Legends. Made out of Worbla (sword made out of wood, hilt made of Worbla). This took over 4 weeks of learning a new technique and using a new material -it was a good and agonizing experience lol.
Most fun part: making the actual armor pieces!
Most pleasant surprise: Painting the pieces was actually therapeutic.
Most frustrating part: attaching the armor pieces to myself.
Most infuriating part: the sword. I suck at making props. Just suck at it.

You can purchase Worbla at my online store here: [link]

I learned how to use Worbla through Kamui Cosplay. Her video tutorials are here: [link]

And here: [link]

New costume! Fujiko Mine - Lupin III

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:35:02 PST

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Preview image of Fujiko Mine from Lupin III!
Photograph by Paul Tien!
Cosplayed by me!

This is a closet cosplay in the truest sense of the word. But I had to pay respect to one of anime's original cat burglars/grifters! You know how much I love those....

Also. Gold bars are hard to hold onto when you're wearing slippery latex.

Fiora's Awakening

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:00:08 PST

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I got another amazing photograph of Fiora back!! Mega Epic-ness! The statue in the background is called The Awakening.

You guys must check out Elysiam Entertainment's page for more Katsucon images! [link]

Costume: Fiora - Nightraven skin - League of Legends
Made/modeled by Yaya Han
Photographed by Elysiam Entertainment [link]

For my first armor project, I guess it could have gone worse lol. This was DEFINITELY a trial run, lots of things to tweak and fix and improve upon. Also, ouch, wearing armor hurts. But it didn't fall off or apart, and the paint held up really well, too. Material used is Worbla Thermoplastic, which you can purchase at my online store at: [link]

New costume preview - CC from Code Geass

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:48:07 PST

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Character: Cc - Code Geass (Artbook dress)
Costume made/modeled by Yaya
Photography by Paul Tien

This is the other costume I killed myself on for Katsucon 2013. I bought a 15 yard roll of this heavyweight dark red satin months ago and was just wanting for enough time to make this costume. Katsu was a perfect excuse to make a cupcake dress because I wanted something pretty to host the World Cosplay Summit in!

I made the templates for the butterflies and trim by cutting up the actual CLAMP artwork and sizing it up on the computer to myself. My friends Jessica and Megan helped me trace out the templates to make patterns, and together we transferred all the patterns onto fabric which I already cut and sewed into the skirts. Then I cut out all the trim and butterflies with a soldering tool, which took many days of breathing fumes and sore/burnt fingers. I also made the bodice, sleeves, hair pieces, choker, shoulder straps, petticoat... everything to complete this costume. I'll wear it again at Emerald City Comic Con next weekend! Yay!

New costume! Nightraven Fiora - League of Legends

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:18:28 PST

Joseph Chi Lin Photography ([link]) is lightning fast! 24 hour turnaround between shooting and photo delivery!
Boom! First Fiora image from Katsucon as I still sit at DCA awaiting my flight home.
Costume made/modeled by Yaya Han
Photography by Joseph Chi Lin

For my first armor project, I guess it could have gone worse lol. This was DEFINITELY a trial run, lots of things to tweak and fix and improve upon. Also, ouch, wearing armor hurts. But it didn't fall off or apart, and the paint held up really well, too. Material used is Worbla Thermoplastic, which you can purchase at my online store at: [link]

Chun Li - Art Nouveau Design

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 10:28:50 PST

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Although I have already posted a number of Chun Li photos, I can't not share these beautiful images captured by LJinto! We found a wall that matched me haha!

Character: Art Nouveau Chun Li cosplay (designed by )
Costume made and modeled by me
Photo by LJinto ([link])
Chun Li gallery is up on my website!!
Head over to my site to read the full construction notes on how I made this costume and check out my favorite photos of Chun Li.

Costume thoughts: I absolutely loved the design by and thought it was a great stylish translation of an Iconic character. I created the full costume, using luxurious fabrics such as dupioni silk and silk taffeta. All the trims and swirls are embroidered on, free hand. I had a lot of fun making the charms, hair buns and spike wristlets. I read the spikes in the design artwork as ivory or marble instead of metal, and in keeping with the turn of the century art nouveau style, my spikes are an opalescent ivory color. Some people remarked that it looks like I'm not wearing underwear - well, I am wearing 3 pairs of tights so I am decent lol. Again, it's to follow the art design accurately.
I also cut up a pair of white pleather boots and embroidered the gold swirls on that. The charms and the boots might be my favorite part on this costume!

Related Deviations:

Psylocke Hairflip

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:02:59 PST

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Character: Psylocke - Marvel's X-Men
Costume made/modeled by Yaya
Photography by Anna Fisher
Photo location: Otakon

This is a brand new Psylocke costume! I cosplayed Psylocke back in '06 but wanted to make a new version, more grounded in Reality. I drafted my own patterns for the bodysuit, arms/legs, boot covers etc, and sewed everything in a day utilizing two contrasting fabrics, heavy duty spandex & stretch pleather. The only piece I re-used from the old Psylocke costume is the sash.
My wig is sponsored by EpicCosplay!! It is incredibly thick, heat resistant, smooth and soft. You can see more of Epic Cosplay's wig line at [link]!

Jessica Rabbit

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 12:44:23 PST

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Jessica Rabbit - Who framed Roger Rabbit
Costume made & modeled by me
photo by Anna Fisher [link]

Jessica Rabbit has always been one of the most mesmerizing cartoon characters to me - as a kid she made me watch the movie over and over again, and as a cosplayer, she was always a huge challenge for me to portrait. I've been collecting materials for her for almost 2 years, and wanted to make this costume to the best to my abilities.

The shape is not photoshopped, just clever cosplay engineering.
I drafted & made a custom corset to create the extreme shape and then made the dress to fit over it. I engineered 2 Victoria's Secret Miraculous bras into the corset, which is steel boned coutil. The extreme illusion is created by pulling in the waist, padding the top and wearing a booty bump hahaha.
The dress itself is made from a spandex sequin fabric, and 1000+ S20 Swarovski crystals are glued on the fabric for
extra bling, tedious time consuming handywork with help from Mary Cahela. I specifically chose pink instead of red for the dress because in the movie her famous singing scene features a pink dress. I also like the color combo: orange hair/pink dress/purple gloves more than the red dress which can sometimes come across as "lady of the night" in certain lighting. Pink makes the entire outfit look more cartoon-y!
Here is a reference image of Jessica in the pink dress.
Here is a youtube video of Jessica in the pink dress doing her famous stage performance from the movie.
Here is a work in progress collage of my Jessica Rabbit dress.

I adore my wig which is a Matilda from Arda Wigs! Styled with help from Ara Fernando!

I also went with the route of cartoon makeup, covering up my eyebrows and painting over them. It was a risky choice for makeup, and since Dragoncon I got my share of comments about going drag lol, but when I decided to portray such an iconic character as Jessica Rabbit, I didn't want to fall short of the makeup when everything else was so exaggerated.

Other Deviations of this costume:

New costume preview - DC Comics' Power Girl

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:35:35 PST

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Static pose costume shots taken (on an iPhone) at New Orleans Comic Con, where I debuted this costume this past weekend. A proper photoshoot is coming soon.

Character: Power Girl - Kotobukiya Bishojuo Statue version [link]
Costume made/modeled by Yaya Han, featuring:
~ custom pattern drafted bodysuit (sleeves follow design seams into front/side/back of bodysuit)
~gold metal rope & medallion
~ custom drafted seamless cape, serged & hemmed
~ metal powder cast custom made belt buckle & made-from-scratch belt
~ custom dyed & altered leather boots/gloves
~ self-styled wig
~ Boob Window content courtesy of Victoria's Secret Bombshell bra. Ladies - go out and buy one, you will thank me ♥

I was asked by to be the Power Girl to her Supergirl and I thought - why not? Kara is a cool, tough character who doesn't hold punches, and her classic costume is actually very well designed for the 70's! I collected the materials over the summer and finally found time and an excuse to make the costume for New Orleans Comic Con. Can't wait to do a photoshoot with Jenni as Supergirl soon! <3

2013 Calendar layout - Black Cat - January

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:25:17 PST

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Here is another calendar preview! Month January opened up as it would be hanging on a wall.
(The watermark is only for WEB display, not on the printed calendar itself)
The Black Friday Sale has further depleted my calendar stock, so get your copy before I'm completely sold out!

Character - Black Cat from "Spiderman" modeled by Yaya, costume also created by Yaya
Photograph by Anna Fisher [link]
Layout designed by David Terres

Printed on high quality glossy paper, you will receive a collection of 12 mostly new and never before seen images of Yaya's favorite cosplays at 11x17 display, with a personal quote accompanying each month. The full calendar opens to 11x24 inches.
Each purchase will receive an autographed and personalized calendar by Yaya. Just note the name to be signed to in the payment (or I will sign to the Addressee!).

Domestic USA orders will receive FREE SHIPPING! Canadian orders pay $6USD shipping. All other international order world wide only pay $10USD shipping.

Order the Limited Edition Yaya Han 2013 Cosplay Calendar here

2013 Calendar layout - Ada Wong - November

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:20:09 PST

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Since my calendar stock is starting to deplete and it's almost the end of the year, I thought I would remind everyone to check out my 2013 cosplay calendar before it's sold out! Here is one of the months, November 2013, opened up as it would be hanging on a wall.
(The watermark is only for WEB display, not on the printed calendar itself)

Character - Ada Wong from "Resident Evil 4" modeled by Yaya, costume also created by Yaya
Photograph by Anna Fisher [link]
Layout designed by David Terres

Printed on high quality glossy paper, you will receive a collection of 12 mostly new and never before seen images of Yaya's favorite cosplays at 11x17 display, with a personal quote accompanying each month. The full calendar opens to 11x24 inches.
Each purchase will receive an autographed and personalized calendar by Yaya. Just note the name to be signed to in the payment (or I will sign to the Addressee!).

Domestic USA orders will receive FREE SHIPPING! Canadian orders pay $6USD shipping. All other international order world wide only pay $10USD shipping.

Order the Limited Edition Yaya Han 2013 Cosplay Calendar here

Queen Chrysalis - My Little Pony

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:20:47 PST

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I made this costume for Equestria LA, the MLP convention in CA last weekend! The wig is the Ferrari in Mako Green from Arda Wigs, and the contacts were sponsored by CosLenses !

The costume was completely made from scratch by me except for the ruffle shirt which I had already. However, most of the pieces on this costume were made for other cosplays in the past so while I did create the pieces, I didn't have to rush sew a lot for this event. Instead, I spent a lot of time making the horn and crown, as well as the lace bolero.
I also designed a new style of wings for Chrysalis, which turned out so nice, I'm super happy with them!

You can get the pony ears on my online cosplay accessories store, and in a few days the wings will also be available!

I had so much fun wearing this at Equestria LA! It was cool to experience a pony con for the first time and be able to dress up as a character from the show

Photos by Josh Kent

Chun Li's High Kick

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 09:24:59 PDT

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I recently did an awesome photoshoot with Benny Lee in a Chinese Restaurant. As you know, the backgrounds settings for the Street Fighter games can be super random, and Benny was ingenious enough to secure a space for us at a local restaurant before they opened for Dim Sum in the morning. Of course we stayed to nom after the shoot!

For this shot I kicked about 30 times lol. In heels and a waist cincher, it turned into a morning work out haha!

CharacterL: Art Nouveau Chun Li cosplay (designed by ),
Costume made and modeled by me
Photo by Benny Lee
Chun Li gallery is up on my website!!
Head over to my site to read the full construction notes on how I made this costume and check out my favorite photos of Chun Li.

Costume thoughts: I absolutely loved the design by and thought it was a great stylish translation of an Iconic character. I created the full costume, using luxurious fabrics such as dupioni silk and silk taffeta. All the trims and swirls are embroidered on, free hand. I had a lot of fun making the charms, hair buns and spike wristlets. I read the spikes in the design artwork as ivory or marble instead of metal, and in keeping with the turn of the century art nouveau style, my spikes are an opalescent ivory color. Some people remarked that it looks like I'm not wearing underwear - well, I am wearing 3 pairs of tights so I am decent lol. Again, it's to follow the art design accurately.
I also cut up a pair of white pleather boots and embroidered the gold swirls on that. The charms and the boots might be my favorite part on this costume!

Related Deviations:

Spice Girls in Atlanta!

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 07:37:55 PDT

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How have I never uploaded photos from this dream cosplay group of mine from 3 years ago?!

The Spice Girls (worn at Dragoncon 2009) are:
Ginger Spice - Yaya (me)
Sporty Spice - Shea Standefer [link]
Posh Spice - Scruffyrebel [link]
Scary Spice - Blikku [link]
Baby Spice - Pixiekitty [link]
Photography: Darkain Multimedia [link]

I absolutely love my friends who indulged me in this cosplay idea - we did it for fun one night at Dragoncon and it was a hit! Seems everyone got a kick out of seeing the most Iconic girl pop group the 90's produced. Thank you, Darkain, for shooting with us!

My Ginger costume was a Halloween Union Jack flag dress altered to fit, and I sewed sequins all over the lines for extra bling. I already had the glitter red Mary Jane shoes (don't ask me why..) and just sewed a blond weft into my Dawn wig.

I feel like I should preemptively comment on the fact that I am aware that I'm not Caucasian as Ginger should be. Indeed, I am the only one in the photos NOT of the "correct" racial heritage of the people we were cosplaying.
I just want to say for the record: Race shouldn't matter in cosplay. Those of us choosing to cosplay outside our race realize do it because we love the characters and people we dress up as, and cosplay is ultimately an expression of fandom and what you adore. Sure, cosplay has evolved into an artform and a form of entertainment, and a large percentage of viewers evaluate the people in the costumes as much as the quality of the actual costumes themselves. Some even come to expect a certain sense of perfectionism in how their favorite characters are portrayed by cosplayers, which includes the race of the person in the costume. But no matter how much cosplay is appreciated, we shouldn't forget that it's at the core about FUN for everyone, and limitless creativity of individuals. Anyone should be able to dress up as anyone, no matter their gender or heritage. If each cosplayer only dressed as characters within their racial heritage, it would be extremely limiting and kind of wrong. Hope that's something worthy to think about.

That being said - Spice Up Your Life!!

Jessica Rabbit (and Roger!)

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:19:07 PDT

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Last photo I'll post of this costume for a while! It shows off the costume in it's entirety, and even has Roger in it to boot! This cust9om balloon Roger Rabbit was a surprise gift that awaited me at Dragoncon when I came downstairs in this cosplay for the first time. Isn't he cool?

Jessica Rabbit - Who framed Roger Rabbit
Costume made & modeled by me
photo by Brian Boling

Jessica Rabbit has always been one of the most mesmerizing cartoon characters to me - as a kid she made me watch the movie over and over again, and as a cosplayer, she was always a huge challenge for me to portrait. I've been collecting materials for her for almost 2 years, and wanted to make this costume to the best to my abilities.

The shape is not photoshopped, just clever cosplay engineering.
I drafted & made a custom corset to create the extreme shape and then made the dress to fit over it. I engineered 2 Victoria's Secret Miraculous bras into the corset, which is steel boned coutil. The extreme illusion is created by pulling in the waist, padding the top and wearing a booty bump hahaha.
The dress itself is made from a spandex sequin fabric, and 1000+ S20 Swarovski crystals are glued on the fabric for
extra bling, tedious time consuming handywork with help from Mary Cahela. I specifically chose pink instead of red for the dress because in the movie her famous singing scene features a pink dress. I also like the color combo: orange hair/pink dress/purple gloves more than the red dress which can sometimes come across as "lady of the night" in certain lighting. Pink makes the entire outfit look more cartoon-y!
Here is a reference image of Jessica in the pink dress.
Here is a youtube video of Jessica in the pink dress doing her famous stage performance from the movie.
Here is a work in progress collage of my Jessica Rabbit dress.

I adore my wig which is a Matilda from Arda Wigs! Styled with help from Ara Fernando!

I also went with the route of cartoon makeup, covering up my eyebrows and painting over them. It was a risky choice for makeup, and since Dragoncon I got my share of comments about going drag lol, but when I decided to portray such an iconic character as Jessica Rabbit, I didn't want to fall short of the makeup when everything else was so exaggerated.

Other Deviations of this costume:

Dark Elf - Construction notes

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:50:16 PDT

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Character: Dark Elf - Lineage II (Based on this artwork
Photography by Ljinto
Costume made & modeled by Yaya
Makeup by Yaya

Construction notes:
Thanks, Ljinto, for these great photos showing the costume in it's full!
I have had this costume planned for a few years - and been collecting the fabrics and materials for about 2 or 3 years now. I remember just stashing the gold quilted silk taffeta for years waiting to use it on this project.
Often the reason I wait for years to finally make a costume is either time, an appropriate con to wear the costume to, or a technique I need to still master.
Finally for Dragoncon 2012 I asked Riddle to make elf costumes with me - I would make this Dark Elf and she would make a regular Elf and we would help each other with portions of the costumes that were our expertise.
I sewed for about 3 days on Riddle's elf costume since I was a fast seamstress, and she made molds for my torso pieces while I was at a convention in Singapore.

I started sketching the designs on the torso and refining them into lineart, then transferring them onto foam. I made the top. thigh highs and sleeves between working on the scale maille for a few days. I got the supplies from The Ring Lord, and learned the technique by watching youtube videos and cursing a lot. And messing up. I really loved learning a new technique for this costume though!
During my trip to Singapore I took the scale maille with me to continue working on it. Riddle molded the filigree pieces for the torso, and cast a pair of shoulder armor which I designed and prototyped. Sadly the shoulders were too rigid and heavy and I decided to not use them since I wanted to be able to move my arms. I made entirely new lightweight shoulder pieces with wondeflex and foam, and used the same technique to make the elbow guards and ankle guards. It took a good day to make and paint those pieces. I did a lot of hand sewing on the sleeves and gold top, attaching ornate trim onto it and also sewing the finished scale maille sleeves onto the fabric.
The wig was sponsored by Epic Cosplay and I used a hair razor to cut it.
The elf ears were from my line of cosplay accessories and I dyed them grey to match my skintone.
The filigree designs were made of urethane rubber and I attached them to a corset I already owed with special glue made just for urethane.
I spent the two days leading up to Dragoncon finishing up this costume, making sure to create all the details such as the leather briefs, chain adornments, hair accessory, embroidered leg details, attaching all the armor pieces etc.
I used Mehron cream based makeup for the grey skintone, and Final Seal to seal it.

All in all I took on this costume in too short of a time lol. Riddle sadly didn't finish her Elf, and I really had to push to finish mine. For future wear I want to tweak some things on this for sure but it was nice to get super obsessed with a costume project and pull all nighters to finish it. Creativity achieved!

Ready to go!

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:16:37 PDT

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I recently did an awesome photoshoot with Benny Lee in a Chinese Restaurant. As you know, the backgrounds settings for the Street Fighter games can be super random, and Benny was ingenious enough to secure a space for us at a local restaurant before they opened for Dim Sum in the morning. Of course we stayed to nom after the shoot!
I know I've posted a ton of Chun Li photos but I just got all these amazing images back and I would love to share more with you!

CharacterL: Art Nouveau Chun Li cosplay (designed by ),
Costume made and modeled by me
Photo by Benny Lee
Chun Li gallery is up on my website!!
Head over to my site to read the full construction notes on how I made this costume and check out my favorite photos of Chun Li.

Costume thoughts: I absolutely loved the design by and thought it was a great stylish translation of an Iconic character. I created the full costume, using luxurious fabrics such as dupioni silk and silk taffeta. All the trims and swirls are embroidered on, free hand. I had a lot of fun making the charms, hair buns and spike wristlets. I read the spikes in the design artwork as ivory or marble instead of metal, and in keeping with the turn of the century art nouveau style, my spikes are an opalescent ivory color. Some people remarked that it looks like I'm not wearing underwear - well, I am wearing 3 pairs of tights so I am decent lol. Again, it's to follow the art design accurately.
I also cut up a pair of white pleather boots and embroidered the gold swirls on that. The charms and the boots might be my favorite part on this costume!

Related Deviations:

Ruling the Town - Gotham Villains

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:08:21 PDT

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I met these awesome Batman cosplayers in Singapore during the International Cosplay Day event and we did a fun little photoshoot with Shiro Ang!

Photography by :shiroang:
Penguin Cosplayer: Violet
Joker Cosplayer: Orvis
Catwoman - cosplay made and worn by me

Full credits are on Shiro's DA [link]

Jessica Rabbit - collab with Jay Tablante

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 11:34:34 PDT

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I got to shoot my Jessica Rabbit at Edifice Studio in Manila, Philippines, with Jay Tablante and his full team.

Jessica Rabbit costume made by Yaya Han
Make-up: Yaya Han
Wig styling: Ara Fernando
Art Direction: Jay Tablante Photography
MIA Production Design: Raffy Tesoro
Digital Imaging: Ryder Aquino
Model: Yaya Han
(I should note that Jay's team decided to change the color of the dress digitally from fuchia to red for this image)

Costume construction thoughts:
Jessica Rabbit has always been one of the most mesmerizing cartoon characters to me - as a kid she made me watch the movie over and over again, and as a cosplayer, she was always a huge challenge for me to portrait. I've been collecting materials for her for almost 2 years, and wanted to make this costume to the best to my abilities.

The shape is not photoshopped, just clever cosplay engineering.
I drafted & made a custom corset to create the extreme shape and then made the dress to fit over it. I engineered 2 Victoria's Secret Miraculous bras into the corset, which is steel boned coutil. The extreme illusion is created by pulling in the waist, padding the top and wearing a booty bump hahaha.
The dress itself is made from a spandex sequin fabric, and 1000+ S20 Swarovski crystals are glued on the fabric for
extra bling, tedious time consuming handywork with help from Mary Cahela. I specifically chose pink instead of red for the dress because in the movie her famous singing scene features a pink dress. I also like the color combo: orange hair/pink dress/purple gloves more than the red dress which can sometimes come across as "lady of the night" in certain lighting. Pink makes the entire outfit look more cartoon-y!
Here is a reference image of Jessica in the pink dress.
Here is a youtube video of Jessica in the pink dress doing her famous stage performance from the movie.
Here is a work in progress collage of my Jessica Rabbit dress.

I adore my wig which is a Matilda from Arda Wigs! Styled with help from Ara Fernando!

I also went with the route of cartoon makeup, covering up my eyebrows and painting over them. It was a risky choice for makeup, and since Dragoncon I got my share of comments about going drag lol, but when I decided to portray such an iconic character as Jessica Rabbit, I didn't want to fall short of the makeup when everything else was so exaggerated.

Other Deviations of this costume:

Lineage 2 - Dark Elf

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:15:47 PDT

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Character: Dark Elf - Lineage II (Based on this artwork
Photography by Anna Fisher
Costume made & modeled by Yaya
Makeup by Yaya

I keep meaning to write up the construction notes but I'm constantly rushing off to a con lol. Anime Weekend Atlanta is this weekend so yeah, I'll have to wait till next week to properly write up how I made this costume. But this photo shows off the details well.

I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way.

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 11:08:39 PDT

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Love this pair of photos Leonard grabbed at Dragoncon. The lighting fits the character well.
Jessica Rabbit - Who framed Roger Rabbit
Costume made & modeled by me
photo by Ljinto

Jessica Rabbit has always been one of the most mesmerizing cartoon characters to me - as a kid she made me watch the movie over and over again, and as a cosplayer, she was always a huge challenge for me to portrait. I've been collecting materials for her for almost 2 years, and wanted to make this costume to the best to my abilities.

The shape is not photoshopped, just clever cosplay engineering.
I drafted & made a custom corset to create the extreme shape and then made the dress to fit over it. I engineered 2 Victoria's Secret Miraculous bras into the corset, which is steel boned coutil. The extreme illusion is created by pulling in the waist, padding the top and wearing a booty bump hahaha.
The dress itself is made from a spandex sequin fabric, and 1000+ S20 Swarovski crystals are glued on the fabric for
extra bling, tedious time consuming handywork with help from Mary Cahela. I specifically chose pink instead of red for the dress because in the movie her famous singing scene features a pink dress. I also like the color combo: orange hair/pink dress/purple gloves more than the red dress which can sometimes come across as "lady of the night" in certain lighting. Pink makes the entire outfit look more cartoon-y!
Here is a reference image of Jessica in the pink dress.
Here is a youtube video of Jessica in the pink dress doing her famous stage performance from the movie.
Here is a work in progress collage of my Jessica Rabbit dress.

I adore my wig which is a Matilda from Arda Wigs! Styled with help from Ara Fernando!

I also went with the route of cartoon makeup, covering up my eyebrows and painting over them. It was a risky choice for makeup, and since Dragoncon I got my share of comments about going drag lol, but when I decided to portray such an iconic character as Jessica Rabbit, I didn't want to fall short of the makeup when everything else was so exaggerated.

Other Deviations of this costume:

Lineage 2 - Dark Elf Preview

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:00:33 PDT

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New costume debut! Finished barely in time for Dragoncon. I am so grateful to my photographer friends who waited on me to shoot this <3

Character: Dark Elf - Lineage II (Based on this artwork
Photography by Elysiam Entertainment
Costume made & modeled by Yaya
Makeup by Yaya

Construction notes coming soon. Right now I pack for Germany trip tomorrow, and Connichi!

Jessica Rabbit costume preview

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 09:21:44 PDT

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I have never posted an iPhone photo on Deviantart before because of the lack of quality, but this shot actually turned out pretty well for an iPhone camera and I'm so excited about the costume, I just have to share!!! I color corrected the image a bit and added a watermark but it is not photoshopped otherwise.

So here you have a sneak peek of my newest cosplay: Jessica Rabbit - Who framed Roger Rabbit
Costume made & modeled by me
iPhone photo by Brian Boling

Jessica Rabbit has always been one of the most mesmerizing cartoon characters to me - as a kid she made me watch the movie over and over again, and as a cosplayer, she was always a huge challenge for me to portrait. I've been collecting materials for her for almost 2 years, and wanted to make this costume to the best to my abilities.
I drafted & made a custom corset to create the extreme shape and then made the dress to fit over it. I engineered 2 Victoria's Secret Miraculous bras into the corset, which is steel boned coutil. The extreme illusion is created by pulling in the waist, padding the top and wearing a booty bump hahaha. No photoshop, although even with my final measurements of 41-23-39 it's still not Jessica Rabbit's accurate measurements. Hers are probably indeed humanly impossible. ^_^;;;
Also, I went with the hot pink (fushia) colored dress from the movie, deliberately, instead of red, because I've always viewed Jessica as orange hair, pink dress, purple gloves.
Here is a reference image of Jessica in the pink dress.
Here is a youtube video of Jessica in the pink dress doing her famous stage performance from the movie.
Here is a work in progress collage of my Jessica Rabbit dress.

There are Swarovski crystals on the dress & gloves, which were glued on with help from Mary Cahela!

I adore my wig which is a Matilda from Arda Wigs! Styled with help from Ara Fernando!

The exaggerated bedroom eyes makeup involving covering up eyebrows with wax was created by me!

Debut: Dragoncon, Friday, 6pm

Other Deviations of this costume:

Arkham City Catwoman on the loose

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 21:42:50 PDT

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This is my favorite setting from the Catwoman photoshoot I did with Bryan Humphrey! After shooting outside for a couple of hours we moved to inside this decrepit warehouse space. I have no clue how Bryan lit this space but it really looks like a comic book to me.
Also, full-body shot of the costume! Wish my boot straps weren't slipping down

Character: Catwoman from Arkham City (video game)
Costume made by: Yaya
Model: Yaya
Photography: Bryan Humphrey

How I made this:
This costume was made in 50 hours, but only takes 5 minutes to put on lol. To match the hexagon fabric in the video game, I had the pattern designed by my friend Jinyo and printed up at Fabric On Demand. The secondary fabric is a rubber coated spandex.
Cathy of saved me hours of work by graciously letting me base my bodysuit off of the pattern she had made already for this same costume for a customer. I had to redesign most pieces of the pattern to fit my bodyshape and height, but it was nice to not have to make a full mock-up from scratch, and with my tight work schedule, I appreciated every second of time saved.
I sewed the costume entirely myself, as usual, making sure to triple-stitch the seams (100+ of them) and also top stitch all of them. I also made the matching accessories such as gloves/hood/ears/sculpted metal bits/altered boots etc.
I re-used the goggles from my other Catwoman costume because I kind of hate the design of the Arkham City goggles, and I already made perfectly usable Catwoman goggles before.

Crimson Chain Leatherworks II

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:08:05 PDT

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Second image from a modeling photoshoot for Crimson Chain Leatherworks (and makeup close up) - I did not make this outfit, but was asked to wear CCLW's hand made leather pieces and accessories. Having seen their pieces up close, I knew what great quality they were and I love this company's design aesthetics. I am also wearing a winged jetpack which was a collaboration between us (my [link]">Steampunk wings and CCLW's leather and metal work).

Photo by Brian Boling
Makeup and styling by me
Model was me
Leather by Crimson Chain Leather Works
Bodysuit by BEBE
Belt by Ralph Lauren

Makeup-wise, I went for a harder & edgier look, using Ben Nye red pigments to create the bold extended eye shadow, and MAC and Sephora brand shadows (3 shades) to my eyes, from highlights to the blackest black color. MAC and Sephora both make great black shadows and I highly recommend them. For this look I "overdrew" the eyeliner (MAC Fluidline) to the inner corners of my eyes. It's usually something I only reserve for very staement-making makeup. I finished off the eyes with thick false lashes and bold eyebrows.
For my lips I used dark brown eyeliner pencil to contour, a dark red lipstick, a brush to blend the color to the lipliner, and gold shadow pigment for highlight. My blush is Bare Minerals.

Kiiiiaaaaai!

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 17:22:12 PDT

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I can high kick in this costume! Actually didn't know that until I tried...
Thank you, Joseph, for making this photoshop manip for me!

Character: Art Nouveau Chun Li cosplay (designed by ),
Costume made and modeled by me
Photo by Anna Fisher
Chun Li gallery on my website

Costume construction notes are on these Deviations:

Faye Valentine (CFAC Miss April 2012)

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 16:31:14 PDT

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Character: Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop)
Coostume made by Yaya
Model: Yaya
Photo was taken at Sakuracon 2011 by Paul Tien, thank you!

Since the year is full swing, I can finally share the photo that I submitted to the 2012 Cosplay for a Cause calendar for month April! Thank you everyone who supported the calendar and helped us raise over $30,000 USD to donate to the Japanese Red Cross!!!

I thought Faye would be a great character to be included in the calendar because Cowboy Bebop was such an influential and iconic Japnese animation series, between the storyline, animation quality, MUSIC BY YOKO KANNO, character development... and Faye is one of anime's all time coolest female characters.
The costume itself was fairly easy to put together, I sewed the top and booty shorts, cut and sewed two wigs together to create the signature Faye hairstyle, and altered the remaining pieces such as boots and red shirt.

For those who asked, CFAC is not doing a 2013 calendar but we are hoping to produce another one in the future. I am however offering a self-produced 12 month cosplay calendar for 2013

Other Deviations of this costume:

Catwoman - Batman: Arkham City

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 19:36:24 PDT

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This was the last photo we took at 3am, after 4 hours of photo shooting. I only realized the next day that this photo's posing resembled the official Arkham City promo artwork for Catwoman. Bryan did some post-processing to give the photo a similar treatment as the promo art and this is the result! I am so thrilled over this image! As a cosplayer, I enjoy the challenge of imitating a fantastical fictional character, and photographs like this reflects the hard work I put into the costume and my love for the character, as well as the photographer's finesse. I couldn't ask for more joy in Cosplay.

Character: Catwoman from Arkham City (video game)
Costume made by: Yaya
Model: Yaya
Photography: Bryan Humphrey

How I made this:
This costume was made in 50 hours, but only takes 5 minutes to put on lol. To match the hexagon fabric in the video game, I had the pattern designed by my friend Jinyo and printed up at Fabric On Demand. The secondary fabric is a rubber coated spandex.
Cathy of saved me hours of work by graciously letting me base my bodysuit off of the pattern she had made already for this same costume for a customer. I had to redesign most pieces of the pattern to fit my bodyshape and height, but it was nice to not have to make a full mock-up from scratch, and with my tight work schedule, I appreciated every second of time saved.
I sewed the costume entirely myself, as usual, making sure to triple-stitch the seams (100+ of them) and also top stitch all of them. I also made the matching accessories such as gloves/hood/ears/sculpted metal bits/altered boots etc.
I re-used the goggles from my other Catwoman costume because I kind of hate the design of the Arkham City goggles, and I already made perfectly usable Catwoman goggles before.

Psylocke and Psychic blade

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 07:17:57 PDT

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Character: Psylocke - Marvel's X-Men
Costume made/modeled by Yaya
Photography by Anna Fisher
Psychic blade made by Volpin Props
Photo location: Otakon

This is a brand new Psylocke costume! I cosplayed Psylocke back in '06 but wanted to make a new version, more grounded in Reality. I drafted my own patterns for the bodysuit, arms/legs, boot covers etc, and sewed everything in a day utilizing two contrasting fabrics, heavy duty spandex & stretch pleather. The only piece I re-used from the old Psylocke costume is the sash.
My wig is sponsored by EpicCosplay!! It is incredibly thick, heat resistant, smooth and soft. You can see more of Epic Cosplay's wig line at [link]!

Arkham City Catwoman

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 18:53:57 PDT

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Eeeeeh! I am so excited about the sharing the images from the photoshoot I recently did with Bryan Humphrey! More coming soon!

Character: Catwoman from Arkham City (video game)
Costume made by: Yaya
Model: Yaya
Photography: Bryan Humphrey

How I made this:
This costume was made in 50 hours, but only takes 5 minutes to put on lol. To match the hexagon fabric in the video game, I had the pattern designed by my friend Jinyo and printed up at Fabric On Demand. The secondary fabric is a rubber coated spandex.
Cathy of saved me hours of work by graciously letting me base my bodysuit off of the pattern she had made already for this same costume for a customer. I had to redesign most pieces of the pattern to fit my bodyshape and height, but it was nice to not have to make a full mock-up from scratch, and with my tight work schedule, I appreciated every second of time saved.
I sewed the costume entirely myself, as usual, making sure to triple-stitch the seams (100+ of them) and also top stitch all of them. I also made the matching accessories such as gloves/hood/ears/sculpted metal bits/altered boots etc.
I re-used the goggles from my other Catwoman costume because I kind of hate the design of the Arkham City goggles, and I already made perfectly usable Catwoman goggles before.

Yatta!

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:33:23 PDT

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Chun Li gallery is up on my website!!
To celebrate, here is a happy face Chun Li photo! head over to my site to read the full construction notes on how I made this costume and check out my favorite photos of Chun Li.

Character: Art Nouveau Chun Li cosplay (designed by ),
Costume made and modeled by me
Photo by Paul Tien

Costume construction notes are on these Deviations:

Psylocke Teaser from Superheroes Photoshoot

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 06:53:05 PDT

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Character: Psylocke - Marvel's X-Men
Costume made/modeled by Yaya
Photography by Adam Jay
Psychic blade made by Volpin Props

This is a brand new Psylocke costume! I cosplayed Psylocke back in '06 but wanted to make a new version, more grounded in Reality. I drafted my own patterns for the bodysuit, arms/legs, boot covers etc, and sewed everything in a day utilizing two contrasting fabrics, heavy duty spandex & stretch pleather. The only piece I re-used from the old Psylocke costume is the sash.
My wig is sponsored by EpicCosplay!! It is incredibly thick, heat resistant, smooth and soft. You can see more of Epic Cosplay's wig line at [link]!

*When we hit 50,000 Likes on my Facebook Page, I will give away lots of free stuff as a Thank You, including a hand made corset by me! You must "like" the Yaya Han Facebook Page to be eligible for the free goodies! ^_~*

DC Comics video game girls

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 21:11:17 PDT

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Characters: Wonder Woman (Injustice Video Game), Catwoman (Arkham City), Harley Quinn (Injustice)
Cosplayers: as WW (costume self made), me as Catwoman (costume self made), Jessica Nigri [link] as Harley (costume made by Monika & Jessica)
Photography: Brian Boling
Location: San Diego Comic Con

This was an unplanned shoot as a result of the three of us wearing DC Comics characters from video games, all on the same day. Sometimes coincidences makes for Yay! moments.

Arkham City Catwoman Preview

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 09:42:24 PDT

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Character: Catwoman from Arkham City (video game)
Costume made by: Yaya
Model: Yaya
Photography: Brian Boling
Tumbler: The Dark Knight screen-used car, thank you, WB, for letting me pose with it.
Location: San Diego Comic Con 2012

This is a preview shot for the new Catwoman costume I completed in time for SDCC. Forgive the crowd in the background, I took the chance to pose with the Tumbler when permission was granted!!
When I post closer-up photos of the costume, I will share the construction process in detail. For now, just know this costume was made in 50 hours, but only takes 5 minutes to put on lol. To match the hexagon fabric in the video game, I had the pattern designed by my friend Jinyo and printed up at Fabric On Demand. The secondary fabric is a rubber coated spandex.
Cathy of saved me hours of work by graciously letting me base my bodysuit off of the pattern she had made already for this same costume for a customer. I had to redesign most pieces of the pattern to fit my bodyshape and height, but it was nice to not have to make a full mock-up from scratch, and with my tight work schedule, I appreciated every second of time saved.
I sewed the costume entirely myself, as usual, making sure to triple-stitch the seams (100+ of them) and also top stitch all of them. I also made the matching accessories such as gloves/hood/ears/sculpted metal bits/altered boots etc.
I re-used the goggles from my other Catwoman costume because I kind of hate the design of the Arkham City goggles, and I already made perfectly usable Catwoman goggles before.

More photos and write-up coming soon, also look out for my Journal entry Recap of SDCC!

Fighting Stance

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 07:49:40 PDT

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CharacterL: Art Nouveau Chun Li cosplay (designed by ),
Costume made and modeled by me
Photo by Martin Wong

Taken at Anime Expo 2012! I'm always amazed at how fast and efficient Martin is. He can visualize the shot he wants and get it within a few shutterclicks! Amazeballs!

I've worn Chun Li three times within one month and really need to take a break from her, or everyone will get sick of seeing this costume lol! I will not have her at SDCC, debating whether or not to bring her to Otakon...

Costume construction notes are on these Deviations:

Polaris - Marvel's X Men

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:14:44 PDT

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Character: Polaris (Lorna Dane) from X-Men (Marvel Universe)
Costume made by: Yaya
Photography:
Makeup, styling, Model: Yaya
Photo taken at: Albuquerque Comic Expo 2012

I'll admit, the reason I chose this costume is because I had a great wig for it laying around. Originally used for my Sea Nymph mermaid costume, this green/teal gradient wig was a good choice for Polaris. I definitely appreciate her character's heritage, numerous struggles and relationship with Havok, and I like how the color green looks against my skin tone. Not sure why I'm drawn to cosplay all of Magneto's daughters lol (Wanda, Lorna...), I guess I secretly wished he was my daddy? haha

Last push to make the costume was my Guest appearance at Albuquerque Comic Expo, for which I wanted to debut a new cosplay.

As usual, I made 100% of this costume. I can't believe that after 13 years of cosplaying, people still don't believe that I make my own costumes. Well, let those stand forth who have supposedly made my costumes and show in progress proof to the world.
Yeah. They don't exist, because I'm the one pulling all-nighters creating each costume from scratch.

Polaris was a very simple costume to make and I started it on the Tuesday afternoon before ACE, and finished it up around 5am on Thursday morning. Basically, 2 days. It would have only taken 1 day if I hadn't decided to make the bodysuit structured, lined and insert all those seams and lines. The materials were 4-way stretch metallic spandex (to match the look of this statue), wonderflex for the headpiece, gauntlets & anklets, and crepe back satin for the cape. I kind of took my favorite elements of various Polaris outfits and put them together.

Related Deviation:

Come at me Bro

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 07:38:51 PDT

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A fantastic shot of my Chun Li costume by Darkain Multimedia!

CharacterL: Art Nouveau Chun Li cosplay (designed by ),
Costume made and modeled by me
Photo by Darkain Multimedia

Costume thoughts: I absolutely loved the design by and thought it was a great stylish translation of an Iconic character. I created the full costume, using luxurious fabrics such as dupioni silk and silk taffeta. All the trims and swirls are embroidered on, free hand. I had a lot of fun making the charms, hair buns and spike wristlets. I read the spikes in the design artwork as ivory or marble instead of metal, and in keeping with the turn of the century art nouveau style, my spikes are an opalescent ivory color. Some people remarked that it looks like I'm not wearing underwear - well, I am wearing 3 pairs of tights so I am decent lol. Again, it's to follow the art design accurately.
I also cut up a pair of white pleather boots and embroidered the gold swirls on that. The charms and the boots might be my favorite part on this costume!

Related Deviations:

Crimson Chain Leatherworks

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 21:25:47 PDT

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First image from a modeling photoshoot for Crimson Chain Leatherworks (and makeup close up) - I did not make this outfit, but was asked to wear CCLW's hand made leather pieces and accessories. Having seen their pieces up close, I knew what great quality they were and I love this company's design aesthetics. I am also wearing a winged jetpack which was a collaboration between us (my [link]">Steampunk wings and CCLW's leather and metal work).

Photo by Brian Boling
Makeup and styling by me
Model was me
Leather by Crimson Chain Leather Works
Bodysuit by BEBE
Belt by Ralph Lauren

Makeup-wise, I went for a harder & edgier look, using Ben Nye red pigments to create the bold extended eye shadow, and MAC and Sephora brand shadows (3 shades) to my eyes, from highlights to the blackest black color. MAC and Sephora both make great black shadows and I highly recommend them. For this look I "overdrew" the eyeliner (MAC Fluidline) to the inner corners of my eyes. It's usually something I only reserve for very staement-making makeup. I finished off the eyes with thick false lashes and bold eyebrows.
For my lips I used dark brown eyeliner pencil to contour, a dark red lipstick, a brush to blend the color to the lipliner, and gold shadow pigment for highlight. My blush is Bare Minerals.

I'm sure I'll get lots of "Oooh photoshop" comments, and I just want to say, for the record: Anyone who does professional photoshoots and makeup understands how much good lighting and good makeup can achieve. (I use a variety of products to even out my skintone, tame under eye darkness, shade bone structure etc, before I apply any color to my face.)
Photoshop can enhance the intensity of the colors, shadows and highlights and is perfectly integrated into the process of Photography. Photoshop is used in not only in fashion and people photography, but commercial products, landscape, architecture photography etc.
When it comes to people photography, there is a difference between a convention snapshot, candid portrait at a party etc. and a professionally set up fashion, glamour or cosplay photoshoot, where the objective is to create a beautiful image and strive for Perfection.
I also want to point out that digital artists use Photoshop, Illustrator and other programs to create fantastic images, why would photographers who shoot digital not be allowed to use Photoshop? Many traditional artists who paint on paper will scan in artwork and finish them in Photoshop, tweaking the lines, combine pieces from various art pieces and correcting the colors. I see Photography being no different.

So, take it or leave it, but thanks for reading.

Scarlet Witch teaser - 2013 Calendar

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 07:29:41 PDT

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Here is the big announcement! I am releasing a Limited Edition 2013 cosplay calendar! Pre-order yours now!
Calendars will ship BEGINNING of July 2012. Domestic purchases will receive FREE SHIPPING!

For the past few months I have been hard at work with designer David Terres and photographers such as Anna Fisher and Paul Tien, to produce this 12 month collection of my favorite and best costumes. I have been releasing teasers on my Facebook page this month, including this Scarlet Witch image by Anna Fisher. At the end of the month I will release the back cover image, with even more teasers of each of the month images. Click the link for more info: [link]

I'll post more teaser images, but the ones in the calendar will only be released there.

Related Deviations:

Catwoman teaser - 2013 Yaya Han Calendar

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 07:23:56 PDT

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Yaya Han signed Posters

Here is the big announcement! I am releasing a Limited Edition 2013 cosplay calendar! Pre-order yours now!
Calendars will ship BEGINNING of July 2012. Domestic purchases will receive FREE SHIPPING!

For the past few months I have been hard at work with designer David Terres and photographers such as Anna Fisher and Paul Tien, to produce this 12 month collection of my favorite and best costumes. I have been releasing teasers on my Facebook page this month, including this Catwoman image by Anna Fisher. At the end of the month I will release the back cover image, with even more teasers of each of the month images. Click the link for more info: [link]

I'll post more teaser images, but the ones in the calendar will only be released there.

Related Deviations:

Polaris - Marvel's X Men - new costume

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 20:05:28 PDT

New Chun Li cosplay - Calendar Pre-order

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 09:19:48 PDT

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Check out the Limited Edition Yaya Han 2013 Cosplay Calendar

Here is the big announcement! I am releasing a Limited Edition 2013 cosplay calendar! Pre-order yours now!
Calendars will ship Mid July 2012. Domestic purchases will receive FREE SHIPPING!

For the past few months I have been hard at work with designer David Terres and photographers such as Anna Fisher and Paul Tien, to produce this 12 month collection of my favorite and best costumes. Here is the 1st teaser image, featuring my brand new Art Nouveau Chun Li cosplay (designed by ), shot by Paul Tien. I'll be releasing more teasers this month so check back for more! At the end of the month I will release the back cover image, with even more teasers of each of the month images. Click the link for more info: [link]

This also happens to be the first photo on DA of the Chun Li costume I made.
I absolutely loved the design by and thought it was a great stylish translation of an Iconic character. I created the full costume, using luxurious fabrics such as dupioni silk and silk taffeta. All the trims and swirls are embroidered on, free hand. I had a lot of fun making the charms, hair buns and spike wristlets. I read the spikes in the design artwork as ivory or marble instead of metal, and in keeping with the turn of the century art nouveau style, my spikes are an opalescent ivory color. Some people remarked that it looks like I'm not wearing underwear - well, I am wearing 3 pairs of tights so I am decent lol. Again, it's to follow the art design accurately.

To address the "photoshopping" question - I did not shoop this image - rather, a soft filter was applied to it for the creation of the teaser promo for the calendar. I'm not sure if my photographer or designer did it but it was to get rid of some of the noise in the background. I know everyone has an opinion when it comes to images uploaded in the public, but to me there is a difference between posting a regular cosplay photo and a stylized advertising image for a purpose such as promoting the calendar. I understand I can't please everyone, and I don't set out to. Thank you to those who left very kind comments on this image. I worked hard on the costume and appreciate it.

I'll post more images as I receive them, but the one in the calendar will only be available for viewing there.

Related Deviations:

A Song of Ice and Fire

Sat, 05 May 2012 06:40:07 PDT

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Characters: Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire (or Game of Thrones).
Costumes: made & modeled by Yaya (Dany) & Kevin Walker (Jon)
Photography: Kevin Green

For anyone who has not read the books that inspired the HBO show Game of Thrones, there is an ongoing rumor that eventually Daenerys will cross the Narrow Sea and meet Jon Snow, and these two would fall in love. The title of the Book Series "A Song of Ice and Fire" is quite telling and many many fans of the books hope that George R. R. Martin will indeed bring these two compelling characters together in the next book/s. It would be an epic love story, that's for sure...

Thank you both Kevin Walker and Kevin Green for indulging my little fangirl hope and setting up these shots of Dany and Jon.

Related Deviations:

Cimmerian Allure II

Thu, 03 May 2012 07:02:43 PDT

Cimmerian Allure

Tue, 01 May 2012 19:42:53 PDT

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I had the opportunity to shoot with photographer Bernard Schmerl while I was in Germany last week.
Since the weather forecast was dreary and I didn't have much room in my luggage, I brought a few fashion outfits to the shoot, including this dress from bebe. (It's only lingerie-inspired XD)

We shot in Bernd's studio space and I wanted to steal this couch, it's from the mid 1800's and was reupholstered a few years ago in this gorgeous satin velvet fabric. It also coincidentally matched my dress & makeup. ♥

Photography: Bernard Schmerl
Model: Yaya
Makeup/styling/hair: Yaya

Related Deviations:

Cosplay Collage - 1999 to present

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:36:33 PDT

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I was wondering what 12+ years of cosplaying looked like side by side....

So I made a collage of all the costumes I've made for myself.
The outfits are listed from newest at the top to oldest at the bottom. They span the gamut from Anime, Manga, Video Games, Sci-Fi movies, TV shows, Comic Books, Novels, Fantasy Illustrations to original creations my brain has cooked up.

In my years of making costumes for myself as well as friends and commission clients (I do not take commissions anymore sadly), I have made well over 200 full costumes. But this collage only shows what I have worn myself.
I have omitted about 15 or 20 personal costumes from ages ago because I do not have photos of them anymore, and because I didn't want to leave one row uneven with just a couple of entries. I estimate that I have made about 130 or so personal costumes, which evens out to about 10 per year. That's really not that much considering how long I've been cosplaying, and is a testament to how frigging busy I am with work constantly, and how long it takes to create a full costume. It is not only the sewing and crafting, but also time required to do research and the arduous task of finding the right materials, accessories like wigs and shoes, and learning new techniques, experimenting, etc.

Couple of additional notes:
I only modeled Nanaka and Deedlit for good friend and costume commissioner Sewing Goddess. But the photoshoots were so much fun, they became a cosplay experience in themselves. I also only modeled Slave Leia for Jamin, but I get asked a lot whether or not I've cosplayed from Star Wars, so there you have it!

Every other costume in this collage, I have created myself. If you follow me on this page or any other Social Media outlet, you know I am an advocate for Craftsmanship and enjoying Cosplay as an Artform and creative outlet. I truly believe that 50% of Cosplay is creating the costume, and 50% of Cosplay is wearing the finished costume and portraying the character. I have said time and time again that you truly are missing out on a huge part of Cosplay if you purchase a costume or have someone else make it for you.

Get your hands dirty! It is so much fun.

PS: Note the decline in photo quality as you move to the bottom... 10 years ago, good cosplay photography was unheard of, and only the lucky few who had photographer friends got to do nice photoshoots. I'm always amazed at the incredible advances in not only costume quality now, but also photography quality. What an incredibly journey this has been...

The Green Fae

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:39:46 PDT

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I forgot I had these lovely shots from BlizzardTerrak from last Fanime! Thank you!

Character: Original version of Absinthe Fairy
Costume designed, made and worn by Yaya
Photography by

More images and construction info to be found on my website: [link]

Catwoman Collab with Jay Tablante

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:47:17 PDT

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From Jay's DA:

"A Cat and Her Loot

Trying out a new approach in the image treatment. We got inspired from looking at those Street Fighter X Tekken posters."

Costume Production: Yaya Han
Make-up: Yaya Han
Styling: Yaya Han
Art Direction: Jay Tablante / Denise Tee
Production Design: Raffy Tesoro
Digital Imaging: Rock Jehiel Manuel
Model: Yaya Han

Shot in 2 Stops Brighter Studios, New York City

Ada Rising - Fan Film

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:24:35 PDT

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A few months ago I was asked to play one of my favorite characters, Ada Wong of Resident Evil, in a short film directed by John Leigh of Anime Matsuri and Import Reactor.

Late last night the video was released and I just got to watch it for the first time myself. It is awesome! Thank you again so much for this fun project, John, Deneice, Alin, Bryan and everyone else.

You can watch the clip on Youtube here!

Still photo by Alin Danila

Granado Espada Wizard portrait

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:40:41 PDT

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Character: Wizard - Granado Espada
Costume made and worn by me
Photography by Gerardo J Flores [link]
Post-processing by Kassandra Leigh Purcell

Costume Construction Break Down at

Thank you for this lovely shot, Gerardo!

Other Deviations of this costume: