[Ellen Joe cosplay] The lazy shark girl in Zenless Zone Zero, the everyday vibe of red eyes and a grey hoodie

When doing this set of Zenless Zone Zero Ellen Joe cosplay photos, the initial intention was to capture that daily state of the character—looking as if she just finished a night shift, carrying a touch of half-awake sleepiness, yet ready to dive into battle at any moment. In fact, the overall costume for this character is not complicated: a grey hooded sweatshirt, a white collared shirt, a black choker, and the signature black hair with cherry-pink highlights. But it is precisely this minimalist everyday feel that places higher demands on mastering the hair, makeup, and facial expressions.

Let's start with the hair details. To recreate that naturally fluffy wispy texture, the wig bangs were deliberately trimmed in layers; they couldn't be too heavy, otherwise the head would look bulky. The pink highlights on both sides use a gradient technique with very soft color transitions, which, paired with those gray X-shaped hairpins, perfectly pulls what would otherwise be a well-behaved student haircut back into a slightly rebellious and cool tone. This styling, which looks casual but actually requires repeatedly shaping the flow of hair strands, is a crucial step in achieving Character accuracy.

Next is the core of the makeup—the eyes. When cosplaying this character, red pupils are the most essential soul. When choosing colored contact lenses, I paid special attention to diameter and color saturation; too bright would look jarring, while too dark would lose that sharpness. For the eye makeup, a reddish-brown eyeshadow was used as a base, lightly blended outward, with small black dots layered under the eyes. This subtle makeup easter egg is especially recognizable in close-up shots. Paired with this natural pink lip glaze, it preserves the character's unique charm without looking overly aggressive.

The outfit combination was also thoughtfully curated. The grey hoodie is a slightly loose-fitting style with a french terry lining, making it naturally comfortable to wear without feeling restrictive. When layering with the white inner shirt, the collar was deliberately exposed a bit to add visual layering to the upper body through this layered look. The black choker around the neck is the finishing touch; featuring a small metal pendant, it preserves the character's style without being uncomfortably tight, ensuring neck comfort during the shoot.

The prop used for this shoot was not a large-scale weapon in the traditional sense, but rather those oversized black leather tall boots. Slumberously carrying the boot over the shoulder or playing with it in hand—these seemingly careless body movements instead better capture the character's casual attitude of "fighting, but not wanting to try too hard." The leather material has a certain reflection under the light, enhancing the texture of the shot. During shooting, I experimented with several different angles: the top one slightly lifts the chin while looking at the camera, while the bottom one slightly parts the lips, capturing a moment as if she's speaking, presenting richer character emotions.

Regarding photography and lighting, this shoot was completed in a white-wall environment with ample natural light without large-scale studio strobes, because excessively bright lighting easily washes out the details of such everyday makeup, especially the texture of the red eyes. Slightly bright, cool white light makes the skin tone appear more translucent while giving the gray and black tones of the clothing a more solid weight. In post-processing, I mainly made basic facial fine-tuning and gentle skin smoothing, preserving the eye makeup and rich color saturation without over-smoothing, keeping bone structure and expressions as natural and realistic as possible for Anime cosplay.

My biggest impression when portraying this character is that she isn't the type of "cool" that requires exaggerating dynamic poses; rather, it's a comfortable aura that needs no pretension—just relaxing to naturally exude presence. This set of photos has no complicated special effects or backdrops, just basic white walls and natural light, which I feel perfectly fits her unique charm in Cosplayer daily life. Finishing this photoshoot brought a strong sense of achievement, making sure every detail strictly aligned with the original setting for Character accuracy. After sorting the photos, I decided to place the two states from different angles together to show the natural transition of expressions, hoping to convey the feeling of this character to everyone.