[Yakumo Chen cosplay] The Kitty Basking in the Sun at a Touhou Project Comic Convention

These CICF Convention photos feature Yakumo Chen cosplay from Touhou Project. In the lore, with Lady Yukari hibernating and Lady Ran away, this unchaperoned kitty finally got some free time to stroll around and bask in the sun, making the overall vibe lean toward lazy and carefree. To fit this theme, we specifically chose a backlit spot by the water, using a wide aperture to blur the background bokeh, perfectly creating a warm, unsupervised ambiance.

For the outfit, the classic burgundy-and-white color palette is extremely photogenic outdoors. The outer layer is made of jacquard wine-red fabric, while the white ruffles on the neckline and sleeves actually feature multiple layers; it wasn't particularly lightweight to wear, but an acceptable sacrifice for the visual look. The gold embroidery details on the dress paired flawlessly with the white bow on the chest. Worth mentioning is the golden bell, which had copper wire inserted inside to keep it firmly positioned on my chest no matter how I moved. The red tassels at the back also added great charm to the overall look.

The plush elements were another major highlight. Anti-slip pads were added inside the Animal ears on my head to keep them from shifting out of place. The large tail was much heavier than expected, requiring a double belt system to secure it. To embody a cat's posture, I constantly reminded myself during the shoot to keep the tail perked up, but while walking through crowds, it would occasionally brush against people, so I had to carefully navigate around them.

Regarding makeup and styling, the focus was placed on defining the eyes. The eye makeup deepened the curves at the corners, which, combined with the light coffee-colored wig and light contact lenses, gave the gaze a more innocent expression. A matte texture was chosen for the lips to avoid excessive shine under outdoor lighting, keeping the overall makeup true to the character design.

The sunlight on the day of the shoot was gorgeous; the golden sunset light falling on me felt wonderful, requiring no extra fill lights—the backlight directly outlined the edges of my hair and the fluff on the tail. During the shoot, I kept mimicking a cat's daily habits, such as glancing back sideways, touching my face in a daze, raising hands to make cat paws, or scratching my cat ears. These actions look simple, but repeatedly adjusting body balance while wearing this long dress and heavy tail took substantial physical effort. Especially for the look-back pose: because the naturally hanging tail carried noticeable weight, turning required engaging my core and legs together to make the tail perk up naturally without looking stiff. When making cat paw poses, slightly opening the elbows outward was also necessary to fit feline posture.

For post-processing, I avoided exaggerated reshaping or warping, focusing mainly on giving the skin a translucent glow while retaining the natural blush and lip color. The key was recovering shadow details of the dark red fabric under highlights so the jacquard pattern on the wine-red fabric showed through rather than crushing into a dark blob. For the fur around the tail and Animal ears, I slightly softened edge sharpness to enhance that fluffy texture. I also adjusted the warm and cool tones of the foliage bokeh in the background to better convey a cozy, lazy winter atmosphere.

With crowded convention grounds, capturing a set with such great raw fundamentals in a relatively quiet corner was truly no small feat. Along the way, we had to use a portable garment steamer anytime to smooth out accidentally creased sleeves. Although the process was a bit tiring, cosplaying this fluffy character in the sunlight felt as joyful as actually stepping out for a stroll on a sunny post-hibernation afternoon.