[Chen Qianyu cosplay] Arknights: Endfield, Cool and Elegant Recreation in Tactical Blue and White

For this shoot, I cosplayed Chen Qianyu from Arknights: Endfield. The entire costume revolves around a tactical jacket in blue and white, featuring a stand-up collar with red-and-white striped piping that forms a sharp visual line. The cuffs and shoulders showcase silver metallic textures and armbands with specific geometric patterns, where red and lettered elements enhance the overall industrial and sci-fi aesthetic. Choosing the right fabric took a lot of effort—to match the tactical setting in the Endfield universe, the outer jacket was made from a techwear fabric with a subtle sheen, while the inner white turtleneck was fitted to accent body contours while remaining soft. This contrast between hard and soft materials adds rich layering under the lens.

The giant bright blue weapon resting on my shoulder was another highlight of this shoot. These Sci-fi weapon props convey the powerful sense of mecha gear, featuring a black grip on the main body as well as white and red painted details, requiring a careful angle to capture its sharpness at the tip. Due to its large size, special attention was paid to depth of field when adjusting the aperture and focal length, balancing facial focus while maintaining correct weapon perspective to avoid visual imbalance. The paint color of the weapon itself was spot-on, and during lighting, we intentionally added a blue spotlight on the left to mirror the primary colors of the weapon and outfit.

Next was the hair style featuring black hair with pointed horns on both sides. The wig consists of black straight bangs with a slightly messy, voluminous layering. When styling, hair strand flow needed careful direction to maintain a slightly disheveled yet clean battle-ready state. The horns on both sides of the crown are quite unique, showing a gradient from black to pink with barbed shapes, creating strong memorable highlights for both frontal and side profile angles. To secure these horns, specialized adhesive was used at the roots to guarantee they wouldn't tilt even during large movements.

The photos were mainly taken from a high angle slightly to the side, a composition that better accentuates Chen Qianyu's confident and composed aura. The background was blurred into dark tones, using strong light to illuminate the subject's face and the foreground weapon, making cool fair skin look even clearer and brighter. When portraying characters leaning toward tactical and mecha-girl styles, capturing the gaze is crucial. For makeup, contact lenses with subtle reddish-brown shimmers were chosen, paired with upturned eyeliner, so that the determination in her eyes could be easily captured by the camera.

In reality, being fully wrapped in a jacket and matching gear presents a real challenge for fabric breathability during a physical shoot. Cosplay studio shooting often requires heavy lighting; concentrating on posing under hot lamps while maintaining facial expressions and holding heavy props steady can be exhausting after a set. But as long as the feel is right when the shutter freezes the moment, all the hard work feels worthwhile. During prep, from garment fitting to styling every strand of the wig, and discussing exposure values and prop angles with the photographer, the whole process took about a week. To stay as faithful as possible to the original character setting, we tested various lighting setups. The final selected set adopts cool tones as the primary palette, defining the character's tough posture while utilizing shadow transitions to preserve a sense of mystery. I personally really enjoy this process of bringing virtual characters into reality. This cross-dimensional recreation isn't just about wearing costume pieces—it's an attempt to understand the aesthetic core of the character and convey her charm through body language and gaze in front of the lens. Today's smooth shoot wouldn't be possible without the joint efforts of the team and crew, carefully weighing everything from lighting to composition. I hope everyone can feel my interpretation of Chen Qianyu from Arknights: Endfield through this photo set.