[Dolia Cosplay] Honor of Kings: April Convention Photos of Dolia - Illusionary Pearl Mermaid Cosplay at the IJOY Anime & Game Festival

This set of Dolia cosplay from the IJOY Anime & Game Festival back in April was dug out by me today to reorganize the raw shots. Seeing that a new convention season is fast approaching, I’m taking this opportunity to share these records. Regarding the character Dolia, from the day I decided to shoot her, I hoped to restore that lightweight and aquatic texture to the maximum extent.

Let's first talk about the fabric and layering of this costume; when I first got it, I felt the details were crafted very solidly. The skirt hem utilizes a massive amount of semi-transparent chiffon and stiff organza patchwork, forming a gradient transition from white to sea blue, and then smudging into purple-pink. This color palette itself carries an immense dreamlike quality, but under the complex lighting environment of a convention, capturing this translucency actually heavily tests the lighting. The A-line silhouette of this dress beautifully propped up the puffiness. When moving around, the ruffled cuffs, deep purple front chest streamers, and multiple layers of pleats on the skirt hem all generate a flowing visual effect, feeling highly aligned with the character's inherently nimble and extroverted traits.

The head styling is the crowning touch of the entire makeup look, especially that wreath hair accessory at the top; under the illumination of the lights, tiny sequins can be seen like a halo surrounding the head. The large pink flowers and metal leaf decorations on both sides are embellished just right—not too tedious, yet adding a sense of exquisiteness. The wig is a customized silver-white long straight hair with plenty of hair volume; although it feels very heavy on the head, to restore that flowing feel of hair strands, all this weight is completely worth it. In terms of makeup, the focus was placed on the blue contact lenses and the eye makeup smudge to make the gaze look clearer, which, paired with a soft apricot-pink lip glaze, can appear full of vitality before the lens for this Dolia cosplay look.

The pairing for the lower body is also a highly crucial part of the overall look. I chose white stockings with dark textured polka dots; this material can inject a bit of texture under reflections, offering more layers than pure white base tights. The shoes were specially chosen to be white ruffled chunky-heeled shoes, echoing the flower edges of the skirt hem and cuffs, so even when crouching down or making some frozen actions, it is visually complete and unified, bringing out the distinct feel of the Dolia - Illusionary Pearl Mermaid Cosplay.

Reviewing the IJOY Anime & Game Festival in April, the indoor venue's lighting was dominated by cold white light shining straight down from the top. To shoot the clothing's gradient texture under limited ambient light, the photography master added a softbox on the side, which not only brightened the skin tone but also made the ice blue and light purple on the dress look much more natural under the shadow transition, preventing any severe reflection from causing the colors to whiten out. Although the convention was highly crowded, requiring me to avoid the crowds from time to time to shoot empty scenes, as a Cosplayer, being able to communicate with fellow fans off-stage and share my love for this character is inherently a very joyful thing. This makes every piece of convention photos so precious.

Now that a new convention is approaching, time truly flies. Every time I do a cosplay, it feels like a mini 'time-travel' to me; the moment I put on this gear, don the wig, and stand before the lens, I can temporarily forget real-life trivialities to feel the emotions inside that character's world. When shooting Dolia, because the design features many lightweight streamers and skirt hems, I kept telling myself at the time to pay attention to the amplitude of movements, both to express liveliness and to avoid messing up the skirt hem, which is also the balance point when shooting this kind of cosplay with a high-fashion design sense.

This set of convention photos record sharing ends here; organizing it into text and pictures also makes it convenient for me to look back in the future. Although putting on cosplay outfits is quite exhausting every time, and managing the wig and packing up costumes are physical labors, seeing those moments preserved by colors, light, and shadow in the final cuts makes all the hardships dissolve into a sense of satisfaction. I hope for the next convention, I can also maintain this pure mindset to interpret the next character I love. It remains a beautiful journey of Dolia - Illusionary Pearl Mermaid Cosplay creation.