[Ryuge Kisaki cosplay] Blue Archive Qipao paired with firearms, a cold and glamorous agent's studio photo record

In Blue Archive, Ryuge Kisaki cosplay of Kisaki's Qipao styling took a lot of thought from preparing the costume to completing the studio shoot. Today, I'd like to share with everyone the shooting process of this photoshoot and some detail controls.

The moment I got the costume in hand, I could feel the thickness of the texture. The dark blue main body retains the traditional Qipao standing collar and frog button design, with the cyan frog buttons at the collar and the slit of the skirt being important features of the original design. The most intricate part is the golden mythical beast embroidery on the chest and skirt hem. To create a reflective effect when light hits it, the embroidery thread was chosen from a slightly lustrous material. The paired blue-purple striped sleeves are a loose fit, which can naturally drape during photoshoots or flutter in the wind, adding a sense of ethereal flow to the overall serious styling. The lower body is matched with Black stockings and red-bottomed high heels; against the cool-toned background, this splash of red can effectively stabilize the visual center of gravity.

In terms of hair styling, the double buns require gathering real hair tightly with a hairnet first to support the voluminous feel of the two hair buns. The hair strands hanging down on both sides were given a slight curve and set to ensure they won't fly around wildly when crouching or turning around. For makeup, the energetic color palettes were abandoned; red-brown eyeshadow was chosen to deepen the contours, the eyeliner was elongated, and contact lenses were used to adjust the pupil color, strongly emphasizing a cold and dangerous aura. The floating glowing ring prop above the head is cut from transparent acrylic, and with post-processing effect layers added later, it achieves a breaking-the-dimension-wall effect.

The props used this time are a long firearm model (Upotte!!) and a black briefcase. The gun body is sprayed with dark red and black matte paint, carrying a certain weight in hand. To hold the gun steady, the palms and arms need to keep exerting force all the time. In the crouching pose of the first picture, to maintain body balance and picture stability, the leg core is actually secretly competing, especially when wearing high heels, where the center of gravity needs to be pressed slightly backward to stay steady. The gun is placed horizontally in front of the body, with the gun stock just stuck in the inner side of the arm, so that the photo can appear effortless.

The second picture changes to a slightly more relaxed posture. The gun barrel is propped on the right shoulder, the left hand is spread outward, and the body is turned sideways to the lens. To increase the narrative feel of the frame, a Polaroid-style photo is clipped at the thigh garter strap. The difficulty of this action lies in the angle of the neck: one must show the full face, maintain a side body, and also take care that the spread hand lines don't appear stiff. Throughout the studio shoot, the photographer constantly adjusted the height of the main light to produce clear facial shadows while avoiding making the dark clothes look dull against the gray background.

Portraying the character Kisaki, the biggest challenge lies in the control of expressions. Throughout the session, there are not many dramatic facial movements; it mainly relies on gazes and micro-expressions to convey that effortless sense of danger. When putting down the gun during shooting breaks, the wrists and shoulders are indeed sore, but when picking up the props again to face the lens, the feeling of being enveloped in the character's state is wonderful. This set of photos does not feature overly complex background composition, aiming mainly to highlight the clash between the character herself and the clothing/props. I hope everyone, when viewing this set of photos, can feel that tension lurking in the stillness. There are detail shots from other angles, which will be slowly released once organized.