The greatest joy of shooting Hirasawa Yui lies in materializing the casual, boisterous charm of the Light Music Club. To bring this character to life, I prepared a pale yellow knit vest layered over a white collared shirt, hand-tying the light-blue ribbon bow at the neckline. The wig was trimmed to shoulder length with straight blunt bangs, accented by the signature yellow hairpin on the left side to instantly establish the silhouette. Makeup focused on an airy, translucent glow, using colored contacts to brighten the eyes—after all, Hirasawa Yui always radiates cheerful energy tinged with an adorable airheadedness.
The centerpiece of this shoot was a collection of hand-drawn recruitment posters as Handmade props. One poster featured a Guitar alongside the club's name, asking 'Wanna start a band together?' and calling for a guitarist. Another displayed a cat face and a playful cartoon stick figure. To give the posters a spontaneous, handmade feel, lines were kept intentionally loose and colored with pastel accents in pink, pale blue, and yellow. Another sheet showed a stick figure with a comically helpless expression. Although these posters appear simple, layout and drafting took substantial effort. Holding them up with both hands throughout the session proved to be a real test of arm endurance.
The shoot took place in an indoor studio featuring a clean white background with black cloth in the foreground—a setup ideally suited for slice-of-life characters. Displaying two posters simultaneously without obscuring my face while keeping the sheets flat required repeatedly adjusting hand placements. My arms grew exhausted holding them up, yet before the lens, I maintained Yui's breezy, carefree demeanor. In framing, the photographer kept me centered to avoid edge distortion. In terms of expressions, I strived for a balance between sunny confidence and natural goofiness, keeping the smile effortless.
Lighting utilized soft, even flat light to ensure a radiant, translucent tonality, minimizing harsh shadows to keep the overall mood breezy and light. When coordinating with the photographer, I wanted the finished photos to preserve a slice-of-life realism rather than an over-edited detachment, so post-processing was limited to fundamental skin brightening and slight contrast tweaks. Seeing the finished cuts holding those doodles brought a deep sense of accomplishment. For me, cosplay is not merely donning a character's wardrobe, but experiencing a slice of their daily life through tiny props and nuances. This project taught me so many crafting tricks for Handmade props, making me appreciate the process of bringing anime characters into reality even more.