Shooting the makeup and clothing details for this Puppet-themed set requires grasping the unique temperament of the character itself, which is elegant yet slightly mechanical. As one of the Fatui Harbingers in the original game, Sandrone's visual design actually blends a lot of exquisite industrial feel with soft courtly elements. Therefore, when actually preparing this attire, I put a lot of effort into everything from fabric selection to the polishing of the hardware accessories.
First, let's talk about the most eye-catching part of this outfit. The black high-collar leather material at the neck was actually custom-molded, with very fine metal wires embedded in the edges to make the lines at the turns look sharp and fitting. The giant ruby structure right in the center is the soul of this attire. To simulate that inherently highlighted texture in Genshin Impact's art style, I specially found an acrylic material with excellent transparency. Coordinated with a cool-toned golden trim around the edges, it doesn't look too clumsy and beautifully echoes the large blocks of red patchwork fabric on the clothes. The corset section at the chest was made into a flared contour, paired with the off-shoulder design on both sides, which both retains the character's heroic spirit and makes it convenient to display the layers of the clothing itself during close-up shots.
The headpiece and wig are also vital parts of the reproduction. The white ruffled stiff headpiece looks simple, but every single petal required repeated adjustments to the inner lining's support to ensure it wouldn't collapse under movement. Meanwhile, to fit my own face shape, the trimming and thinning of the golden bangs in front went through repeated tuning, aiming to preserve that fluffy, three-dimensional airy feel without being too heavy and obscuring the spirit of the eyes. I also used a pinkish-purple gradient blush on both cheeks, combined with light blue colored contacts, giving the gaze a more inhuman, hazy look—which I personally feel is the key to making the demeanor closer to the "Puppet" setting.
During the shoot, I chose the most basic solid-colored background, mainly to minimize environmental distraction as much as possible and concentrate all visual focus on the character's makeup, styling, and demeanor. The first two photos are relatively soft large-aperture close-ups, leaning towards displaying the character's static beauty. In the third one, I added a gesture of extending both hands toward the camera, cooperating with the pink heart-shaped light leaks added in post-production in the background. I wanted to break through the character's original cool feeling a bit, presenting a playful and gap-moe side of "Puppet Lady" attempting to interact with the audience at close range. Although the overall style of this outfit leans dark and gorgeous, the relaxed feel of the expressions and hand gestures instead gives the frame a more breathable feel.
Actually, playing a character with mechanical attributes or a doll setting heavily tests expression control ability. Most of the time, I don't deliberately mimic those exaggerated expressions in anime, but rather let myself empty out slightly, maintaining a composed look with a faint smile. However, when it comes to specific action cues, I need to quickly mobilize body language. For instance, with the movement in the third image, I specifically practiced the folding angle of the wrist and the expansion width of the fingers in front of the mirror many times, striving to make the styling look unforced.
My biggest realization after finishing this set of photos is that a good cosplay is never just about throwing clothes onto your body and calling it a day. It requires understanding the character lore behind the figure, transforming those textual descriptions and 2D illustrations into a three-dimensional materialized expression. Although manipulating this heavily crafted costume during the shooting process was slightly strenuous—I even got red marks from the neck collar—looking at the moments where these details were clearly captured in the finished photos made me genuinely feel that all the effort was well worth it. I hope this interpretation of Genshin Impact's Sandrone can bring you some different visual experiences.