[Shu cosplay] Arknights The Sui Siblings Shu, holding a sword to protect the prosperous and flourishing world

Finally finished retouching the Arknights The Sui Siblings Shu cosplay photoshoot. This time, I teamed up with a partner to cosplay The Sui Siblings' setting. Ever since I got the concept art for this outfit, I've been thinking about how to materialize this deity in charge of agriculture and harvest. Shu's setting carries an earth-like tolerance and gentleness, so I put a lot of effort into the makeup and styling. The base makeup pursues a translucent feel, while the eye makeup uses red-and-pink-toned eyeshadow to add a trace of mortal human touch. The wig was mixed-trimmed using silver, yellow, and blue hair wefts, and that pair of yellow-to-blue gradient antlers on top of the head took a week to shape, polish, and paint using clay bit by bit.

For the costume part, the white one-shoulder dress looks light, but to restore the three-dimensional feel of the original design, I added multiple layers of stiff lining inside. The staggered gold and blue metal blocks on the clothes, as well as the square necklace around the neck, each require precise positioning. The long sword prop in hand has anti-slip wrapping on the hilt, paired with long golden tassels and the blade, swinging it also gives off a sharp feeling. Although I'm cosplaying Shu, standing together with my partner cosplaying Ji, both of us wearing heavy and complex clothes, standing back-to-back or exchanging glances instantly maxed out that unique sense of bond among The Sui Siblings.

The shooting day was actually quite exhausting. This asymmetrical one-shoulder design heavily tests the shoulder and neck lines; to avoid showing traps, I specially did a week of posture training before the shoot. To make the frame present the atmosphere of a deity's descent, we used warm-toned soft light for lighting, trying our best to make the skin texture look translucent. The whole process required constantly adjusting the slipping position of the clothes while also balancing the weight of the props and the styling of the wig. Because I had to hold the sword, the gloves were actually quite thick, making finger joint bending laborious. To restore Ji's arrogant yet profound feeling, my partner's gaze was often vacant, and we frequently reminded and adjusted each other's standing positions on set.

I personally really enjoy this process of building a character from scratch; whether it's clothing pattern-making, accessory splicing, or demeanor grasping, they are all indispensable parts of cosplay. In this set of photos, I used my gaze and body language to convey Shu's care for this land and its people. I hope that when everyone looks at the photos, they can feel that gentleness and strength belonging to The Sui Siblings.