[Shu cosplay] Arknights Yesterday's Sea style self-styled sharing

This self-styled version of Shu's 'Yesterday's Sea' style finally got its photos taken. Actually, preparing this outfit took a lot of thought, mainly wanting to present a temperament that is both aloof and a bit gentle. The inner wear is a white top with a stand-collar design. To restore the details, I specially added a string of pearl chains as decoration at the neckline. Although sewing it was quite strainful on the eyes, it truly added a lot of exquisite detail to the final photos. The semi-transparent sheer gauze draped outside is the key to the whole outfit. I compared several materials and finally chose this fabric, which has a good drape and is not easy to fray. During the shoot, as long as there was a slight breeze, that ethereal feeling came out, perfectly matching the character's overall atmosphere.

The antler props on my head are the part I am most satisfied with this time. Carved and polished from lightweight EVA material, to match the designated color scheme, I hand-painted a gradient of gray and gold, and finally finished it with blue hair gel and tassels. To reduce weight, the inside was hollowed out, so wearing it to shoot for a whole day wouldn't put too much burden on the neck. As for the wig, the white base color paired with that eye-catching blue streak was carefully trimmed and styled by me according to the character's traits; the layers in the front and length in the back were adjusted several times. The elf ear props were chosen from skin-friendly silicone material, with the edges blended using foundation and concealer so they wouldn't look abrupt under natural light.

The outdoor location for the shooting day was chosen in a park with a pond and water lilies. The sparkling reflections on the water surface were particularly vivid through the lens, adding a lot of vitality to the frame. To match the texture of this outfit, I specially chose the side-backlighting light around 3:00 or 4:00 PM. I wanted that rim light brought by backlighting to make the outer sheer gauze look translucent and glowing in the sunlight. However, during actual shooting, controlling the light really took some effort, and I tried several angles before finding this suitable position. The folding fan held in my left hand—its pink pattern was decided after searching for a long time; the plum blossom pattern paired with the blue fan ribs just happened to visually echo the highlights in the hair.

The golden-brown long gloves on my hands were also a color I searched for a long time to match; this material has a faint matte texture under the sunlight and won't reflect light. In terms of shooting poses, to fit the designated personality, most of the time I chose a slightly lowered head or lowering my gaze to look at the fan, with small movements so as not to ruin the overall ethereal fairy-like vibe of the clothes. It was actually quite windy during the shoot. To blow the hair and skirt hem into a naturally spread-out state, I sat on the stone railing back and forth many times, adjusting angles and postures.

The difficulty of self-styling lies in building a character's visual elements from scratch, and every tiny detail needs to be repeatedly compared by oneself. For example, the collar height of the gauze coat and the size of the cuffs all needed continuous adjustment. Although it was mentally draining, the moment I saw the finished photos, I felt it was all worth it. I hope this presentation can convey the character's unique charm.