[Suisui cosplay] Wuthering Waves Traditional Chinese Style Styling Details Share

Finally finished retouching this set of Wuthering Waves Suisui styling photos. Let's talk about the costume's material first. This Traditional Chinese style outfit features a white satin main body adorned with golden hidden pattern embroidery, emitting a slight sheen when struck by sunlight. The dark translucent mesh splicing on the chest was a challenge; it needed to conform to body curves during cutting while ensuring comfort. The dark brown detachable floating sleeves on the shoulders feature golden cloud patterns edged along the borders, creating a striking contrast with the red knots and pearl hanging ornaments at the waist. The skirt hem adopts a double-sided high-slit design, showcasing leg lines wonderfully when walking or posing, but because of this, I constantly had to mind my pose adjustments during the shoot to prevent any wardrobe malfunctions. The paired high heels are black patent leather pointed-toe styles, decorated with a row of pearls on the upper that echo the costume's pearl accessories.

Regarding the wig, to recreate that fluffy, gradient effect, I mixed several golden and yellow hair fibers of varying shades together for the initial styling. The blue-and-gold hair accessory on top of the head was custom-made by a prop maker; coupled with red tassels, it carries a bit of weight when worn. This meant that throughout the shoot, I had to constantly mind my head's center of gravity to keep the hair accessory from tilting. The folding fan in hand is a crucial auxiliary prop. The fan face is printed with an ink-wash landscape painting, and the ribs possess a metallic sheen. To naturally perform actions like opening, closing, and half-covering the face with the fan before the lens, I practiced in front of the mirror many times in private to make the movements look smoother.

In terms of makeup, orange-yellow eyeshadow serves as a large-area base, with red layered at the outer corners of the eyes to boost vibrancy; paired with light-colored contact lenses, it creates a visual effect hovering somewhere between 2D and realism. The red mark on the forehead was outlined using a liquid eyeliner pen, requiring it to be slender and sharp. Matte orange-pink was chosen for the lips to stay as consistent as possible with the overall makeup color scheme.

This shoot experimented with some new lighting setups. To match the grand background special effects in post-production, the on-site lighting primarily utilized two contour-highlighting lights: one warm-yellow light to illuminate the face and another cool-blue light to outline the body shape. This warm-and-cool contrasting lighting scheme effectively separates the subject from a cluttered background. To leave room for post-production compositing, we also shot a set of actions in front of a green screen. This required me to stretch my arms and body more exaggeratedly during actions, facilitating the post-production editor's keying and special effects addition.

Post-production compositing was also a major highlight of this creation. Several images required placing the subject into Chinese ink-wash scrolls and starry water surfaces. We communicated extensively with the post-production editor, adjusting the subject's edges, light-and-shadow, and environmental light reflection to ensure the subject wouldn't look pasted in. For instance, in the starry sky shots, to depict water surface reflections, not only was a reflection effect created on the ground, but subtle glowing materials were also added to the clothing edges to simulate ambient lighting.

The entire photo set took over a month from preparation to image delivery. During this period, poses were modified several times, and wig details were adjusted. Because I didn't want the final product to look too rigid, I tried my best to strike a balance between live-action shooting and post-production. With the final finished photos out, seeing all these details preserved makes all the effort during this period feel entirely worthwhile.