[Sushang cosplay] Honkai: Star Rail Cloud Knights, Reporting for Duty!

The customer photos of my Sushang cosplay shot at HoYo Wonderful House are finally in my hands! When I saw the teaser images before, I already felt that the costumes, makeup, and props were highly on point, and sure enough, the final photos turned out even better than I expected.

Because work has been incredibly busy lately, I really didn't have the energy to slowly pick outfits, buy wigs, and look for props, let alone contact a makeup artist and photographer myself. This time, following a friend's recommendation, I directly chose the one-stop all-inclusive service at HoYo Wonderful House. It truly felt like doing a photoshoot without needing to bring a brain. After fully handing over the styling, photography, and post-processing to them, all I had to do was show up at the studio and cooperate with the shoot. The whole process can be summed up in one word: awesome!

Let's talk about the styling first; I absolutely love it. The hairstyle and bangs are handled very delicately. The reddish-brown hair color paired with silver hair ornaments and purple tassels restores Sushang's agile yet sharp temperament quite well. The makeup artist did a wonderful job on the eye makeup; it doesn't have an overly exaggerated anime look, but instead preserves some of the model's own facial features, looking both true to the character and natural. Next is the costume—the sense of layering in this outfit is incredibly strong, with white clothing, black leather, and orange-yellow detached lantern sleeves. The texture of the leather is quite nice, and the golden embossed pattern details are all rendered perfectly. The purplish-red bowtie on the chest and the golden tassels at the waist add a great visual focus. Once I put it on, I truly felt like a young girl who just joined the Cloud Knights.

The somewhat heavy element is this greatsword. Usually in the game, it looks weightless when the character holds it, but the physical prop feels quite heavy in hand. However, precisely because of this authentic weight, it feels much more immersive when holding it for the shoot, as if I'm truly holding a sword and preparing for battle.

The shooting progress on the day was very smooth, and the photographer was clearly well-versed in this character's traits. The standing pose in picture one is a standard Cloud Knights appearance—once you stand there and thrust the sword into the ground, the aura immediately comes out. But my absolute favorite is picture two, featuring the pose kneeling on one knee while shouldering the sword. Because I had to naturally shoulder this greatsword while keeping my body straight and my gaze sharp, all while factoring in the composition of the frame, it was actually quite physically demanding. However, the resulting effect looks incredibly cool. The leg lines, high-heeled boots, and the metal chain leg ring on the thigh are all beautifully showcased in this image, making the entire figure look remarkably slender and full of power. Shooting this pose was actually a bit tough, but seeing the final photos made me feel that all those squats and pose adjustments were completely worth it.

Picture three shifts to a real-scene studio, completely different from the previous studio background with its purple-blue gradient. This one features a miniature outdoor grassland setup, paired with floral art and an illustrated background, instantly shifting the atmosphere from cool and sharp to serene and soft. Sitting on the grass at that time with one hand casually extended forward, it felt like my entire state relaxed completely, as if taking a rest among the flowers. The photographer's lighting was hit very softly, bringing out a very warm feel to the orange-yellow tones of the costume under a natural light sensation.

As someone who frequently engages with cosplay, I especially love this kind of photography studio that provides a full-process service. There's no need to worry about venues and equipment yourself, and no need for repeated communication over post-processing tones and airbrushing. It tremendously lowers the barrier to a photoshoot, allowing us to focus more on experiencing the joy of playing a character. The identity of the Cloud Knights itself carries a great narrative sense, especially with Sushang's dashing setting of being both martial and literate; wearing this whole outfit truly gives off a sense of mission. After getting this set of finished images, that sense of accomplishment and satisfaction truly makes me feel very happy. The poses and scenes attempted this time were very rich, successfully showcasing different facets of the character.