[Shu Cosplay] Spring Banquet: Abundant Crops and Flourishing Fields

When shooting this set of convention photos for the Spring Banquet outfit, what gave me the biggest headache was actually that thick braided plait and the deer antlers on my head. The wig featured a yellow-and-white gradient, with the bright blue tip at the ends serving as the highlight. To keep it from collapsing, I used two layers of hairpins plus setting spray to secure it. The costume features a violet off-shoulder outer robe; the white lace trim at the collar and sleeve edges required high craftsmanship, while the inner yellow crop top's cut exposed the waistline just right, keeping movement comfortable. The small floral necklace on my neck and the purple patterns on my gloves were hand-painted by myself with acrylic paint during makeup testing, offering a much better texture than printed graphics.

The location was an indoor venue at the anime convention. The overhead lights were extremely bright, but background pillars were prone to causing visual clutter. The photographer shot the entire session using an 85mm prime lens with a large aperture, completely blurring out the cluttered booths and crowd. For props, I prepared a long sword, a bamboo basket, and a bundle of yellow wheat ears—the wheat ears were actually made from plastic faux flowers bent with iron wire, light to hold, though requiring care not to snap while posing. My favorite poses were that side glance while kneeling on one knee and the ones holding the basket, because the fluffy tail and white ropes created a natural fluttering movement during turns, which, paired with focused eye contact, beautifully conveyed that relaxed charm of farming downtime.

The entire shoot took about forty minutes, with a quick blush touch-up in between because bright lights tend to wash out color. Post-processing didn't apply heavy skin smoothing, preserving skin texture and the matte finish of the lip makeup. The photographer \"Xiyiji\" (Washing Machine) is adept at capturing dynamic motion—like the sword-swinging shot, where the blade's reflection caught my face just right with very comfortable brightness. Additionally, that bundle of thick white plush rope was quite bulky; wrapping it around my arm hindered arm-raising poses, so two shorter ropes were prepared to swap out for different angles.

Regarding the color scheme, the yellow and purple color blocking with blue and white accents offered high visibility on the convention floor, but could easily look overly loud. So I deliberately dialed down the saturation of the purple outer robe to make it lean slightly magenta, softening its contrast with yellow. I originally wanted to stuff real flowers into the bamboo basket, but couldn't find any on site, so dried wheat stalks and faux daisies were used instead, which looked quite nice from afar. The integrated styling sense with the accessories was very strong, especially with the elf ears paired with small flowers on the hair braids, creating a rich fantasy atmosphere of a non-human race.

This set of Shu cosplay convention photos was mainly to document the design details of this skin. Although the work centers on a game character, translating 2D paper-character elements into reality always involves many unexpected adjustments. For instance, the fluffy tail was actually pieced together from two sections, lined with aluminum wire inside so it could bend into an upturned curve. Standing for a long time towards the end made my heels a bit sore, but seeing the interplay of light and shadow in the final renders made every effort feel worthwhile.

Quite a few friends recognized me on the convention floor. Many asked how those little flowers were attached—they were actually glued one by one onto the wig braids using hot melt glue, requiring careful removal to avoid tearing the hair fibers. Two versions of glove patterns were painted: the initial version was too dark, so I repainted them bright purple later, making them stand out much better under camera lenses. Overall, this outfit offered decent mobility; aside from the oversized sleeves catching wind easily, everything fit quite well.

Lastly, I must say that although indoor convention lighting is messy, utilizing backlighting properly can produce lovely rim lights. For instance, that side silhouette bending over to lift the basket had a wonderful translucent glow around the fluffy tail edges behind me. I hope to have an opportunity to shoot Arknights cosplay again under natural outdoor light in the future, which should yield a completely different texture.