These events allowed us to meet a lot of new or familiar faces, discover new places and show our work. We also had the chance to travel to Switzerland, Italy and even to the United States!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drawback of such an agenda was that it became difficult for us to find time to rest. The end of the year was difficult: going to conventions, making products and repairing costumes between the events turned out to be more exhausting than we anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, each event was a really rewarding experience and we hope that we\u2019ll participate in many conventions this year as well, even if we know that we\u2019ll need to make choices and reduce the number of events we attend…<\/p>\n\n\n\n The victory at the Comic Con Paris cosplay contest (end of 2016) opened to us the door of the C2E2 in Chicago last april for the Crown Championships of Cosplay finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One word: HUGE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three days that went so fast, visiting the convention (no time for the town sadly…), meeting a lot of super-nice people, tasting the “deep dish” (pizzas that looks like pies, local specialty), going to prejudging, waiting in line backstage with other contestants, getting nervous, going on stage, and taking the plane back home…<\/p>\n\n\n\n A bit less contests for us as contestants this year, but a few great experiences as judges ! But the most notable experience was at the Comic Con Paris, when I was invited to be a judge at the French Championships of Cosplay alongside Chris Donio (costume maker for Ant-Man among others) and Riki Lecotey (cosplayer and costume maker for Civil War and Infinity Wars, no less). While they brought with them professionalism and technicality from movie studios, as well as their vision of cosplay contests in the United States (where the finals are held), I brought my experience from the contest as I lived it through the year from the selections to the finals in Chicago, but also some technical knowledge and a few translations on several materials their translator had some trouble with (some brands are not available in the US, so it can be hard to see what the contestant is talking about). NB : if you\u2019re judging a cosplay contest, do nott think you\u2019ll manage to quickly change yourself in the dressing room after the winners announcements \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2017, we also held 11 workshops (plus a few panels we had on stage). Chain-mail, silicone molding, Worbla, we spoke about many things ! We really liked doing it widened our skillset as a bonus. We hope that we\u2019ll have even more workshops in 2018. In this direction, we added a new page <\/a>to our website, talking about things we can do during conventions, and especially what subjects to go over for our workshops ! Hoping to expend even more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2016, the Convention Geek Unchained was the first to invite us as exhibitors. At the end of the year, we joined their association and began to prepare for the 2nd edition. After more than a year of preparations, the Geek Unchained II Convention took place on the 1st and 2nd of July 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A brand new experience in which we took part personally, but also as Black Owl Studio, while exhibiting costumes and props, making trophies and judging the cosplay contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A big success for the association as the hall was completely filled up all weekend, so the convention is now moving to a bigger place for the 3rd edition!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Black Owl Studio, with a lot of experience gained through many conventions, will manage this year’s cosplay contest. We will also manage other things : organizing video game tournaments for Joris, developing websites for the association and the convention for Ma\u00ebl, and making the convention’s visuals and communication mediums for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Facebook Geek Unchained<\/a> \/\u00a0convention.geekunchained.fr<\/a> \/\u00a0www.geekunchained.fr<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Early 2017, we announced three new costumes : Star Lord (The Guardians of the Galaxie), the Black Knight (Dark Souls) and Captain Amari (Overwatch)…<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you may have noticed, none of these three cosplays came to life… decreased motivation for Star Lord, lack of time for the Black Knight, and a lot of troubles on Captain Amari\u2019s costume (out of stock fabrics, pattern-making fails, fabrics destroyed by the washing machine…)<\/p>\n\n\n\n We didn\u2019t abandon all hopes however, and after Captain Amari\u2019s fail, we challenged ourselves to craft a costume in a week only : an original creation based on shaman fantasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A second costume was also created in a short time. After we made the Majora\u2019s Mask (from The Legend of Zelda video game), we crafted the rest of the Skull Kid\u2019s costume in less than 2 weeks…<\/p>\n\n\n\n The third cosplay, a bit longer this time, was the Monk (Diablo 3). A big rush as we wanted it to be ready for Comic Con Paris and that it was trickier for us (we are better at armor making or molding than sewing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n After we joined a \u00abbusiness incubator\u00bb at the end of 2016, we kept moving forward all year, growing our business during all the conventions but also thanks to our new Etsy shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n www.etsy.com\/fr\/shop\/BlackOwlStudio<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n After a slow start, orders finally came in, before almost overwhelming us in the festive season! All year long we\u2019ve been working on new props or figurines that we then added to our shop. After the mandrakes, we made the Aku Aku\u2019s mask (Crash Bandicoot), the Majora\u2019s Mask (The Legend of Zelda) and the Kodamas (little forest spirits from Princess Mononoke).<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"avec](\"https:\/\/www.blackowlstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_20170611_174403-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>Finals of the Crown Championships of Cosplay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nJudging cosplay contests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Happy\u2019Games, Cosplay\u2019in Wesserling, Digital Game & Manga Show (for the European Cosplay Awards), Convention Geek Unchained II, Nekonvention, Cosplay Bern Festival, SF Connexion…
As many conventions that we spent through the Looking-Glass \ud83d\ude42
And all of these in good company : Lightning Cosplay, LucioleS, Aldarion, Nuna Cosplay, Cosplay&Craft, EdenCraft, MiniNene, M\u00e9lyanis, Eiryhan Cr\u00e9ations, Lfay, Yoshii Cosplay, Yuka Costumes…<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
First, I was quite impressed by these two professionals who came from the United States especially for the contest. But I (surprisingly) found my place during pre-judging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My opinion was taken into account on equal parts with theirs, and although it was really difficult to choose the winners of each category (armor, sewing, fx, and First place) among so many beautiful costumes, I spent a fantastic day with the judges, staff and cosplayers. Especially the female cosplayers with whom I could debrief when changing back at the end of the day…<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a>Workshops<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a>Organizing a convention : Geek Unchained<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a>New costumes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>My little business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
All in all since their creation, more than 230 mandrakes were adopted and found a warm welcoming home \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>