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CosBlog #18: Altaïr by Dustin Guinn
This week’s CosBlog entry highlights a different facet of cosplay culture – commissioned costumes. Participating in cosplay isn’t limited to those with skills on par with professional seamstresses. Some cosplayers create every inch of their costumes from scratch. Some combine found items with those made by hand. And others still prefer to commission their costumes in order to insure quality. Assassin’s Creed fan Dustin Guinn shows his love for the series through a custom Altair costume by Facing Costumes. Check out the result of their amazing collaboration below!
Who: The Character
"Altaïr ibn La-Ahad, from Assassin's Creed (Assassin's rank 9). In total I've got 14 throwing daggers, the short sword, the Assassin's long sword and the always fashionable hidden blade."
Why: The Decision
"I had missed all the hype for the game and hadn't heard anything about it at all until it was out. Prior to owning Assassin’s Creed, I was really into parkorur and free running. The moment I picked up the game, I fell in love. I enjoyed everything about the game. Playing as Altaïr was awesome. When I beat it, like alot of people, I wanted to be Altaïr. My girlfriend suggested that there was no better way to go about it than cosplay."
What: The Process
"I didn’t make this costume. I commissioned it from Facing Costumes. I wish I had the talent to make something like this, but I don't have the time or capabilities to do so. I’ve always advocated Facing Costumes’ work on this piece. This being said, I’ve only had positive feedback and responses. Other than people that suggest I cut off my ring finger for more authenticity! I enjoy wearing the costume and taking on the persona of Altaïr and I never mind telling people about the amazing work Facing Costume's does."
Where and When: The Debut
"A-Kon 19, May 2008 was the first time I wore the costume to a convention. It was an amazing experience. Everyone was really excited and people seemed to really love the costume. I returned the following year, A-Kon 20 and then did a real photo shoot because I didn't have any non-convention photos. A really good friend of mine, AshleyJ--an awesome photographer whose into cosplay photography-- agreed to do the shoot. We all live in Texas, and at the time of the photo-shoot it was June '09. It was close to 100 degrees at ten in the morning. We took the photos at two locations. The first location was an abandoned concrete, shell of a house by the Trinity River. The second was a massive church known locally as Fort God. Both yielded some great photos that we all feel are fairly accurate to the game. The whole photo-shoot took around 3 hours. I had a lot of help from Ashley and her fiancé Jason, as well as my girlfriend Erin, in the crazy Texas summer heat while in heavy latex. Without these three people the photos wouldn't have been nearly as awesome and I really appreciate the three of them agreeing to help. We would like to do more photos of Altaïr and eventually cosplay Ezio."
Links: The Cosplayer
Dustin on DeviantArt
AshleyJ on Flickr
AshleyJ on DeviantArt
Facing Costumes
Gallery
Miss the past few CosBlogs? Check out the CosBlog Hub for a full archive and information on how to submit a costume of your own.
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