This year I finally made it to Animazement, the anime convention held in Raleigh, NC. Being my first time, I didn’t bother dressing up because I knew there would be enough to do that I wouldn’t want to have the additional stress of taking care of a costume.
Tristan has been somewhat interested in cosplaying– though I think he’s mostly into the creation of the costume. He decided to go as Kratos from the game God of War, and has devoted a lot of time over the last few months into making the costume. It paid off, because he won 2nd place as an amateur in the craftsmanship contest! The judges particularly liked the swords, which he hand-carved and painted himself. It being Tristan’s first time at a an anime convention as well, it was definitely a great first experience. There have only been a few good Kratos cosplays done so far, and his version was very well received. 
As for me, being there made me feel guilty that I hadn’t gone earlier– if I’d known what it would be like, I would definitely have submitted some artwork to the art auction and easily made a nice sum. There were a lot of talented artists there, and a lot of artists who clearly just drew stuff they knew would sell (heck, can you blame them?). If anything, I came away from the experience with some motivation to pick up drawing again and begin a project of my own. Since graduation I haven’t created much, and I can’t keep using wedding preparation as an excuse– though it’s no secret that I keep procrastinating with wedding stuff as well.. hah!
We also bought a few prints in Artist Alley. There was a lot of nicely drawn stuff there, but anime posters of pinup women and pretty-boys with flowery backgrounds aren’t very suitable for a person to put on their wall if they don’t want their apartment to look like a college dorm room. So when we came across this guy’s table, we were really enthusiastic. He has his own drawing style, even though he draws other characters, and his prints had a really nice sense of composition. So we’ll have three of his prints on the wall!
