cosplay

Creating compelling sci-fi and fantasy inspired images was once a task that required either awesome practical effects and lighting, dexterous digital paint skills, or a mastery of complex 3D animation software. Recently, Boris FX, an Academy Award-winning software company that has developed film and television visual effects tools for over 20 years, has leveled the playing field with the introduction Boris FX Optics.

Long-term projects can be one of the most frustrating creative pursuits for a number of reasons. There is a large investment of time, obviously, but there can also be the uncertainty of where a story goes as you watch it unfold over years, while constantly adjusting and readjusting the scope of the issues you want to deal with in your stories.

Photographer and digital artist Antti Karppinen recently did a photo shoot in which he turned his friend Iina into Wonder Woman. Iina's a cosplay costume designer who crafted her own costume for the shoot in a mammoth 2-month-long project.

Back in December my brother asked me if I would be interested in going to Comic Con in Indianapolis, IN, and I immediately said "absolutely!" He was excited to see what comic books he could find or possibly a GI Joe collectible; me, I knew I was going there to photograph people in their costumes.

Betrothed couple Alexis Loo and Alvin Lau are passionate about the video game Diablo III. So passionate, in fact, that they hired photographer and digital artist Mezame Shashin-ka to shoot some Diablo-themed pre-wedding photos that would do their gaming passion justice.

I feel like there's a real shortage of quality female heroes these days throughout our entertainment media. They always seem to be flawed in one way or another by the system that produces them. They're either a distressed, incapable damsel, or an obnoxious, loud-and-proud feminist who deems it necessary to remind the audience that she's a woman every five seconds (just in case we didn't notice).

Hello, my name is Vincenzo Spina. I’m a full-time Presentation Director at Ubisoft Montreal. Although I make games for a living I also love photography and comics.

Los Angeles-based photographer Laura Izumikawa Choi is winning hearts across the Web with her portraits of her 4-month-old daughter Joey Marie Choi. While Joey naps, Laura carries out cosplay photo shoots using creative costumes and props.

Utah-based wedding photographer Robert Lance Montgomery of RLPhotoArt recently put on a killer cosplay shoot that is driving the Internet wild. It's called "The Real Finn and Rey," and it features an engaged couple playing the much-beloved Finn and Rey from the newest Star Wars film.

The Colbert Report is coming to an end on TV, and The Hobbit trilogy will soon come to an end in theaters. Knowing that Stephen Colbert is a huge fan of JRR Tolkien (author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings), Entertainment Weekly invited Colbert to write a cover story about the movies and pose for a series of portraits as characters from the trilogy. He agreed.

What if Superman was born in the sixteenth century? What if the Hulk was a Duke? How might Van Eyck have portrayed Snow White? These are the questions that gave birth to the creative-yet-strange-yet-somehow-awesome portrait series Super Flemish by photographer Sacha Goldberger.

In 2012, photographer Kelly Lewis and her husband adopted young Alice Lewis into their family. Between Alice’s dream of becoming a model/actress, Kelly’s passion for photography, and the entire family’s love of cosplay, the trio quickly found the mutual ground that would forge a deep bond between Alice and her adoptive parents.

What do you do if you have an abiding love of horror movies, a phenomenal cosplayer who you work with on a regular basis, and a knack for photography and graphic artistry? It's obvious isn't it... you re-create famous horror flicks by shooting an awesome photo series.

Earlier this month, the Syfy channel -- which is owned by NBC Universal -- debuted a new show called Heroes of Cosplay. The show pits nine big-time cosplayers against one another as they try to make a name for themselves in this world of fantasy costume play.

It's a big show on a popular network that is backed by an even bigger company, so you can imagine how surprised photographer Bryan Humphrey was when he saw that the show has used his photos of some of these cosplayers without so much as asking permission or even notifying him -- and forget about payment.

You've had a rough day, you're bone tired and ready for bed. What would feel better than cuddling up with an image of some anonymous dude in a Superman outfit?

Yeah, I can think of a couple million things, too. But apparently there's a market for body pillows emblazoned with images of comics fans dressing as their favorite characters. The legal and ethical framework for selling them, however, is a different matter.

You know those carnival cutouts that let you stick your face in a hole for humorous photographs? A Chinese blogger named toshiya86 had the brilliant idea of creating these cutouts for her beloved cat Guagua's birthday. Humorous portraits resulted.