Celebrating my 10-year career!
Great memories from 2009: the Mortal Kombat Frost photoshoot. Believe it or not, I didn’t know what cosplay was when I organized that photoshoot. I was starting as a model, I had always been a fan of Mortal Kombat and I had been sewing all my life for other people. I wanted to shoot something different than lingerie and bikinis and I wanted to finally sew something for myself. I had chosen Frost even if she wasn’t really a popular character because she had short white hair. And these pics happened. Released in February 2009, the Frost pics were so popular online that I had to search to understand why. And this is how I found out that dressing up as a character had a name, that it was called ‘cosplay’ and that it was apparently a worldwide phenomenon. Cosplay wasn’t very well known in the province of Quebec back in 2009. I thought to myself: ‘I have the figure of a character from an American comic book, a Japanese anime or a video game. I’ve studied in Fashion Design. I know how to sew. I should give cosplay a try.’ The rest is history.
Photographer: Gil Perron – P&P Image Factory
Latex leggings, gloves and waist corset made and lent by Polymorphe
Celebrating my 10-year career! Souvenir from 2008: the ‘Real Fries in a Fake World’ advertisement campaign for New York Fries. It was published in a lot of different magazines all accross Canada and the USA.
Did you know it’s been 10 years since I started as a glamour model?
Check out my 10-year Career Special Sale on my website store! Offering a selection of outfits I used for various events during the past 10 years!
www.store.mcbourbonnais.com
For those who are wondering how I was first brought to the public eye, here’s my little story. :) I had studied in fashion design, but I was working in an office, sewing and making costumes for hip hop dance schools and prom dresses as a side job. I already had my breast implants. (No, I didn’t get my implants because of my modeling work. This is something I made for myself. I had no idea at this moment that I would be a model one day. I was just always a fan of big breasts and never regretted my choice.) In October 2007, I entered a contest to be part of a calendar organized by a radio station in Quebec City. One of the radio hosts, Marto Napoli, chose me to be part of the calendar. We became friends and he featured me in his radio show. I was talking on the radio almost every week. My first fans were Marto’s listeners.
In 2008, Quebec City was celebrating its 400 years, so this calendar’s theme was about Quebec City’s 400 years celebrations. Each month of the calendar had a related theme and December was about a futuristic looking Quebec City, how it may look in 400 more years. They of course had chosen me for this theme. (Funny fact: the stylist’s clothes and wig choices were loosely inspired by Six from Tripping the Rift and I was traumatized because they had made my waist so tiny in Photoshop. But I had no idea what cosplay was at that time. I found out about cosplay only in 2009.) So here I am, holding the 2008 calendar, wearing a red top that I had sewn by myself. This is at this moment, in November 2007, that I thought that doing a photoshoot for a calendar had been funny and that with my figure, maybe I could become a glamour model! lol I was very naive and didn’t know anything about this industry. But this is how it started and how I started traveling to collaborate with photographers. The rest is history. :)
Le LvlOp resto-bar e-sports à Québec célèbre son 1er anniversaire samedi le 28 octobre! Si vous ne connaissez pas le LvlOp, vous manquez quelque chose! Bar au premier étage et jeux vidéos au deuxième! Je serai là dès 20h00 et histoire de faire concept, je serai en costume de Scorpion. ;)
Pour plus d’info: http://www.lvlop.com/
Good news! My friends from the province of Québec already saw me in the documentary by UBIQUE Film ‘Culture Cosplay’ on Canal D, a French Canadian TV channel. However, there is a version with English subtitles! It’s available for sale now on Vimeo! You’ll see me many times and you’ll see my workshop before it was remodeled! lol Enjoy!
Lavahanje / Blaer
Lavahanje is a really interesting artist touching ladies, gentlemen and monsters. Aimsee is a combination of at least 2 of the previous, so it has to be a good match. I’m seriously impressed with the quality of the work that was delivered to me and by how good Lavahanje instantly grasped the concept and pushed it even further. I like the signature look of her characters and I think it suits mine really well. It gives Aimsee this empowered look and also some mystery.
Go get some more there. In the meantime, I’ll find some more commission ideas for Lavahanje. :)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lavahanje
Tumblr: http://lavahanje.tumblr.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlaerNaomi/
Instagram: @blaer_naomi_art
Pour mes amis du Québec: ne manquez pas Culture Cosplay, un documentaire de Ubique Film sur le cosplay qui sera diffusé à Canal D ce jeudi, le 19 octobre à 22h00. Oui, j’apparais dans le documentaire avec d’autres cosplayers du Québec! Vous me suivrez en voyage et verrez mon ancien atelier… avant que je le rénove entièrement au début de cette année. Pour plus d’info sur l’émission, consultez le site de Canal D:
http://www.canald.com/emissions/docud-1.1197927?tab=episodes&episode=1508464800
En rediffusion:
Vendredi le 20 octobre à 14h00
Dimanche le 22 octobre à 19h00
Mardi le 24 octobre à 10h00
For my friends in the province of Quebec: yes, I’ll be on TV this week! Don’t miss Culture Cosplay, a documentary by Ubique Film about cosplay, on Canal D next Thursday October 19th, 10pm. Yes, I’m featured in the documentary with other cosplayers from the province of Quebec. You’ll follow me while I’m traveling for conventions and you’ll also see my old workshop, before I remodeled it at the beginning of this year. For more info about the show, check out Canal D website:
http://www.canald.com/emissions/docud-1.1197927?tab=episodes&episode=1508464800
Thusrday October 19th 10pm
Friday October 20th 2pm
Sunday October 22nd 7pm
Tuesday October 24th 10am
And for my international and non French speaking friends, there might be a version with English subtitles available online eventually… I’ll keep you informed!
Sorry if I took a little while to get back to my blog! The chibi Severina costume is one of the costumes I’m the most proud of, I did a lot of new things for this costume, got to practice new techniques and learned a lot. It’s important to me to complete this Making Of Blog and to share what I have learned with you. :) Last time, I was talking about my 3D printed dragon staff. Let’s move on and complete this part!
If you look at the picture, you’ll see that the dragon’s jaw is missing. The jaw piece is on the table. It was voluntarily 3D printed as a separated piece in order to be able to insert the red ball in the dragon’s mouth. Many of you asked if the ball would be glowing or would have transluscent LED lights inside. Unfortunately, for this project, I only 3D printed a sphere that I simply painted in red. (I’ve used clear resin for the sword that I made for Ninja Division’s miniature painting contest at Gen Con 2017. The sword was the trophy for the contest. Some very small parts of the sword were made with clear resin, but that’s the only experience I have with these products so far.) So the sphere would only be painted.
Then I realized that I would have some problems with the order of the assembling/painting steps. If I paint the red ball, place it in the dragon’s mouth, then add the jaw, how could I paint inside the dragon’s jaw, around the ball? But if I paint the dragon pieces first, then add the ball and jaw, I would have to use body filler to hide the junction of the jaw, so I’d have to retouch my gold paint. That second option wasn’t perfect either, but seemed to be the solution.
The ball was first glueded to a dowel so it could be painted all around. The spot where the dowel was gluded would be hidden inside the dragon’s mouth. I covered the painted ball with the same plastic sheets I used to paint Ninja Division’s robot, Lug, when I wanted to cover the yellow parts before painting the black parts. Then the dragon staff and jaw were painted separately using simple spray can paint (noting fancy this time.) I pierced a hole inside the dragon’s mouth, inserted the dowel with the red ball in it and glueded it there. I used that same technique, inseting dowels through the dragon’s jaw, to hold it in place. Last step was to retouch the jaw junction with body filler. Sanding, sanding, and I could add a final layer of gold paint. And finally I removed the plastic to reveal a pristine red ball. At that point, I was very close to my deadline, leaving for Gen Con the next day. I wish I would have had the time to do something fancier for the paint, like some dry brush/weathering techniques to make the staff look used and add some depth to it. But if I had applied those techniques to the staff, I would have had to do it on the other pieces of the costume too, the bra and little bones. I had no time left and no real experience with these painting techniques, so I let the dragon as it was. It will never be too late to upgrade the paint job.
Here’s a 360 view of the final dragon staff. The pics are not retouched, so you can see the remaining flaws, where I could have sanded more. If you look closely, you’ll see some remaining texture from the 3D printing. But deadlines are deadlines, so there’s a point where I needed to stop sanding and start painting.
Even if it wasn’t perfect, my dragon staff was very popular at Gen Con! :D I’m very happy that people enjoyed it that much! And I’ll present it again this weekend at Quebec City Comiccon! In the next part, I’ll talk about the other 3D printed pieces of the costume, bra, bones and other small accessories. You’re curious about the bra, right? ;)
13 jours avant ma fête! Oui, oui, ma fête est le 15 octobre, le weekend du Comiccon de Québec! Et je serai de retour au comiccon cette année! J’apporte une correction à ma dernière publication, par contre. Il n’y aura qu’une seule mascarade le samedi soir (mon erreur, désolée) que je co-animerai avec plaisir. Venez me voir à ma table en avant-midi ou tôt en début d’après-midi samedi parce que je devrai rapidement quitter et aller backstage pour rencontrer les participants. J’ai hâte de voir vos costumes! Le dimanche, je serai là toute la journée!
13 days before my birthday! Yes, my birthday is on October 15th, the weekend of Quebec Comiccon! Yes, I’ll be back this year! I want to make a correction to my previous post, though. There will be only one masquerade on Saturday night, as usual (sorry, my mistake) and I’ll gladly co-host it! Make sure to come to my booth before noon or early in the afternoon on Saturday because I’ll have to leave and go backstage to meet the contestants. Looking forward to seeing your costumes! Sunday, I’ll be there all day!
http://www.comicconquebec.com/fr/accueil/
Eh oui, je serai de retour au Comiccon de Québec cette année! :D Les 14 et 15 octobre au Centre des Congrès de Québec, c’est un rendez-vous! Petite différence avec les années précédentes, par contre. Cette année, le Comiccon de Québec présentera 2 mascarades, une le samedi soir et une le dimanche soir et je serai co-animatrice des 2 événements! Alors assurez-vous de venir me voir à ma table en avant-midi ou tôt en début d’après-midi parce que je devrai rapidement quitter et aller backstage pour rencontrer les participants. J’ai hâte de voir vos costumes!
Pour plus d’info sur le Comiccon de Québec, visitez leur site officiel:
http://www.comicconquebec.com/fr/accueil/
Yes, I’ll be back to Quebec City Comiccon this year! October 14-15 at Quebec City Convention Center, I’ll be there! There’s something different this year, though. For the 1st year, there will be 2 masquerades at Quebec City Comiccon, one on Saturday night and one on Sunday night and I’ll co-host both events. :) So make sure to come to my booth before noon or early in the afternoon because I’ll have to leave early and go backstage to meet the contestants. Looking forward to seeing your costumes!
For more info about Quebec City Comiccon, check out their website.
http://www.comicconquebec.com/en/home/
