The Crystal Anvil is looking to create a single online home for lovers of Cosplay, Alex Yarde reports
Cosplay is an incredibly popular pastime for lovers of visual media to recreate their favorite characters’ most audacious looks and costumes. Those who do so like nothing better than to tour conventions, communicate with like-minded individuals and share tips and tricks. There are even several professional cosplayers whose skill in creating costumes has made them an attraction in their own right at popular sci fi and comic book conventions.
The Crystal Anvil is a team of cosplaying experts, some of whom possess over 20 years’ experience at the top of their craft. They are looking to raise funds through an IndieGoGo campaign to help people gain free expertise and improve their costuming skills through a revolutionary new online presence. The Crystal Anvil is all about building a learning, teaching community around a colossal library of resources on all things related to Cosplay, Larp, Leather Crafting, Costumes and Props, gaming, guides and tutorials. At the same time, the project will become a place where any player or indie crafter can get their chance to reach an audience of new followers.
THE CRYSTAL ANVIL: The Ultimate online Cosplay Costume resource, will feature thousands of patterns for costumes, armours and props with new releases every day, thousands of exclusive pieces of concept art and fan art to inspire enthusiasts, featured cosplayers and a wall of fame for the best classic and new cosplays.
The learning and development resources will include live streaming classes and demos, how-to guides on working with different materials and techniques, and a marketplace for individuals to buy and sell their work, as well as bulk buy materials to save on costs. The site will even include a social networking platform in which fans and followers can be accrued by cosplayers to increase their networking reach as never before, together with regular competitions and votes.
A spokesperson for The Crystal Anvil explains: “This is a hugely exciting venture for us. As experts and professionals in the world of cosplay we are excited to have put together a team with the kind of knowledge necessary to pull off such an ambition project as this, but we can’t do it without the help of those who will become end users- the keen cosplayers, avid fans and young up and comers who have a thirst for knowledge but don’t yet know where to find it. With their help, we can provide the answers.”
Be it patterns, galleries, walk throughs, teaching videos, photographic step by step guides and best of all a huge channel list of live classrooms and demos, where the players and the experts can congregate to get the kind of support you’ve never seen, and better still, all under one roof.
The Aim of the Portal:
~Save you the hours of searching for help, trawling YouTube and the sifting of lost replies on Facebook, by bringing all the answers to a single well organized portal.
~Support and help promote Cosplayers, Larper, and Costumier who wants or needs a platform for them to show off their hard work. To help grow the players following and support the next generation of Cosplay stars.
~Showcase all your photos and art in a gallery that won’t get forgotten.
~Represent your favorite game, The Crystal Anvil is already working with a long list of game developers who are crying out to have the “real” fans of their titles strut their stuff at events, so they have already created a gallery of players interested in getting some of these exclusive opportunities.
~Create clear teaching guides for you to follow and they’ve started making contact with a large number of players and creators out there who share a dream of making things, not only much easier to find, but easier to understand, whatever level of crafter you are, or budget you have to spend.
Sounds good? Well, what are you waiting for? Support The Crystal Anvil Indegogo Campaign here or log on to thecrystalanvil.com
All Art~The Crystal Anvil