WonderCon
2014:
Cinema Make-Up School
 Of course when you come to a Con, cosplay is a big draw, whether as a participant or admiring observer. The Anaheim Convention Center has a nice fountain out front which works as a popular meeting place for groups of costumed conventioneers. Any time of day you could step outside and see people posing on its tiers.
Inside, of course, your favorite characters strolled the halls, stepping out of all kinds of media. (The Fanboy Planet reporters and associates -- Nate Costa, Mike Flores, Mish'al Samman, Steph Rodriguez and myself -- compared notes and saw a marked downturn in zombies at this convention, though The Walking Dead seems to have lost none of its marketing power.)
 Smack dab in the center of the Con was a booth where you could see cosplay dreams being born.
The Cinema Make-up School wasn't the only organization doing demos on the floor, but they certainly had the largest footprint and the most specifically eye-catching set-up. They also have a secret weapon -- one of the world's most popular cosplayers, Yaya Han.
At various times throughout the day, the Cinema Make-up School had recent graduates working on models such as Yaya, demonstrating the skills they had learned and, for those with the patience to watch the process, see what it takes to make someone look like the Joker with his face ripped off and tacked back on. (Yeah, that's a thing. Thanks, Scott Snyder.)
Not just anyone could sit in the chairs, of course. Nate Cohn, Brand Manager for the school, explained that all the subjects were models hired by the school. (That's possibly for liability reasons -- the models have been vetted for allergic reactions to the make-up.)
When I stopped by, Cohn explained they were just breaking in a new guy to play the aforementioned faceless Joker.
But if people know what they need, they're willing to lend a hand. Cohn mentioned a cosplayer with a booth of his own who had all the prosthetics, but needed some help applying them for his costume as The Hound from Game of Thrones. So they arranged for him to stop by the booth before the convention opened on Saturday morning, to make sure his look was complete and professional.
Of course they'll be at Comic-Con, and if you're interested in exploring the school itself, information can be found here.
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Guessing this is a Harley to go along with that poor Joker...
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Now THAT'S a close shave.
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Yaya Han plots a Secret Invasion...
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Yaya makes a pretty good Ororo...
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