Pat Kelly is our 4th placing winner of our New York Anime Festival cosplay contest. What is so interesting about Pat is his costume production. The making of his mask was a real family affair. His daughter Susie, who is only 15 years old, concepted and created it from beginning to end. Susie also introduced the manga Death Note to her father when she thought he would be wonderful at cosplaying, the apple eating Shinigami of the series, Ryuk. When we interviewed Pat it was only common sense that Susie also be apart of it. Here is great proof that cosplay is not only for younglings, but can be enjoyed on a family level with parents and children for a awesome creative bonding experience.

Q: What are some of your favorite anime/manga characters?
A: Ryuk and L from Death Note

Q: Do you consider yourself a hardcore cosplayer?
A: No, but if I’m not careful, I will be

Q: Are you competitive when it comes to cosplay?
A: No

Q: What first inspired you to cosplay?
A: My daughter Susie, and how Ryuk looked

Q: Can you tell us a bit on your winning costume… what was your costume for that day?
A: Ryuk from Death Note, and boy- was it hot, also difficult to see…Especially those random-without-a-warning-glomps…

Q: Did you make it yourself?
A: No, my daughter Susie made it, I was the “Model”

Q: What type of planning goes into your Costume?
A: Most of the planning was for the face.

Q: What skills does a cosplayer need?
A: A love for the character they wish to be! (Answered by Susie.)

Q: Are their any essentials a cosplayer must do in order to have a great costume?
A: Patience, be it slowly putting their costume together, piece by piece, or just waiting for it to arrive in the mail! And to have fun with it! (Answered by Susie.)

Q: What are some of the other costumes you have worn?
A: Starfleet Science Officer from the original Star Trek

Q: What are the best things about being involved in Cosplay?
A: Making my own kids- and all those other Death Note fans happy! All the excitement my costume causes! It’s always great to hear a shocked person go, “Whoa! Look at that guy!!” or “Dude! That Ryuk is amazing!”

Q: When you wear your costume are you  “in Character”?
A: I try the best I can to be.

Q: Are you looking forward to Cosplay at NY Comic Con? Who will you be?
A: I am, and I will be going as Ryuk.

!!!Notes from the costumes designer Susie!!!

Hi, I am the daughter of Ryuk.  When I first got into Death Note, I saw Ryuk and thought, “Wow, how cool would it be for dad to cosplay him- He seems tall enough!” Then, I showed him a picture and gave him the manga to read. After a few lessons on which direction to read it in, he started to like it. His favorite character being Ryuk. He finally gave the ‘Okay’ and I got to work on his costume! The shirt and pants were the easiest, and we collected little rings and bracelets one at a time. The boots and actually his work boots, polished. I got some long black gloves and hot glued black nails to the ends. My main concern was the face.

I didn’t want him to paint his face, so the other option was a mask. So I got one of those cheap plastic masks they sell at craft stores for a few dollars and some clay. I put the clay on the plastic mask and created the “base” of Ryuk’sface. After that I put Plaster of Paris on it, to build it up more. When it dried, we had to shape the mouth and eyes to the right shape. Then we pulled out the plastic mask and clay out so it just left Ryuk’s face. After that, I cut a ping-pong ball in half and cut eye holes. I also had to cut nostrils so he could breathe…even if he can’t breathe that much anyway… And then painted!

We cut off the bill of a base ball cap and glued the mask to it, so that it would stay on his head. We also glued a black wig to the hat so it would stay in place. Then cut some pieces from another wig and glued them to the front of the mask to form the “point” of Ryuk’s hair. Everything was coming out well! We had to get Clip-on-earrings to attach to the earring we had for him–But we forgot to get them. Our plan? Hot Glue. That’s right. We had to hot glue the earring to his ear, that wasn’t too fun…but it was funny when it fell off two seconds after we put it on, and we had to glue it on again!

Here are a a few pictures of the process..