What I love about AKIKO

We've heard something like "You look so happy in your photos" or "You can tell that you love your work" quite a few times now and I have to agree! I do love my work and I am really happy with how our project is coming along, it is great to see the process we've already made as a team.

But it is a bit deeper than only that. The core team found themselves a couple years ago with vague ideas and motivations, sketching out plans for future projects, talking about their hopes, dreams and fears for their future. Finding a common ground was fairly easy, we saw the current cosplay community and their development with similar eyes; there was a strong desire to be creative and create something big. Something that the world has yet to see in this specific form and extent, something beautiful and something that would strenghten and bond the community to make this all a happier place.

Big words, I know, I know. Especially when we look back at our beginning. Sitting in our little room, slapping on some makeup and a random cosplay we found somewhere, taking pictures with an old iPhone and calling it a day. Well, at least that was what the outside could see. Behind the scenes we tirelessly worked on our original charakters and their story, our goals as a brand and designing our first pieces on paper. We went through a lot of trial and error, trying to find out which cuts were even realisticly achievable and which ones were straight up impossible. One of the pieces that gave us quite a few sleepless nights was the Gris Swimsuit designed by Vertigris; not only was it completely strapless but also involved 0,1mm sheet latex (if you've ever worked with such thin sheets you understand our pain back then -~-) but the results were more than worth it!

We had to work on our skillsets while still being occupied by our old jobs, regular workdays were followed by workshops, trainings and tests mixed with a whole lot of research (read: I curse the German bureaucracy, how is anyone supposed to understand any of that stuff?!?).

Somewhere inbetween old boxes we found a camera and an old backdrop, which was a huge gamechanger already. After that I upgraded my makeup box to fit the newly learned techniques and the better resolution (well, better solution means that you can't hide an ill-fitting foundation anymore...) and build something like a "pose archive" to practise with.

At some point we realized one important thing that would change a lot: We needed funds. We needed help. And we wanted to share our experiences outside of the nice and retouched photos and videos we posted online. Thus, this Patreon page was created. Not only to get the much needed financial boost but also to give the people who were interested in our work a glimpse of what was happening behind the scenes. You all made so much even possible, and we are beyond thankful for that.

With your help we could not only afford a second backdrop, new cosplays and materials, the full version of the editing program we use, better lights for our studio and the microphones we currently use for our YouTube videos but also the most crucial thing of them all: time.

With your support we could take our time to fully concentrate on creating content and setting up our project, making our dreams come true.

We used the time you gifted us to not only produce more content but also prototypes for our soon to happen launch, preparing upcoming original designs that will be realized and available in the near future and getting all required legalities sorted out (it's not all fun and games after all).

But back to the original topic: What I love about AKIKO.

To keep it short: AKIKO is more than a simple job for me. It's a way to make a living with what I enjoy doing the most. It's a chance to show the people out there what I am capable of creating. It's about all the priceless acquaintanceships and even friendships that only happened because of this wonderful project. It's about showing the world our way of bringing a smile to the crowd and sharing our happiness with the people.

Thank you for supporting my and the rest of the team's dream and our work!

Thank you for showing us so much support and giving us an extra boost of motivation!

Thank you for being a part of our journey to make the world shine!