Lately, I've been getting a lot of great attention for the minimalist art I have been doing, but recently, I've started trying something different.

I wanted to keep with the minimalist look, but perhaps take a few more risks when it came to design.

I had a few ideas in regards to puns and word play.  The phrase, "Release the Kraken" of course refers back to the movie, "Clash of Titans", which were the words were spoken in order to release the giant sea monster by the same name. So, I wanted to put on a spin on it, and instead played on the notion of "cracking" open a lobster or crab before one would eat it. Staying consistent with a minimalist style, I came up with two different designs. It made me chuckle and I thought that eventually, I could see it a seafood restaurant, maybe on a bib?  This was kind of the direction I was going with my brain.

Soon after, it also became clear to me that maybe certain characters in sci fi or comic book movies and television shows had fake products either during or after their careers.  For example, Commander William Riker from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was a trombone player.  I thought it would be hilarious to imagine Riker opening up his own music academy after serving his time in Starfleet.

In the past few months, I have found myself leaning more towards mash-up cosplays (ie taking two things from different areas of pop culture and putting them together) mostly because while there are probably a dozen characters I would want to cosplay as, I personally find more of a creative satisfaction in bringing in two ideas that wouldn't normally go together, but would be kind of interesting to see nonetheless. Case in point:

Thorio and Luiki (Thor/Mario and Luigi/Loki)

Rockabilly Green Lantern

After the success of Thorio and Luiki, I decided I wanted to continue on this mash-up cosplay road. I've done straight up interpretations of characters, but lately I've felt that doing a combination of two things provided a chance to be really creative, along with providing a set of fun challenges.

A while back, I bought a Boba Fett helmet and while I wanted to maybe dress up as the iconic bounty hunter, I decided to try something different. After brainstorming and  bit of inspiration, I decided to go with Disco Fett. I had seen other interpretations before, but I wanted to make something different.

After some spray painting and the placing of several hundred plastic mirror tiles (eventually trying to place them on a round surface became a challenge on its own),  plus the building of a moving disco ball for the antenna, which was built using a spinning lollipop, the idea became a reality. It was a lot of work and I owe a great deal to my fiance' for her work on said antenna, and after a lot of trial and error, it soon came together.

Funny enough, I had a suit and other pieces ready to go, so the helmet was actually the last thing to become part of the final look.  Yes, I even had the platform shoes beforehand.