Author: Courtney Coulson

Artist, costumer, podcaster.

Cosplay Couture Lone Ranger and Tonto

From the archives, October 2013, the following descriptions were taken from the three individual posts respectively, but are now collected as one. I still love these photos a lot, this was our most controversial shoot, but that was the point, exploring commodification and appropriation within the worlds of Hollywood and fashion, it should make you feel something. I guess these photos only gathered more controversy given the current state of Armie Hammer and Johnny Depps’ lives in the decade since this film was made:

A Cosplay Couture interpretation of the Lone Ranger

Costume (mask) and styling by Courtney Coulson

Photography by Luke Milton in collaboration with Sabatomic Photography

A life-long love of Westerns meant I was excited to see the Lone Ranger return to the big screen, was it a good movie? Not really, at least not in the conventional sense, but I had fun and it got me excited to explore this new John Reid and Tonto in a fashion context.

Westerns also influence the way I dress, so everything, apart from the hat and the holster, came from my own wardrobe. My hair isn’t too disimilar in terms of cut to John’s, so that was easy, make-up is a heavy smokey eye with everything else minimal, lots of bronzes and gold as they seem to work best in this environment.

-Courtney Coulson

I haven’t seen the film, but I couldn’t resist the chance to shoot a cowboy in a desert and I think Courtney sells the masculinity very well with her body language. (Although I love the contrast of her eyes which are still quite feminine through the mask. Love the makeup on those!). These were shot early afternoon and have a far brighter, overexposed feel than the Tonto shots which are more ethereal. This was more about a desert that was hot and bleak, although I do like how some of them have that fake campiness of an old western film.

– Luke Milton

LONE RANGER AND TONTO

I am certainly no model, and definitely do not have the heroic, manly shape of Armie Hammer. But, just as this Adventure Weekend, cemented our team and the commitment to our work together, it felt very important to me to somehow be a part of it and have that indelible image to remind me of this time. It was a real thrill to be photographed alongside someone that I have photographed so much before. There’s nothing couture about what I’m doing, but try to think of me as the stunning Tonto’s awkward accessory.

I love what Sabatomic has done with these, and the use of the flash gives such a surreal, fake feel to the images, like we’re standing on a set, or against a matte painting. Huge thanks to Sab for her generosity with her time, knowledge and talent, and to Courtney for being patient and helping me pose.


– Luke Milton

A Cosplay Couture interpretation of the Tonto from the Lone Ranger

Costume (pants, wrap belt,beaded choker and crow) and styling by Courtney Coulson

Photography by Luke Milton in collaboration with Sabatomic Photography

Shot at the Pinnacles in Cervantes

A life-long love of Westerns meant I was excited to see the Lone Ranger return to the big screen, was it a good movie? Not really, at least not in the conventional sense, but I had fun and it got me excited to explore this new John Reid and Tonto in a fashion context.

Despite the controversy surrounding the film’s costume, I think it is a really impressive design and I had the most fun reinterpreting it into fashion and wearing it.

The crow head dress was inspired by the millinery of Philip Treacy, it was made from a pair of costume angel wings and a real magpie skull. The pants are brown panama with black vinyl fringing. The necklace was the most challenging part, it took four attempts to get it right, it’s made of suade leather, plastic retic tubes, glass and wooden beads. The wrap belt was also made of suade, I had fun creating that pleated shape. Everything else came from my wardrobe.

Make-up is pretty much the same as Tonto’s although I was less literal with the cracks as you can see all the drawn on “cracks” around the neck and temples. I also added lipstick to give a more feminine touch.

Tonto was the usual cookey Johnny Depp character, but at the same time he could have a seriousness or intensity about him, I decided I would personify that side of him the most.

-Courtney Coulson

I think that cosplay, by nature, is appropriation. And the internet is a wonderful hive mind that excels in getting offended for everybody else. I haven’t seen the film and I have no interest in the off-the-rack Halloween costumes that have everybody riled up. I think context and intent are incredibly important, and our intent was to make something beautiful and surreal in an environment that matched that challenge.

I love Courtney’s stunning interpretation of this much maligned character and I’m incredibly proud of what we shot.

– Luke Milton

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Metal Gear Solid 3: Naked Snake

Normal people take walks and admire the scenery, I find a cool location, go home and come back in costume for a photoshoot. This was about a ten minute walk from my house, I shot this on my phone on a tripod using natural lighting. I couldn’t have asked for a more ideal location, a hidden pit beneath a canopy of trees, right there next to the sidewalk

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Cosplay Couture Tintin

From the archives, October 2013

A Cosplay Couture interpretation of Tintin

Costume (pants) by Courtney Coulson
Photography by Luke Milton in collaboration with Sabatomic Photography

Shot in Atlantis, the abandoned theme park


Tintin has such a simple yet iconic look with a very distinct colour palette, which made him a perfect candidate for a couture treatment. The sweater was a lucky find on ebay, everything else came from my wardrobe already, including the breeches which were originally from my Road to El Dorado Miguel costume.
Hair was tricky to get to stay in place as it was a windy day, fortunatley it’s behaving in these shots.
Make-up is light and all pinks to give a more young, cute kind of look, just like Tintin!

-Courtney Coulson

The most hostile environment, where we battled overgrown paths and giant spiders, but what is Tintin without adventure? I was drawn to the odd statues although they are more comical than old-worldly and it was tricky to take out the clues that many of them are near visible shops and car parks. The real treasure was the rocky landscape that we found in the heart of the theme park which looked far more exotic than the rest of it. I think that much of what we shot would look beautiful in black and white but when you lose the iconic colours of Tintin’s costume you risk losing the sense of the character.


-Luke Milton

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A Physical Manifestation of Regret

I don’t know why I’ve been hesitant to share this one, all my art has been equally angsty lately, but I’m trying to be more abstract. Domas quickly became my favourite character in Ranking of Kings, his grief and regret physically manifest in attacking and permanently disfiguring himself. Spoiler: everyone gets a redemption in this story, but I think Domas’s arc is wrapped up too simply. I’m left thinking about the complexities of this character.

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The Hallucination

I survived the colonoscopy, they didn’t need to perform surgery beyond the biopsies, I won’t know what’s wrong with me for a couple of weeks still.
Waking up from the anaesthesia was horrific, I was drifting in between dreams and reality, both seeming to be equally real. The hospital was on fire, I called out to Snake, he stood there doing nothing. Then in reality, I kept trying to turn over on my stomach and crawl away. The doctors were yelling at me to open my eyes, I couldn’t figure out why they were getting angry at me. I didn’t understand why one of them kept poking me so hard in the ribs, I would have punched her back, but I wasn’t lucid enough. I thrashed and writhed around, the doctors all had to hold me down and sedate me, I then starting hallucinating that certain rape scene from Berserk. I woke up later in another room, still struggling to regain consciousness.
They later asked me if if I was afraid of snakes. “Why?” I asked. “You kept saying there were snakes”. I laugh, “Oh, Snake, that’s the codename of this character in this game I like”. Thankfully one of the nurses was a gamer, so he got it.
It could just be that I had a bad reaction to anaesthesia, or maybe I’ve retrained my brain having had to lucid dream so often to combat the nightmares. Big Boss is one of those “tulpas” I call on to intervene.

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Metal Gear’s Raiden in the style of H.R. Giger

This started as an experiment with AI, I gave this suggestion to a number of art generators (did you know even DeviantART has one now? It’s terrible). Then I did my own interpretation of the prompt, what I quickly realised was that not only was I able to make sensible observations (this is how Giger draws hair, this is how Giger draws hands, etc) but it came from a personal place. I wasn’t just mimicking an art style, my own experiences and emotions and traumas were bleeding onto the page.
Also happy ten year anniversary Revengeance, hope this is a fitting tribute.

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Cosplay Couture Nathan Drake

From the archives, October 2013

A Cosplay Couture interpretation of Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series of games.

Costume and styling by Courtney Coulson
Holster by Jack Barbour
Photography by Luke Milton in collaboration with Sabatomic Photography
Shot in the sand dunes of Lancelin and a rest stop along Indian Ocean Drive

The Uncharted series is my favourite series of games of all time and Drake’s had an influence over my wardrobe ever since. I was wearing daily cosplay couture before it was even a thing.
Drake’s look breaks down to a few essentials, a half tucked henley shirt into some cargo pants, the Sic Parvis Magna ring and the horseshoe belt buckle. Beyond that I had a fair amount of freedom.
I love his shemag (scarf) that he wore in the third game, so that was a must, the aviator shades were more of a neccessity as it gets damn bright out there on that white sand in the middle of the day, I don’t know how Drake does it, oh that’s right, the badass squint! I gave it a go, think he does it better.

Hair was challenging as Nate wears it very short and neat and overall I wanted the styling in this shoot to look casual, not overly done up or intentional. I went for slicked down at the sides and left the top messy, the wind took care of the messy part! Make-up is lots of bronze and gold.

In terms of physicality I had a lot of freedom there too, Drake can be serious or he can be cocky and playful. He’s got a pretty relaxed posture, but very shoulder oriented.
-Courtney Coulson

Two main challenges shooting in the dunes. First is keeping that sense of space and expanse while maintaining a focus on the model – it needs to be about Drake, not the environment, although they have to compliment each other. And secondly the mass of sand and insects that were twirling into the camera. This created a fleet of black spots on all of the images leading to an extensive “Attack of the Clonestamp” scenario. Very happy with the exposure here though, and the lighting owes a lot to Sabatomic’s deft placement of the handheld flash.

The second location was a discovery while stopping to shoot the Eleventh Doctor. It led to a quick change and a stint under a bridge (while trucks roared overhead). Terrifying.

– Luke Milton

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