Category: Cosplayer Interviews

Experiences with being a cosplayer in Germany – Guest post by MikuMikuLeek

Kevin

In Germany, the number of cosplayers has increased in the last years.
There are many conventions and fan made events in all parts of the country!
For Germany is, compared to other countries, rather “small”, you can visit nearly every convention if you have enough money.
The biggest conventions are placed in Kassel (Connichi) and Bonn (Animagic).

I am yearly visiting the Connichi, for it is not too far away from my home town. This year, in September, it’s my 3rd time going to this convention!
Also, one of my other regular visited conventions is the Frankfurt book fair, which is not only an anime-related convention but also an ordinary book fair. Nevertheless, the number of cosplayers also has increased on this convention!

You can say that every weekend there are lots of fan made events, so you’ll never get bored here!
Naturally, I am not visiting one of those every weekend for I need time studying for school and sewing my cosplays!

I am also member of a showgroup which is planning to film Vocaloid PV’s. This group is rather new, but we have some ongoing projects like Len Kagamine’s “Spice!”.

My experiences with Cosplay are precious memories I never want to forget about!
Being a cosplayer, I belong to a huge community where I’ve made a lot of friends who I also meet in my free-time to do shootings or just hang out with!
I started to cosplay 3 years ago and it was rather per accident then consciously. In eBay, I was searching for Final Fantasy fan articles and found costumes of Yuna.
I got addicted by them and asked my parents to buy me one as my birthday present!
At this time, I didn’t knew much about wigs and stuff, but I still had lots of fun cosplaying as Lenne on my first convention!

Then, when Final Fantasy XIII was announced, I saw Oerba Dia Vanille and fell in love with this character!
I told myself I needed to cosplay her and begun to make the costume by myself! Because I had no experience in sewing, I bought a skirt and dyed it orange! Haha, the only things that I really made by myself were the bead chains, which was enough work for me already!

At the beginning , I was very shy and didn’t really know how to talk to people, but with the time I got more confident and had much more fun then I already had before!

I began to sew cosplays by myself and had my ups and downs with it!
The first cosplay I sewed all by myself was Rin Kagamine’s basic outfit! Through a Greek friend of mine, I got to know Vocaloid and couldn’t stop listening to the Kagamine twin’s music!
I was very proud when I finally finished this cosplay!

Rin Kagamine became a very important character to me and she is now the one that I mainly cosplay! I have to admit that because of her I dyed my hair blonde and cut it short.. Oh but now I’ve started to let my hair get long again.

My absolute dream cosplay… I don’t have a special one but I’d really love to do something elaborate! I’d love to work at a ball gown someday!

I’m really looking forward to my future cosplays and the time I will spend being with my friends talking about our beloved hobby! And remember! Cosplay is not a competition! It’s about having fun being someone else (:

Author Bio: MikuMikuLeek is a 17-year-old girl from Germany. She’s obsessed with Vocaloid and Cosplay. You can check her amazing cosplay works at her Deviantart account.

Cosplayer Interviews – Flytrap-Hell

Kevin

This is Flytrap-Hell, a Finnish girl who is an anthro artist. In her words, she joined in Deviantart to participate in contests, show her artwork to the world and then become a better artist, sounding really ambitious, XD. Having a wide interest on horror, art, anime, cosplay (lots of stunning performances have been shown), etc, Flytrap-Hell especially loves Nightmare Before Christmas and Moulin Rouge.

Today, Flytrap-Hell joined in our cosplay interview to share us her cosplay experience. Thanks, Flytrap-Hell, XD. Now, let’s take a look at the detailed interview content.

1.Please Introduce yourself first?
Hi there everyone! I’m Lisa, but around the internet I’m called Amira. I’m 18-year-old girl from Finland and you might already guess that I’m all grazy over crafts, sewing and cartoons.

2.What does cosplay mean to you?
For me cosplay means to be someone else for a moment and show your skills in crafts. A new cosplay is always a new challenge!

3.What was your first cosplay?
I’m embarassed to admit that it was Haruno Sakura from Naruto, made and cosplayed on 2006. It wasn’t that great costume (okay, it was bad! XD) but I had really much fun at the con I was wearing it.

4.Does your family supports your cosplay?
At first my mother saw it as a really embarassing thing, but she has always been my sponsor and given me tips and opinions how I should do some things.

5. What is your most memorable cosplay experience?
Hmm… This is a tricky one. What would be my most memorable cosplay experience…. I guess it’s from the last summer (2010), when we had our “human version” Team Chaotix group (from Sonic the Hedgehog). We were trying to stay in character around the con, but it was really hard for me since I was cosplaying Espio, a really serious ninja, while the others were making jokes and fooling around.

6. What are your 2011 cosplay plans?
Well on the 15th of June I’m going to travel to USA to my boyfriends place and we’re going to go to ConnectiCon together. And of course this kind of cosplay freak will cosplay! Me and my boyfriend chose pretty childish series and we will be characters from Pokemon and Digimon.

7.Do you make your costumes yourself or buy them ?
By myself of course! I think that’s half of the point of the cosplay and it’s also half of the fun! I usually find all kinds of useful items from flea markets, like shoes, which I can use in my costumes after a small modification.

8. Any other cosplayers you like?
A lot! From DA I could give some examples…
DaKyu. She’s a close friend of mine and I just adore the photoshoot pictures she gets from her cosplay. She also does really detailed cosplay!
Jamberrii. She and her boyfriend have marvellous Sonic the Hedgehog human cosplays.
Kaksoset89. These two girls do amazing bodypainting, but also great cosplays.

9. Do some changes happen to you after cosplay?
Well of course during these years I have cosplayed I have learned a lot more about sewing and crafts. But after individual cosplays I usually get a terrible urge to start many new cosplay projects, since I have met new people and seen awsome costumes in a con where I was wearing my cosplay.

10. Any advices you wanna share with cosplay newbies?
My advice would be that don’t worry if your first costume doesn’t look that great! The most important thing is to have fun! Also, don’t try to do too complicated costume as your first cosplay. Human versions from different characters are a great way to start, since you can pretty much desing the costume by yourself, but still stay faitful to the original creature.

Cosplayer Interviews-Felix

Kevin

Here, we have Felix from United State in our Cosplay Interviews. As an art student in college, Felix is working on becoming a teacher. In his gallery, you can find many wonderful artworks. Today we are going to talk about cosplay with Felix. Ok! Let’s share his cosplay experience together!

1.Please Introduce yourself first
Hi, my name is Felix.

2.What does cosplay mean to you?
Cosplay to me means being able to be someone else for a day.

3.What was your first cosplay?
My first cosplay ever is actually the one featured -The male
hero, Red, from the Pokemon Firered and Leafgreen games.

4.Does your family supports your cosplay?
My family actually made fun of me consistently for
cosplaying, heh. -But it was all in good fun, we all got to
joke around and laugh alot.

5. What is your most memorable cosplay experience?
My most memorable cosplay was when I went as Red. There
happened to be about twenty-five people cosplaying something
from the Pokemon series and everyone met up for a huge group
photo. The camera shots were going off for a good while.

6. What are your 2011 cosplay plans?
For the 2011 year I’d love to go as the male hero or N from
the Pokemon White and Black games, but as I’m not sure I’d be
able to afford another costume, convention ticket and hotel
room for a good while, I don’t think that will be happening any
time soon.

7.Do you make your costumes yourself or buy them ?
I made the costume myself for the most part. I took pre-made
things and modified them. For example, The backpack was a basic
solid black zip backpack. I added a top flap, primed it,
painted it yellow, painted the decals on, and added two
side-pockets made from plastic bottles.

8. Any other cosplayers you like?
I don’t know many other cosplayers, actually. But my friend
Laura does a good job whenever she cosplays.

9. Do some changes happen to you after cosplay?
Nope.

10. Any advices you wanna share with cosplay newbies?
My advice for cosplay newbies would be to take your time
and do a little each day. Don’t put it off till the last three
days and then have to rush it.

Cosplayer Interviews-Elffi

Kevin

Welcome to our cosplayer interviews. Here we are going to do an interview with a Finnish boy, named Elffi. He is also a clarinet player, 23 years old. Addicted to  handcraft from childhood, he enjoys making cosplay stuff and making new friends during cosplaying. Want more information about this amazing boy? Let’s share his story together!

1.Please Introduce yourself first?
Heya! I am Janne “Elffi” Rusanen from Finland and I’m 23 years old.
After my first trip to Japan (winter 2006-2007) I spent a year doing my service in the Finnish Defence Forces Conscript Band playing a clarinet. Currently I live in Vaasa and study Japanese language and culture at University of Stockholm.
I’m making cosplays as a hobby when I’v got some free time. My others hobbies are classical singing and footbag.

2.What does cosplay mean to you?
I’v always loved handcrafts since childhood. It’s a great hobby which teaches you a lot of new things. It’s also a great way to meet new wonderful people and make new friends. I especially enjoy making props.
It’s always wonderful to have a proper photoshoot and take hundreds of photos with a good background and poses. I also have to keep my body in a good shape, that’s why I love cosplay!

Elffi as Ichigo

3.What was your first cosplay?
My first cosplay was Kurosaki Ichigo in a shinigami costume. It was year 2006. I didn’t know anything about wigs so I just used my own hair. And I made the prop out of cardboard… It was way too small.

4.Does your family supports your cosplay?
I think they all like it a lot. It’s a bit rare hobby for a male, but they understand it. I’v also received some funding for my new costumes.

5. What is your most memorable cosplay experience?
Umm, maybe last winter when we won the WCS (World Cosplay Summit) preliminaries of Finland with my cosplay partner Shufu.

6. What are your 2011 cosplay plans?
I’m making 3 new costumes for the WCS Finals (Nagoya, Japan, in August)
Last weekend I made the first costume. Final Getsuga Tenshou Ichigo from Bleach.

7.Do you make your costumes yourself or buy them ?
I’m making everything by myself. It’s always fun to think new ways and methods on how to make something.

8. Any other cosplayers you like?
I dunno if anyone knows this one guy named farmer-bootoshysa on Deviantart. His costumes are absolutely amazing!
He might be the only one I adore.

9. Do some changes happen to you after cosplay?
Well, I always learn new things, that’s the best part I think.

10. Any advices you wanna share with cosplay newbies?
Please remember, that you can try and use any material in the world when making a cosplay.
Everything is accepted if it looks good! That’s a hard thing to remember sometimes.
Always think twice on what you are doing!

Cosplayer Interviews-Yunie

Kevin
Today I’m glad to have Yunie here. She is an experienced cosplayer who has cosplayed for ten years. Thanks Yunie for joining our cosplayers interview program. Ok, come and share her cosplay experience.

1. Please introduce yourself first!
My name’s Yunie, and I’m a cosplayer from Colorado. I’ve been cosplaying for ten years as of this September. I’m a history nerd, a gamer, and should probably stop collecting so many horror movies, heh! I own Cosplay Blog… with a Brain!, a cosplay blog, obviously. I also own my own cosplay site Engi no Shouzoku!, which I run with several friends of mine.

2. What does cosplay mean to you?
Cosplay is a basically costuming, which I enjoy for the creative aspects. My inner attention enjoys creating something that people want to get photos of. It’s been a way for me to make friends, express myself, and all around have fun!

3. What and when was your first cosplay?
My first cosplay was September of 2001 at Nan Desu Kan in Denver, Colorado. I made Mistress 9 from Sailor Moon with help from my mom. We sewed the top together and added the pearls, found a wig and the star, and purchased the skirt from Goodwill. 😀

4. Does your family support your cosplay?
To an extent, they support me. They like seeing what I create and that I’m having fun with it, but they view it as a waste of money. My dad also thinks that traveling is stupid and is almost paranoid about planes, but only when I’m flying on them.

5. What is your most memorable cosplay experience?
My most memorable by far was when I dressed as Sailor Moon from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon for Anime Oasis in Boise, Idaho. I had this adorable little girl come running up and she was just absolutely thrilled there was a Sailor Moon there because there was a lot of bad guys and we needed to defeat them. So, we went around the con defeating the bad guys until she had to leave with her parents. It was fun and something I won’t forget.

6. What are your 2011 cosplay plans?
On my list to wear this year are Phoenix from X-Men, Princess Serenity from Sailor Moon, Dark Sakura from Fate/Stay Night, Rinoa from Final Fantasy VIII, Rydia from Final Fantasy IV, and Armitage from Armitage III. Currently, I’m not planning on making anything new due to money restrictions, but that could change.

7. Do you make costumes yourself or buy them?
I usually make costumes myself, but I have bought a few here and there. I always make it clear which ones are bought and never compete in them.

8. Any other cosplayers you like?
There’re tons of other cosplayers I like and many I admire for their work. One I tend to work with the most is Etaru, who is basically like my sister from another mother. <3 I also have the other cosplayers from my website and they’re all like a second family. There’s also Seiya Kou and Yaten Kou, both also in Colorado with me, and I adore them as well.

9. Do some changes happen to you after cosplay?
Kind of? I become more confident when I’m in costume and remain so for awhile afterwards. I have rather low self esteem, so when I cosplay, it gives me a boost. I also get depressed after con for a day or two, because I miss everyone I got to meet and hang out with, but it always passes. I also don’t want to sew for a month or two, heh!

10. Any advice you wanna share with cosplay newbies?
If you’re getting into cosplay, always start out on something easy and work your way up. The more comfortable you get in creating the simpler things, the easier it gets to make more difficult projects. And always wear make-up if you’re planning on being photographed, male or female. You will always look better, even if it’s just some light foundation.