by admin, November 21, 2016 , In Behind the Scenes , Cosplay , Documentary

Cosplayer: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Featured on Kotaku 22/11/16

“Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure ?), a contraction of the words costume play, is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character.” -Wikipedia

Cosplay has been reaching an almost fever pitch over recent years with cosplayers being featured in almost every kind of publication from Kotaku to Vogue. Celebrities have emerged from the scene with millions of followers on social media. Yet for it’s explosion in popularity as I write this even the very word “cosplayer” has been marked by my spellcheck with a red squiggly line to alert me that it does not recognize such a concept.

A cosplayer will typically only wear a costume at a convention for maybe 2-6 hours before changing back into street clothes or into another costume. In that time they will be asked for hundreds of photographs. Those photographs will be shared online to thousands of people. Those few hours will be the embodiment of how thousands of people recognize them. Yet for almost all cosplayers this is only a tiny fraction of what they do. For every hour spent cosplaying many more are spent crafting their costumes and yet those hours are widely overlooked.

For this project I wanted to photograph popular cosplayers in their most recognizable form to the general public and contrast that with how they actually spend the majority of time cosplaying.

Vicky Bunny Angel
Cosplay Workshop Project-8300VB-4341 smlr

Average time spend crafting a costume: Between 24 hours and 2 years.

How did you get started in Cosplay and what keeps you going?
I love being crafty and always had an interest in sewing so getting into cosplay wasn’t a far leap for me. I cosplayed to my very first Anime North and immediately fell in love with the strong sense of community and I think that’s largely what keeps me going – being a part of a community and making new friends through a joint love of cosplay.

What is a common misconceptions about cosplay?
That we’re all method actors and walk around being in character at cons haha. I think a minority do that and enjoy immersing themselves into a character but I don’t see that reflected in the cosplay hobby as a whole. We “get into character” for shoots, performances on stage, or at gatherings but when I’m going to the washroom or taking a lunch break I’m not pissing in character or ordering my food in character ya know?

Blackwater Cosplay (Kiga)
cosplayer-blackwater-cosplay
EDI-0570 sml tag

Average time spend crafting a costume: Between 100 and 200 hours.

How did you get started in Cosplay and what keeps you going?
To be honest, I can’t even remember why I got started in cosplay, only that my first serious attempt was Astrid from How To Train Your Dragon in 2011. I had dabbled in making my own clothes since I was a kid, and I guess that movie gave me the final push to start trying costumes! Right now, though, what keeps me going in cosplay is mainly technical. I love trying to get that perfect seam every time, and I have so little time to spend on my own work that I only choose characters that will give me a challenge.

What is a common misconceptions about cosplay?
The biggest misconception I see is that people think we roleplay as (or actually believe we are) the characters we cosplay. Sure, it can be fun to add some extra confidence to my walk when I’m dressed as EDI, but I hardly go around saluting strangers in my Captain America outfit. At the end of the day, most of us are just regular people trying to hang out with other people while showing off the hard work and craftsmanship we’re capable of.

Bre Poisonne
bre-cosplay-coin-2386-smlryuuko-cas-2618-smlr

Average time spend crafting a costume: Between 20 and 30 hours.

How did you get started in Cosplay and what keeps you going?
I started making cosplays at about fifteen years old — wow, that was ten years ago now! I grew up in a pretty small town, and actually didn’t have reliable access to non-dial-up internet until about fifteen years old, so I wasn’t really aware before then that Cosplay was a thing that large groups of people were interested in. Some friends of mine and I became really obsessed with Resident Evil 4, and we all decided to do the characters for Halloween that year. I think it was the next year that I did Silk Spectre and my first Harley Quinn, attended Fan Expo Toronto for the first time, and it’s just kind of snowballed from there.

In regards to what keeps me making cosplays now, it’s partially that I work in the performing and costume design industries, so I have a lot of excuses to make more costumes and easy access to a lot of the materials, and partially that I’m a massive perfectionist and honestly kind of a jerk. If I’m watching or playing something and I see a costume that I feel like I can make really accurately, maybe even the most accurately of the people who’ve tried it, I get almost this compulsion to do it. It almost doesn’t matter if other people also like it (although that’s a happy bonus of the social media age), I just really thrive on the feeling of looking at something I’ve made and going “yeah, that’s one of the best”.

What is a common misconceptions about cosplay?
One of the things that really cheeses me is when people assume that attractive cosplayers are the new Booth Babes, just there to be eye candy. I’m down with being a hot chick as much as the next person, but I definitely did not just slave over this costume for hundreds of hours over the last year for you to assume that I don’t know anything about the source material. It reminds me a lot of all of the fake nerd girl nonsense on the internet, the assumption that girls can’t like nerdy things and they’re just doing it for attention. I — and pretty much every other cosplayer I know — slaved over this costume because I’m a nerd, and I loved this piece enough to spend all of my spare time and energy making it, not just because we wanted random people at a convention to notice us.

GillyKins
Cosplay Workshop Project-7435Scarlet Witch 1920X1080

Average time spend crafting a costume: Between 30 and 200+ hours.

How did you get started in Cosplay and what keeps you going?
I started going to conventions with my friend Meaghan in High School. After attending a few conventions and seeing all the costume we decided we had to try our hand at cosplaying as well. Que 2005 and baby’s first cosplay, Saria from Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I did a lot of theater growing up so cosplay was like a match made in nerdy heaven. Cosplay quickly became a creative outlet for me letting me learn and apply a variety of skills. I’ve also made most of my close friends through cosplay and conventions. The creativity, friendship and my fandoms always keeps me coming back for more.
What is a common misconceptions about cosplay?
The most common misconception I run in to is that ‘the hot chick in costume must be getting paid to be here’. 99% of cosplayers attend conventions as regular fan’s, showing their passion for different characters by dressing up. It is very similar to going to a sporting event and wearing your home team’s jersey, it’s a visual signifier of your fandom. Some cosplayers are invited as guest to conventions or have the opportunity to work at booths, but money entering the picture doesn’t stop someone from being a nerd in costume.

Purrblind
Cosplay Workshop Project-8203Purrblind Yoko-2189 sml

Average time spend crafting a costume: Between 20 and 100 hours.

How did you get started in Cosplay and what keeps you going?
My best friend took me to my first cosplay meetup, and then about a month later to an actual convention (March Toronto Comicon 2013), i felt like i really wanted to be more involved and to meet more people into the same thing. It just kinda clicked. I find having constant sources of inspiration keeps me going, I try to draw inspiration from friends, family, the media I consume, and everything in between. My bedroom is filled with art and pictures to keep me inspired; and at the end of the day my main driving force is the deep passion I have for creation, and the head over heels love i have for dressing up.

What is a common misconceptions about cosplay?
I get a lot of people asking me if i use my costumes for more R-Rated activities… and they’re often disappointed when i say no. Some people are into that and that’s totally cool with me, but when I’ve slaved over a costume for weeks or months, the last thing I’m really thinking about is getting down and dirty it hahahah.

Mai Sheri Costumes 
Cosplay Workshop Project-8111Jennife Wynne Cersie-0064 sml

Average time spend crafting a costume: Between 50 and 100 hours.

How did you get started in Cosplay and what keeps you going?
I got started cosplaying after attending my first Anime North and I was determined to return the next year with a cool costume. I kept it up because I enjoy the creative outlet of crafting, and I keep coming across new sources which I want to try to recreate.

What is a common misconceptions about cosplay?
The misconception that I keep running into personally is that I must make money from cosplay, and the follow-up that since I don’t, I should be monetizing my hobby somehow.

All images copyright Paul Hillier Photography 2016