I recently got asked "so why do you cosplay?" followed by "what do you actually do when you cosplay?" The answer to this is a personal thing in my eyes, simply as each cosplayer does it for different reasons. For me personally I like so many aspects of it from the creative side of creating the costumes, the social aspect of sharing a hobby with like minded people; to the simple fact I like to play dress ups. I consider myself relatively new to this realm as I am still learning about how to make and create these things, but so far so good. To be honest that is one thing I'm loving about it, you can get involved at any level. You don't have to be an amazing seamstress or model maker, if you want you can go and buy your costume as its all about the experience.
In answer "what do you actually do when you cosplay?" Well me personally; I run around with my friends having fun, take photos, watch the reactions we get when on the train going to the con, but mainly having a laugh is the main thing. However their are a whole bunch of things you can do while cosplaying from photo shoots, making skits, filming your ideas and as this blog goes on I will share a lot of the talent people who inspire me with their creativity.
Its this inspiration that opens the door to a whole new world for most of us. For example awhile back I watched a doco called 'Comic Con : Episode IV a fan's hope' by Morgan Spurlock and features some of geek idols like Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon. Not only is this a great doco about comic con it was one of the best ways I introduced a few of my mates to cosplay as the amazing Holly Conrad and her team were featured performing their amazing cosplay skit called Mass Effect 2 Suicide Mission. If you haven't heard of Holly she is an amazing designer who's work makes me dream of the day I can a) meet her and say thanks for the inspiration and b) tell her that her work makes me strive to be a better cosplayer.
At a lot of conventions there is thing called Masquerade (however this term varies from convention to convention), to put it in simple terms you dress up as your favorite character and perfrom for an audience either with a skit, or simply strut your stuff. Its a great chance to see others work, show off your own and general have a bit of fun. Here in Oz we have less opportunity to perform at massive conventions, but hey a girl can dream and as we geeks are going to inherit the earth its just a matter of time and passion. So for now I'll embrace the opportunities we have a plan to get to the USA.
To help you get a better understanding of this performance aspect I've put up a clip from the Comic Con masquerade event. This section of the con's is great to watch so if you get a chance to attend one please do and support the wonderful talented artists out there.
So here is a clip of Holly Conrad and her AMAZING TEAM at Comic Con
