Does this title sound cheesy? Yes, yes it does. But after reading my close friend Symphony and Silk Cosplay's Blog Post from today I couldn't help but what to share my own story on how I began Cosplaying. My origin story is covered very briefly in a few interviews with the Seeker in Cornwall but I figured I would go into a bit more depth about it. I first learned about cosplay in 2009 in the same way that most people discovered it at the time, through DeviantART. I wasn't necessarily looking for cosplay but instead Legend of Zelda content, and I stumbled across a picture of Li Kovacs, (who's alias was still Pikminlink at the time) dressed as Link from Twilight Princess. Upon looking at her profile I discovered she made multiple Legend of Zelda (and other) costumes and styled herself to look just like these wonderful characters. I started to look up "cosplay" and "Legend of Zelda cosplay" and was hooked. I wanted to go to a convention and cosplay Zelda characters with my friends so badly. I was on DeviantART, Cosplay.com and Youtube constantly looking for Cosplay content. And to no one's surprise, I also tend to cosplay a lot of Zelda characters as well! Staying true to my roots! My friends and I quickly discovered Otakuthon in Montreal and upon doing research realized that it would be completely possible for us to all go together. Then it was a matter of figuring out who we were going to cosplay. I went to my mom with my ideas and we attempted to make Princess Zelda from Twilight Princess. My mom did most of the work on the dress, but her and I did the craft foam armor and details together. In the end I wasn't very pleased with the result, especially since I couldn't get my hair to cooperate, so I switched characters realizing I should start with a less detailed costume as my first. So we found some fabric and a wig and together we made my Saria cosplay. It definitely wasn't perfect but I was so content with it, and my friends figured out everything for their cosplays, so off we went to our first convention, Otakuthon 2010 (with a parent in tow because we were all 12 and/or 13 years old). My first cosplay ever, Saria. I later completely remade this costume in 2016. Thank gosh because that party wig was not very good quality at all. From 2010 to about 2013 my friends, handful of cousins, and I would pick a new character to cosplay for Otakuthon, and sometimes G-Anime, every year. We were so in awe of the event and the cosplayers that we wanted to keep doing it. At G-Anime 2011 my cousin suggested we go watch the Masquerade and I had no idea what they meant but they said it would be fun so I went along. What I discovered was something I would want to do for years before actually taking part. I laughed so much at the skits, was in awe of so many costumes and I found myself wanting to be good enough at making costumes on my own to show off my work on stage. This was some of the motivation that pushed me to eventually compete for myself, even though I had NO IDEA it was even a competition until a while later. In 2013 I finally decided I would start to take cosplaying a bit more seriously than I had been before (when my mom was making 1 costume per year for me with some of my help) and started to regularly make my own costumes with only some help from my mom compared to before when she made nearly everything. I was about 16 when I made this choice and am I ever glad I did. I was regularly working on several costumes per year, always a new one on the go, and I was really enjoying it. So much so that I thought it was about time to enter a masquerade like I had always dreamed of. Photo from my first Masquerade at Ottawa Comic Con 2014 - by Pose4Effect Photography Ottawa Comic Con was still decently new at the time so I decided I would enter the masquerade with my 3AM Jade Harley cosplay at the 2014 edition, which was just before my 17th birthday. Looking back on it, it wasn't a very good costume compared to my current work. There was no structure or fitting done to it at all, but I was so happy with the final look and so proud of all the hand sequencing I had done on the costume. I didn't end up placing anything but considering my anxiety levels at the time, and how badly I had wanted to try a masquerade, it was an absolute win in my books. I started to enter them regularly, loving meeting new people and learning new things from them. I credit Masquerades as part of the reason I improved in quality of craftsmanship while I was in high school, as the improvements were quite fast when I look back on it. Masquerades pushed me to do my best and learn more and more. It took me several masquerades, several cons, before I won anything solid, but just before my 19th birthday I won my final Artisan Award that placed me in the Master Division, at the same convention I started competing at masquerades at. And just before my 20th I reached Master Internationally at Anime North. During my third Masquerade, Ottawa Pop Expo 2014 I got one of Yaya Han and Johnny Junkers Judge's picks! The first time I had gotten anything during a masquerade Masquerades are also the reason I got so interested in the construction of garments and sewing in general. Before cosplay was just "make it so it's recognizable, it doesn't need to be good or technical" and suddenly I wanted to make everything technically accurate, fit things properly, structure them, and just learn as much as I could about sewing and creating. Cosplay is the reason I ended up studying Fashion Design at Fanshawe College, which I graduated from in 2018, and I am currently completing my Post Graduate in Technical Costume Production as well. Upon entering college in 2015 I realized I had a lot to learn, and my knowledge in sewing and garment design sky rocketed due to the classes I was taking, and for the most part I was enjoying them. I genuinely enjoy sewing and pattern drafting and most other skills involved i garment construction from scratch The skills I picked up also transferred into my cosplay skills, naturally, and is also part of the reason my costume quality improved so quickly. Looking at costumes I made before college to now there is a such a major difference in quality, and also a difference in how much I enjoy making costumes. I absolutely love it! I also love looking back on the past few years of my schooling since the difference in costume quality is so obvious. It makes me feel very confident in my abilities and it makes me look forward to what is next on my cosplay journey. Hall shots of some of my costumes per year in order: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2018 If you would have told me when I was 13 years old that I would be making several costumes per year, entering masquerades (and sometimes even placing!!) and having an amazing group of cosplayers to call friends, I probably wouldn't have believed you. I never thought I would be here, and I had a pretty vivid imagination and was an a massive day dreamer. The short long of it is, we all start somewhere. We were all that geeky kid who wanted to try cosplaying at some point whether it was in your teens or twenties. Keep practicing, keep learning, and keep on dreaming and motivating yourself and who knows what awesome places you will end up in.
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Annie's Costume
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