Elina Writes About Cosplay

Videoblogi siirtyi uudelle kanavalle! 

I hate embroidery. Let's start with that, and use it as an example to make a point. You'll (hopefully) get what I'm trying to say in a minute.

So, I hate embroidery. I've always been really bad at it, I could never figure out how to make it look nice and clean, and I simply don't have the patience to sit still for ninety billion hours, stitching fabric just because the results may look nice, sometime in the next decade, when the project is finally finished.

I hated embroidery when I was 12 and had to do it at school. I hated it when I was 20 and decided I had to do it for a costume. I hated it when I was 27, and hadn't learned my lesson, and decided I had to do it for a costume, again. I especially hate it now that I'm actually physically incapable of doing it, because my joints can't take that much hand-stitching for extended periods of time. Take that, embroidery! I never wanted you anyway!

But. We all know that all cool cosplayers embroider. You post a picture of your gold-work embroidery on a frame and you're a god. You tell someone you're going to completely hand-embroider the hem of your gown and you're a craftsmanship genious.

And so, if you are someone who hasn't embroidered anything, ever, and you see all these god-like people spending hours upon hours of their time creating these intricate embroidered costume pieces, you kinda can't help but think "Would I be as well-respected as them, if I just embroidered something."

And so, embroidery becomes something that is simply considered GOOD, no questions asked. You gotta embroider stuff to be good. No other methods could possibly yield better results. Embroider or fail.

I'm exaggerating, of course, but here's the point I'm getting at:

Us cosplayers spend a lot of time preching about how anyone can cosplay anything, any way they like. That cosplay is for everyone, cosplay is for fun. Do what you want, have fun, don't criticise anyone for doing what they love.

But at the same time, we set ourselves these unspoken, unquestioned rules and guidelines for how we are supposed to cosplay, what techniques we're supposed to use while making costumes, what materials we're supposed to buy to be Good Cosplayers™.

See, I hate embroidery, and I'm terrible at it. But if I did make a fully embroidered costume, with my dodgy skills that would yield barely passable results, would that costume and effort still be considered god-like JUST because there's embroidery involved? It's the same question as, say "is a cosplay armour made out of metal automatically better than an armour made out of worbla, even if the metal armour looked less like the reference than the worbla version?"

Of course, anyone can use whichever techniques and materials they want, it's not my place (or anyone's place) to judge that. But sometimes I can't help but wonder if us cosplayers suffer from TMB (Technique and Material Blindness, a very scientific term) - a condition caused by a sort of hivemind mentality, where we THINK we need to do something to be good, and just end up sabotaging and disappointing ourselves when the techniques and materials that are completely foreign to us suddenly don't give us the results they would, were they used by someone who actually knows what they're doing.

Think for yourselves, is what I guess I'm trying to say. Don't just do something because you think you're supposed to do it. Do it because you genuinely want to do it. And if you don't, go for an alternative. No one's going to judge you for it, and you might even be more satisfied with the results.

1: What was your first cosplay?

2: Favorite thing to cosplay?

3: Have you ever been in a panel at a convention?

4: How many people do you think you met because of cosplaying?

5: What do you think makes a 'good cosplay'?

6: Have a cosplay blog?

7: Ever done a group cosplay?

8: Couple's cosplay?

9: When did you start cosplaying?

10: Would you consider yourself good at cosplaying?

11: Which cosplay took you the longest time to make?

12: Shortest time to make?

13: Do you like Genderbent/AU cosplays?

14: List all of your cosplays.

15: Are you currently working on something?

16: Would you, if given the chance, cosplay at school/work?

17: Do any of your IRL friends cosplay?

18: What does your family think of it?

19: Do you consider cosplay an art?

20: Have you ever had to get help with a cosplay?

21: Least favorite thing to cosplay?

22: Ever been in a cosplay contest?

23: First con that you cosplayed at?

24: What's your definition of 'cosplay'?

25: Favorite tumblr cosplay ask blog?

26: Ever cosplay an inanimate object?

27: Who is your cosplay headcanon of your favorite character?

28: What is your 'Cosplay First Aid Kit' (what you use to repair a cosplay)?

29: Would you go pro?

Hi there! Thank you so much for the kind words, they’re much appreciated! ♥

I think a lot of competitions often state how much of a costume has to be self made, but if the rules don’t explicitly say anything about it, then I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. And in your case, I wouldn’t think there’s anything to worry about regardless; obviously I don’t know which costume you’re making, specifically, but to me it sounds like you’ve modified the base suit so much that it shouldn’t matter that much whether it’s pre-bought or not. Just be honest about it in pre-judging (if there is pre-judging). As in, let them know you’ve bought the base, but have modified it a lot. 

And in general, remember that everyone else is probably just as nervous as you are. Competing is always pretty nerve-wracking, and cosplay competitions are a great place to meet new people and be nervous together. Many friendships are formed that way. : D 

Just remember to have fun, and try to finish your costume ahead of time so that you can get a good night’s sleep before the actual competition. Being well-rested is ridiculously important. Trust me. I’ve been doing this for over twelve years and whenever I have to pull an all-nighter before a competition, I immediately regret it, because I know that being tired will only make me more anxious, and I’m more likely to be snappy and stressed out than if I’d just planned my work better and actually slept. So sleep. Sleep is good.  

It is a well-known fact that the judges in cosplay competitions are biased, easily bribed, and only choose their friends or favourite characters as the winners of any given competition. The great big conspiracy that's happening backstage at cosplay competitions has already spread across continents, and no matter how professional the judges might seem on the outside, they're part of the conspiracy. As are the cosplay organisers and most of the contestants.

And considering I have both judged and competed in various cosplay competitions, my five cents probably make no difference to those of you whose tin hats are particularly tightly fitted to yout little heads, but I'll do my best, regardless.

See, there is no conspiracy. Judges are not biased by default, at least not to a point where they'd go out of their way to award their friends over someone more deserving of a prize. And in all my years of competing in and judging cosplay competitions both back at home and abroad, I have never witnessed any bribery. This could, of course, be a fault on my part, because if such bribery is happening, I'm clearly being left out (I joke, obviously).

The only kind of jury that does seem awfully biased, and probably actually is, is an audience jury - seeing as the audience does not have a very specific set of judging criteria to base their choices on, they naturally just tend to vote for whoever they know, or are most impressed by, regardless of construction details of the costume or other things the actual judges might look at.

Ingridbeast wrote an excellent post on this topic last week, and I suggest you go read it. And then take to heart the points about how the audience does not see what the judges see, and how, if you do feel that there's something wrong with the results, you should approach the organisers rather than directly aim your frustration at the people who have won.

I think (hope) we all understand that people are people, and to err (and umm and uhh) is human, so it's only natural that we tend to assume that if things don't quite go as we thought they would, something must be wrong and that someone must have made a mistake somewhere. But, once you do reach that conclusion, it's important to remember that you, yourself, might actually be wrong as well, and that someone else might be right. It's a tough thing to accept, I understand, but it is something to keep in mind.

So, in conclusion: there is no great big cosplay competition conspiracy. It's all in your head. Take off your tinfoil hat and learn to accept that you, yourself, might actually be wrong. And that having a different opinion than someone else does not actually mean either one of you is more right than the other. Unless the other has made a decision based on five pages of very specific judging criteria and you have made yours based on what you saw from your 20th row seat in the audience, while wearing contacts that don't quite match your own prescription. In that case, you're probably wrong. But you are still entitled to your opinion, just don't go telling (/yelling at) everyone that it's the truth.

There are new viral cosplay photos posted and shared every day. Online zines publish listings of 20 Most Amazing Cosplays all the time. The Facebook algorithm may suddenly favour a small-time cosplayer with a tiny following and bring thousands upon thousands of new people to their page. 

We measure cosplay fame (and, consequently, talent) in the numbers of likes and shares on social media – and the one with the biggest figures is immediately crowned the new rising star of cosplay.

And it's wonderful that talented crafters and creators from all around the world get recognition, and that their work gets the kind of exposure it deserves.

The problems begin with the idea that anyone can be the next Yaya Han. Because sure, technically this might be true, but what people often forget is that cosplay fame and being able to make a living as a cosplayer are two entirely different things.

You can be a hugely popular cosplayer and still have to work a day job to be able to pay your bills and to afford making new costumes. Popularity does not automatically mean you can tell your boss to go do unspeakable things to himself, before you prance out of the office with money raining on you on your way out.

The actual professional cosplayers, the people who have turned their passion into a hobby, have more things going on for them than just a huge social media following and a nice set of... crafting skills. They are entrepreneurs, they are business women and business men who see the potential beyond pretty pictures and convention appearances, and turn that into profit.

Being a (and I use this term very loosely) popular cosplayer may be a good starting point for an actual career in cosplay, but to be able to make it, you need a proper business plan, and you can't just sit around making hugely expensive costumes, hoping that someone might notice them and come running to you with a sack of money.

I often say that the cosplay scene is like a miniature play-version of the entertainment industry: full of young, bright-eyed hopefuls who dream of some day making it big and becoming a star, just like the ones they look up to. And while there may be loads and loads of talent and dreams out there, it's only a small handful of those hopefuls that eventually are able to make it in the big world.

My point is this: you're probably not going to make a living as a cosplayer, because being able to make a living doing what you love is very, very unlikely in the first place. I'm not saying you shouldn't try, though, but if you do, remember this: 

Don't just sit around sewing and waiting for someone to discover you and your immaculate stitches. Have a goal and a plan on how to get there. And if that seems like too much work, you can always throw another giveaway and enjoy the growing numbers of followers on your Facebook page – because that feels kinda nice, too, doesn’t it. 

I don't know if it's a millennial thing, or just a generic "being 20-something at any given time in the history of the world" thing, but when you're in your late teens and early twenties, it seems like the world will end by the time you hit thirty.

30 seems like an awful, scary sort of finish line, and it makes you feel like you have to accomplish everything in life by the time you reach it. And then when things don't move along quite as quickly as you'd like, and when you don't reach all your goals you've set for yourself by 25, you start to panic and feel like a failure. Even more so if you aim for something, realise it's not what you actually wanted, and have to start all over again.

It's even worse when you see people younger than you succeed in everything they do. When it seems like everyone else has more than you, achieves more than you, is more in touch with the world than you.

You spend your twenties trying to figure out what it's like to be an adult, and all signs point to things that seem scary and unpleasant: when you're an adult, you have to dedicate your life to mortgage and bills and a job; you have to buy a house and a car and one of those special pillows for your neck that's always achy because you spend your days working a desk job you never really wanted. (And all of these things are something you might actually have to do to get by, because life is, alas, sometimes pretty mundane.)

It seems dull, and dreadful, and not at all like the awesome, carefree life you dreamed for yourself when you hadn't even finished school yet.

I'll let you in on a secret: no one, not a single human being on this planet, knows what they're doing with their lives. Everyone is just as lost and confused as the next person.

Sure, some people are more goal-oriented than others, and some people are more lucky than others. But I can assure you that every single person on this planet has doubts. Everyone questions the things they do. Everyone has stared at the ceiling at night, wondering if they've made the right choices in life.

And in a world where we measure things by success and merit, and value accomplishment almost above everything else, it doesn't feel right to admit that everyone falters. That everyone makes mistakes and has regrets.

But the good thing is that there is life after 30. At thirty years old, you haven't, statistically, lived even a half of your life yet. If your genes are awesome, 30 is just a third (or even less) of your time on this tiny planet in the vast endlessness of space. You still have an endless amount of things to do and to experience.

If someone seems to have achieved everything by the time they're thirty, you can bet they come up with new dreams and news goals soon enough. Because life is not a metaphorical video game where the final boss is your thirtieth birthday and you have to have completed the game 100 % by the time you get there. Life is an ongoing thing, where no one has a playthrough guide and everyone is just button-smashing and hoping for the best.

The point I'm trying to make here is this: there's no such thing as too old. You're never too old to be passionate about something, to learn new things and unlearn others. So smash those buttons, and enjoy the ride. 

In a comment on one of her recent photos, Bára Cosplay touched on a subject I relate to pretty heavily. That is, cosplaying deliberately sexualised characters while you, yourself, are nothing like that.

See, and here’s an entirely unnecessary bit of personal information: I’m pretty damn ace. Well, I like to say my “default setting is ace and nothing is set in stone”, but I’m pretty damn ace, okay. Which is to say that I don’t look at other people and go “ooh, I’d tap that”, nor am I interested in being in a romantic sort of relationship with anyone. It’s obviously more complex than that, but that’s a whole other essay that has nothing to do with cosplay.

So, despite the fact that I’m ace, I’ve cosplayed quite a few characters who are anything but. Characters whose defining canonical trait is promiscuity. Characters who dress provocatively. Characters who canonically rely on their sex appeal to get things done their way. Characters who are just, you know, drawn that way. (And no, not all of those characters are female. Because that’s what you were thinking, weren’t you.)

I mean, I also cosplay characters who are a different gender than I am. Characters who are older, or younger than I am. Characters from completely different social backgrounds, characters from completely different worlds.

This got me thinking about why sex and sexuality are such defining characteristics, that we specifically stop to think about them when choosing characters to cosplay, although we don’t let things like age, gender or fashion sense hinder us. Of course, you could ask the same question about the world in general (and trust me, I have), but let’s just focus on the cosplay perspective here, ok.

We still, somehow, in some ridiculous, completely unnecessary way define other people based on what kind of clothing they choose to put on their bodies. What a revelation, I know! (And, again, it goes well beyond cosplay, but let’s try to stay on topic.)

It’s the same messed up kind of logic that makes people think it’s okay to comment things like “would creampie” on a picture of Jessica Nigri, on her own Facebook page. It’s the same logic that makes people go up to cosplayers and expect them to act exactly like the characters they cosplay, and then get offended when they don’t. It’s the same kind of thinking that makes you go “ugh she’s just cosplaying that for attention” when you look at a cosplayer who has chosen to cosplay a character in skimpy clothing.

And it’s completely stupid. It’s laughable. Especially when we are talking about cosplay, where people choose to portray characters, to wear fictional identities for a day or two; characters and identities completely different from their own. Cosplayers are not the characters they cosplay, nor should they/we be defined, as people, by the costumes those characters wear.

“But she chose to wear that skimpy costume! She chose to get her tits out!” you scream out into the vast emptiness of space.

And yes, I tell you, yes she did. And what of it?

We choose the clothes we put on every damn day of the year, but it’s not really anyone else’s place to make assumptions about us or judge us based on the fabric we cover ourselves with. I do know everyone does it anyway, but you should at least have the decency to keep it to yourselves. 

And cosplay whatever the hell you want. It’s not a statement, unless you make it one.

How would you, as a cosplayer, feel if someone posted a picture of your cosplay somewhere and didn’t bother to mention who the cosplayer is? You’d be pretty bummed, right? And rightfully so! You’ve worked hard on that costume, and definitely deserve credit for your hard work. Plus, it’s only polite to at least mention whose work it is that's being shared on the interwebs, am I right. 

Now that we’ve got you in a decently empathetic state of mind, allow me to give you a brief list of the occasions, when you should give credit to other people. 

1. Always

Allow me to elaborate in a Q&A format. 

Do you want to share a picture someone has taken of your costume? Credit the photographer. 

Do you want to share a picture someone took of you and your friend(s) in costume? Credit the photographer, and your friend(s) who pose(s) in the picture with you. 

Do you want to share a picture of yourself, wearing a costume someone else has made either partially or completely? Credit whoever made/helped make the costume (unless they have explicitly stated you don’t have to do it, in which case you should still give credit, because it’s a nice thing to do), and credit the photographer. 

In short: unless you, yourself, are personally responsible for everything that made a picture of your costume happen, give credit. If you don’t, you look like an asshat, and no one wants to look like an asshat. Trust me. 

One of the greatest crimes in the cosplay world (along with "selling out" aka. being paid to do what you would do anyway) seems to be the dreadful, appalling act of cosplaying a character based on the costume design rather than the character's personality or your appreciation of whatever source the character is from.

The explanations as to why this is frowned upon vary from "but it's false advertising" and "you're not a real fan" to "but it's so soulless". All of which, in my opinion, are complete and utter horse manure.

Allow me to elaborate.

Cosplay, as I may have said approximately a billion times before, does not actually have any kind of rules. Every cosplayer cosplays the way they want to cosplay, and this hobby takes just as many shapes and forms as there are cosplayers.

True, for a great big number of people, cosplay is rather like wearing a fandom shirt: it's a very elaborate way of telling people at conventions that you really like this character and whatever game/show/book they're from, which, in turn, gives you an opportunity to chat with other like-minded people about the greatness of your fandom.

However, cosplay is also something that everyone is free to do just as they damn well wish. Some people are really craftsmanship oriented and want to challenge themselves by making costumes that are big and elaborate, regardless of whether they're familiar with the storyline of the source material or not.

Cosplay is also far more than just wearing a costume for a few days. Very rarely does a costume just appear out of thin air - it's pretty likely that the cosplayer has to spend quite a lot of time crafting it. Some cosplayers are motivated to do this because they love a character, others may want to do it because they love the design and the challenges it brings. (Of course, there's a whole spectrum of reasons why people would cosplay, but I'm making broad generalisations in order to make a point, ok.)

The one thing I do agree on with the online critics is that being honest about not knowing your source is actually pretty commendable. Claiming you're a huge fan of the franchise you cosplay from when you're really not, will probably backfire at some point, and make you look bad. Admitting upfront that you really have not played the game or watched the show, but liked the costume design, may result in some grumbling but at least you're honest about it.

And really, personal experience has taught me that even if you start off by not knowing anything about a character and only being enamored with the design, you will inevitably learn a tidbit or two while you look for references and do research on the costume. That, along with the fact that character designs are often based on a set of unspoken rules (this is especially true when it comes to anime/manga and Japanese game characters), it's probable that you know your character's achetype even though you're not all that familiar with the character itself.

The fact that someone feels mildly inconvenienced because they went up to talk to a cosplayer and it turned out the cosplayer wasn't actually all that familiar with what they're cosplaying, is really not the cosplayer's concern. It's a socially awkward situation that lasts for about ten seconds, after which everyone is free to move on with their lives.

And considering that cosplayers often get called out for being "fake geeks" no matter how familiar we are with what we cosplay, I'd say the way we choose our characters doesn't matter either way. There's always going to be some know-it-all fandom police who comes up to you and demands you start listing the details of the game you're cosplaying from (this example may or may not be based on personal experience).

So go ahead. Go cosplay that stupidly elaborate boss from that one JRPG that looks exactly like what your aesthetic would be if you were a green sea witch. Go for it. Have fun! Because there's always going to be someone who doesn't like what you do, and there's nothing you can do about it.

How does the media in your home country treat cosplay? Are they informed? Do they do their research? Do they even care about cosplay?

I'm preparing a talk on the relationship between cosplay and media, and though I am approaching the subject from a Finnish perspective, I'd love to know how things are in other countries. The talk itself will be in Finnish, but if there's interest, I'd be happy to turn it into a video series in English sometime later this year.

Us cosplayers can be pretty crafty and creative, but it would be unfair to claim we're all 100% responsible to everything we've ever created. There's always a tutorial or a late-night eureka moment inspired by a "How It's Made" documentary that helps us along, not to mention all the hours spent trying things out and failing until you finally get the results you want.

This is why it often seems pretty unfair to demand other cosplayers to tell you, in detail, how they've made their costumes - it's never a simple, straight-forward process that goes directly from A to B to C, but rather a great big hot mess of alphabet soup, that was probably left on the kitchen counter for too long and has already gone soggy and stale, which is why it's now hard to make out all the letters. Wow, what a metaphor!

Starting on a new costume can be daunting, especially if you haven't cosplayed all that much, so I figured I'd make a brief list of what I like to call

Every Cosplayer's Best Friends

Google (and the search function on any social media website ever) It may seem tired and unhelpful to tell someone to "just google it" but trust me, you really should start out by just googling it. Typing "[character name] cosplay tutorial" (or even replacing “tutorial” with “work in progress”) in the Google search bar is pretty likely to give you some useful results.

Also, the tags on Tumblr are fab. The search function is a bit of a mess now, but if you just check out #cosplay tutorial or #cosplay help, I can assure you you'll find quite a few interesting and useful things. And even if the tutorials aren't specifically of the costume you're working on, they might offer tips and crafting ideas that could be applicable.

YouTube This is technically already covered in the previous bit, but does deserve a mention of its own. Because YouTube is a tutorial goldmine, especially when it comes to makeup, as well as a whole lot of prop and costume tips. It might take a while to comb through all the search results to find what you're looking for, but like I said before, even if the tutorial isn't exactly what you need, it might give you an idea on how to proceed.

Trial and Error There's a saying in Finnish about how no one is a smith at birth, which essentially suggests that no one is naturally good at anything. Everything takes practise, and with practise comes the beautiful combination of trial and error.

New techniques or materials may not work out perfectly on the first go, but the second try might already result in something a lot better. Trying, failing and learning from your mistakes is a pretty good way to go - not only in cosplay but also life in general. 

Specific questions Obeserving and asking help from others is a great way to learn new tricks and techniques, but especially with questions, it's usually better to go for more specific rather than less. Asking "how did you make your costume" results in the above mentioned alphabet soup visual to cross through the mental scenery of whoever it is you're asking this from, but "what materials and techniques did you use for your boots" is already a much more specific question, and a whole lot easier to answer.

It should be noted that other cosplayers don't actually owe anyone the details of their crafting process, so don't be upset if someone tells you they'd rather not say, or don't have the time or energy to type up their process. Sure, it can be a bit upsetting, and maybe sounds like they're guarding what they must think are national secrets, but you can always try asking someone else.

And then, of course, there are all the thousands and thousands of discussion groups all over the interwebs, as well as real-life hobby groups and whatnot, where people will probably share their knowledge and tips and tricks. So if you ever feel like you are completely alone with your project and that no one has ever done anything like it? Stop it immediately and hit Google.

(Before we start, a heads-up: I’m going to be awfully gender-normative and stereotype-endorsing in this text, and I apologise. Sometimes things are best explained by simplifying them, and I am by no means trying to imply anything about gender roles in general. /PSA)

I'm a terrible girl. Let's start with that. 

By this I mean that I was well in my teens when I learned that a skirt and a dress are not, in fact, the same thing, and my idea of make up was, for far too long, a horrifying combination of clumpy concealer, even clumpier powder, and black eye-liner that was smeared all over my face by the end of the day. Mascara, if I was having a good day. And even that was clumpy. 

Even after I started cosplaying, I never really took the time to learn how to properly do my face. I figured out a relatively passable way of applying eye shadow for Angel Sanctuary characters (which, ironically enough, was accidentally the same exact method I absolutely should use with my weird eyes, but more on that later), but that was about it. I always complained that I couldn't cosplay female characters because I'd look like a dude with a bit of make up on. It was unfortunate.

I mean, I did have some basic understanding about the fact that make up for male and female characters should be different, and I actually even studied special fx make-up for a year after graduating high school (or upper secondary, or whatever the localised version of the Finnish "lukio" is). What I got from that experience was that if you want to transform a woman into a man, you have to shade.

And shade I did. And oh boy, the shade of it all!

I did some actual, real research on how to contour your face in a manly way, and ran some tests with the limited variety of make up I had. Which was essentially just a bronzer and brown eye shadows. I'll post the following picture just to show you how absolutely horrifying the results were:

Yes, that's me as a "girl" and a "guy". I was damn proud of myself for achieving this. In 2007. (Oh lord, I can't look at this picture without laughing and cringing at the same time.)

As ridiculous as my first attempts at contouring were (and this was in around 2007, so we really didn't have all those fancy YouTube tutorials you kids these days have; we had magazines and they were shite), I still see it as a beginning of a (long, awfully slow-paced) journey into better understanding how the hell all this make up stuff works.

I began putting more thought into how to paint my face, and as the years went by, I started to casually stalk my friends when they painted their faces, and YouTube began to fill with fancy tutorials for just about anything.

I will proudly admit that it wasn't until 2014 that I finally figured out that the reason none of the make up tutorials ever seemed to work on my eyes, was because my eyes are hooded as hell, which works pretty nicely for male characters but makes me look like a bloke with make up on, if I try to do my eyes the same way people with normal eyes would (I have accepted the fact that the cat eye thing is not something I can do, ever). 

This realisation changed my life. And I happily turned to drag queens for help, because if it takes drag make up and three pairs of false lashes to make my face look passably girly, then drag make up it is! Or, you know, “lots and lots of mascara and keeping your eyes really open all the time”.

Look at me, looking like a proper girl. And a dude. Still not perfect, but come on. Compared to the previous one? PROGRESS.

What I'm trying to say with this wall of text (apart from this being a fantastic excuse to share my embarrassing history with make up with you) is this: being even passably okay at stuff takes both time and practise. And the ability to look at yourself in the mirror realistically, yet critically.

Some of the most important things I've learned about make up, in terms of cosplay (and, well, all of this translates to real life as well), are these:

1. Know your face. Learn what shape it is and how it works. When you do, you will better understand what you need to do to make it look the way you want. The same paintjobs don't work on all surfaces, so try out different things and see if some of it works better than the rest. Google stuff. Google is a friend. 

2. BLEND. I used to think that contouring = drawing thick brown lines on your face. This is not a good idea. The point of applying different shades on your face is to create shadows that, in turn, trick the eye into see different shapes on your face. And shadows are not harsh, blunt lines of warm brown across your cheeks. Blending is good. And use cooler tones for shading. Really. Trust me. 

3. More is more, except when less is more. Cosplay make up is a bit of a mash-up of stage make up and photo make up. Meaning that you kind of need to find that balance between looking like an opera singer and being able to leave the convention venue without terrifying small children. I know people's opinions on this vary, but personally I prefer to stay far, far away from the super excessive “anime” make up thing where you draw on fake eyelids with liquid liner and draw your lower lash line an inch lower than you should. If you're into it, great. I'm really not. I think it looks terrifying.

4. All characters shouldn't have the same make up. If I'm cosplaying a pretty anime boy, I will do my best to mimic those ridiculous eyes and make my face look all cartoony (but in a realistic way, without the drawn on eyes and fake lashes, because, to me, those always read as far too feminine, even on a girly male character, unless  the character is genuinely THAT effeminate), and if I'm cosplaying an apostate hobo mage who lives in a sewer, I will spend two and a half hours drawing wrinkles on my face, shading my nose to be more pointy and perhaps a bit broken, and accentuating the bags under my eyes because that's what the character looks like, dammit. 

5. You are constantly learning. Don't get stuck doing one thing just because it's safe, or you will eventually be known as "that one guy who always does the thing". Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but I am a firm believer in changing things up just for the hell of it, so I suppose it translates to the way I do my face for costumes, as well. Plus, learning means realising that the thing you’ve been doing for years is actually the wrong thing, and that you need to do something else. 

Cosplays from a film, animation, video game, book and a West End musical. Photos by Yaci (1), YumiKoyuki (2 & 4) and AG (3 & 5). 

Cosplay is often associated with Japanese pop culture. Non-hobbyists probably think of colourful anime and manga characters when presented with the word "cosplay", and even cosplayers themselves occasionally forget that costumes and characters of Japanese origin are not, in fact, the only sources of inspiration allowed in cosplay.

Cosplay is, by (Wikipedia) definition, "performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character". Even though many consider cosplay to have originated in Japan, its roots are actually in the Western sci-fi fandom, and reportedly the first ever cosplayers (aka. people dressing up as fictional characters) were seen in 1939 at the first ever WorldCon in New York. It wasn't until mid-80's that the word "cosplay" was coined and cosplay was brought to Japan where it gained popularity, and was eventually brought back to USA and Europe.

Knowing all this, it's not really all that surprising that some of us do see cosplay as having a significant Japanese influence to it - but it would be really silly to ignore the hobby's Western roots, and to set strict limitations to where your character should be designed for your costume to be called cosplay.

I've talked about the whole "cosplay what you want - but there are limitations" dilemma that's ridiculously prevalent in this hobby, and the whole debate about whether "cosplay" should only mean dressing up as characters of Japanese origin is one of the many manifestations of this.

Personally, I see cosplay as a creative outlet where, because of the lack of strict rules and limitations, hobbyists can to let their creativity run wild, and do whatever they wish to achieve the results they want. Want to buy all the pieces of your costume? Go for it! Want to 3D print everything? Have fun! Want to spend 9000 hours embroidering by hand? Enjoy your blisters!

The cosplay community is so focused on being open minded about who is allowed to cosplay (apparently everyone; with exceptions), that we often get confused when presented with the question of what you're allowed to cosplay.

In part, the question of what you're allowed to cosplay probably stems from how cosplay competitions sometimes limit participation based on whether a character is of Japanese or Western origin, if the costume is bough, or if you've designed the costume yourself. These limitations, however, only apply to specific competitions, and have nothing to do with how you cosplay outside these competitions.

What I'm trying to say is this: it's the 21st century. Could we, maybe, finally, get over the fact that there genuinely are no limitations to who can or cannot cosplay, or what you can or cannot cosplay, and agree to just cosplay and have fun while doing it?

I have no tolerance for people who let their prejudice determine how they perceive other people and the world.

I have no tolerance for people who let their own skewed, misinformed views of the world bleed into their hobbies and into hobby communities.

I haven't the tiniest, slightest little iota of tolerance for people who make it sound like they know how the world works, how people think and who should be allowed to do what, and on what terms.

And I swear, I become absolutely livid when I see ignorance and prejudice seep into cosplay. I've talked about this before, at length, but somehow the world still hasn't changed for the better and people still haven't stopped being ignorant and misinformed (bizarre; surely the musings of one grumpy Finn should change the world in an instant), so I'm talking about this again.

Your prejudice, your racism, and your bigotry have no place in cosplay. Your opinions on who should or should not be allowed to cosplay, especially if they're based on nothing but your own personal hatred of anything that's even vaguely unfamiliar, have no place in cosplay.

Conversation, constructive criticism and reasonable, fact-based discussion, on the other hand, are very much welcome in cosplay. Do remember, however, that your own personal opinions are not facts. That "I read it somewhere online" is not a fact, and neither is "well this guy I know said he knew someone who read a thing once".

If you want to have a rational, productive conversation about something, anything really, be it related to cosplay or not, be open to the idea that your opinions can be proven wrong, and therefore changed by learning new things. Be prepared to be wrong. And for the sake of all that anyone might ever hold holy and dear, educate yourself before you start claiming anything as fact.