TRIGGER WARNING: Fake blood and fake gore makeup!!
As a child I always loved dressing up, you could almost always find me digging around in my costume box or walking around the house in fairy wings. But I didn't learn what cosplay was until I was much older! In fact I didn't make my first full cosplay until 2017!
My journey to finding cosplay was a long and winding one. My first interest that eventually led me to finding other cosplayers and attending conventions, was SFX makeup and body painting!
I was bored in the school holidays and somehow stumbled across a YouTube video on how to make your own liquid latex. It smelled horrible but it worked surprisingly well. I followed the same tutorial on how to make a fake bullet hole with the latex and honey and food dye to make fake blood, and its safe to say I was hooked!
I started saving up all my money and eventually bought an SFX makeup starter kit, and boy it was awesome! I was doing new looks after school, on the weekends, whenever I had the free time.
I loved recreating tutorial looks, as well as making up my own. It was through more tutorials on YouTube that I found the creator Madeyewlook, who has served as my inspiration for many years.
I orginally found her through SFX makeup tutorials, then discovered she made body paint videos too, and I just had to give them a try!
I was... not good... when I started painting, but I was like 14 so it was still pretty cool. I quickly realised that body painting was much less messy than SFX makeup and it became my new focus. Creating iconic characters on my body was so cool, and I guess technically a cosplay in itself!
A lot of time and practise went into my body painting, and I think I can do some pretty cool stuff now. I'm in no way the best artist, but I can definitely draw on my face better than I can on paper!
Throughout my time of body painting, I also started getting interesting in making little props and items from movies and some of my favourite characters.
All my life my mother had tried to get me into sewing, and I always adamantley refused, until I realised that sewing didn't have to be quilts, or teddy bears, or tea towels, it could be whatever I wanted it to be!
My first sewing projects were a bunch of superhero masks that I hand sewed, very messily I might add, and made using patterns I found online. I made a little accessory to go with each of them as well, and I had officially taken another small step towards cosplaying, despite still not knowing what cosplay was.
As the years went on, I kept up my body painting habits, although high school tended to get in the way a lot more than I would have liked. Then comes 2017, and some of my school friends invited me to a local Tasmanian convention, then known as AICon, and I agreed to go! I was so excited to dress up and join my friends in celebrating our favourite fictional characters together.
As I was in the midst of a massive Supernatural phase, I decided to make Castiel the Angel my very first official cosplay! I sourced the outfit from op-shops and made needed alterations, and my dad helped me make the wings!
Honestly, making those wings is one of my fondest memories, it was lovely summer weather so I worked outside, listening to music and just creating. My dad taught me how to use a lot of tools, and he helped me build the mechanical wings from scratch. They were pretty low tech compared to what I've now seen other cosplayers make, but considering me and my dad had no idea what we were doing, they turned out pretty cool.
My friends and I had a really fun time at the little convention, I even entered the cosplay competition, and although I didn't win, it was so cool to stand on stage and hear everyone cheer when I opened up my wings!
I knew from then that I was hooked on creating more costumes and recreating more of my favourite characters.
And so I have spent the last five years learning more sewing and crafting skills, learning from my parents, my cosplay friends I've found over the years, and from my own mistakes. I love experimenting and making things completely from scratch, even if they don't turn out how I want the first time.
Over the years I have also found a passion for creating my own original designs and costumes, like fantasy gowns and outfits, and red carpet style dresses. And I couldn't have gotten to that if I had never sat down with my mum and let her show me how to use a sewing machine.
As of writing this, I am working on one of my biggest projects ever, Megamind, and it's coming along swimmingly, so keep an eye out for more updates on that. I have learned to take my time when creating, to be patient with myself, and to not be afraid of trying multiple times to create something I'm proud of.
I love creating in all different ways, and I will always look fondly on my beginnings as a teenager playing around with liquid latex and paint.
I adore the cosplay community and they are such an inspiration to me to keep pushing myself. I now create videos for TikTok as well, documenting my cosplay ideas and processes, and I hope to share some of those here in text form for you all as well.
My cosplay journey is far from over, and I look forward to where it will take me next!
Until next time,
-Andy
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