Behind the pretty picture (Final Task)

Cosplay is a very strange hobby. There are multiple different ways to do it and you are only one who can say what your limits are. How much money or time do you want to spent on it? How precisely you want to mimic everything you see...People often argue who can cosplay and what, but for me, it has always been about having fun and challenging yourself. You might be 20 years old female but who says that you can't be that 200 years old demon from hell or a freaking alien/robot from space?

I was positively surprised to find this article where they told about "Psychology of Cosplay" survey which was created by Dr. Andrea Letamendi and Dr. Robin Rosenberg. This survey was created after cosplay had had some negative light and I think it's great that people are making things clear. People who cosplay are not different from people who don't. Cosplayers aren't just some freaks that think that it is Halloween everyday.

What is common to all cosplayers, is that in one way or another, we want to make fictional characters to exist in real world, even if it is just for one day. What a great way to escape reality! And sometimes people aren't even cosplaying characters, I saw Howl's moving castle once. Who wakes up in the morning and decides: “I want to dress up as magical moving castle!”?

Most of us have seen pictures of cosplayers, even if you don't really follow that scene. Usually those pictures are taken by professional photographers and costumes are really well made. Often those are pictures of “famous” cosplayers. We see the pretty picture, but we don't really think what all needs to be done before that picture can be taken.

Whole scene might seem peaceful and fun hobby to those who don't do it themselves, but there are actually lot of ridiculous things going around. The reason why I made these comics, was to show you what goes behind those cosplay pictures you see. Cosplayers go through a lot before they can but those amazing looking pictures online. 

1. First comic is about how you so often spent so much time, just to fail at the end. You learn from your mistakes and keep going on.

We all have our different ways of solving problems.

Some people try to fix the old one and others just start all over again. It's always fun to talk about different ways to build something. It's a great way to start conversation.

 2. There are also times when you just can't feel happy about your costume. You see everyone else as a perfect gods and feel like your skills aren't good enough.

Too often I hear my friends to say that they thought they looked horrible in their costume, but now that they can see picture of themselves they realise they look ok.

It can also be reverse, you think you look good unless you see your picture. It might be part of Finnish nature but it's defiantly something we should try to get rid off.
We keep spending lot of time with those costumes, we should be able to feel good about even if not everything is perfect! You are doing it to have fun.

3. Last comic is about taking the actual pictures. It can be fun but also complete pain in the ass.
Sometimes you just have have winter photos and characters don't always have the best clothes for that. Also there is the fact that other people exists and will see you.

You can also take photos in studios but that needs more arranging and sadly you don't always have possibility to do so.
Photoshoots are great way to have time with your friends and even though I haven't done it in a while I have lot of good memories!

 

Sources:

 http://ifanboy.com/articles/what-is-cosplay-and-why-do-people-do-it/ 

http://www.dailydot.com/fandom/psychology-cosplay-survey-results/