Cosplay is, to quote a friend of mine, simply ‘The Art of Dressing Up’.

Cosplay. What is it exactly? Is that when people dress up as Japanese schoolgirls? Well, yes but also no. Oh I know! Is it some underground fetish hobby? Well, yes, but also a big no.

Photo by Aperture Photography

If you’re not new here, you may have seen my previous blog post talking about the various disasters us cosplayers face, or listened to the Amazonian Cosplay podcast where I ramble for an hour. If you are new here, I’m Beth, otherwise known as Amazonian Cosplay, and you can expect to see my lovely Cosplay Blog Posts around here from now on!

So, the big ‘C’ Word. In absolute layman’s terms, Cosplay is when fans of video games, anime, films and comic books wear replica costumes of characters, that they have either bought or crafted, to events such as comic con. In experienced terms, it’s so much more – I myself like to spend many months and far too much money hand-crafting costumes to minute detail, and entering them into competitions that I never win and get stressed out about.Others just like to hang about with their mates and get drunk while dressed as a superhero. Its all cool.

Wonder Woman – Photo by Many Lemons Photography

Nerdy expectations

One thing I will say is that if you self-identify as a nerd, and you haven’t given cosplay a go, please do try it. It’s great fun.

So what can you expect to find from this blog series?

Lots of things, hopefully;

– Convention travels

– Costume crafting tutorials

– Rants about whatever pissed me off in the community today

If there is anything you would like me to write about, please message me! (See end for social media info)

As for me,  I’ve been crafting since I was 13 (2011 – I’m a youngun) and I specialise in making highly detailed fantasy costumes. I love making armour, and doing lots of pretty embroidery to cover my bad tailoring. (It’s not that I’m particularly bad at sewing, I’m just a lazy motherfucker) Some of my previous costumes include Wonder Woman, Assassins Creed, Dragon Age, and Game of Thrones! I’m currently working on some pretty fancy costumes too, so watch this space!

Photo by Kerrit Cosplay

I love working with all sorts of materials, from leather to embroidery and painting and 3d printing and foam armour to SFX makeup, and so much more! You can expect there to be lots of future tutorials covering as many aspects of costume crafting as I can fit on paper!

So that’s me – by day a children’s entertainer, by night a sewing gremlin surrounded by foam cut offs staying up till 4am crafting who really needs to tidy her room.

Queen Hippolyta – Photo by JT Den

Competitive Cosplay

One aspect of Cosplay I am really excited to share with you is Competitive Cosplay, which I assure you isn’t as scary as it sounds. A few years back there was a TV Show on SYFY made called ‘Heroes of Cosplay’ and it featured lots of drama and backstabbing and tears with a group of famous American cosplayers jetting off around the country, last minute crafting costumes and entering high stakes competition. Many cosplayers will tell you its all bullshit, and the drama of it all is fake, but the show is my Cosplay Life. Just without the all expenses paid convention trips, and 50 thousand personal instagram followers. I’ll get there eventually…

But I’m making it all sound very complicated. Fact of the matter is – I’m here to have fun, and dress up in silly costumes, and to help YOU dress up in silly costumes, and teach you how to make them. Coming up first will be a basic armour tutorial. Or maybe it won’t be.

Maybe it’ll be a guide on how to covertly sneak alcohol inside conventions, who knows…

Bean from Disenchantment – Photo by Kerrit Cosplay

But if you’re at all interested in how to make these ridiculous outfits, or those who do, please stick around!

Beth Malcolm, AKA Amazonian Cosplay, takes her work to the next level. She not only hand crafts her work, which has included Cersei Lannister, Flemeth, Queen Hippolyta and more, but also treks out into the wilderness to take scenic photographs.

Follow Amazonian Cosplay on Instagram, Facebook, and find her full portfolio on the Amazonian Cosplay website.

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Join the Coaching for Geeks Facebook Group for your cosplay tribe!