“How did you come to cosplay professionally?”
“Rather by accident really, I just loved doing it and they found me!”
The hustle and bustle of the Comic-con was all around us. I spoke too quietly, and she was leaning in to hear my questions. Could she tell I was nervous? My friend who was with me all weekend had me walk up and talk to this gorgeous woman because of my love of cosplay. This woman, Rosanna Rocha worked on her own costumes, took pictures, and earned money doing something I just do for fun! Rosanna isn’t the only person to do so either.
Professional cosplayers are truly inspiring to me. They are people, like my friend and I, who love comics, video games, sci-fi and the like. The very characters that they love the become and share with others. Conventions that they would find themselves at anyway now pay them for doing what they love. So much time and energy goes into what they do, of course they would have to love it.
Cosplay is more than your run of the mill costume party. Unlike costumes or themed parties where you dress up as an entire genre, cosplay is very specific. A cosplayer doesn’t ever choose a character that they are completely unfamiliar with because while in costume they will behave as they interpret that person would in their environment as well as answer questions from other fans about the character and their portrayal. Conventions are usually three days in a row and often the most avid cosplayer will dress in a different costume each day and so they decide on these costumes months in advance.
There are several ways that the average cosplayer will go about obtaining their costume. Professionals usually spend hours making their own costume or work together with a costumer who makes the costumes for them. Make up for the character is practiced for hours, and supplies gathered. They don’t want to just look like they are dressing up as a character, the ARE the character.
An average professional cosplay guests at a convention will typically make anywhere from $75-$300 a day. Usually these guests will also be selling autographed photos of their cosplay exploits earning them another $100 a day on a decent selling floor. Throughout the year these people will attend about 26 conventions and average about $24,000 annual income from this. Doesn’t seem like a lot right? Well, some these people often also hold onto other side jobs to subsidize their income while other professional cosplayers are in it entirely for the love of it. The later group simply go to all the conventions they usually would and earn money while they are at it!
Looking around at the people I stood among at the Tucson Comic-con I was amazed. Such attention to detail in their costumes and their expressions. Others still aspiring to catch someone's eye, to be asked to represent someone as their cosplayer in conventions. My friend and I managed to turn some heads in some of our cosplay. Fear, embarrassment, and excitement were the emotions that went through me as person after person asked the both of us to pose for pictures in the costumes I had put together for us. Such a thrill. This is how so many professional cosplayers were found. I began to wonder if these feelings I had were the same feelings that Miss Rocha experienced each time she cosplayed. Could I cosplay professionally? Honestly until this moment I hadn’t really thought about it, but the idea continues to bubble inside me even now.
