Greetings fellow geeks! We have the immense pleasure of introducing you to our Featured Cosplayer this week, Sunchild Cosplay! She is a professional cosplayer hailing from the east coast who has competed in and won many masquerades in her rather short career cosplaying so far.
She has family on the west coast though and reached out to our editor and photographer while visiting in Arizona over the winter season to do a photoshoot with her Bombshell Supergirl. We hope you enjoy these exclusive photos we took of her and also a little interview to get to know her better as well.
1. About how long have you been cosplaying?
I have been cosplaying casually for at least 4 years, but within the past year, I’ve really started focusing on making it a career.
2. What first inspired you to start cosplaying, and who was your first character cosplay?
I remember being in high school and seeing all of these characters that I related to, that I felt like I could draw strength from, and I said to myself, I wanna be them. Cliche enough though, my very first completely handmade cosplay was Elsa from Frozen. The first version is not pretty, and I only own one picture of that mess.
3. Looking back, how have you grown from that first cosplay to now?
Since my first time cosplaying I’ve learned a lot of skills, some from trial and error, but most of what I’ve learned has actually been tips and tricks from others in the cosplay community.
4. What has been your favorite con/cosplay experience so far?
I think one of my favorite experiences would have to be winning at D23 with Amberskies Cosplay. The beginning of the day started out so rocky, and then all of a sudden we were on stage, and then they were announcing us as winners! But what I loved more than the contest itself was, afterward we got to spend some time walking the floor, and so many children and adults came up to us and asked to touch foreheads with me. I also had to convince quite a few kids that Amber wasn’t really scary, her face was just made like that!
5. What kinds of characters are you most drawn to when looking for a new cosplay?
I enjoy a lot of different characters when choosing people to cosplay. If I were to try to focus in on a “type” though, I like characters that I can see myself in, initially closed off but growing throughout a series into an open and accepting person.
6. What has been your favorite cosplay to wear and why?
Oh my goodness, there are so many cosplays I love wearing! I think one of my top favorites would have to be Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas though because along with being my first real cosplay I was proud of, her character means a lot to me.
7. Do you have any dream cosplays that you are, or will be, working on? Why is this cosplay a dream of yours?
Ever since I first started watching anime, Code Geass has been my all time favorite. Lelouch was one of the first characters I ever wanted to cosplay, and finally this year I’m planning on working on his emperor outfit.
8. What has been your biggest motivation throughout your cosplay journey?
I think the biggest thing that has motivated me throughout this entire cosplay experience would be the community. I have so many cosplay friends that look forward to my work, who share ideas with me, and who will just generally nerd out with me. I cosplay for myself, but I couldn’t do it without the community always being there telling me they know I can do it.
9. How has cosplay influenced you as a person?
I think that cosplay has helped preserve a little bit of that childhood spark inside me, a commodity that tends to get forgotten as one age. It’s also helped teach me to not judge because you don’t really know how much a person went through just to get to where you are.
10. Do you have any advice/words of wisdom you would like to give to aspiring cosplayers?
I think the best words of advice that I could give to other cosplayers would be just to do it. We all started somewhere, no matter how small, and if you never try, then you’ll never know.
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he/him • aapi • intj • geek • photographer • journalist • podcaster • martial artist • foodie • dj • cinephile • gamer • traveler
