JESSICA LYNN COSPLAY - BE WHO YOU ARE IN STYLE

Now a sure fire way of giving your confidence a bit of a boost, is by dressing up as a superhero, before flaunting your stuff in public. So go ahead and give it a try. Cause you never know, if you're lucky enough, you might be as good as my mate Jessica, who I spoke to only the other day, whilst dressed as a radish.





1) What are your own origins, Jessica? Plus what path did you take in life before you got to where you are today?   I grew up not having many friends. I was not the prettiest girl, I was over weight and I liked weird things. I wasn't very girly, and although I didn't realize it at the time, I was made fun of a lot. I just wanted to fit in.

In 1999, my dad took me to a local comic book store after school. I was already into superhero cartoon shows and drawing my own heroes, so this made perfect sense. About a year later I joined theatre. I stuck with theatre throughout middle school, high school, and even went to a theatre college.

Comic books were always a big influence in my art and inspiration for my work. I had been making costumes for little high school theatre events and shows, but in college I attended my first comic convention and saw costumes being worn in a whole different way. I got really excited and commissioned my first costume from a friend studying costume construction in school. She made me my first superhero costume. I didn't cosplay regularly, but I admired it a lot.

After college I went through a period where I was often criticized by people “close” to me for my lack of confidence. It was a difficult time for me and I ended up using cosplay to help get me through that. From there I became addicted, and here I am today.

2) What are the most persistent comments you've received from your fans?   I receive positive comments regularly . Every now and then some negative ones. The two that stand out the most are people pointing out that I create good costumes without over-sexualizing it, and people saying I look like Lady Gaga.

That second one is weird to me, but I have gotten that comment a handful of times.

3) What is your ‘regular’ job? And does it in any way shape or form aide you as a Cosplayer?   I am a “digital artist”, and I work full time for a company essentially editing photos. It does shape my cosplay in that I get to team up with a lot of photographers to do fun photo manipulated edits for our shoots. When I did manips with cosplay photographers, it’s exactly what I do for my regular job, except it allows me to have a little more fun and creativity.

4) How did your friends, family, and work colleagues first react to the news that you were a model?   I’d just like to clarify that I no way consider myself a model. I’m just not. As far as how they reacted to my cosplaying, it’s pretty supportive. My friends and family have known I've been weird for years. So whatever I do, doesn't phase them anymore.

When I first got my job, my boss was completely fascinated by my costuming. In fact, when I was interviewed for my job -- which has nothing to do with cosplay -- my boss spent some time looking through my costumes on my website. I tried to keep it a secret at work, but through the grapevine, everyone started to learn about it and then I would just get a lot of questions about halloween costumes.

5) How do you decide what Cosplay costume to wear for a convention? And who makes them?   When I first started, I commissioned some pieces for my costumes, but now I make them all myself. There really is no pattern for what costumes I decide to make. Sometimes it’s a character I love. Sometimes I just like the costume. Sometimes I randomly find a fabric and decide to make a full costume just because the fabric is awesome. Sometimes I like a character, but hate their costume so I decide to make a different one. And sometimes I just make a costume because it’s easy and I have the pieces.

6) What have you learnt about yourself whilst being a Cosplay model? And were their any unforeseen obstacles you had to contend with?   Even though I still struggle with it, I've learned a lot about confidence. Most of my obstacles have been with people not being honest with me. There’s this imaginary idea about “cosplay fame”, and people like to use me to get up there on this imaginary pedestal. I usually fall for it because I get lost in the idea of trying to have friends.

7) What was the best / worst convention you ever attended?   My best convention is still NYCC, specifically, 2012. I had a great time there. The convention was big, yet I got to see everything. It was well organized and there was never a dull moment.

I’d rather not say the name of my worst convention experience, but it was a local convention to me and it was their first time running that specific convention (even though they had put on others). It was small, entirely disorganized and trashy. The worst part is how the organizers praised themselves for a “great show”. I probably won’t be returning.

8) What would be your dream Cosplay gig and outfit?   My 'dream outfits' are more like goals because I’m pretty ambitious and work to reach a lot of my goals. Right now my goals are to finish off a original Hawkgirl and Wasp outfits I've redesigned. I started last year, but put them aside because I didn't have it entirely thought out. I've fixed my kinks and will be starting them up again within the next few weeks.

9) Has their ever been an outfit you just did not like wearing? And if so, why?   No. Not really. Although one time, after a photo shoot with my WWII Wonder Woman outfit on, I nearly died in my corset. It was ridiculously hard to breathe in. I literally had to be cut out of it.

10) Do you have a credo you live by?   Forget about everyone else. Just work to be better than yourself.

And so say all of us, Jessica. And so say all of us. So there you have it, dear readers. My good friend Jess and her life as a cosplayer. When you have the time please check out her facebook and instagram pages. Trust me. She's one hell of a great lady.