Lately I've been getting tons of comments from people who say they want to cosplay, but lack the necessary "skills" to do so, or are afraid of doing a poor job of it. I generally try to encourage anyone and everyone to just give it a try and do their best, but it doesn't stop people from putting themselves down because of this idea they've conceived that cosplaying requires you to be amazing. Allow me to give everyone in the cosplay world a bit of advice: lighten up, this is for fun I recently read a really good article here on DA about cosplay: [link]
iconketsivaun: speaks great words of wisdom that I myself share in many respects. She talks in this article about how Cosplay is meant to be about having fun and not worrying about your appearance or level of skill. I want to expand on that a bit (and I may repeat some of the things in her article, but so be it).

Take a look at the word Cosplay. Cos is obviously short for costume, and play generally means role-play. But the role-play aspect means to have fun portraying the character you are dressed as, or your interpretation of said character. When you cosplay a character, you do it because you love that character and want to have fun playing around as that character, am I right? I know sometimes I get talked into cosplaying a character I'm not familiar with or as interested in sometimes, as have plenty of people out there, but generally I still do it because it's fun. That's really what cosplay is supposed to be about.

So what happens when people start getting the idea that cosplay is a competition and that some people are better than others because of their cosplay? DRAMA...that's what happens...

Folks, there is a reason that conventions hold Masquerades and cosplay events, it's for people to show off their skills as a costumer or cosplay model. These sanctioned events give credit where it's due, and they are lots of fun to take part in, or even just to watch. I've participated in quite a few contests, and even judged a couple, and it's always refreshing to me to see the amount of creativity that people can put into their costumes. But let's keep things straight, the competition starts and ends here. When you take the competition into the rest of the cosplay world and judge others based on their cosplay ability, you are crossing a line. Every cosplayer who doesn't enter into a contest generally does so because they aren't interested in competing, they're interested in having fun and hanging out with friends. When I'm not in a cosplay event or masquerade, I enjoy cosplay for the aspect of having fun, not caring how good everyone's costume is but respecting all cosplayers for the fact that they are the same as me; they enjoy dressing up as anime characters and goofing around.

So why are there people who judge others based on their ability to cosplay? Sadly it's not so different from any other area of life, people have a tendency to be inconsiderate of others and put them down based on things that really shouldn't matter in the least. People look down on others because of their looks, weight, race, sexual orientation, habits, mistakes they've made...the list goes on and on. Why do we have to bring that unnecessarily long list of bias into the cosplay realm? We don't...this is for fun guys, and nobody has the right to stop another person from having fun with something that causes no harm to others.

Of course I know that saying this won't magically change the world of cosplay so that everyone respects and appreciates everyone else regardless of their ability to make costumes or portray the characters that they are dressed as. There will always be websites like 4-chan, that have nothing better to do than completely tear apart costumes and bias the hell out of everyone until only the most perfect, professional looking cosplays are left to praise. This is where all of you can make a difference. Take my example and don't judge. Some people are good at cosplay, some people are still working on it, but everyone has their own pace. There are plenty of factors such as money, experience, materials, and whatnot that can affect a person's ability to pump out a costume, but none of these factors make anyone more or less of an amazing person than the next. All of us are human beings, and who we are as a person should be far more important than how closely we can make ourselves resemble an anime character. I'm no different from someone who just started liking anime and wants to make their first costume. We all share the passion to bring to life the stories we love so much, and we should just go with that passion, having fun with it instead of being so serious and intent on being "better" than others at cosplay.

Keep in mind that when you step out of your costumes and go back to the real world, you're as normal as everyone else. Right now I'm a senior in college, about to graduate and look for a job. I have a family, friends, and an amazing girlfriend. I have other hobbies and interests besides anime and cosplaying, and I believe in God and go to church. Most of the time I'm not looked up to for anything more than just being myself. I hope everyone who managed to read all of this never forgets that we are all equal, and in the world of cosplay there is nothing that should determine who is better than another other than by what they do as a person. In my personal opinion, people could think you have the cruddiest costume in the world but if you are a good person who cosplays for the fun of it, then you're better off then the most skillful cosplayers around. Never forget that!

As a side-note to my little spew, I want to thank everyone who keeps up with my stuff. I get a lot more praise than I deserve, and I may not always seem appreciative of it but I truly am. I count myself more than just lucky to have the support I receive from you guys online, and from my friends and family in real life. I may not reply to every comment posted on my deviations or journal entries, but I read every single one of them, and nearly all of them bring a smile to my face ^____________^

I hope you don't think it cliche of me to end with a Bible verse, but a friend just shared this with me this morning and I think it's a powerful one:

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is fair, whatever is pure, whatever is acceptable, whatever is commendable, if there is anything of excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy-keep thinking about these things." -Philippians 4:8

I just updated my WIP pic of the King, and he's now 90% completed. I'll finish up the last few details this week and then start on the Queen afterwards. I'm getting really really REALLY excited about these outfits

Speaking of my queen, I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to Spring break coming up in a few days! I'm gonna be rushing home on Friday to give my beautiful lady a big hug and kiss ^____^
I'll likely spend most of my break working on the Queen outfit and simultaneously getting my portfolio pieces printed out. And then there's Anime St. Louis at the tail end of the break, I'm definitely looking forward to that
Anyone doing something fun for their Spring break?

Who's heard of this guy? He takes random you-tube videos of people singing or playing instruments and mixes them together to make music. It doesn't matter if they're good or bad, he takes the most average people and makes them sound incredible! check out his site and be amazed o___o [link]

I just hit 70k, and managed to catch it myself, so there's only 5,000 to go before my kiriban. Start keeping an eye out if you're wanting to do this, though I imagine it'll be at least a couple of weeks before I hit 75k

The first two or three people to pm me a screenshot of my page at 75,000 will get their choice of either a fanart, photo-manip, or cosplay shot of me doing something random or goofy. Fanart and photo-manip is open to whatever you want within reason (aka no hentai, yaoi, obscenity, etc ) and cosplay photos are limited to Jack Skellington, Vash, Yubel-Johan, Tristan, or Kurogane (Jack Atlas needs a bit of work at the moment, and the rest of my costumes are at home. Again, keep requests clean please). Good luck to all who participate

and Aaron