24 Aug Guest Spotlight: ManaKnight Cosplay – I Like to Play the Young Hero Out to Save the World
Good Morning everyone! Welcome back to Maker’s Monday! Today we have a guest spotlight from ManaKnight Cosplay, who takes us through how they got into cosplay, some of their convention rituals, and a bit of advice for those of you who may be looking into getting into the hobby yourselves. They’re incredibly talented, so we hope you enjoy this read!
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Hi everyone, I am ManaKnight Cosplay. I am from the East Coast of the USA and have been cosplaying for close to 10 years.
Archer – Photographed by Toshi Studios
Cloud – Photographed by David Ngo @dtjaaaam
I got drawn into cosplay because of my love of anime and video games. I had a lot of passion for various characters such as Cloud Strife, Sora, Lelouch, Archer, etc. and just really wanted to bring to life. Seeing photos online back in 2003 told me that this was something I wanted to try. Typically, when I cosplay, I stick to a theme a lot of cosplaying the main character or “hero”. I like being the young hero out to save the world and put together a party to help me through. I relate to those characters in so many ways. I also love characters that fit the shounen or pretty/fem boy type look. Cosplaying these characters has been challenging because I faced a few problems. I am older than a lot of the characters I did and a different race than the majority of them. How did I do it, I just tried cosplaying to look as much like the character as I could, in my own skin color. Honestly, many think I did a great job in the end.
Mika & Krul (@living_still on IG) – Photographed by Saturn 7 Photography
To those who cosplay for the first time, I recommend starting as a character you really love. That always makes cosplay so much more enjoyable to me because you can connect with similar people much easier. Which brings me into why I cosplay over and over, it’s the people I meet and spend time with, rather it be for groups or when I cosplay solo. The challenging part of cosplay is making the character I want come to life the way I want, along with keeping it consistent. Over time a cosplay can wear, fall apart, I may not do the makeup 100% the same way as before. My favorite portion of cosplay is the prop making, because it’s a skill I always had, and doing the makeup. I feel like makeup is what really brings my characters to looking like the anime or video game.
Sora – Photographed by David Ngo @dtjaaaam
I typically have a plan where I finish cosplays no later than Sunday the same week I leave for a con. I pack and aim to be ready to leave on Thursday. I unload my car/suitcases, unpack, iron cosplays, etc. all in a particular order. Then I do the reverse Saturday night or Sunday to leave for a con. I just have a specific order I do stuff and I press very hard not to waste time. When I travel and go to cons a ton, a burnout can happen often. I either just not worry about making anything new or I press through it. An amazing con experience can turn things around for me. Also doing a cosplay I just really love and turning out how I finally wanted, like Kingdom Hearts Cloud, all can keep me going.
Thank you for your time reading. Keep working hard at cosplay. Every one is and can be amazing.
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You can find Terry on these platforms:
IG: @manaknight
Twitter: @ManaKnight
FB: ManaKnight Cosplay