Reflection : Judging a cosplay contest! (Patreon)

Hey there! So, here's the post about my experience as a cosplay contest jury!

I wanted to give it a try for a long time, but I know many people here don't see me as a "legit" cosplayer despite my experience in both shows (I have over 10 years of experiences in dance and theater) and crafts. I know I'm not an extremely talented seamstress, don't make crazy armor, or put tons of electronics on my costume, but I've great basic knowledge in most of the fields that can be important in cosplay and I think I've the ability to be a very objective person. 

I'm very happy the convention I attended last week gave me this opportunity :) 

I wasn't alone in this journey, and the first thing I noticed is that the contest organizers made sure to pick people with various skills and specialities. This way, when we inspected costumes, we were able to truly understand all the work done by the cosplayers: One would ask details about the fabrics and techniques, an other about the cosplayer's experience, someone else pays more attention to the wigs, the ability to move on stage, etc. Everyone's putting such dedication in their costumes that judging them is a huge responsability, and being surrounded with other passionated people really made it easier. 

There are many little things to see and ask for each costume, and not a lot of time, so judging the costume was the hardest part for me! Amongst the details that we paid attention to were: general accuracy with the refs picture (shape of the outfit, colors of the materials, hairstyle...), cleanliness of the costume, the wig, material's choices, variety of techniques used, finishing, the use of the stage, the ability to act as the character, the originality of the costume and performance, etc etc... We also asked questions about the cosplayer's background: Did they receive help from friends or family members? Is it their first costume? First time on stage? Do they experiment a lot, or follow tutorials? There is a lot to think about! 

As a jury, you must be able to explain your choices after the contest, and most of all, I believe, to provide advices to the cosplayers according to these choices. I can be very ill-at-ease with others so I still have to work on that part haha, but I think it's truly important. I was not here to decide who's a good cosplayer or not, just a costume and a show, and being able to share things I learned during all the years I've spent crafting or being part of shows to other passionated people is more important to me, because it means the cosplayer wants to keep improving their skills and will grow from this experience no matter if he won a prize or not.   

If you have any question, I'll be glad to answer them too :) 

I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the backstage of a cosplay contest!

(Selfies are from the convention: I decided to wear my Yuna cosplay with Lightning's wig for a change - Yes that's an official outfit of her too, hehe! - and on sunday I was, uh, lazy Yen? I wasn't judging anything that day and my train was early so I just put on a costume for fun, but I was super sleepy!)