Patron Spotlight: Ravensbreath Cosplay (Patreon)

Some of us have boring day jobs and exciting cosplay lives outside of work. Some of us have made cosplay into the day job. And then some of us, like Nicole of Ravensbreath Cosplay, get to be super badass both on and off the clock. “I manage a Business Continuity department,” Nicole explains. “We help the company plan for disasters like hurricanes and ice storms, but also application or data center failures or even pandemics. It's a really fun and challenging field as the threats are constantly changing, so we are constantly having to adapt.”

Nicole lives in Texas with her two cats and her husband, who was the key to her initial interest in cosplay. He was the one who initially talked her into visiting a local convention way back in 2014. “To everyone's surprise  — including myself! — I fell in love with the entire scene,” she says. “Everyone looked so happy just being themselves, and I'd been searching for something to feel that way for a very long time.” The next year, Nicole jumped right into cosplay with a Kaylee Frye cosplay from Firefly, accompanied by her husband as Simon. Over the ensuing years, Nicole graduated from closet cosplay to more intense crafting challenges. “I went headfirst into cosplaying year round and haven’t looked back!”

When I ask about Nicole’s process, her answer is a highly relatable cosplay mood. “Everyone thinks that as long as you have fabric, a sewing machine, and good reference photos, you have what you need,” she says. “I've learned that what really makes my cosplays are tears and curse words, heavy on the curse words!” In order to navigate these struggles and stresses, Nicole focuses on staying organized. She describes a dedicated cosplay notebook where she breaks down each costume into individual tasks, and then sets task deadlines to ensure that she can complete a costume in time for an upcoming convention. That level of organization can definitely make the process go more smoothly — as long as you don’t overdo it. “I love organization, so I can get caught up in lists,” she admits. “Unless I get stuck on something, I try to stick to a single piece at a time, like a shirt or pants, so I can see the progress as I go.”

The "Yasha" page of Nicole's cosplay journal

Of the costumes she’s created so far, her favorite is Yennefer, the sultry sorceress from the video game The Witcher. “I knew that Yennefer was like forty levels above where I was skill-wise, but I learn best by overshooting, so I decided to go for it,” she says. She had just received her first sewing machine as a Christmas gift at the time, and was ready to take on a challenge. “Yennefer’s independence, her strength, her passion — are all things I strive to see in myself, so the project became personal for me.” After seven months of sewing (and swearing!) Nicole completed the completely handmade costume. “She will be an ongoing improvement project, but I'm honestly just so proud of how she turned out and how much I learned along the way,” she says.

Sewing isn’t the only new skill that Nicole is challenging herself to learn for cosplay! After many years of not wearing makeup, she decided she wanted to learn. “That, plus the fact that Halloween is my favorite time of the year, made me decide in 2018 that I'd try to do a face paint every other day in October and just play with different characters and creepy designs.” She enjoyed this project so much that she continued it in October of 2019. “My top one is probably the Siren,” she says. “It's not even my most involved look, but I know I will never get my eyeshadow to look as good as I did in that picture ever again, so I'm reveling in that!” She’s also planning to experiment with gore and special effects makeup for a “12 Days of Scary Christmas” project later this month.

I ask her if she has any upcoming cosplay plans she’d like to share, and she’s ready with some ambitious builds. “Anne Bonny from Black Sails, Lord Shaxx from Destiny 2, and Ciri from The Witcher,” she lists. “All of those are going to stretch me in different ways, and I'm so excited!” To keep up with her future work, make sure to follow Nicole on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.