What Exactly Makes A Cosplayer Professional?

Posted by : Guardian-of-Fun-Times Saturday, October 18, 2014

Many people and some cosplay newbies mistake wealth, fame, and glory as the main point of cosplaying. They see certain cosplayers who are often very popular with the crowd as the ideals in cosplaying and assume that the cosplayer is a "professional" due to the huge numbered stats of their social media followers, the costumes that they wear are very well-made, and are sometimes if not all awarded large sums of cash and material prizes for their efforts. But this is a potentially disastrous assumption to make in the enjoyment of a hobby such as cosplay.

Cosplaying is paying tribute to your favorite character/design concept/idea by dressing up and acting out this character as accurately as possible. Some cosplayers are quite devoted to this idea that they take great lengths to produce the best cosplay of their chosen character. They may employ their own knowledge or hire professionals to help them make their cosplay come true. These fan-made efforts are sometimes so well done that the untrained eye may mistake the effort as something done on the professional level akin to Hollywood or theatrical levels in dressing and acting. But in the case of cosplayers, this really isn’t the point, because they were just doing their best to give tribute to their favorite character.

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Are there really these so called "professional cosplayers"? I don’t know about you, but I raised my eyebrows when the media started labeling very popular cosplayers with that term a few years ago. Something just doesn’t sit right. Might be the whole fandom versus commercialism thing that strikes me as queer.

Dictionary.com defines a "Professional" as below:

pro·fes·sion·al (adjective)

1. Following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.

2. Of, pertaining to, or connected with a profession: professional studies.

3. Appropriate to a profession: professional objectivity.

4. Engaged in one of the learned professions: A lawyer is a professional person.

5. Following as a business an occupation ordinarily engaged in as a pastime: a professional golfer.

As described above by the term, a professional cosplayer should be someone whose livelihood is wholly sustained by cosplay from a legitimate degree from pertaining experience or studies. Or at least, it should be a medium for them to gain substantial financial/material benefits from. Make sense? By strict definition, it's pretty impossible to have a professional cosplayer. By strict definition, a professional cosplayer would have to be someone who is paid to cosplay. Somewhat like a professional actor who is paid to act.

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The most often asked question: "Will I earn any money by cosplaying?" The answer is YES! But it takes a huge effort to make any financial returns especially in cosplay. There's money to gain in cosplay, but none by being just a cosplayer in general let alone. If you want to be involved in cosplaying "professionally" you should become more than just a cosplayer who cosplays.

If you want to earn while doing something cosplay related there are ways:

Professional Costume Maker and Props Maker

Aside from clients who are cosplayers, there are commercial production groups who are in need of clothes and costumes for their actors and models for theater, TV commercials, TV shows and etc.

Professional Hair/Wig Stylist and Make-up Artist

There are many characters who require extensive facial or prosthetic make-up and the make-up skills you honed in cosplay are going to be really useful in related occupations.

Cosplay Model

But mostly if you’re appropriate enough for the particular role.

Cosplay Mascot

There are many companies who need people who can wear full-body costumes while being able to dance and/or act and not every standard actor can accomplish such a feature.

Professional Photographer/Videographer

If you began as a hobbyist you may expand your skills in photography by taking shots of cosplayers! Take it a step further by practicing portraiture, fashion and event photography, videography, or even journalism.

Cosplay-related Events

If you have a background in public relations, marketing and other related roles and if you have enough manpower and resources to assemble a quality event which people (cosplayers, enthusiasts, and the curious) will annually attend.

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Yes, you might argue that Ivy Doomkitty, Jessica Nigri, Liz Katz, Nicole Marie Jean, and Yaya Han are doing it. They're all models that make their own costumes with a history of convention attendance before being paid. If you allow me to comment objectively, I'd say they're earning their bread not directly from cosplay itself, but from their merchandise and presence. And this is the part that gets grey. Even though the above mentioned cosplayers don't get their money from doing the hobby itself, it's definitely their jumping board, trademark, and selling point. So, that makes it hard to separate both entities. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to shoot the above mentioned cosplayers down, I admire them and think they are all awesome in different ways. I'm just analysing objectively. So begs the question, is the term "professional cosplayers" valid?

There are many talents and skills involved to make a successful cosplay. Some of the basics are honed through practice, some are learned in school or in apprenticeships, and higher education. If one were so inclined, and when you’ve learned and experienced enough to be confident in your skills you may be able pursue a career which is related to cosplaying. Remember there is no single educational course to take for it and it isn’t necessary that one stops being a cosplayer when one takes up a professional career. But there's just no such thing as a "professional cosplayer", only professionals who are involved in cosplaying.