Interview of a cosplayer : Christina Sims/ZerinaX
For the visitors who don’t know you, may you introduce yourself?
Hello! My name is Christina Sims, and I’m a cosplayer and costume designer from California, USA. My online nickname is ZerinaX.
May you explain us how is borned this passion for the creation of your own costumes?
I’ve always loved creating things and making art, whether it’s drawing or painting or gluing something together with a hot glue gun. I was inspired by seeing cosplay at my first convention, Blizzcon 2007. I
promised myself that I would do a costume for Blizzcon 2008 since it looked like people were having so much fun doing it! I’ve always had a passion for art, just no outlet that inspired me enough to stay with it.
You practice this hobby only since 2007/2008 and your creations are so accurate and delicate. Even your first costume, Sunwell Paladin, was not very easy to realize. Reading tutorials on the net is a good thing
but practising is another one ! There is obviously a large part of talent. How have you reached such results?
Reading tutorials was a significantly large part of the learning process, but the only thing that helped me really learn was the experience. I tried so many different things with my first costume that didn’t work
out. Using the wrong materials, getting the fit wrong, making sure nothing was going to fall off, explode or otherwise get destroyed. Although my first costume, the Sunwell Paladin, did end up falling apart after a
trip to Blizzcon and a rather exciting Halloween party, I learned a lot of what to do and what not to do when it comes to costume creation.
On your Facebook page, we can see that the creation of your Paladin Tier 12 costume lasted several months. For the motivated people who would like to start a costume, how many time do they need to let appear a
costume of that quality?
The more complex the costume, the more time I would allow yourself. You have to have a good understanding of your own time frame (working around a job, for example), skill and pace when it comes to creating
something complicated. If it’s the first time you are working with a particular material, allow yourself extra time to get used to working with it. If you are good with a sewing machine but your costume is mostly
armor, make sure you aren’t going to rush anything for the best results. For my Tier 12 Paladin, it was my first time working with fiberglass and bondo, so I tried to give myself an extra could of weeks for trial
and error. And clean up! Don’t forget setting aside time for clean-up. A cluttered workspace is very stressful!
What are the major steps to respect when your are a beginner ? Based on which criterias is made the choice of a first costume ? I guess that if you base your choice only on the beauty of the costume, it may be
very discouraging because of the difficulty and the costs.
If it is your first time working on a costume, do not get frustrated or upset with making mistakes. Mistakes will always happen, and you should consider them learning experiences rather than a punishment or a
negative. For every time a part snaps or trim warps or you can’t seem to get the fit right, you learn and research so you can be prepared for the next project you do.
Also, as a beginner, keep in mind your budget and time frame for a costume. If you are working on a very restricted budget, a very elaborate costume may not be up to your standards once you are finished with it.
If you have the budget but no time, it’s equally upsetting to have a 50% finished costume by the time a convention rolls around.
Don’t be afraid to ask other cosplayers questions, but do some research first. Many talented cosplayers have tutorials or answer questions on their web pages or Facebook pages, but answering the same question
multiple times is very time consuming. Asking what material a costume is made out of when it is has already been mentioned on the same page can get frustrating after a while. Take your time and read about all
the information you can first.
What are for you the most abilities needed to start this hobby ?
All you need to start cosplaying is a passion to create art, the ability to look at one character or picture for a very extended period of time, and enough creativity to interpret what a fantasy-themed, two
dimensional picture might actually look like in reality. Many aspects of fantasy armor do not translate well to reality, or are very impractical, so it’s important to think outside the box and outside the literal
art in order to come up with your best interpretation.
The costume creation is very impressive. But what it impresses me also a lot, is the way you integrate the shoes at the costume. For example, for Dragonqueen Alextrasza, there are so perfectly integrated that
you can see that there were created only for this costume. How do you do that ?
Haha, those shoes were a lucky find off a club wear website. It was surprisingly difficult to find purple over the knee boots, but those ones seemed to work quite well for Alexstrasza! Sometimes it just takes a
lot of time on Google and random websites to find something that you need.
Where do you buy all the stuffs needed for your costumes? Do you have specialised shops, the quality of it is amazing ? Or do you buy your stuffs on the net ?
I shop online for many of my costume supplies. Wonderflex I purchase from dazian.com, and I’ve been getting some great wigs from Arda Wigs lately. Fabric I tend to get locally from Joannes or other local fabric
stores, but if I need a specialty fabric or a lot of spandex, I’ll visit Spandex World online. Craft supplies I get locally from Michaels, and I purchase fabric paint from Dharma Trading Company online. They have
great deals on fabric paint and such a wide variety of colors!
To reach that level of precision, it seems to me that you need to be very inventive because those costumes are part of a game. There are not created to be worn by humans. How do you made it suitable?
It takes quite a bit of interpretation to turn a fantasy costume into reality. Female fantasy armor in particular is infamous for being completely impractical. Keeping the essence of the costume while making it
wearable can be difficult at times, but a little bit of quick thinking can go a long way. Velcro is incredibly useful when keeping pieces of armor attached to your clothes, and sometimes you have to get creative
when adding buckles and straps so they remain unseen for pictures. But yes, Velcro. Lots of Velcro. I don’t know what I would do without Velcro.
What are the opportunities for you to wear those costumes ? Are there numerous? Because unfortunately you can only wear one of it at a time ;)
I’m happy to live in California now, where many conventions happen throughout the year. I also get to travel a lot for my employer, Cryptozoic Entertainment, to portray iconic characters from World of Warcraft
for the World of Warcraft Trading Card game. Between local conventions and traveling for Cryptozoic, there is never a dull moment for me and I find myself in costume very often! Sometimes I wish I had more time
to create more costumes!
What is the moment that you are afraid of when you start the creation of a costume?
My biggest worry is always, “Will I have time to finish this?” I get so caught up in loving a design of a costume that even I forget some of the basic cosplaying rules I’ve made for myself. Between work and
travel, cosplay takes up a lot of my free time. I enjoy it, but I like working on a costume a small amount per day over many days since I very rarely have multiple days in a row free to work on something.
Sometimes it is hard to balance life and responsibilities around such a fun hobby.
Few people have the chance to slip into the skin of their favourite characters? What do you feel when you are wearing a costume and when you cross other passionate with a costume?
There’s nothing like having a conversation with someone as passionate about your character or the series your character is from. You can talk about anything from design interpretation to crafting techniques, or
even just trivia and general knowledge. Sometimes you get so wrapped up in sharing your enthusiasm that you fail to notice photographers huddled around waiting patiently for pictures. Sometimes cosplayers just
want a moment to be themselves! I love talking with other people from the same series, or even wearing the same character. It’s so easy to carry on a conversation because you know you already have that much in
common.
When you get out such dressed, you must be confronted to unusual situations. May you let us know one of them ?
Sometimes you have to deal with people that don’t understand cosplay, or are very rude to people in costume. I had a situation where I was posing for pictures at a convention and someone came up behind me and
began making lewd gestures. Although he wasn’t touching me, it was very rude. Thankfully, I had an amazing friend with me who yelled some very … colourful expletives at the person and really got in his face. He
ran off very quickly!
And the last questions ,do you want to add something ?
I enjoy posting progress pictures on my cosplay page at facebook.com/zerinacosplay. I love to do giveaways as well when I hit certain milestones, such as board games and loot cards from the World of Warcraft
Trading Card Game, so feel free to follow me if you are interested in cosplay and would like some tips from personal experience! Thank you for the opportunity to do this interview!
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