Nakedly, “cosplay” combines “costume” and “play” in the real-life portrayal of fictional characters—commonly at conventions specifically for this Japanese-derived art form..
Costume and play will form the rubric by which award-winning cosplayer, Cosbunny, will judge hopeful contestants at the SonomaCon Cosplay Contest this Oct. 3. “You can look at the craftsmanship—the skill and the number of skills they were able to execute in the creation of their cosplay. Or the performance—stage presence, how well you portray a story, how much you get an audience immersed,” says Cosbunny.
Ten years of making costumes, competing, winning awards and 8,000 social media followers have earned Cosbunny the right to judge. Off stage, her judgment is kind: “Outside of the contest, do whatever you want. Cosplay is for everybody. You can make anything from scratch; you can buy a costume online; you can even throw some pieces together from your closet and put a wig on, and that’s still completely valid. Don’t be afraid to jump in.”
The cosplay contest and subsequent drum-led parade of cosplayers (representing a hundred pop culture fandoms) will be just one set piece in the ever-expanding galaxy of SonomaCon.
Unexpected success has led organizer Joe Sapp and company to move the event, now in its third year, across the elevated freeway from the Santa Rosa Vets Building to the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, doubling its offerings.
Primarily a competitive gaming event, SonomaCon will include cash-prize tournaments for “Magic: The Gathering” and flesh and blood card games, speed cubing, learn-to-play sessions, celebrity interview panels, a “Whimsy Woods” immersive experience and an exhibitors’ hall.
Cincinnatus Hibbard: Cosbunny, what do you love about cosplay?
Cosbunny: I love that it’s a hobby with a never-ending potential to grow—there is always something to learn. Because it’s so vast, you can learn any form of artistry and apply it to your costume.
You will be cosplaying as ‘Appa’ on Saturday (from the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender). What new skills did you learn on that build?
Airbrushing on fabric … and shaping and coloring [fake] fur.
How many hours did it take to make ?
70–80 hours.
Tell me about your workspace.
(Laughing) I call it ‘the crafter’s hoard.’ If you were a crafter, you’d know what I mean.
What distinguishes your cosplay?
The thing that I focus the most on is incorporating a visual story into my costumes—visually telling a character’s background in fabrics and textures and motifs and signifiers.
SoCal has the fame of the biggest cosplay conventions—Comicon and Anime Expo and the like. Tell us about the Nor Cal scene, which is developing around medium and small conventions like SonomaCon.
[In] the cosplay community, and even more so in the craftsmanship community, everybody is super supportive and really loves to see each other shine. Even at competitions—everyone wants to be friends backstage.That’s the best thing about cosplay—the friends you pick up along the way. They’re like my second family—we travel out of state together; we stay in cramped hotel rooms together and talk weekly, if not daily.
Tell me about being a Black cosplayer.
Like any other minority group, we get more negative attention than others—especially online.
But I will say that the Black cosplay community is super supportive and amazing. And that the [greater] cosplay community is so overwhelmingly protective of their own.
Learn more: Find Cosbunny’s portfolio on Instagram @cosbunnycosplay and her construction tutorials on YouTube at CosBunnyCosplay. Meet her in person at Santa Rosa’s SonomaCon, judging on Oct. 3 and tabling both days. Tickets and full schedule: sonoma-con.com.
