As most of you already know, when I post an interview on Wednesday, it is usually a where are they now piece. Today is no different in that aspect. Today, I reconnect with one of my earliest cosplay interviews. Hell,m This interview took place even before I was a writer for Somewhatnerdy. I first interviewed Zelda, on my personal blog Derf’s Domain. It has been at least a couple of years since I spoke to Zelda in an interview setting. We keep in touch and I wanted to showcase her in my Where Are They Now posts for a few weeks, but I wanted the timing to be special. Since she is Girls of Geek Ms. July, I figured now would be a good time. So, let’s find out exactly where Zelda is now.
1. It has been a couple of years since I first interviewed you, how have you been?
Good! Incredibly busy. I have a million projects going all the time, and my life has changed pretty drastically in 2 years. I’m sure I’ll be a completely different person again 2 years from now
2. What new cosplays have you done since the last time we spoke?
Well, I actually haven’t done any new cosplays this year except a Jessica Rabbit and a Hexidecimal body paint. I’m mostly retired from cosplay – I was making upwards of 20 cosplays a year, and after 11 years of it, it has lost a bit of it’s charm for me. And there are a lot of new things in my life that are taking priority over cosplay (just time for something new).
So, I’ve still probably made about 30 new cosplays since we last spoke. In 2013 I made Tank Girl, Triana from Venture Bros, Bulma from Dragonball, Sheik from Zelda, a sexy Darth Vader, Red Sonja, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, Mary Marvel, zero suit Samus, Velma, Sailor Moon, Beetlejuice, Hunter Gathers from Venture Bros, Judy Funnie from Doug, Poison Ivy, 2 new original designs of Harley Quinn, Dr. Harleen Quinzell, and Zoidberg. I did some others besides then in 2012, but I have no idea what they were XD It’s hard to keep track.
3. Out of all your past cosplays, do you have a favorite?
Hard to decide. I’ve done over 100 costumes in 11 years of cosplaying, plus a ton of original designs and characters. I really love Harley Quinn, but I also love Morrigan from Darkstalkers and Lydia from Beetlejuice, both her wedding dress and her cartoon outfits.
4. My favorite has and always will be your version of Bloodrayne. Is that character close to your heart?
Well…no. Not really, lol. That costume was commissioned by someone on Etsy (and not as well made as I would have liked. It didn’t fit very well, and I sold it pretty much right after that photo-shoot). That shoot was done pretty early in the days of my modeling career when I was still working with Cosplay Deviants. The location for the shoot was cool and I like the design of the character and her outfit/weapons a lot, but the game falls pretty squarely in the “meh” pile for me. Some characters I cosplay are very near and dear to my heart, some costumes I make just because I like their design, some costumes I make because I have the stuff to do so, some characters I make to resell the costumes. I think it usually comes across when I make a costume that is a character I really love and identify with, but sometimes I make things just for the fun of making them.
5. I also know you are an accomplished model, what projects are you currently working on?
Oh, well. There’s always new projects on the horizon. But, as far as ongoing projects, I own and operate www.GeekyFreaky.com – I do a lot of press and event coverage, photo spreads, news and articles there. I also have been an admin and member of www.GeekxGirls.com for about 2 years now, and do tons of work with those wonderful ladies in the form of social networking, photo spreads, articles and event coverage as well. I also help co-organize the meetup group Alt+3rR0r Los Angeles, which is an alternative modeling and photography group. We meet 2-3 times monthly for different group photo-shoots with alternative, horror, fetish, cosplay, costumed, nude, and conceptual themes. I’ve gone back and forth on hosting shoots with JaW Images Photography for about 4 years now, and it’s been a big part of progressing my modeling ability and career. I continue to work 1 on 1 with photographers doing everything from costumes, fantasy, body paint, nudes, fetish, horror, conceptual, art, whatever. I don’t generally plan my modeling ventures too far in the future – it’s sort of whatever comes up. I’ve been published in about 20 print magazines and will continue to submit this year. I also do a lot of conceptualizing, talent and location scouting/booking, art direction, styling and planning of group shoots, as well as organizing product shoots for other costumers and artists. I’m also up in social networking pretty much everywhere, and still submit photos to adult/nude cosplay and geek sites.
Even though I have stopped making cosplay costumes for the most part, I still do a ton of original designs for my modeling, as well as for resale and other models. I do pretty much everything except makeup – I suck at that!
6. What do you prefer, cosplay or modeling photo shoots?
Well, modeling, if I’m being honest. Cosplay was what originally got me into modeling – I’ve been cosplaying for over 11 years, modeling now for over 5. My very first photo-shoot was a nude Slave Leia shoot, and I kind of fell in love with modeling from there. Cosplay is fun because you get to share your love of characters with other fans, and there is just an insanely huge market and fan base for it nowadays – way bigger than when I first started in modeling and cosplay. It’s cool to see how it’s grown, but at the same time, there are a lot of downsides to it. Everyone has an opinion on what cosplay should be and how it should look, and I find it really limiting a lot of the time. While I love recreating characters, I rarely go for 100% accuracy. Some people do and it’s great and I see the photos and how they bring a character to life, and that’s awesome. But for me most of the time, I love the design aspect as well – I never want to recreate something that someone else has already done. I like doing my own interpretation of things. A lot of fans don’t like that, they want to force their own ideals and interpretations of a character on you, and I don’t like people telling me how I should make my art. There’s a lot less of that in modeling and I’m more free to do my own thing, because people aren’t so attached to preconceived ideas of what you should look like or what settings you should be in, or this or that. I also get a lot of flak for my tattoos in my cosplay photos, or not having huge boobs or the right bodytype or gender, which is more and more common in cosplay. I know there are a lot of people out there doing their best to battle this, and it really doesn’t get to me so much (personally). But not everyone has a thick skin like I do. I want to go out there and do something that is unique and represents me, and my style and themes are kind of weird and niche. A lot of people look at what I do and really hate it – which I get. I could probably go out there and make art that appeals to everyone, but I find it pretty boring. Really, I’m doing it for myself and not for them, which seems weird to say, but art for me is my release and it’s how I put my feelings and my thoughts out into the world. A lot of cosplay fans don’t really get that.
I do still love cosplay, although I’m phasing it out of my life a lot – I feel like it was a gateway to a lot of other things I love to do and helped me gain skills and experience and opened a lot of other doors for me, and introduced me to some great people. But I look at where it is now compared to where it was when I started 11 years ago, and most of the changes I see have not been for the better. I hate to be one of those “I was cosplayin’ before it was cool!” hipsters, but when stuff gets popular to the point that it has it’s own TV shows and fan followings and the mainstream and Hollywood have gotten their dirty paws into it, it tends to lose a lose of the charm and genuineness that it had. I am glad I started in cosplay when I did – I think it’s hard to be a new cosplayer in the state of the scene as it is now. Pictures of me in my early days of cosplay at conventions don’t even exist, and I’m glad they don’t, because there would be huge threads of “OMG, WHAT A SHITTY COSTUME” etc etc. It’s hard for people to feel comfortable learning, as everything anyone does is plastered all over the internet, which opens it up to criticism from anonymous jerks who can’t seem to understand that just because a person is in a costume does not mean that they are not a real person with feelings underneath it.
7. I Also understand, that you are in the gaming industry, what can you tell us about that?
I’ve been in video game development off and on since 2007. I originally started in QA at THQ, and from there went to Insomniac Games. I’ve returned to game development again after a couple years off to receive my massage license. This time around, I’m at a small indie game developer called WhiteMoon Dreams working on the video game adaptation of Privateer Press’ WARMACHINE tabletop (ours is WARMACHINE: Tactics). It’s a turn based strategy game built in a steampunk, fantasy sci fi universe. It’s far and away the best team I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. The game itself is incredible, as is the original IP, and the team here is full of the most capable, talented, interesting folks I’ve ever experienced. We’re making a AAA game on an indie budget (funded through Kickstarter! Gotta love Kickstarter). I work in the QA department but also do social networking, marketing, community management and web development. Everyone here does a little bit of everything and the company is very supportive of folks using their talents however they can. This company is amazing in the way it’s set up – no doors, no dumb ideas, no bosses. Complete collaboration and transparency. I couldn’t possibly imagine a better place to work and a more fun project to be a part of! We just hit our first round of beta for our Kickstarter backers TODAY, so it’s been a crazy fun ride. (This isn’t the case with the games industry as a whole, though. Overall it’s grueling, soul crushing and depressing. This place is the exception and not the rule, I am sad to say). Insomniac Games was a great company to work for too, though. But the hours man! The hours!
8. When you have down time, what do you like to do?
Down time? What’s that? I leave myself very little down time. Between my day job in video game development and all my responsibilities here, running a website full time, making costumes for events and modeling, spending time scheduling shoots and modeling itself, doing tons of re-enactment events weekly with the Society for Creative Anachronism and getting my hand in armored combat (and making more costumes and crafts of all types for the SCA – where I feel cosplay was ultimately leading me to), doing event coverage and press for geeky events of all kinds (especially in the local geeky alternative culture scene – goth, fetish, burlesque, etc), helping organize group shoots, writing for GeekxGirls – I don’t have a whole hell of a lot of free time. That’s ok though. I like it that way. When I do have some free time, it’s usually spent crafting – costuming, cooking, painting, metalworking. I also like to play tabletop and role playing games, go to metal shows, travel (especially internationally), and when I find the time, read and write. It feels like I have pretty much a never ending chain of stuff to do. I’ve also been getting involved with more charities lately through both my day job and modeling, so I’ve been working with Extra Life, Child’s Play, GAAM, and Wounded Warrior Project as well as breast cancer charities through the calendar Girls of Geek.
9. I know you are a gamer, what is your game of choice?
WARMACHINE: Tactics! Really though, I’m more of a classic gamer nowadays. I love the Bioshock and Castlevania series, Zelda: LTTP and OOT, Legend of Dragoon, Chrono Trigger, SF2, and Halo 2/3. I like a lot of silly indie games as well.
10. If you could work with any cosplayer or model (that you have not worked with yet), who would it be?
Roxy Lee GG and Miss Annaka Vader! Those girls are my main women and I hope to someday have the honor of meeting them and working with them.
Links:
www.geekyfreaky.com/ (NSFW)
www.facebook.com/geekyfreakysite
www.facebook.com/MistressZeldaModel
www.modelmayhem.com (NSFW)
