#craftsmanship competition

[hhisirdoux]

Guys!! I won an award for my Cole cosplay!!!

I have been working on this cosplay since 2019 on and off and making changes. Every time I learn a new skill I would think about how I could apply it to Cole. For Connecticon I learned how to work with leather!

I entered as a novice and was bumped to advanced! This award means so much to me 🥰

[telekineticmaniac]

I made a new video about cosplay craftsmanship!! But this time around instead of my usual stats, I have the most chaotic crafting example to serve as a visual aid to flesh out my discussion points — word on the street is the section where I show what I consider a "Step One" for creating a piece with good craft as both a highly awarded craftsmanship competitor and competition judge, has been extremely enlightening for my fellow competitive cosplayers looking to up their game!

[vicious-cosplay]

Not All Cosplay Competitions are the Same

I recently read Kamui’s post on a breakdown about cosplay competitions, and while I did like the write up on a perspective of competing for something like Blizz con, there was one important article missing from it: this is for a very limited type of cosplay competition. As someone who competes and also runs cosplay competitions on the east coast of the USA, less than half of the writeup really applied. 

Below I have a list of items that a con may, or may not have in their variation of a cosplay competition. Please note, I am also writing this from my knowledge of competing at east coast anime cons and reading rules/word of mouth from other cosplay competitors that is primarily from the USA. There is no universal standard for any con type on how to run a cosplay competition.

Some cons might have...

absolutely no real craftsmanship/performance competition (look-alike, for fun competitions)

craftsmanship only portion (no performance needed)

craftsmanship requires a walk-on

craftsmanship requiring performance

performance that does not require craftsmanship

separate competitions for performance & craftsmanship 

Hall Cosplay = craftsmanship judging

Hall Cosplay = ‘I found you in the hall and I like this, here is an award for your work’

Masquerade = craftsmanship / performance competition

Masquerade = performance only competition

Masquerade = an actual ball and not a competition at all

Cosplay Competition = wild card

craftsmanship judging where they actually get up and look at your work

craftsmanship judging where people sit in place and listen to you talk about what you put together

craftsmanship judging while you are on stage competing and are only able to see you from your table

craftsmanship judging in a private room

craftsmanship judging on stage where you are asked questions in front of an audience

given an unlimited amount of time to talk about your work

given a minimum of 3-5 minutes to talk about your work and have them look at it

craftsmanship judges that are costumers themselves

performance judges that are performers themselves

guest judges that have never made a garment in their lives

guest judges that have never been on a stage in their life

staff judges who may/may not be cosplayers or performers

judges who only do armor and prop work

judges who only do sewing work

judges who are not biased and can easily put aside wow factor in order actually judge the quality of a costume

judges who are biased or have no background and want to give the best scores to the biggest, brightest costume out there

scores that are also manipulated in a way by the audience (popularity contest)

someone might be in the background manipulating the scores

separate the level for competition between performance and craftsmanship

combine level for competition between performance and craftsmanship (are you a Master performer? Never made an outfit in your life? You’re a master craftsmanship too)

have a weekend long event where Friday/Saturday are judged separately

have a weekend long event where Friday/Saturday are competing for the same awards

rulesets set to ICG standards

rulesets based off of general agreement to other cons nearby

rulesets that might as well be written in crayon cause they don’t really follow them

low standards because they are a small con and limited entries

massively competitive standards due to the entry submission level and the popularity, meaning the bar is astronomically high (BlizzCon + WCS are great examples of this)

give out money/cash prizes

give out free stuff to the con and/or dealers hall garbage

give out only awards

From @natsuocosplay

rules for allowing original character designs

rules for allowing fan designs of established characters (gijinka, steampunk, ect), but not fully original characters

rules for having a limited genre of characters for competition (anime = japanese/south east asia only, comiccon = comic book only ect)

Remember: If you have never competed at a con, try to find someone who has and ask them about it. Their formatting may be completely different from what you are used to, or completely different from what some people have informed you of. 

My inbox is always open as well for questions about cosplay competitions, and I will try my best to answer them if I know the venue/setup to explain it better.

[vicious-cosplay]

gtcosn you are not alone in this confusion over classes. Trust me when I say that lots of people are constantly confused :/

The first problem is this: there isn't a standard guideline in which any anime convention in the USA uses for their classes. Shit, some cons don't even have the same classes. Now some (and I mean… few… some..) follow the International Costumer's Guild (ICG) Fairness Guidelines for their ranking, but the downside is that the only anime convention that actually utilizes it publicly is AnimeNorth, which is the ONLY ICG certified anime convention in North America (that I know of.) And… I'm not even sure if they do anymore since they're on a 4 class system still. Hello I'm a Cosplay Department Head and I'm confused.

Depending on the director of the Hall Cosplay/Masquerade depends on how strong/lax the rules are. My personal opinion? That's both stupid and logical. It's logical because there are many times when long time costumers enter first time into competitions and do so as novice because they have no awards under their belt, but it's stupid because it forces people up a class at an early time. To sum it up in years I also think is generally odd because different people can make different things in two years. Someone who takes their time in learning or is under budget may make ONE costume in two years, but someone with more budget and more time might make 5 in ONE year. Who has more practice?

Also, your standing at other competitions is not effected at all until you've won your first major award. It's the idea of 'once you go up, you can never go down.' You win Best Advanced at Ikkicon? This means you are now a Journeyman/Advanced level competitor, you can no longer enter as novice. I myself was boosted at Anime USA to Master class when I received 'Best Master', even though I entered Journeyman. What did this mean? I could never compete as Journeyman again, I was now Master Class. But until you win that award, you aren't locked to a class.

The rules for what class you are in while climbing the ladder is mostly a guideline, but also a way to force people to compete higher at the same time since there are SO MANY NOVICES due to the growth of cosplay. So when a convention says you need X awards to get to Journeyman, they expect you to be honest and put yourself there since you've made it to that level. 

My simplest answer (and opinion) is this: enter in novice. If you're not comfortable enough to be competing journeyman, you're not going to be comfortable judging and you're going to be less comfortable seeing your competitors which is not going to make you a very happy cosplayer. If the judges feel that you are of higher quality for the level you are in, they should be wise enough to boost you out of their own logic. And if they ask? Tell them you have two years but you've only made a couple costumes and at that time you don't feel ready to compete Advanced. If they don't look at your costume then and there to help you make the decision and say something like 'Rules are Rules you have to be Advanced', drop out and don't even bother. It wont be worth your time to have people chose your class by something as arbitrary as 'years'.

Also Vicious Cosplay's rule of thumb for climbing the craftsmanship ladder?

Win a Best of Novice Award or 1st or 2nd in Novice? Get yourself in Journeyman/Advanced

Have you made more than 7 costumes? Try out Journeyman

Win a Best of or 1st-2nd place in Journeyman? Do that 3-4 times? Get yourself in Masters

Have you made more than 12 costumes? Go for Masters.

Win a Best of Weekend or Best Overall Craftsmanship? Go to the next level, do not pass go, do not collect $200 (unless there is a cash prize then please do) because you kicked everyones ass

[vicious-cosplay]

Do you think it is acceptable to modify a cosplays design for a competition? For instance, I want to compete as a character that has a completely open backed top...unfortunately, I have a size FF chest and really don't feel comfortable building in a bra...I would much rather just wear one. Would it be completely frowned upon for me to give her top a back? :(

This is somewhat of a catch 22 question when it comes to craftsmanship competitions, so I am going to explain it as well as I can.

You will lose points in accuracy for thisDepending on the competition, you will TECHNICALLY lose points for it in accuracy. If there is no panel and there isn’t supposed to be one, then you will lose points in that. 

The good news is, you’ll gain good favor if you can explain why correctly'Artistic License' is something that is also considered in the competition outside of the accuracy section. If you are able to implement a back panel, possibly in a skin color to yours, you can explain to the judges: 'I do not feel comfortable with boob rash or floppy boobs and finding a bra in order to support my breasts without any waist support is difficult. I decided it would be in my best interest to instead add that panel in order to allow me to wear a bra while still somewhat keeping the panel open like in the costume.' Tell them without going TOO deep since you have 5 minutes why this was important to you, but more or less figuring out how to do it while still keeping as accurate to the design as you could in order to feel comfortable.

Remember that part of the judging isn’t just about accuracy, it is being able to prove you can make something that fits your body while also taking a character who is PROBABLY not very average to you and make a relative balance between you and that character. 

If you’re lucky you might find a judge who will also have better ideas for you and help you learn. Those are my favorites :D (I try to be one.)

Also 34G feels your pain *fist bump*

[vicious-cosplay]

If Cosplay Competitions are so important to cosplay 'fame', then why don't you wait for the awards?

In the wake of Heroes of Cosplay (and I've witnessed only the first episode because that was as far as I was getting) I noticed quite a bit of oddness in the competition format. I'm not sure if this is strictly a West Cost thing or a Comic Convention thing but the format seems far more 'Costume Lookalike' than a Cosplay Competition. 

For those who may be unfamiliar with the types of competitions I normally see (and run) on the North East Coast, here is how the general backbone shows:

Craftsmanship

Done in either a Hall Cosplay and/or Masquerade

Judges get one on one time with you (normally 5 minutes) for you to discuss costumes and pick at the craftsmanship

Qualifications for this can be accuracy, cleanliness, artistic license, difficulty, and so on and so forth

Normally they have 3-4 levels: Youth, Novice, Journeyman, Masters(or Craftsman but I fucking hate that word. Craftsman Craftsmanship? 8D)

Hall Cosplay can be allowed on stage for a Walk-on during the Masquerade, but tend not to be judged for their performance.

Awards are normally: Honorable Mentions, Judge's Choices, Best of a Day for the classes and a Best Overall/of Weekend. Sometimes can be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of day depending on amount of competition.

You have to make your own costume. I can't stress this the fuck enough.

Performance

Does not require craftsmanship to enter

Craftsmanship is judged for those who enter as such

Time allowed on stage can depend on the amount of people in the group

Qualifications for this can be entertainment, being able to understand it, and overall performance quality.

Normally skits have to be pre-recorded (because microphones are expensive and if you drop one I will rip out your jugular)

Normally they have 3-4 levels: Youth, Novice, Journeyman, or Masters.

Awards are normally: Honorable Mentions, Judge's Choices, Best of their Classes, Best Overall Performance, Best Overall Craftsmanship, and Best in Show (which is a combination of Overall Performance and Craftsmanship in many)

Things not allowed in most competitions

If you enter craftsmanship, you have to have made at least 80% of your costume by yourself

Professionals (meaning you work as a seamstress/tailor for a living- and this includes people who sell specifically cosplay full time) are normally not allowed to compete for the fact that they have tools and practice that is far above and beyond a normal hobbiest. This means you have an EXTREMELY unfair handicap to other competitors. (That and people get sick of watching the same person win ._.)

Entering the same costume or skit over and over at competitions and hoping to win at one over another is considered 'trolling' and could potentially get you banned.

Entering a skit or costume that has already won a major award (3rd, 2nd, Best of...) and has had no dramatic work done on it in order to perfect it further is also considered trolling and could potentially get you banned. Think of it this way: One and done.

The second thing that bugs me about the growth of the discussion about the Syfy show is this rather harsh criticism about the importance of the cosplay competitions, and I think to myself.

If these competitions are so important to the skill level of a cosplayer, why the fuck is the audience empty at award ceremony?

This has baffled me up and down when people claim the importance of the awards as someone who does not compete- and even worse those that compete, learn that they do not win before ceremony, and instantly bails.

At AnimeNEXT the masquerade line starts usually 5 hours before the intended time (which really drives security nuts.) Normally it overfills and people are standing before the opening AMV's even finish. This means that the house through every skit and most of the Hall Cosplay is jam packed with people. This year due to a scheduling issue we had to have Hall Cosplay Awards announced before the Half Time show. Before it began there was an enormous exodus of people (possibly 30% of the audience) who left. After they were done I watched almost every cosplayer in the audience leave at the same time the judges did. In the middle of Half Time show, another half of the audience vanished. By the time we reached the Masquerade awards, I'd say 10% was left- possibly less. I sit in the AV booth and watch from the back clear as day as everyone leaves.

At CTCon this year they had an extremely slow audience lineup, and possibly filled at about half house by the time the show actually started. Many people left during the AMV awards, and even more were gone just after the Half Time Cosplot show. From the sideline with all the lights up it was clear to see the audience made primarily up of the people who participated than the people who actually watched.

Otakon this year was by far the biggest blow in terms of award ceremonies which may be due to the fact that the show was directly before it and the Masq ran a half hour overtime due to AV issues. There was zero walkon award reception at all for the Hall Cosplayers, and I didn't understand until we were all lined up on stage (instead of being presented an award one by one.) As we looked over the audience of the Mariner which is extremely large, there was almost no one there. Maybe 30-40 people were left to watch the award ceremony and many that I saw were staff.

It's also not uncommon either that if a masquerade due to stage navigation reasons or simple organization decides to pre-line up the winners (without announcing awards of course) backstage or in the greenroom, the green room will most certainly empty out the moment they realize they won nothing. 

So here is my rule of thumb: If you want to make any claim that the number or quality of the awards is important to the skill of a cosplayer, you have to support the cosplayer as they are getting the awards by being there! This includes the watchers and the competitors.

If you cannot do either of the above then your opinion should be null and mute because you do not care about cosplayers and the awards, and instead you are using an arbitrary number to boost or insult a person. Because fuck you that's why.