Cosplay; Art or Recreational Activity?
 

I'm doing some serious cosplays with two of my friends, and I just want to know you guys' take on it.

My Cosplays:
Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Haku (Naruto)
Marluxia (Kingdom Hearts RE:CoM)

Lizzie's Cosplays:
Riku (Kingdom Hearts)
Ino (Naruto)
Larxene (Kingdom hearts RE:CoM)

Jessica's Cosplays:
Nova Shadow (Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days)
Jiraiya (Naruto)
Axel (Kingdom Hearts)

For Lizzie and I's RikuSora cosplay, we're thinking of making a Paopu fruit plushie. :3 And the Nova Shadow is our pet. :3

We're also making all of our weapons and most of our costumes...

This is for Naka-Con in February. :3

im going to cosplay vampire knight yuki in just a few days, very exited!

WOOT AXEL! lol, I see all of you are Naruto/KH fans, amen sista ;D

Yes! 8D We win at it, too.
Next Con we're gonna add FFVII into it, too

It's only art if you post the pictures in this thread XD

Once there are pictures, I will post them. :3

If you buy the costume from a company that mass produces(I know they are out there I've seen their ads allover) I wouldn't call it art. It's just wearing a halloween costume off season.

Now if you go through the trouble of buying stuff and mixing and matching and altering to get the results you want for a costume that's completely original and all you, that's what I call art in cosplay. Hell hiring a professional to make you a completely original piece counts as art as well. But mass produced? Keep it to halloween.

One day I hope to design and sew from scratch my own outfits, but alas I don't have the funding to do that yet.

I'm making most of my cosplays, but I'm ordering one. Otherwise, we're making them all from scratch. Except...for shoes. None of us are good at sewing leather into boots. =3=

Nor are we going to make dainty sandals.

I've been cosplaying since 2003. But I'm in school for fashion design so I haven't been doing much cosplay.

I see....that's interesting. :3

Do you have the Organization cloak?
I do,and it rocks!x3

I'm making my own. :3

While I've seen a couple of cosplay outfits over the years that would qualify as "art", for the most part, I see it as a hobby (recreational activity). Same goes with cosplay photography. Most of my stuff is shot at gatherings and conventions, with random fan boys/girls and other annoying distractions in the background. I have come across some stunning cosplay photo work, where the character was placed in the proper setting. As the old saying going, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". The same is true with "art".

JM2¢ :yumeh1:

TC

Mr. postman, what is this ----> JM2¢ TC

When a cosplay is extremely well done, to the point where it either resembles a photo manipulation, or that particular character in real life, then yes, it is an art.
I believe that sewing is an art: it's technically 3-d/sculpture, and making the acessories can be art as well: weapon smithing (be it plastic, metal, or wooden) is an art, as is jewelry making, etc.

I do not feel that people who buy all of their cosplay things are artists. People running around in a naruto forehead protector are neither artistic, nor cosplaying, and people who go to a website and click 'buy' are not artistic.

However, patterning out and sewing ones entire costume is artistic, and should thus be considered art.

Photography of said costume is also very artistic, but it's up to the photographer to take the credit for the art: A model does not take credit for a nude they posed for.

I've seen some cosplay that was indeed a work of art. For example, there was someone I watch on DeviantArt who sculpted a Transformer costume out of styrofoam.

However, I agree with the general concensus that if you bought it, it doesn't count. Now, if you added to the original costume and changed it, I would consider that on the same par as a pixel doll base edit, and I would also consider that art.

Do you believe only buying the shoes (being I am not a shoe smith) is bad?

How can anyone deny that cosplaying is an art.. I mean.. if you MAKE your costume.. do people not realize how much work goes into that? It involves sewing, painting, sculpting, cobbling... wig sculpting.. makeup... and acting in character! Also you take photos...

Buying the shoes I think is pretty accepted. Hardly anyone knows how to cobble correctly and a lot of times the shoes make the outfit. Although it is common for people to buy shoes and edit them to be more like the cosplay outfit.

I cosplay but not they typical anime style....
my characters: Winry (FMA)
Rosalie Cullen (Twilight)
Alice (Alice In Wonderland)
The Boondock Saints

I think cosplay can be art depnding on who is doing it and how much work they put into it. There are some people it is just a hobby for and they just do it for fun, not really for the artful aspect of putting together a costume.

In the past I've cosplayed Princess Peach a few times ( Melee, Brawl, Sunshine, I love all of her dresses xD ) and I've also crossplayed quite a great deal just becaue I find male costumes much easier to make at times. Myself I do it as a hobby I don't find my cosplay to be artwork.

cosplay...an art? i think maybe so if its taken by photos phatography instead of actually playing ther roles ther jus modeling than that is called an art,some japanese stars that cosplay look really like the same as anime like nuthing ive ever seeon before possilbe as they looko_o

I'm cosplaying Kamina from Gurren Lagann as soon as I can get some money and I have a DeathScythe costume for a Soul Eater cosplay. I think that if the costume is hand made by oneself it's art for sure

I cosplay as a hobby and while I suppose that sewing my own costumes could be considered art, I just think of it as something I do for me. I make the costumes to wear for me (because I'm selfish like that :P) and if I don't enjoy making and wearing them, there's really no point. I'd count it as more a creativity than artistic thing, since most often cosplayers are following a picture, or pre-set model, they're just creatively rendering that drawing as an outfit as accurately as they can.

Cosplay certainly DOES have an art to it! So to say, there is an art to proper cosplay. The preparation, the time and commitment required to perfecting an outfit is often daunting. If you aren't just buying the pieces, it takes SOME {sarcastically- implicative of a LOT} creativity to create your own look in the likeness of the character. I would never walk out in a half a$$ costume if I wasn't sure I was doing the character justice.
My big plans for the future are Kazuma Mikura from Air Gear, Justin Law from Soul Eater, and my biggest project- Mr. Hat and Clogs from Bleach XD Only so many events to dress up for though =/ will post pics when I have em.