Atlas Cosplay Interview
Where has the summer gone? It feels like we were all waiting for the cold to be gone, and now fall is suddenly just around the corner. It must be all the fun people have been having during the Con Season. We’re all enveloping ourselves in the events, announcements, and cosplay. Speaking of, the cosplay has been amazing this year. Each convention, major or minor, has amazing work on display. If you live in Southern Ontario, then you are lucky to be in a hot bed of cosplay culture.
One of the newest cosplayers on the scene is Taryn from Atlas Cosplay. She was kind enough to sit down and talk with us about Cosplay and general nerd culture.
Who are you, what do you do, are where are you from?
My name is Taryn aka Atlas Cosplay, I’m from just outside Hamilton, Ontario. I’m now part of the Cos Culture Magazine street team. My good friend Nikko Marie Cosplay, she’s the editor of the magazine, she asked me to be part of the street team, so hopefully I’ll be able to go to more cons now and rep them now. I’ll get to do some blogging, interviews, and talk to people, I’m so excited. We’ve been good friends for a little while, but we first officially met at Anime North this year. We totally hit it off, we’re super good buds now.
What got you into cosplay, and how long have you been cosplaying for?
I’ve been cosplaying for two or three years now. What got me into it was, I think it was three Fan Expos ago, I just found out there was thing called Fan Expo. I was like, “Oh my god, my people. I have a place to go.” I went, but I didn’t go in costume that year. I just went in casual. I saw everyone in costume and thought, “Well, that’s cool.” I’ve always been one of those kids that had way too many costume ideas for one Halloween. I could never decide and it was super stressful. I thought, shit, it could be Halloween all year long. A friend of mine was a big Jessica Nigri fan. He sent me her page and told me to check it out. It was the first time I thought, “wow, this is something I can do.” I saw her Harley Quinn, and I had wanted to do Harley Quinn for three Halloweens, but I kept putting it off. Then I said, “You know what? I’m doing it for the next Fan Expo.” I spent the whole year working on one costume. It’s not like that anymore. I gave ‘er, and I went to Fan Expo. My cousins were The Riddler and Poison Ivy, and the old school Tim Burton Batmobile was there; there was a guy dressed up as Batman. He said, “Hey let’s all jump on the Batmobile and take pictures.” It was the best feeling of all time.
You got lucky. You had a whole crew that jumped in with you.
Yeah, it was pretty cool. My cousin and my brother are big nerds. They’re why I became a nerd. My cousin was always super into comic books. My brother raised me on Star Wars and Star Trek. I would watch him play video games, because when I was a kid I’d be too scared to play them myself. My brother actually cosplayed with us that weekend as well, but he was Steve Zissou from Life Aquatic, but nobody knew who he was.
That movie is amazing.
It’s so good. When we got to the Artists Alley then everyone knew who he was, because they’re the really cool folks. But, he was a little bummed and I think a little deterred, but we have some really awesome plans for the future. It was nice to have a group that I could go with and share that first moment.
Was Harley your first ever cosplay, or was there something before that?
I say that was probably my first official one. I had done a lot of Halloween ones, but this was my first one not planned for October.
Where did you get the name Atlas Cosplay from?
It’s weird. It was a fluid kind of thing that came out of nowhere. I decided to try and play League of Legends, and I was trying to come up with a summoner name. I had just seen Cloud Atlas and my mind was all over the place from that movie. I was also obsessed with The Guild, Felicia Day, and her character Codex. So, I picked my summoner name as Atlas Codex. It’s pretty cool they worked together. Shortly after that, I decided to make an online presence for my cosplay. I dunno, somehow I was just, “it’s Atlas Cosplay, obviously.” It had a ring to it, and no one else seemed to have that name. Plus, I’m big into cartography and vintage maps; I’m always the navigator on road trips, I love all that stuff. I dunno, it felt natural to be Atlas Cosplay.
What are the characters or the people that draw you in to make into a costume?
Honestly, it’s less about the character and more about the design. I’ve always been design driven. I went into fashion, for a couple of years, for costume making. I didn’t like the scene, so I left. I’ve always been drawn to really cool designs and really cool fabrics. For me, my two most recent costumes were Leafeon and Morrigan, I’ve never been involved with Pokemon in my life, and I had yet to play Dragon Age yet, because I was making the damn costumes. So, some people say, “Oh, you can’t cosplay things you don’t know about,” but for me I like the designs, I like a challenge. I like different creative things, especially when I see something with a lot of different materials in it. I really like that. I like something that will just be a cool challenge, and will develop my skills further. That’s how I pick my costumes.
How did it feel to be featured on the Nerdist front page for your Felicity Smoak cosplay?
Oh my god, that Felicity was clothes that I owned. I didn’t have to buy a thing for Felicity. Someone just told me I looked like her. I was already doing a photo shoot that day, I decided just to bring her along. I have had so many people freak out about that, and it was the easiest thing ever. But, getting put on Nerdist, that was something when I started cosplay that I wanted. I even sent in my stuff to Nerdist and I never heard anything back. I friggin’ love Chris Hardwick, I once applied for a job there, even though I knew I was never going to get it. I love the Nerdist, I love everything they do. When I saw it, it was life affirming. Also, to be featured in the same segment with other cosplayers that I love, I had to make sure to keep my head humble.
You come from a background in fashion, what skill(s) do you wish you could add to your repertoire?
So many things, I’d really, really want to learn how to cast and mould. I think that would be really helpful. Plus, where else in the world am I going to learn to do something like that? That’s why I love cosplay. There are so many things I know how to do, that there would be no reason for me to know otherwise. So, I’d love to learn that. For an upcoming costume I get to make chain mail, which is really exciting, because I’ve never thought of doing that before. I’d also really love to learn how to do really epic make up, like effects make up that kind of stuff. Before cosplay, I didn’t even know how to do any makeup. It was just mascara, maybe some foundation, and that was about it. Since then, I’ve gotten so good at regular makeup. I’d really like to learn that kind of thing, and maybe mix in some prosthetics or something like that.
With your experience and your background, how much do you think 3D printing is going to change cosplay?
I think that’s so cool. I’m all for new technologies. In fact, I just got a couple of blades 3D printed for an upcoming Legolas costume, that one day I’ll finish, but I think it’s cool. I love new gear and new gadgets, I’m all about that. The other half of my background was in digital art and new media, so that’s what I ended finishing up in school. I am for it. I think 3D printing in every facet of the world, not just cosplay, is going to be a really cool thing. I think you can do a lot of cool things with it, and in cosplay, I think it will open people up to accomplish things they wouldn’t be able to before. Like, I’m a total noob at worbla, I don’t know what I’m doing with it. I just started playing with it for Morrigan and I’m playing with it a bit more now, but it would be awesome just to see it print and done.
I just get excited when new tech like this comes out. My genere and background is sci-fi/fantasy, and the more Star Treky we can be the better.
Who do you look to for inspirations and ideas for cosplay?
Well, definitely Jessica Nigri. She is Mama Nigri to so many. She was the first cosplayer I ever knew of, and she was the one who inspired me to get into this, so she’s obviously a big influence. Her personality to, all of it, she just seems like a really amazing person, and in a community where a lot people can be really mean, she handles it all with a lot of grace.
I also love Yaya Han for her fabric construction. One day I hope to have seams that clean. Whenever I’m making a costume I keep thinking, “Do your seams like Yaya would.” She’s incredible. There’s a cosplayer I just found this year, Erza. She did this incredible crazy dragon thing all in worbla, with armour and it’s amazing to see. If I could do learn to do worbla like her I could retire. I really like Chubear, Olivia Chu, she is adorable and hilarious. She does great tutorials with kawai stuff all over it. I wish Nigri did more tutorials, because she could help a lot of people out if she did. But, Olivia Chu’s stuff is really good, and she’s always a fun person, she really interacts with her fans.
Where do you think the cosplay community in Toronto and Canada is going to be in five years?
Well, I unfortunately am not a cosplayer who’s been in very long, so I don’t have a wide scope of seeing how it’s changed over the years. I’m pretty new. I do really like the trend now of calling out trolls. I know everyone says, “Whatever, it’s the internet you should expect it.” But, you can say whatever you want; I can say whatever I want. I’m going to call you out if you’re being a jerk. No one has been a jerk to me yet, because I’m so tiny, but I like that people are sticking up for themselves more. I love that conventions are sticking up for cosplayers more, but it is still the internet. People are horrible, because they can hide behind the anonymity. I don’t know, I think we’re always going to deal with that. Aside from that, I’m very curious to see, because cosplay got really popular really quick, so I’m interested to see if it fades off quickly. I hope it keeps going, and I hope it keeps building. I think with the new technology and the new materials, I mean worbla changed everything; I think it’s going to be cool if it keeps going, and we can see how epic people make their stuff.
Have you ever had to deal with any of the negative stuff, and if so, how do you deal with it?
I’ve have such a small following, big to me, but in the grand scheme I’m really tiny. Everyone has been really great. I’ve not dealt with it much, and I’d like to hope I’d deal with it grace. But, I’m sure at the start it’d take a toll on you. You have all these strangers, who don’t know anything about you, bashing you. I can’t imagine what that would be like. I don’t know, thankfully everyone has stayed nice. I always go by never say anything online that you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.
If money, time and materials were not a concern, what costume would you start making right now?
Oh, two sides to that question. One, I love pretty much every design from the game Blade and Souls. If I could make everything from that game I would. On the flip side, which is probably more accurate, but I’ve always make one of those giant leather hand dyed LARP dragon slayer costume. It would be so expensive, but it would be the coolest thing to make.
For people out there who are just getting into cosplay, what advice would you give to them to get them to start?
Just give’er.
Find something that you’re really passionate about. I talked earlier about how I go more for the design. If you’re just getting into it you want something that’s going to be really exciting for you, something you feel a lot about.
Anime North was my first time staying with other cosplayers, and cementing friendships in this community, I gotta say, is one of the best feelings. I’ve always heard my friends talk about the friendships they make. I miss my friends so much, and we talk all the time. I just want to hang out. They get it’s a super important part of my life, and all my other non-cosplay friends are close to my heart, but it’s nice to have people I can bounce ideas off of.
I’d say friendships are 100% a good reason to get into cosplay, and the pride you feel when you make something. That’s not to say buying a costume, or having someone make something for you is bad, all cosplay is awesome, all cosplay is all fantastic. For me, hand making something and knowing I did that or I learned something new and put it to use, it’s an incredible feeling. So, friends and pride would be the reasons.
If there’s one thing you could get rid of in cosplay that would make your life easier, what would that be?
Oh, if I never had to buy a convention pass or a hotel ever again, that would be awesome. Then I could go to all the conventions at once.
This was awesome, thank you so much.
Thank you for asking.
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Here is a list of places where you can find Atlas Cosplay through social media. Give a like and a follow, her work is fantastic.
@Atlascosplay on Twitter.
@AtlasCosplay on Instagram.
