How Sez Sees It

So last night I am not going to lie. I became very down heartened by my cosplay. This might seem odd in light of a vlog and blog on creativity where I seemed to embrace that activity. I was looking at Instagram and there were all these amazing cosplayers who had been doing it for years and were really talented. They looked so much like the characters they were trying to bring to life and I was amazed by what I saw. Their costumes were so professional and the settings were amazing. I was in shock by it all. The other problem was that I was very tired and cranky. It was a long and very difficult day at work and I really felt low at the time. Not the best time to go checking out other people's work. When I first started cosplaying I did it for a laugh. I did it because it seemed like a fun thing to do. I just enjoyed dressing up and doing my make-up. Then I noticed that my follower count on Instagram went up and I was getting more likes for cosplay than anything else. Then I start...

I always used to believe that I wasn't very creative. The reason for this is that I always thought someone creative was like an artist, author, musician or playwright. I never realised that creativity could be almost anything and be found anywhere. Creativity is actually anything you are inspired to do. This can be found anywhere and at any time and it is really up to you to make or do what you want to do. It made me realise that I am far more creative than I realised. As many people know I am in to cosplay. I am not great at sewing or anything like that so I either put together cosplays from items of clothing I own or can buy or from costumes made by others. This is not cheating in my eyes as I am still creating a character and I am still putting a character together. My preference is for human characters that often wear clothes that anyone would wear. There is my Misa or L for example. I have ordered a costume for Grell and the good thing was that I could use part of it for m...

I thought it was about time I updated my list of favourite things. Here we go: Author: Haruki Murakami. I love him so much and I have almost completed my collection of his novels. That will be my aim next pay day and then I will be on to his non-fiction works. I thoroughly recommend you read anything by him to be honest. Book: It has to be a Murakami novel to be honest and it is Norwegian Wood. I know that sounds cliche and like everyone would pick that novel because it is the one that made him a household name around the world. It was even adapted into a movie around six years ago and Murakami wasn't too happy about the explosive level of fame it bought him at the time. I love all his novels but this one keeps drawing me back to read it again and again. I can't explain it but it is so beautifully written and it is so easy to read and enjoy. It is the story of a young man as 1969 turns to 1970 and is a kind of coming of age story. One girl represents his past and one ...

When I was a kid I had a vivid imagination. I was one of those kids who had an invisible friend...or several. I also had an invisible horse called Flinders, which was fun. If I played a game it was always so vivid and real in my mind. Action figures and cuddly toys became real in my head and I believed they could come alive (think Toy Story, but I came up with it first). One of my favourite things was to play dress up. This wasn't just fancy dress or for Hallowe'en either. I would become Cinderella or Ariel or Jasmine. Mostly I was a Disney princess (in my mind I was also Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Belle and Maid Marion). I didn't know it back then, but this was my early route to cosplay. Back then I hadn't heard of cosplay, but looking back I realise that is what I was dabbling with. I admit that I didn't understand cosplay back then. I thought people went to sci-fi conventions and dressed as Klingons or Star Trek captains because they were weird nerds. Since t...

I am gradually creating a series of videos on how I put my cosplays together. I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you about some of the things I have done to put them together so far and share some hints and tips that I have picked up along the way. Getting started: How does one start cosplaying? Well, I would ask you to think about what you are really in to. Are you a gamer? Do you like anime/manga? Do you like sci-fi? Do you like fantasy? Action movies? In all honesty the possibilities are endless. I have a love of anime and manga myself so I have chosen characters from there at first. There are other things I would like to try in the future too though. I love the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and have always had the idea to try out an elf. Taurel from the latest Hobbit films would be a good one. As you can see, inspiration can come from anywhere at any time. Where can I buy stuff? In all honesty the possibilities are endless here as well. You might find that you alre...

Recently I have found the confidence to enter a world I have always wanted to enter, the world of cosplay. I guess the best way to start is to try and explain what 'cosplay' is to the uninitiated. 'Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure?), short for costume play, is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character or idea that is usually identified with a unique name. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centred on role play. A broader use of the term cosplay applies to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context.' (Taken from Wikipedia.) Basically you can take any character you like. It could be from your favourite film or manga or anime or cartoon or comic...literally anything you can think of. The next step is to build your costume. Some people go to great lengths to do this and meticulously put together their costumes over month (and sometim...