Name: Amber Wilhelm
Cosplay Alias: Amber Rose
Age: 20
Current City: Fremont, CA
When did you start cosplaying: 2004
Favorite convention: FanimeCon
(all photographers are credited in the gallery page)
Transcript
Q : What lead you to get into cosplay?
A : I got into cosplay kind of on accident. I wanted to be a schoolgirl for Halloween one year and based the outfit on the school uniforms in Fruits Basket. A few months later, I went to my first anime convention and saw people there in costume. So the next time I went to an anime convention, I wore mine.
Q : Could you sum up some of your likes and dislikes about cosplaying?
A : I really like that it lets me exercise my creativity but also gives me guidelines and a design to follow. It's sort of like solving a puzzle, I have to figure out how to make something look a very specific way. I hate how much it costs to make a high-quality costume. Good fabrics are expensive!
Q : Let us know what your top three favorite cosplays you've seen are?
A : I really enjoy seeing well-done Disney cosplays and Storm Troopers. I know that's not three, but I don't think I have speciific favorite.
Q : So far what is your most memorable cosplay experience?
A : It's so hard to choose just one, there are so many, but one of my favorite experiences was at Holiday Anime Faire 2010. My boyfriend and I were entering the cosplay contest as Pac-Man and Clyde, and two little girls probably about 6 or 7 years old ran up to us and said "We hope you win!" We ended up placing in the cosplay contest, there was no clear 1st place, 2nd place, whatever, and the entire thing just made me really happy.
Q : What was the most difficult thing for you to create for one of your cosplays?
A : Every piece is a challenge, no matter how many times I've made something similar. Each piece is unique and comes with its own difficulties. But I think the most difficult was the vinyl boot covers that I made for my Yoko cosplay.
Q : Can you reveal any future cosplays you have in store?
A : I'm currently working on an Ironette cosume, they were the dancers in the beginning of Iron Man 2, and after that, I'm going to make a White Mage costume from Final Fantasy 1.
Q : Do you have a dream cosplay and/or cosplayer to meet?
A : I used to have a dream cosplay, but I decided not to have one anymore. While it's nice to have a goal, whatever I chose seemed unattainable, and it discouraged me more than it gave me motivation. As for cosplayers, of course I'd like to meet a lot of people, but it's really just people in general. I don't really idolize any cosplayer, as we all have our strengths and our faults.
Q : Have you ever done group cosplay or group shoots?
A : I'm currently in a Gurren Lagann cosplay group, there's about 10 of us if I remember right, and we've done one small photoshoot. We have plans to do more later next year.
Q : Have you ever been to a convention not in cosplay? And how was your experience?
A : I have a few times, and it's very different than attending in cosplay. It's more peaceful, and really nice if you just want to relax, but it's also very lonely, and I think that it's harder to talk to people when you don't have a costume or prop to jumpstart the conversation.
Q : Who are some of the photographers that you've worked with? Are there any that you look forward to doing a shoot with?
A : I've worked with Weise Studios, BlizzardTerrak Photography, and [VisualPie] Studios, just off of the top of my head. I really enjoy working with FoxBerry (Weise Studios), she's a lot of fun to work with, I feel very comfortable with her, and she takes very nice photos and does excellent editing. I always look forward to working with her and seeing the photos.
Q : What are some of the conventions you plan to attend to in the future?
A : The convention that I want to attend the most is ComicCon, even though it's so crowded. I think pretty much any convention-goer, cosplayer or not, wants to go there at some point, at least once.
Q : What's your biggest advice on cosplaying and conventions?
A : Plan ahead as much as you possibly can, and budget your money. Money is the key aspect in both cosplay an conventions. Otherwise, just have fun!
Q: Are you registered on any cosplaying websites, forums, etc.?
A : Just cosplay.com. Social networks are hard to keep up, so I decided to just stay with one.
Q: Do you have a website or anything you would like to promote?
A : Yes, I have two blogs, a cosplay blog where I post cosplay pictures on updates of works in progress, cosplaylife.blogspot.com, and a convention blog where I post my convention reviews, conventionlife.blogspot.com