Cosplay Interview: Miss Romy aka "Otakitty"

Lets take a walk here in the US to wonderful South Florida. This used to my olde stomping ground a year ago and do I miss the great weather.

I had the chance to be able to get an interview with one of the lovely ladies that I have showcased here on my cosplays. Miss Romy ~ whom you were first introduced to in my Cocona Cosplayers Blog. She was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions for me in between conventions and school classes.

Something else I want to mention about her as well. She is also part of the Funny Knights and the 305 Cosplay Crew. These are a group of like minded cosplayers that get together. What I find very enjoyable, is that they actually cosplay to a similar theme or anime. These stunning cosplayers really dish out the goods, so it is definitely worth your time to check them all out.

Enough of the intro stuff, lets get on to the interview ~

What is your name, where do you reside and what is your age?

Please call me Romy ^_^ . Otakitty (my handle) is also fine. I live in Miami, FL party central and the ever humid appendage of the USA -gosh it's hot in here. I'm over 21 in case you were wondering if you could buy me a drink ^_~

What first started you on the road to cosplay?

In South America the greater percentage of cartoon shows for children are anime. Once I was about 13 years old I actually started seeking out pictures, music and information on the internet, around this time I was a fan of Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2.

There was a Halloween party in my highschool and I thought it would be cool to dress up as an anime character rather than the more traditional costumes people take. I had seen Alisa-chan's cosplay and I thought it was amazing to wear the clothes that anime characters wear.

My first cosplay was Jesse from Team Rocket, then I did Puchiko from DiGi Charat, around this time I also discovered anime conventions through FIU's Yasumicon, and I even worked for a convention for a year and a half (Kunicon). I always thought it was a waste NOT to wear a costume while I was at a convention!

What characters have you cosplayed and why?

I usually choose to cosplay characters that I like, either because of their personality, or their design. If there's something I like and someone else has already done a good cosplay for it, then I look somewhere else. I guess my main goal is to see the likeness of the character brought to life, if another cosplayer has accomplished this then I'm satisfied.

Cocona is an example of this, she was simply made as a design to be sold as a statue, there's no story behind her character but I loved everything about the way she looked. The more popular characters I've cosplayed like Blair, Jewelry Bonney, FFXIII's Fang and Mio were made to be part of cosplay groups with friends, but I always try to pick the character I can resemble the most.

What conventions or shows have you cosplay at and have you gotten any awards?

I've only entered ONE cosplay competition, and seeing the caliber of work of the other contestants, well it's no surprise I didn't win anything! I'm still learning how to do a lot of things, so my costume work can look sloppy in certain parts which doesn't make it suitable for competition, I also order pre-made costumes for the sake of convenience when I can. Entering the contests can be very stressful and time consuming, I'd rather run around taking pictures with my friends.

When not cosplaying, what do you do?

I work on cosplay....

I used to draw in my free time, but now I'm either looking up reference pictures, buying supplies and materials, or doing actual work on the costumes (tutorial research, sewing, prop making, etc). I also spend excessive amount of time updating my cosplay websites or social networks :p

I guess my "normal" activities would include working out EVERY DAY, napping with my cats, going to school!, taking odd freelance web design projects, and going out for restaurant dates with my close friends.

For any aspiring cosplayers a little shy, what words of wisdom do you have for them to get started?

Start easy. Some people want to start with an epic looking costume and they don't have the slightest clue about how to make anything, it takes much trial and error to make things that only make sense in a 2D world.

Choose something appropriate for you!! You will look better and pull off your costume more successfully if you actually resemble the character in some way, use your features and uniqueness to your advantage!

Practice your poses, and learn your good angles. Look at cosplays you like and figure out WHY that picture is good. Have some poses handy for when you take pictures. Once you get the photos back LOOK at which ones you look good or bad in and start learning how you to position your face and your body to flatter your features.

Have fun! Why do something that you're gonna hate or you're gonna be stressed out about? Be comfortable.

Here are some additional photos of her cosplay

To check out more of her cosplay, please check out these sites:

Gallery ~ http://otakitty.deviantart.com/
Blog ~ http://otakitty.blogspot.com/
Cosplay.com ~ http://www.cosplay.com/member/162121/
Facebook ~ http://www.facebook.com/MissOtakitty
Twitter ~ http://twitter.com/otakitty

As always, I want to thank Miss Romy for taking the time to answer these crazy questions.

Want to be my next interviewed COSPLAY STAR?
Drop me a line a bluedrakon (at) gmail (dot) com!