Every now and then you find a cosplayer capable of transforming themselves into anyone they wish, and pulling it off with effortless grace. Luminara Cosplay and Art is one such person, dodging perfectly between Arkham’s psychotic ex doctor and a happy little ladybug portraying the characters of both and everything in between to a T.
Age: 20
Location: Wiltshere
Favourite food: That’s so difficult! Carbs? There are too many to list!
Who or what first inspired you to start cosplaying?
Literally just such a huge love for my girl Astrid from How To Train Your Dragon! Around then was the time I learned what cosplay was and I just wanted to become her as she’s my absolute favourite.
What would you say is your favourite part of the costume making process?
Making something I’m proud of. It can be torture to get it right sometimes (my Harley bat comes to mind), but I’m a sucker for screen accuracy, and finally having something I’m proud of and getting the result I had in mind brings me so much joy! Of course, seeing yourself as the character for the first time is pretty fun, too.
What has been your most complex costume to date?
So far probably Harley! She’s a very popular character that can easily be bought, so I wanted to challenge myself by doing it all from scratch. She involved my first wig dye, some tricky pattern altering, fabric painting, t-shirt transfers, worbla craft, detail painting, and so much more! She doesn’t seem difficult because, let’s face it, she doesn’t wear much, but the devil really is in all the teeny little details. I still don’t consider her done!
Do you have a dream cosplay you’d like to work towards? Could you use anything you learned from Harley to help you with that?
I am in the process of a dream cosplay actually! Queen Ravenna’s battle dress from Huntsman: Winter’s War! I’ve taken breaks because she is just SUCH a big project but I think the patience that Harley gave me is most applicable with her. She too, has lots of small intricate details in common with the Clown Queen of Gotham that’ll take lots of time and attention.
If you could go back in time and give newbie Luminara one piece of advice, what would it be?
It would definitely be to not be scared of wigs and makeup! My first time as Astrid, I had my own, very long and not blonde hair in a braid and some budget brown eyeshadow that I’d smudged on with my finger. I feel like especially with an animated character, I missed so much opportunity to make myself look a little bit more like the source material because wigs and makeup were such a strange concept at the time, but they can really add so much to a costume!
ElevenPhoto by James Bissett Photography