We were lucky to catch up with Jennybelly recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jennybelly thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I started out cosplaying for fun in 2009. In 2010, I was invited to cosplay the character Yoko for the anime Gurren Lagan for a convention called Anime Expo. It was a big deal for me, and the first time I got to cosplay professionally. After that, I continued to cosplay as a hobby until I started a Patreon, which allowed to me to earn a living from my art. After moving to Texas, I was also able to venture into cosplay guesting for conventions and later hired by studios to cosplay their characters at events. Having that experience in 2010 really helped prepare me for cosplaying professionally.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My passion comes from my obsession with anime, video games, and books. Before I started cosplaying, I spent all my time watching anime late into the night, or staying up to read fanfiction about my favorite characters. I didnt even realize that cosplay was a thing until my friend invited me to an anime convention, where I was surrounded by people dressing up. Thankfully, my mother knew how to sew and make clothes, and she helped me learn how to make my own costumes. Being able to physically bring a character to life was so empowering. Cosplaying also helped me learn new skills, such as makeup and photography. It’s amazing to be able to have a creative outlet that blends so nicely with the subjects I’m passionate about.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Community is the biggest resources. I made so many friends and connections through cosplay. The best thing about this community is that there’s very little, to no, gate-keeping. Makers and cosplayers are always happy to explain how they put something together, or create a tutorial so other people can learn new skills. And not only the cosplayers, the photographers too.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Building up social media is part luck and part skill. It helps to be consistent and to know your audience. It also helps to interact with other people in your community and to collaborate together. My best advice is to be yourself and to let your personality shine through. You dont want to copy everyone and be a generic presence on the internet.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Jennybellycos
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennybellycosplay
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jennybellycos
• Other: https://www.twitch.tv/Jennybelly