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

Hi Martha, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

I am very lucky that I have been blessed with parents who have been supportive of my creative endeavors since I was a child. My mom is the one who taught me to sew, and, to this day, if I get too close to a deadline she will tell me to save the hems, save the buttons, save the hook and eyes, and she will do those. She doesn’t understand what I’m making, she’s not familiar with the character, but she knows how to put in a hem, and she is willing to help. My dad shares a lot of my content, and always makes a point to tell everyone about all of the crazy things I’m doing and how proud he is of me.

A few weeks ago I was on the news promoting the comic con I run here in Mobile, and at that same time on that same morning my sister was in the hospital having a baby. My mom and dad made sure the tvs in the waiting room were turned to the channel I was going to be on, and when I got there all of my nieces and nephews were excited to tell me about how they all watched me on tv that morning.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a creative with many hats!

I started as a professional cosplayer under the name Little Red Fox Cosplay. I had been making costumes my whole life, having come from a dance and theater background, but after a particularly brutal divorce I needed a creative endeavor to throw myself into to keep me from overthinking things. Costuming became a kind of therapy for me, and with the extra effort I was putting in came more opportunities. I kind of stumbled into becoming a guest on the convention circuit. I gained a reputation for being the first one on the floor and the last one to leave, and I was well respected as a cosplay judge. I just recently was a guest for Mississippi Anime Fest, and will be a guest at Arkansas Comic Con and Florida Anime Fest this fall.

The costume commission work came pretty quickly after I started going pro with my cosplay. I am particularly good at stretch fabrics and dancewear, thanks to my dance background, and I guess there was a need in the market for more of that. I was in the right place at the right time. Eventually I met Michael Seward from Seward Studios, and we started working together on his projects. It was a match made in heaven. We have similar visions and our priorities aligned, and we switch easily between our friend hats and our business hats, and back again. Most of my commission work now is done with Seward Studios.

After a few years of being a guest at conventions, I tried my hand at working on the events themselves. I volunteered with my local comic con, and quickly became not only the face of the event (literally- the mascot was me!) but also ran most of the front of house activities. I set up the vendor halls, lined up guests, made panel schedules, coordinated parties and after hours events, and was involved in all aspects of planning. Unfortunately, for all the work I did at that show, I was often treated like I was just a dumb girl who didn’t know anything. I was the only woman on the board, and I was definitely underestimated. I left the organization and branched out to make my own event, Azalea City Con. ACC is co-owned by my friend Sarah Harris, another professional artist, and we are excited for our first event this year, July 15-16. I am proud to say that not only is Azalea City Con women owned, it is also women run. The entirety of the board are women, and the majority of our volunteers are as well. We are happy to be an inclusive space in the nerd community.

As if being a professional cosplayer and traveling all over the southeast, making costumes on tight deadlines for Seward Studios, AND running my own event isn’t enough, I also decided to take up mermaiding! And since I have a habit of turning my hobbies into jobs, being a mermaid was no exception. I currently do appearances at theme parks and parties, and have even been booked by Seward Studios for their events at OWA theme parks.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Value the work we do. I think the biggest hurdle working creatives come to is that our work is not valued the way it should be. It is hard for the average person to understand that a custom ballgown will cost hundreds of dollars, when they can buy a fast fashion ballgown for 59.99.

This stuff that we do- the things we make, the songs and plays and stories we write, the ballgowns we sew- these are the things that make life beautiful and whimsical and fun, and they deserve to be valued. Life would be a very dull place without creatives bringing the spark. I would love to see art appreciation as a core class in school. Not everyone can be a great artist, or a great singer, or a great dancer, but we can all learn to appreciate these things, to be exposed to them at a young age, to see the history and the culture of the arts. Field trips to the ballet aren’t about creating ballerinas. They’re about creating an audience. We need to start building the audiences for arts of all kinds at a young age. People who love art will appreciate it and value it, and that will create the ecosystem creatives need to be able to do the thing they love.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being able to help people see the beauty in themselves.

In the theater world, in particular, actors are often frustrated by a lack of knowledge in the costuming department about how to dress a body that isn’t a size 2. When actors meet with me for their first fittings, my goal is to make sure they feel beautiful, because if they feel beautiful, they will perform accordingly. I am always happy to have a size 14 or 16 come in and have a costume fit on the first go, and flatter in a way that they maybe aren’t used to seeing in other productions. There is nothing like seeing the surprised smile from a cast member who had been dreading their fitting just moments before. I truly do believe our cast is beautiful and I am happy to amplify that beauty with my costumes.

As a cosplayer, I am not the typical 20 something tall thin model type. I am in my 40’s, I am a mom, and I have a more curvy shape. I love all of those things about me. And I love that at every single event I do there will be a woman who looks just like me, who is absolutely convinced that she can’t cosplay because of those very same things, and then she comes to my table and I show her just how wrong she is. It’s like the whole world opens up in that moment. I always tell them to message me for support, for help, and even just for an ego boost, and I am always thrilled to see them show up at another event, in full cosplay, to say, “Remember me?” I remember every one of them. They keep inspiring me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.littleredfoxcosplay.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/littleredfoxcosplay
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/littleredfoxcosplay
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/littleredfoxcos

Image Credits
CPR Photography Cubster Cosplay Photography Don Cooper Photography Todd Duren Photography