We recently connected with Martin Aripez and have shared our conversation below.

Martin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned most of my stuff from YouTube and people I’ve met in the craft. Most are super helpful and supportive of one another.

Nothing beats experience. I’ve met so many good people that look at the work I do and say “I wish I could do that”. The hardest part is starting. Once you make your first project, you take what you learned, failures or something that worked out, and take it to the next project.

My first project was kinda garbage haha! But all in all, I never would have gotten to the point I’m at if it weren’t for learning from my past mistakes.

I feel that can be taken to any skill or craft anyone wants to learn. Just start and keep improving. As a good friend of mine once told me “if I can do it, you can too”

Martin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a cosplayer and prop maker. Mostly making Costume and armor from Gears of War and other series. I’m someone who loves what he does and confident in my own abilities.

I’ve always been creative, wether it’s drawing or designing, so has my family. I remember wanting to make my first costume, it was Armor king from the Telken series. I was so proud of it, but was kind of laughed at. Hind sight, It wasn’t a good looking costume, but it was a learning experience.

After a few other attempts, it kinda sat to the side as I played around with training to be a Pro wrestler. During my time there, I made my own masks and wrestling gear.

Thanks to some tutorials on YouTube, I fell inlove with cosplay again. And agood friend of mine helped motivate me to take it further.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I think people would think I’m being overly dramatic if I say that cosplay changed my life, but it really did.

I did this for fun, as a hobby of sorts. Making stuff in my room and only showing my work on Halloween or on my instagram for my friends and family to see. It was also a getaway from my depression. I had a big loss in my life of someone who I was really close with.

Depression has a crazy way of making you develop bad habits like over eating and feeling worthless among other things. Didn’t really help that I surrounded myself with negative people.

Eventually I met someone on Instagram who was just getting into this cosplay stuff too. His name is Fernando, but goes by the username Supadezz. Thanks to a negative interaction with another cosplayer, I had a fear of leaving comments. Eventually I decided to complement his work, some saiyan armor from DragonBall Z. We ended up having a conversation and clicking after that.

As his popularity started rising, I started feeling left behind as i felt I finally made a friend after so many years of feeling alone. Eventually we had a deeper conversation, where he motivated me to stay strong and keep improving at the things I love to do. The words “if I can do it, you can too” ring in my head to this day.

After that, I decided it was time to do better and be positive just like him. I worked out, did self reflection and became better at my craft.

Nowadays depression is a distant memory for me. As for my friend, he is getting approached by companies wanting to collab and music artists. It’s all about visualizing your dreams and working towards your goals, he says.

I also find myself in talks with people I only dreamed of meeting. It’s all about staying positive and working hard towards your goals.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal in all this is to have fun and see how far i can take this craft. I have a few smaller goals, but they are more stepping stones toward the main goals. I want to be able to make a living off doing things I love to do without the constraints of my 9 to 5 job.

Another thing I wanna do is see what life has to offer and meet new people. Most of my life I’ve been around people who say things like “this can never happen for us” or “we aren’t meant for this”.

After the experiences ive had, as well as my friend, I want to break the cosplay stereotypes, as well as help inspire people to get in to such an amazing craft.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitemar_x
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EliteMar_X
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Mar_X

Image Credits

@Lumbersnack_photography

@Zombietorresphotography13

@Monzo_vocals

@sadboii_production

@Elitemar_X