Feature Friday: Alana Owlet

Today’s feature is a cosplayer that I met through YouTube when searching for inspiration and advice on how to reorganize my craft room. She had my favorite craft room tour video. You may remember it from the DIY Fabric Notebook that I wrote about a few months ago. I got my idea from her! I cannot wait for you to read all about her below, and fall in love with her amazing cosplays.

What is your cosplay name? Alana Owlet

How did you come about your cosplay name? I just texted my husband for suggestions and he fired back with that. I’d used owl themed screen names in the past so it worked, and I like having something that is easy for people to remember and pronounce.

What is your real world name? Emily

What do you do when you aren’t cosplaying? I spend most of my time involved in my work. I work as a naturalist so I’ve got the best job in the world. I get to play outside all day, talk to people about science and nature and work with animals. Also all the hiking has really been paying off for my Pokemon Go eggs so that’s a plus.

How old are you? 28

How long have you been cosplaying? This is my 10th year. I attended my first DragonCon in 2006 and never looked back. It’s been amazing to see how much the community and this hobby have changed in that decade and while I know a lot of people complain about it I think it’s all been for the best.

What made you want to start cosplaying? It’s just been a very natural extension of all my interests. I’ve always been a nerd, I’ve always been creative. I’ve always liked sewing and making things. It just sort of happened without me realizing it was a thing. It was just a natural progression from making arts and crafts to sewing Renaissance Fair dresses in high school to heading to cons with friends and making costumes for those.

Why do you cosplay? I love making things. That is by far my favorite part. I love the entire process of making a costume; actually wearing it to a con is not nearly as exciting to me as all the time I spent working on it. I tend to immediately volunteer to make costumes for friends as well since I love making them so much. For any given con I’ll generally make around 10 to 12 costumes, even if only 5 of them are for me.

What is your dream cosplay? Honestly? A Big Daddy from Bioshock. I would love to tackle the challenge of that build. However I am tiny and don’t think I can pull it off. I may have to beg a friend to let me make them one. So aside from that I’d have to say Aigis from Persona 3. I’ll get around to her eventually, since some of her hardware would be a fun project to tackle I think. Killer robots, apparently, are what I want to make.

What is your favorite cosplay you have done so far? Why? It’s really hard to say. I love my Commander Shepard for sentimental reasons but I don’t think I did a good job on the N7 armor craftsmanship and I’m not proud of how it came out. My Sailor Captain America gets the most responses from people online and at cons but I don’t know if I have much of an emotional attachment to it. I love a lot of group costumes I’ve done like Persona 4 Dancing All Night but that’s more loving the group than loving my costume. I think if I had to pick I might go with my Elizabeth from Persona Q costume. It’s one of the simplest ones I’ve done, it was a last minute con decision and it only took about 2 work days but I’m pleased with how it came out, the work on it is clean and I liked wearing it.

You are one of the most organized cosplayers I have ever met. How do you do it? People always ask that and I don’t ever know what to say because it feels like the way I do things is totally normal and it’s not at all insane to sort your sequins by color and shape into old spaghetti jars what are you talking about everyone does that. I think it’s a holdover from school. I have a degree in Industrial Design from SCAD and I tend to approach my costumes the same way I would my schoolwork which is to do a professional, clean job in the amount of time given. The studio and classroom spaces I worked in were always very organized and it just makes sense to do the same for my workspace at home since I know it works. Taking detailed notes and planning a costume out in advance is the same thing. It takes a lot of work upfront to get your system in place but it’s absolutely worth it because of the amount of time and effort it will save you on your work.

I love your YouTube channel. What is your goal for your channel? I don’t know if I have a goal beyond just ranting about whatever is bugging me at the moment. To be honest most of my content comes from my sister. She’s not a nerd and doesn’t cosplay, but she finds the whole community fascinating and she’s really interested in social media so she contributes a lot of stuff to what I do. She’ll ask questions that I don’t even think of because I’ve been doing this for so long, like how to prepare for a con or where I get my wigs and I turn that into a video. She’ll actually be showing up on my channel in the next month or so when she cluelessly narrates my work log for my DOTA 2 Legion Commander build. She just sent me her voice-over recording that I still need to add to the video before I can post it but it’s hilarious. Get ready for a lot of confusion over heat guns.

What are your con plans for the rest of 2016? Just Otakon. I can’t handle more than 3 or 4 cons a year or I get separation anxiety from my cat.

What are your top cosplay pet peeves? People who don’t wear makeup with their costumes. Stop making excuses and put some freakin’ mascara on, it will change your life. It drives me nuts when I see people who have put so much effort into their costumes and then won’t do it to themselves. It’s so simple and it makes such a difference and if you are in my room and not doing it I will sit on you and paint your face. Also people who don’t put effort into their work, especially in groups. Don’t slack off on your cosplay or procrastinate. Start early and do a good job on it. Everyone will be able to tell if you didn’t.

Who is your favorite cosplayer? Elendriel. It’s been a few years since I’ve gotten to hang out with her at a con or cosplay together but her talent is leagues beyond anyone else I have ever met in all the years I have been doing this. Her costumes are staggeringly detailed in person and not only that but she is the most genuinely passionate person about this hobby I have ever met. She loves every aspect of it and it shows in everything she does.

What’s the hardest thing about cosplay for you? Wigs. I suck at styling them. Rare is the day when you will see me in anything besides shake and go wig styles.

What is the best advice you have for other cosplayers? Don’t work for recognition, but create work worthy of being recognized. Work hard. Hard work shows through every time no matter your skill level or the complexity of the costume. You can see when someone has put the effort into what they’re making even if it’s their first costume and I admire that more than anything else.

Top 5 resources/tutorials you have found for cosplay help? Pinterest. There are a billion tutorials floating around on there but it also just makes it so easy to organize them, along with reference photos, makeup tips, anything else. Other cosplayers! Work with them, in person or on skype. Everyone has different ways of doing things and you will always learn something new. The employees at your local fabric store. I met one of my best cosplay friends because I asked her for help finding a fabric and we discovered we were both cosplayers. Even if they aren’t nerds though they know fabric. Show them reference photos, ask for recommendations and advice. The Internet! (Duh) Before you even start on a costume spend a few hours Googling tutorials or photos of other people who have done that costume. Look at how the constructed things, decide if you want to work that way, and don’t be afraid to ask them for tips on how they did things. And number 5 would be YouTube. Don’t know how to do the thing? Go watch another person doing it.

Anything else you want to add? I obviously like talking too much, so if anyone ever wants to hit me up on social media with questions or con plans do it! I am chatty and friendly.

Thanks for reading. She has already given me some new ideas. Keep an eye out in the future because we may have a collaboration together at some point on our channels. Make sure you go follow her at all of her social media links below. Don’t forget to subscribe via email or Bloglovin’ to never miss a post!

Alana Owlet’s Social Media:
Facebook: Alana Owlet
Instagram: @AlanaOwlet
YouTube: Alana Owlet
DeviantArt: Alana Owlet

Photography Credits:
Diablo 3 Wizard photo by Fang Fox Photography
Fuu Hououji, Magic Knights Rayearth photo by Kimchiii
Elizabeth, Persona Q photo by RedSonya Cosplay
Sailor Captain America photo by Rebecca Colegrove