The Basics:

JoEllen is a 25-year-old costume designer and seamstress who recently relocated from Texas to southern California. To date she has created over 80 costumes for herself, friends, family and commissions. She also works as a wardrobe stylist for photoshoots and film work - a natural progression for the fashion conscious cosplayer. Her move out to California was prompted by her desire to be a fashion designer for television and film. Ironically her ultimate dream – and one I think she is highly qualified for – would be to produce costumes for the Castlevania movie.

“I'll tell you right now if I could somehow get on the Castlevania movie wardrobe department I might actually defy physics and fly from being so happy!”



An example of a commission piece created by JoEllen



A few of JoEllen’s favorite things:

Game: “The Castlevania series, the Tomb Raider series and the Resident Evil series. There are a few bad apples in each series, but on the whole I always look forward to the next game published.”

Anime: “Cowboy Bebop and Record of Lodoss Wars – Old school stuff! To tell you the truth I'm not into anime as much as I use to be. I’m more of a gamer geek now.”

Manga or Comic: “Chobits and Junko Mizuno fairy tale series. Junko man…that girl is twisted and I love her for it!”

Favorite Convention: “Dragon Con!”

Favorite Author: “Peter S. Beagle, Anne Rice and everyone’s favorite – J.R.R Tolkien.

Favorite Music Artist: “This is hard, I love everything but gangster rap and country. My iPod is filled with game soundtracks and Indie.”



Cosplay Specifics:

JoEllen currently has six years of cosplay experience under her belt.

“It wasn't until I was 18 when I went to my first anime convention called ‘A-kon’ in Texas with my sister. It was really the first time we saw what cosplay was about. Seeing the cosplayers running around, I thought to myself, ‘I don't have to wait till Halloween to dress up!’ I was beginning to think that perhaps I was too old to wear costumes, but seeing people my age and older having fun in costume made me eager to make a cosplay costume too! I decided that the next year I was going to make costumes for my sister and I. I've been cosplaying for 6 years now!”

The motivation to create an amazing costume must have been immense because over the last six years JoEllen taught herself not only how to sew, but other skills as well including pattern drafting, jewelry making, wig styling and make-up application.

“I am entirely self-taught! My grandmother told me that you have to turn everything you sew inside out after your done, but that's the only amount of schooling I got for sewing! I've picked up a few techniques and tips from interning with fashion designer Vanness Riley and working for the costume department at University of North Texas, but for the most part I taught myself through trial and error and reading patterns. It just goes to show that you can learn anything if you really want it enough!”

JoEllen’s first cosplay costume was Cyberdoll May from the Anime Handmaid May. While her first costume is impressive, it seems that with each new endeavor both JoEllen’s skills and ambition grow. Every costume she produces seems to be more impressive than the last. While this may be true, JoEllen still has her favorites.

“My Favorite is a tie between Princess Zelda and Alucard. I usually sell all my personal costumes but I keep updating Alucard. I’m a sucker for 17th century fashion and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is heavily inspired by that period. Lets face it, I'm the biggest dork for the game so that costume is precious to me.”

While not her favourite, JoEllen’s Princess Zelda costume is equally impressive

One of her dream costumes comes from the Castlevania series as well.

“I would love to do the Venus Weed monster from Castlevania and Lily's princess dress from the movie Legend. I know one day Ill do both!”

It is obvious that JoEllen has quite an eclectic taste when it comes to cosplay choices.

“I don't think there is a certain type of character I gravitate too. Each one of my video game and anime characters is completely different. If I like the design and think its something that is going to challenge me I will go for it. I don't have to have some kind of connection with the character to make the costume.”



Castlevania Costume Specifics:

As I mentioned above, JoEllen is the ultimate Castlevania fangirl. She has currently created THREE Castlevania costumes and they are all as beautifully crafted as Alucard.

A recent picture of JoEllen’s Alucard costume, taken by Jamais Vu



“Right now I have made three Castlevania costumes, all from Symphony of the Night. Maria for my sister Mary, Richter for my friend Chris, and Alucard for myself. Alucard is my all time favorite male videogame character. Manly is not a word I'd use to describe Alucard - he is quite the pretty boy - so I though it would be fun to try and make his costume and pull off his looks. I actually constructed his costume off and on over the course of a month. I had wanted to cosplay as him long before I started. I played around with make-up about a year before hand. It only took two months to make all three costumes, the others were not as hard to make. I plan one day to make a Dracula costume also just so that I can do a photoshoot with all four characters.”

All three of JoEllen’s Castlevania creations

JoEllen continued by explaining some of the details of crafting the costumes:

“Alucard’s jacket was definitely the hardest to make. It took a long time to sew all the trim on. I have big hips so I had to contour the jacket to make my figure look more masculine. The collar on the cape was hard to make as well. In the illustrations it has a severe high fold. I sewed in a casing to add wire to keep its shape.”

There is no doubt that the final result is impressive – however - the finishing touch of makeup makes it that much more alluring, especially since it is a practice often neglected when it comes to cosplay.

“I was really trying to copy the way it looks in the illustrations. I think it’s important that your face matches your costume. Make-up plays a huge role in transforming yourself into the character. Alucard is half vampire half human so his skin should be lighter than your regular skin tone. I shaded in my jowls and eyes to look lifeless. I think I’ve gotten better at my make-up, it’s changed up over the past year.”

Makeup is a key element in the success of JoEllen’s Alucard cosplay

As you could expect, the result of all these elements was expensive.

“I don't want to know how much it totaled – I lost count. I'm sure it was well over $1000.00 including notions, the wig and props.”

At least the effort has not been in vain. JoEllen has gotten more use out of her Alucard costume than any of her other creations, showcasing it at five conventions and for two photoshoots. Fan reactions also make it worth wile.

“Fans of the series flip out when seeing me. Usually they telling me how much they love Alucard and ask for a picture with me. I had one fan who had a huge crush on the character and was really upset to find out that I was a girl – though that did not stop her from flirting with me!”

JoEllen’s final p