I met Kisa last year at MCM Birmingham and since then we have become friends. She is one of the most talented builders I have ever seen. I have seen her put together dresses overnight and props. We have had some awesome experiences this year from attending the European Black Panther premiere, meeting Ryan Coogler, having Lupita was our group pic in their group chat, and being on the red carpet with the cast of Avengers Infinity War. Let’s take some time and get to know Kisa.
What got you into cosplaying?
My mother took me to my first convention, Sunnycon a few years ago, and when I saw everyone dressed up in their crazy costumes I knew it was something I wanted to try.
How long have you been cosplaying?
Since the summer of 2013!
What is your favorite cosplay?
I really can’t say! I’ve made so many over the years and each of them has given me different opportunities.
Do you have a cosplay pet peeve?
I have many, I could probably go on for hours, haha. But my more current one is other people/cosplayers asking me where I bought my costume on a post explaining how I made my costume!
If you could go anywhere in the world how to cosplay where would it be?
Probably somewhere in Asia as I feel like their cosplaying is at another level!
How was your 1st convention?
It was a weird experience as I wasn’t sure what exactly what was going on, or why people were dressing up! I just ended up spending a lot of money on merchandise.
Do you make your own cosplays or do you commission them?
I make pretty much all my costumes, however I’ve bought parts of costumes before!
What is the best part of cosplaying? (Designing, building or the actual con?)
Probably the first few hours of putting my costume on; my costume, my makeup, my props and everything that I have put into the costumes looks perfect and I feel amazing and confident.
What was the hardest character to create?
Vision. I had to invest a lot of money into SFX makeup and lots of new materials.
You seem to adopt the spirit of the cosplays. Is it important to you to be in character?
Most of the characters I cosplay are somewhat close to my actual personality, so I will just emphasise parts of it to be more like the character. However, I rarely go deep into character as I would probably just burst out laughing!!
I have seen you pull an all-nighter to finish cosplays. How long does it typically take to make your cosplays?
AHHAHHAA. Well. These days I usually spend between 6 hours and 3 weeks to make 1 costume.
What cosplays do you have planned for the future?
SO MANY! My main focus is on Lando from the new Solo film and Ruby Rhod from The Fifth Element.
You are also a gifted piano player, do you play by ear or have to learn the theme songs before playing them?
I do a lot of both, I have been playing the piano for around 12 years now so sometime I just use sheet music, but other times I find it fun to play by ear and transcribe the music myself.
It has been a big year cosplay wise for you. What has been the highlight?
Definitely the Avengers Infinity War events that I partook in with a lot of awesome cosplayers. Meeting the actors was great, but the fun I had meeting new friends was actually more of a highlight.
You met Letitia Wright at the Avengers Infinity War Fan Event, what was her response to your cosplay of Shuri?
She and Paul Bettany were impressed that I managed to make the costume from 2 blurry screenshots from the trailer! Apparently, it was perfect ahahaha.
What has been your biggest moment since you started cosplaying?
Travelling. Without cosplay I wouldn’t have made so many friends, and without the friends across the world, I most likely wouldn’t have travelled around so much!
What was your reaction at the end of Infinity War?
My reaction was pure shock. Apart from Tony they had potentially killed off my favourite characters. Fingers crossed that in Avengers 4 they bring them all back! haha
Who do you reckon will die in Avengers 4?
Tony Stark. Which makes me unbearably sad as he is my most favourite character EVER!
Thanks Kisa for chatting with me about your cosplay. Check out some of the photos I have taken of Kisa over the past year!
To follow Kisa check her out on IG and Facebook.
Previous Cosplay Spotlights can be seen below.