Welcome to Meet the Cosplayer, where I introduce you to some of the fantastic, creative talent within the Rainbow Six: Siege community. This series is meant to showcase the amazing cosplayers no matter their skill level or experience.
I sat down and spoke with cosplayer ArtifexWarden about his history with cosplay, what got him into it, the challenges he faced and other things.
ArtifexWarden, aka James, lives & works in the UK as an Aerospace Overhaul Technician, fixing & repairing aircraft engines.
What got you interested in cosplay?
“I’ve long since dreamed of making and wearing outfit from my favourite media like star wars and Halo ect. but I was always to scared to start them in case they looked bad as I can be quite a perfectionist. One day I just said “screw it enough being scared lets do one but lets start simple” so I picked Elite Mute as I was a big fan of siege and I thought it would be relatively easy to get some old WW2 surplus and copies to build it. It cost a lot more than I thought in the end and was more difficult than I thought (as it always does) But it kick started a journey I don’t regret taking.”
How long have you been cosplaying for?
“2018, So almost 5 years now.”
What has been the most difficult part about cosplaying for you?
“Perfectionism. I have Autism and have a double edged habit is noticing small details and knowing when something doesn’t look right it can trigger me so keeping that in check and still having fun can be quite difficult for me.”
When cosplaying, what have been three most important things for you to have with you?
“Tape to help fix anything that breaks. Food, Water and phone power are all things you don’t want to be without.”
When you started cosplaying, what was an obstacle or challenge that you encountered?
“My gas mask. Because I started on elite mute one of the problems I encountered when I attended my first con was in order to speak to people I had to take the mask off and then constantly put it back on for photos. So to fix this issue I installed a voice amplifier inside one of the gas mask filters. It’s here where I learned of the dangers when dealing with old military filters as before the early 2000’s it was common for these filters to use asbestos, so I had to buy some new modern filters the end result was actually amazing it was very clear and worked well!”
What advice would you give to people wanting to start cosplay for the first time?
“LISTS! Make lists its a lesson picked up from Adam savage and have preached ever since when I realised how useful they were. It helps when deciding for materials or items you might buy that you have stuff to refer back to. It just helps keep track of your cosplay and what you spend and your budget.”
ArtifexWarden can be found on your favourite social media channels here:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArtifexWarden
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ArtifexWarden_Cosplay
