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 EllaDitto about her history with cosplay, what got her into it, the challenges she faced and other things.
EllaDitto is from Columbia, but has been living in the USA for the past 9 years. She’s a mortgage processor, and also works behind a bar mixing drinks.
What got you interested in cosplay?
“After COVID hit, I realized I had spent most of my life just working. My routine was to go to work, come home, sleep, and repeat. I desperately wanted to break out of that cycle and explore my inner child a bit more. I started drawing, painting, and bought my first console in 2020 when I started playing video games for the first time as a 25 year old!
I’ve always been into makeup trends, so whenever I saw video game characters, I thought to myself, “I could easily recreate that!” Little did I know it wouldn’t be easy—it was definitely a challenge. But it was one I was willing to take.
With every new cosplay I created, I pushed the boundaries of what I thought I could or couldn’t do and sought out solutions. The more time passed, the more creative I became. But, as always, challenges came along, and I realized I couldn’t do everything on my own.
That’s when I started reaching out to people who had been doing this much longer than I had. I expanded my social circle by joining The Roundtable. I wasn’t expecting to be welcomed with so much love and so many people willing to help out. I found family.”
How long have you been cosplaying for?
“This is a tricky question because I feel like I’ve always enjoyed “dressing up.” When I was little, I wouldn’t take off my ballerina outfit until it fell apart. But my cosplay journey officially started in 2023.
By that point, I had been playing Siege for two years and finally felt ready to attend an event. It was a rash decision, I’m not gonna lie. I had just lost my job and was looking for a sign to push me to go. Then, two weeks before SI 2023, someone was giving away a ticket, and I knew I had to take it.
With less than two weeks to prepare, I put together my Ash Elite, Battle Pass Cav, and Ela Elite cosplays. Everything for my cosplays was either thrifted or handmade. To this day, I still wear my Ela Elite!”
What has been the most difficult part about cosplaying for you?
“Getting good reference pictures—and I cannot emphasize this enough! I tend to be overly critical of my cosplays, always trying to make them as accurate as possible. Breaking down cosplays piece by piece is always challenging because I can’t seem to move on to anything else until I get every detail just right.
Sometimes, I forget that I’m still a beginner and still learning. I have to remind myself that doing my best is sometimes more than enough!”
When cosplaying, what have been three most important things for you to have with you?
“Useful pockets are a must—for my phone and all the loot I collect from events!
I tend to get overwhelmed and overstimulated with all my gear, so having my noise-canceling headphones is a lifesaver.
I also carry hand warmers for those chilly winter events.”
When you started cosplaying, what was an obstacle or challenge that you encountered?
“I realized I did not know how to draw or paint!
Finding the good materials that I was comfortable enough with playing around was a hard one for sure. I very quickly realized that not all paints worked on the same materials, so a lot of trial and error (and money) went into my experiments.”
What advice would you give to people wanting to start cosplay for the first time?
“DO IT!!!! You will not regret it.
Cosplaying has brought me an immense sense of community that I would have never gotten had I not taken the leap.
Do not care about what anyone else thinks. People will always have something to say, but other’s will see your courage to do whatever you want and love/appreciate you for it.
Ask for help! This is a huge one. You will save A LOT of time if you just reach out and use resources at your disposition. Youtube can be your biggest source of information! But there’s a LOT out there, so do not get overwhelmed by the amount of information. Break down the videos into parts that are useful / are relevant to your cosplay. Expensive materials ≠ a better cosplay.
Join the Roundtable! wink wink“
EllaDitto can be found on your favourite social media channels here:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/EllaDitto
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ella.dittto
- Twitch: https://twitch.tv/elladittto