“My first cosplay experience left me bleary-eyed and reeling. I was astounded by the creativity, awestruck by the craftsmanship and inspired by the collective experience.”
– THE HONEST COSPLAYER, https://www.thehonestcosplayer.com
risty Podelnyk is a true creative force to be reckoned with. The Honest Cosplayer is renowned for her infectious enthusiasm and incredible cosplay creations that combine breathtaking craftsmanship with a passion for all things pop culture, anime, and fantasy.
Always pushing the boundaries of her craft, Kristy has been captivating audiences with her show-stopping costumes that have been winning over judges at some of the world’s best competitions.
Kristy’s dedication to honesty and transparency in the cosplay scene is refreshing. She’s not afraid to show the hard work, long hours, and occasional mishaps that go into crafting the perfect cosplay, and her fans love her for it!
Let’s dive into The Honest Cosplayer’s magical world of creativity and discover what it takes for Kristy to bring some of our favorite characters to life!
Kristy: I did go to Emerald City Comic Con this year. It’s one of my favorite conventions to attend. I don’t go to a lot of conventions around the country. I usually stay kind of close to the region, and so that’s the one that I make a point to, to go to every year, mostly because it’s just a lot of fun. It’s big, there’s a lot of stuff going on. I get to go to Seattle. I don’t live there, so it’s like a trip, a vacation. And this year, I got to compete in the cosplay competition again, which is really, really exciting. And I also had a chance to rally my friends and my family behind me, which I’ve not done in the past. So, it was really exciting to be a part of the programming as, like, a competitor. But it was also just super fun to be there with my friends and my family and enjoy the event in Seattle, and I’ll probably go back next year because I love the event, and I’ll probably be there in the years to come because it’s just one of my favorite conventions.
Kristy: No, this isn’t my first cosplay competition. I’ve been competing for a while now. I have to think back. I started competing pretty early on when I started cosplaying. It’s really been a tool that I’ve used as a way to validate the skills that I’ve been building along, along, like my cosplay craftsmanship journey. But I don’t compete around the country. I pretty much stay in the Pacific Northwest area, partly because I’m not a great traveler. I like to stay close to home, and partly because I am a little particular about the competitions that I compete in. I like to pick competitions specifically for judges for very specific reasons because I want to get my work in front of particular people. So, I will look for competitions where I know certain judges are going to be so that I can get their eyes on my work and ask them questions or figure out how to grow my skill in their… in their line of sight, in their expertise, get critical feedback from the people that I really respect who are doing the things that I’m looking to like to grow my craftsmanship around. Most of my competition experience has been at Emerald City Comic Con, at Rose City Comic Con, at Renton City Comic Con, and they later rebranded to KingCon. And then, a long time ago, I want to say it was Wizard Con. And I think they were bought up by Fan Expo, but I’m not sure, someone should fact check me on that one. And I think that’s… I think that’s it. I’ve done judging. I’ve been a judge at some other conventions as well. So, I’ve had a lot of success competing, too. I mean, at Emerald City Comic Con, this is my… you can’t see me, but I’m counting on my fingers right now. I’ve competed as… Ursula was my first competition piece, followed by the Xenomorph and then the Queenomorph and then Toriel. So I’ve competed at Emerald City Comic Con four times, and all four times, I’ve won an award. Two of those have been Best In Shows, which is pretty exciting. And then the Queenomorph went on to Chicago to compete at the Nationals, and it didn’t go any further from there. And they’re always, like, really amazing experiences. I really like competitions because they give you a chance to see, just like the best craftsmanship, craftsmanship that you won’t get a chance to see close up anywhere else. I don’t know though that I would describe myself as somebody who really, like, works the competition circuit. I know some people who really, really get into competing all around the country. And like I said before, I really, I’m picky about where I go, and I’m strategic about why I go there, mostly because it’s important to me to build my skillset and to build my craftsmanship, and I want to have these strategic conversations with people because that’s part of my own ambition and my own enjoyment, and competitions also give me, I feel like I should mention this… They also are really important for me because they give me an endpoint for costumes because I would just noodle away on something so very, very strategic about competitions in that they give me a person to talk to, a place to showcase my work, and an endpoint for a costume that I’m working on.
Kristy: So this is a really interesting question. Can you take us through the experience of when you first entered the room at the beginning of the show to the moment that they called your name as a winner? And I feel like I’m actually not the person to ask this question too because I hate this part of the competition experience. I hate the part where we have to get up on stage. I hate being on stage. It is so uncomfortable. I feel so awkward. I would call myself 100% a craftsmanship cosplayer. I am happiest in my workshop, noodling away, like building something. That’s my happy place, and the play part of cosplay, to me, like, being on the floor and the pictures, being on a stage, like, hamming it up, is so not my comfort zone. And I know a lot of cosplayers who just adore it. I have another cosplay friend who competes and she is just stunning on stage. She blows me away whenever she’s on stage. Just like, her talent showcases, it shines and I try to embody her when I’m on stage. I tried to, like, get into her mind. I’m like, “I’m this person. I can do this.” So, my experience, the moment, like, I enter the room at the beginning of the show is just to, like, I really just try not to panic. So I’m trying to, like, hold it together and not fall off the stage and just like, breathe like a normal human and make it across the stage, get in line with everybody else, try to have normal human conversations without having a panic attack. And if all, if I can, if I can achieve all that, then that’s my win, that’s my victory. That’s my goal… is walking across the stage without falling off of it. And as long as I achieve that, I’ve won it. Whatever happens after that, I don’t care. It’s just the cherry on top, really. As long as I can make it from point A to point B. That is my, that’s my metric for success. It is, it is really, really wonderful, though. Like, really. I don’t want to downplay how phenomenal and honoring and humbling it is to be called a winner. That is, that’s always such an amazing feeling and so validating and wonderful to have judges and professionals, like, recognize the quality of the work that you’re doing, too, on top of that, in, like, a serious moment where I say, like, this is really when you’re standing there with all that talent backstage and you see all the amazing things that people are doing and you’re measuring yourself, yourself against all this other incredible craftsmanship. To hear your name called, it’s really, it’s hard to describe. It’s a very humbling moment. But my metric is just not to have a panic attack, honestly. And then afterwards, the relief is palpable. So that is mostly my backstage experience is just get through it, is just survive it. And it’s really like, this is my most uncomfortable try to survive it. Push yourself out of your comfort zone experience for the year thing, and it’s how I know. It’s also how I mark, it’s my metric that you’re done with this project. Like, you have permission to move on to the next one. Like, you’ve done. You’ve achieved the thing you set out to achieve. Like, put it down, move on.
Kristy: Yeah, the days leading up to competition can be pretty stressful. I really try not to buy into con crunch. That is something that I have very purposefully unsubscribe to, and con crunch, if you don’t know it is when you are just like, trying to get everything done in a short amount of time as possible, and that is so not the way I work, and I also know that there are some things you just can’t speed up when you’re doing craftsmanship type building. Like, you can’t make paint dry faster, you can’t speed up a cure time. So I’m more of a, like, a bit-by-bit meticulous noodling away at something worker. And if I know that I’m not going to be able to hit a deadline, then I’ll move the deadline rather than try to, like, squeeze it all in. And I’ve got a pretty good, like, sense of, like, internal compass and sense of direction with stuff like that. Having said all that, the days leading up to a competition are still pretty stressful because there’s, like, prepping kits and making sure that I’ve got supplies for repairs ready. The costume is all packed. The car is ready. I always pack a lot of, like, snacks and food, and since my partner often travels with me, making sure that there’s stuff for him and making sure that we have animals at home, so making sure we have someone to take care of them. So, it’s still a lot of work. And also, like, somewhere in there we have to have fun, right? Like, it’s a vacation. We’ve got to actually, like, go and have a good time. For me, the moment where I’m like, okay, it’s a vacation, I can have fun is usually when we’re in the car pulling out of the driveway, and I’m like, all right, all I got to do is drive now. It’s usually me driving, too. Like, all I got to do is, like, be attentive to the road, listen to the book on tape or the music or whatever, and just enjoy my coffee while we’re driving to the hotel and just relax. But up to that, it can, it can be kind of like a flurry of motion to get things done. This time around, as I was getting Link from Breath of the Wild prepped, I was done and ready to go with all the costuming stuff a week ahead of time, and I was working on my build book, just, like, dialing in little pieces of it. So, there was some, like, printing stuff that I needed to, like, get done, and it didn’t take up a ton of time, so it was pretty easy to get it done. I had some free space in there, which was really nice because I could just kind of, like, breathe, think about what I wanted to say in pre-judging, just kind of, like, relax and try to not stress too much over what was going to be happening. And because my family was coming out, I could get really excited about seeing them and being supported by them and chatting with friends and doing a little bit of grocery shopping and getting snacks ready so we could have some fun when we were there.
Kristy: I’m actually a high school science teacher, science, biology and chemistry, and I taught at a project based school for a while where I did get to teach a cosplay elective, which was really, really fun. I only got to teach there for two years before we had to move because my partner was in med school and he was relocating for residency. But, yeah, it was really amazing that in, like, those two years that my profession and my hobby were able to, like, cross because I got to work with kids in a way that, like, they were interested in it, and I was interested in it. And I wasn’t just their chemistry teacher or their biology teacher, I was also this, you know, human who shared an interest that they did, and we could talk about things like foam fabrication or sewing techniques. And it was really neat to be that person in their life and not just the, like, human who is, like, mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, you know, like, just generally my role as a science teacher.
Kristy: I really like that my skills in education are something that I think are universal in how I can engage in a lot of different avenues, and cosplay too, like, when it comes to programming or paneling. For a while, I was working with conventions to offer workshops where people could come in and, like, build things. Like, they could learn cosplay skills and build things in, and walk away with a piece of armor made out of foam, and then use that skillset to build their first cosplay armor. And that was really cool because, you know, I got to take the two things I love, cosplay and education, and pair them together at a convention, which was just a really fun way to, like, flex my brain juices. And it wasn’t in a high school setting. And I think being a teacher, I don’t know that it changes my approach to cosplaying. I will say this. Teaching is one of those things that you have to constantly problem solve, and you’re problem solving in ways that sometimes it’s really hard and sometimes it’s really easy, and sometimes it’s really unusual, and sometimes it’s very, like, simple. And in that regard, I think it has served me very well as a cosplayer, because when I’m building stuff, sometimes I’m looking at things and I’m trying to figure it out, and a lot of it is just problem solving. I think that for some people who are cosplaying, that can be a real hurdle. They’re trying to do things that you can’t see me doing this but air quotes the right way and it’s not working, and they get stuck because they don’t have unorthodox problem solving skills, and I feel like teaching has really gifted me that, like, problem solve and unorthodox ways to find unorthodox solutions. So, sometimes I’m looking at stuff that I’m trying to do, and I’m like, I can, you know, eventually these unorthodox solutions, I discover them because I’ve done it in teaching. So, maybe it has changed my approach to cosplaying, maybe it’s influenced it in really positive ways, and maybe cosplaying, because I see how effective it is in cosplaying, it has also helped me, in teaching, become more open to those kind of unorthodox ways of supporting students too. I like to think that they’re probably complementary in that creative and adaptable and flexible brain agility is just generally a good practice in both of those endeavors.
Kristy: What inspires me to choose a character to cosplay? I don’t know. Yeah, I don’t know. I think I’ve got a love them. I think that’s probably the thing that ties all my cosplay characters together is I see them and I immediately like them for some reason I don’t have any, like, there’s not a genre that I’m particularly drawn to. I have cosplayed villains as much as I’ve cosplayed heroes. I’ve cosplayed all genders. I’ve cosplayed from anime. I’ve cosplayed from movies, from tv shows, from games. I have no idea. It’s just what speaks to me, and I’ve heard other cosplayers say that, too. And, you know, when you, I think when you’re building something or creating something or making something, I think everybody gets to a point where it gets hard. And if you don’t love the thing that you’re doing, if you don’t have, like, a reason that’s really pulling you through that, like, sticky moment, you’re not gonna finish it. That has happened to me before, too. Like, there have been cosplays I’ve started, and I just don’t have enough momentum to get through it. And so I think the cosplays that you have seen completed are the ones that I have really, for whatever reason, I’ve really loved or I’ve really had a reason to complete them that I really, really, I feel drawn to or I feel something that’s, like, really speaks to me. And the one that I, that, like, regardless of difficulty or practicality, I really, really would want to cosplay, and this is one I’ve been sitting on for a while is the Angel of Death from Hellboy II. It’s a crazy, ambitious cosplay. I wish I cosplayed pretty cosplays. I like monsters. I do like monsters. I do like kind of the misunderstood, I guess. I don’t say villain, but maybe as someone who has, like, a story, I think I want to know more. Like, let’s unpack this character. Let’s find out a little bit more about him. I think the Angel of Death has a story. It’s beautiful, it’s got these wings with eyes, and these hands, and this face, and this crown, and it’s just very complex, and I have no idea how I would do that. I would love to make mechanical wings with animatronic eyes and sculpt all these different pieces and just transform myself. Really, I would like to get lost in it. I think that’s it. I love characters that you just stop seeing me in it and you just see this character that I’ve created or you see the character on the outside of it. I do really like that. So, I really feel, I feel drawn to that. The last cosplay I finished, Link from Breath of Wild, I actually felt pretty exposed in that because you see a lot more of me than you have in the past couple of cosplays that I’ve done. As I think about, like, the next one I pick, that’s something that I’ve been thinking about is how do I hide a little bit better inside the costume that I create.
Picking a Project: I keep a list of potential cosplay projects on hand to help pick projects. Sometimes I choose directly from the list, but other times I just follow my gut. Usually, the choice boils down to how much I love the character, because wanting to bring the cosplay to life helps propel the work to the finish line.
Planning, Patterning & Sewing for Link All the pieces from Link were drafted, patterned and sewn from scratch. This involved numerous mock-ups, material sourcing, and some genuine stick-with-it-ness to figure out how of make all the little details come to life.
Creating a Workspace: Working with mixed materials requires some dedicated spaces. Whether its a guest room or larger studio, it’s important that the space contributes to workflow. For Kristy, this means lots of table space, good lighting, work stations, and tools within quick reach (And space for furry friends). Not shown: a garage space for painting, sanding, and work that needs to be done in a separate space.
Kristy: This is something I really love about cosplay, is that, there is no wrong way to create a cosplay. There’s an infinite number of right ways to create anything that you want to make. And I know, I know every cosplayer’s process is a little bit different, so I can really only speak to what works for me. And so for me, when, when I start out creating a cosplay, I usually select my character, and then I start by sketching it out, and I do that so that I can start to tease apart the different elements to figure out in the design what are the parts and pieces that I want to make? And in my mind, that’s how I start to divide it up, to figure out what’s going to be fabric, and what could be foam, and what maybe is a good candidate for being 3D printed, and what’s going to be something that maybe I want to use? I say Worbla. I’ve never really worked with Worbla before, but it’s, you know, another op material that you can use for something for like for Link for Breath of the Wild, which is the last project that has consumed my life. That’s exactly what I did is I drew it, my skill level, which is pretty low. And I looked at it as like, okay, this is a male character and a female character. I am a female form. So let’s start at the foundations. I’m going to need to sew a binder to change my shape and then his tunic and trousers. I’ll need to source fabric for that. So, where do I want to go to source that fabric? And, oh, you know, there’s 19 different games. Where do I want to pull props from? Oh, I like it from Twilight Princess. I like this bow from this one. I’m gonna 3D print this. I want to mold and cast this. And then, if I’m thinking about I want to compete, in addition to that, I’ll start to think about what elements do I really want to put a lot of time and money into as like a showcase piece. And not everyone does that. That’s like a special cherry on top competition thing. And there are other things that I think about, too, especially that I don’t know if they’re unique to me, but I like to talk about them. I like to think about what do I already have in my workshop? Because if I can save money, that’s awesome. I also have to buy groceries and pay my mortgage. So if I can save some money and use what I already have, great. The other thing I think a lot about when I’m looking at the parts and pieces that I want to make and starting to think about the materials I want to use is weight. And maybe like other petite people think about this, but if you’re carrying props on your hips, which is often where weight falls, or, like, you have to carry them with your arms, and I don’t have a lot of upper body weight, or you’re wearing something on your head, weight is really important. So, oftentimes where I’m going to be wearing something helps me choose a material. Like does it need to be EVA foam because it’s a very lightweight material? Or if I’m going to cast it, does it need to be with a feather light material or with foam it material? Or does it need to be 3D printed hollow because it’s going to be carried across my back? I subscribe to the Jim Henson Studios weight suggestions, especially if you’re wearing something on your head, like a giant Xenomorph mantle, which I’ve worn a couple times, and they say five pounds or less. So that’s what I aim for, you know, and I think a lot of people, a lot of cosplayers go about this a lot of different ways. There’s a lot of people too that take into consideration how much time they have, how much budget they have, and those are certainly part of what I’m considering as well, and how easily they can source things. You know, I’ve lived in places. I used to live in a really small town in Oregon that was surrounded by these very tall mountains, and so it got really treacherous in the winter, and I could only source materials from local stores until the passes cleared. So whatever I could get at Joann’s and Home Depot was what I was working with. Now I live in Portland, and it’s a little bit easier to get stuff like, I have an account at Reynolds Advanced Materials and Tap Plastics, which is fantastic. I think it can look a lot of different ways what materials you’re working with and how you get them, as long as you have a strategy for figuring out what you want to use and why you’re using it. I think that’s a really good question to be able to answer is why you’re choosing the material you’re working with.
Kristy: Oh, yes, absolutely! I actually have, I have three pieces of advice that I give myself often that I like to share with anybody who is in cosplay, who is asking for it, whether they’re new or experienced or sitting on a panel, and they’re like, how do you continue to do this? My first, and I just had to tell myself this yesterday, stop doom scrolling! Get off of social media and stop comparing your work to other people’s. You are the best version of yourself. Comparing your work to something that’s on social media, that’s been doctored, that’s been Photoshopped, that’s been following the five-foot rule that has the world’s best lighting. Like, don’t do it. Stay away from doom scrolling. Remember that your work, like only you know what goes into it. Your work is amazing and what you’re producing is the best that you can do. So don’t compare. It’s your work and it’s fantastic. Just don’t doom scroll. Stay away from it. My second piece of advice, we’ve seen it. It’s not new. And I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna be like, “I coined this, I made this one up.” It’s on t-shirts already. Just do it! Stop talking about it. Just do it! I have a friend, and I feel like I say this to them often. They spend so much time telling me about the next cosplay project they’re going to work on and these big, elaborate builds they’re going to create, and all this stuff, and how it’s going to be amazing and beautiful. It’s been five years and I’ve yet to see them produce anything. And I love them. They’re amazing and they’re these incredible humans. They’re my best friend, the whole wide world. That’s not an exaggeration. They love to talk. I love this about them. If you’re a new cosplayer and you’re having a hard time getting into it, my advice for you is to stop talking about it and just do it. Go to Walmart, buy a utility knife, buy a hot glue gun, get a scrap of fabric, a quarter of fabric, get a needle and thread. Just do it! Give it a try. The worst can happen is it doesn’t work out and then you’ve learned something from it. But wouldn’t you rather have something in hand that you’ve done than nothing at all? Like, that’s the step, is you’ve just, you’ve got to get over the hurdle of looking at it. You just have to do it at some point in time. My last piece of advice, if you can, in your mind’s eye, start to reframe your failure. Like, fails happen. It doesn’t mean you are a failure. It’s just something that happens when you make stuff. So if you can start to reframe your failure as an opportunity to learn and do it better, you’re gonna be leagues ahead from everybody else. And another friend I was talking to yesterday, he has built this incredible cosplay. He’s built all the parts and pieces of it, and he’s now at a place where he’s working at a really complex piece, and he is dragging his feet on it. It is keeping him from finishing this beautiful build. And I was like, “what’s going on?” And he’s just, he’s like, “I can’t. I can’t do it. I know what I need to do and I just can’t. Like, I can’t get past it.” And I was like, “is it because you know that you gotta try it and it’s not gonna work, and you gotta try it again and it’s not gonna work. And he’s like, “yeah, I know.” And I was like, “so you got a journey of failures in front of you.” And he’s like, “yeah.” I phrase it that way, you’ve got a journey of failures. But what it is is journey of failures. He needs to look at it as in I’ve got a journey of failures, I’m going to do this once, it’s going to fail but I’m going to learn from it. So I’m going to do it again and it might not work but I’m going to learn from it again. And that third time, I’m going to get a little bit closer and that fourth time I’m going to nail it. It’s going to be amazing. And so it’s a learning journey but you need those stepping stones to get there like mock ups. So, you got to reframe failure as soon as stepping stones to get to that final place where you get it right. So, those are my three pieces of advice. Avoid doom scrolling, just do it, and start to reframe your failures. And it’s okay if you have human moments when you’re like me yesterday, doom scrolling, avoiding doing it and then being like, “ah, I fail at everything.” You know, you go out with your friends, you have a bowl of ice cream, you play video games for an afternoon, and you refresh, and you try again, and that’s okay. Those are my three pieces for you. Avoid doom scrolling, just do it, Reframe your failures.
Kristy: As of right now, I have no future cosplay competition plans. I don’t know if that’s going to change tomorrow. I do know I could use a little bit of downtime. Link was my most ambitious cosplay I’ve ever created. It doesn’t look like it in the photos. And, I hope to post more on social media about this. Probably my most well-engineered cosplay to date. Everything breaks down for really easy travel. It’s all engineered for like really easy turn on and turn off and battery change out. And, I even like sculpted the bottom of the shoes, like sculpted the soles of the shoes. So all that to say, I’ve been working on it for thousands of hours in an entire year and I would just love a little bit of downtime while I figure out what I want to do next. But I do know that I want to go and just hang out at some conventions with some really cool people. So I plan on attending Lilac City Comic Con in Spokane, Washington. And I would love to check out Summer Con. I think that’s in Tacoma, Washington, but someone should fact check me on that one. And then, one of my favorites, it’s in early September, is Rose City Comic Con. I’m always there. It’s in Portland. That’s a super fun one, and I usually go a couple of days and cosplay that too. Sometimes I compete, sometimes I don’t. I won Best in Show at it a couple years ago, so I feel a little funny competing at that one now. Cause share the space, right? Who knows, though? Who knows what’s gonna happen?
Kristy: Oh, my gosh. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for inviting me to participate in this interview. I feel so honored and humbled, and I appreciate that you’ve given me a chance to share my voice and my thoughts. I would invite anyone to DM me on social media. I love to chat about cosplay or to talk about education or competitions. This seems like such a cool idea to connect people and community, which I love even more. Thank you for inviting me to this and I am so excited to see how people engage further. Good luck.
Discover Kristy at https://www.thehonestcosplayer.com or find her on:
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