Cosplay Connection is all about getting to know cosplayers and their journeys, struggles, and triumphs within their hobby. For this month’s Cosplay Connection interview, host Maddie went live with special guest Jen Markham. Jen is most known for cosplays from the Star Wars universe.
Jen Markham’s Cosplay Journey
Jen has been cosplaying since 2016. Her love and passion behind costume making was sparked by Halloween. When she and her husband got married, she looked forward to having someone to do Halloween with.
“I thought, let’s do heroes. Let’s do Rey and Russell from ‘Up’ you know. And so, I started researching Rey’s costume, and it was the Halloween after ‘The Force Awakens’ which would have been 2016. And I stumbled on TheRPF.com, you know, that community of prop builders who do all the research on screen-used costumes. And I was fascinated, it just blew my mind that you could make something or have something that was exactly what they used in the movie and make it the exact same way…I was addicted to the puzzle solving of it.”
Like all cosplayers, Jen faces some challenges while creating cosplays by hand.
“I sometimes run into roadblock just mentally of ‘well, I don’t know how to do that. I’ve never done that before. I’ll have to pay someone to do that. I’m gonna buy that piece.’ And, then you do it once, and you’re like, ‘oh!’ …like 3-D printing. I’ve never 3-D printed anything before. That’s for people who have 3-D printers who know how to design things. I’ll just buy the thing.”
She recommends watching YouTube videos for tutorials and ask questions of those who have done these things before. Once you do it, then it isn’t as daunting! Try it before you say you can’t.
“Experiment and test and try it. But I think that’s usually the big obstacle for me is that anytime I’m trying something I’ve never done before is to like, ‘well where do you start? How do you do that?’ You just do it. You try. You fail. You do a test piece and you do your piece, and hopefully it works out. And if it doesn’t, you do it again!”
Resource recommendations for cosplayers
Jen gets asked a lot about resources for building and creating cosplays. There are so many different styles and techniques. Sewing, building, leatherworking, foam armor, and so much more – there is one place Jen directs everyone to:
“YouTube, man. I still look up stuff on YouTube all the time…all knowledge is on YouTube. It’s unbelievable!”
There are YouTube video tutorials for literally everything, and there is no time constraint creators have to stick to when posting. Use it like a search engine for whatever it is you are looking for!
You can find Jen Markham on social media:
TikTok: @jenmarkham
Instagram: @jen_markham
For more Star Wars related content:
May the 4th Celebration: How to make Pretzel Lightsabers
Star Wars and superhero fan draws outfit inspo from bloggers, cosplayers
Temple of Geek Podcast: “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” is coming to Disney+
