Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah DeBerry.
Leah, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I started cosplaying with my twin sister, Alex when we were around ten or eleven years old. We both had been fascinated with anime, older video, and card games, and had just been getting into comics around that time. We had heard that a voice actor from an anime we watched was going to be going to a convention near us in less than a month, and we wanted to meet him! We looked up conventions near us to find which con specifically it was he was attending. We were so surprised at how may conventions take place in our home state, Alabama, and even more surprised at the bigger ones that take place all across America! When you google conventions and even see them referenced to in movies, cosplayers are what you see. My sister and I thought that cosplaying was a requirement to go to conventions!! Not wanting to stand out, or seem like we were “new” to the scene (even though we were), we rushed to a thrift store with our grandmother, bought some normal clothes, then layered and pieced together two characters from the popular show Dragon Ball Z. I had my mom cut my long blonde hair into a bob, and went as the character Android 18, and Alex had gotten a long black wig, duct taped the accessories into the pigtails, and went as Videl. We were so excited, and quite nervous, to wear our new costumes! Our father took us the Saturday of the convention, along with our older brother, Jesse. We were embarrassed about walking around in public wearing our costumes (even though the costumes looked like normal clothes) until we arrived at the hotel the con was being held at. Seeing other cosplayers walk around so casually really helped us relax! We found out that cosplaying was, in fact, not a requirement to attend a convention, but so many people were so supportive with our cosplays, and we even got to participate in the cosplay contest! We cosplayed again at the next convention we went to, but this time it was in Atlanta! Still to this day that convention, Anime Weekend Atlanta, is my favorite convention to attend!
My sister and I cosplayed about two or three years before we moved from a small town in Alabama, to the big city of Birmingham. Whereas we had planned on continuing our convention and cosplay enjoyment, we ended up joining the theatre company in our high school, Spain Park, and sadly didn’t have time to anymore. However, I, of course, ended up becoming the Costuming Director, and my sister Directed the Scene Shop and props! At the end of my high school days, I joined an entertainment company, The Enchanted Princesses, where I appeared at children’s birthday parties and other special events as Princesses and Super-heroes! It helped me gain confidence in front of a camera, and keep my characters alive! I even got to wear costumes I made myself! After graduating, we had time once again to go to a convention. Alex and I put what we learned making costumes and building props in theatre to use, and became the ultimate tag team! In just two years, we have not only improved our skills but made a name for ourselves in the community! We’ve been invited to attend conventions as guests alongside celebrities like Stan Lee, Jason Momoa, William Shatner, and others! (Even been able to talk one-on-one with them in the green room!) We’ve traveled more in the past year than we have in our entire lives by going to conventions! Just recently, my sister and I have gotten offers to travel outside of the U.S. as well! We’re hoping that everything works out in our favor and we are able to attend these out of country conventions as guests! We have websites where we sell prints of our finished cosplays, and even have Patreons where people can follow along with our progress, and get exclusive tutorials! We’ve come a long way, and have been extremely blessed with the opportunities we’ve been given. We’re planning on continuing to cosplay for quite some time before we put our acquired skills to other fun hobbies and professions! I just moved to Atlanta last October in hopes of being able to grow even further, and this city has already proven to not only be stocked full of open doors but ever evolving and growing! Atlanta is the largest city in the south for conventions and cosplayers, and has an expanding entertainment industry! I have a strong feeling that I’ve only just gotten started, and there’s so much in store for me now that I’m in a place where I can take the risk!
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I bring characters I love from Anime, Comics, Video Games, Cartoons, etc., to life! I make costumes, costume patterns (templates for how clothing is made), style wigs, and make small props. I do my own makeup as well! I learned pattern making by buying an object of clothing (like a t-shirt for example) from thrift stores, taking it apart by the seams, and seeing what it looks like when it’s first cut out of the material, and before it’s sewn together! There are patterns that one can buy actually! However, in my experience, there is not always going to be a pattern for a corseted, high-waisted pair of shorts just sitting on an obvious shelf in Walmart! So I learned to make my own! The Makeup and wig styling my sister, Alex, and I learned from our mother! Our mother wanted to be a beautician when we were young. She sadly wasn’t able to continue her education for it, but what she did learn, she taught us a good bit of! Everything she taught us, including how to use a sewing machine, we’ve taken and ran with; Always learning and growing! With the makeup, We’ve been able to look like a variety of extremely different characters, and have even started to branch into special effects make up a little bit with latex! I’ve made an entire bald cap the morning of a convention because I couldn’t find a decent one I liked in a store prior to the trip! With styling wigs, Alex now can spike wigs that almost exactly copies that of the cartoon screen, and I’ve learned how to make fox ears of all things out of wig hair! My sister has even started learning and teaching me how to make armor with EVA and craft foam, and now even Worbla as well! I’m still quite amateur, but she’s made robot arms that light up! I, however, make the clothing portions of the costumes both my sister and I wear, and have started teaching my sister as well (We started teaching each other our specialties in our tag team duo since we no longer live in the same state and can’t work as closely together anymore). I’ve learned how to make dresses, corsets, leotards, capes, and all kinds of wacky costume pieces we don’t wear in normal day-to-day life! I’ve made a dress replica of Aerith from the video game Final Fantasy 7 in two days, and made an entire remake of my sister’s Esmeralda from Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame costume in a single night because my sister forgot to pack it! Don’t get me wrong though, working fast is great and all, especially in a pinch! However, all of my costumes that I am personally more proud of, I took my time on, and learned as I made the costumes!
My sister and I started cosplaying, ironically because we thought it was a requirement, but continued it because of how supportive and uplifting the cosplay community is! Lately, since we’ve earned a larger following on our social media platforms, it seems like we’ve been on a time crunch of having so many pictures of “X” amount of characters, for a con per month (sometimes cons back-to-back!). It’s proven to be more stressful, and it got to the point where we were so overloaded, by the time the convention came around, we couldn’t enjoy it and just wanted to sleep and recuperate. Now, we’re pacing ourselves to take our time, not to crunch under time constraint, and have fun again! My sister and I are paid to continue our hobby now and are traveling across America to appear as Cosplay Celebrity Guests, yet I still don’t like the idea of competing honestly. In everything I do I’ve always been competitive, always loved challenging myself, and challenging others! In cosplay, however, I don’t want to compete! I want to just focus on having fun as a nerd playing dress up as my favorite characters! I want other cosplayers to feel the same! The cosplay community started from people who were shunned in normal society for being “nerds,” coming together and showing off their love for their interests by wearing them proudly! It wasn’t competitive; it was inspirational for those who also had interests that were laughed at by society! Yet, now society’s “norms” are leaking into the cosplay community. Popularity contests on social media, models who are “slut-shamed” by other cosplayers for cosplaying the exact design of the characters, or even adding their own artistic twist, biased judging in contests, racism, sexism, etc.! There are actual people who call African American cosplayers the “Black Versions” of their characters they’re cosplaying, instead of just the regular name of the character, and some of those cosplayers are rejected by photographers because they “aren’t accurate” or don’t fit the photographer’s “portfolio.” We are all people who are dressing up for fun, yet now there are people who are discouraged from continuing the hobby they once loved and felt accepted in! There are now so many people who are hesitant in joining the cosplay community because they think they have to be “perfect” or they’ll get laughed at! It’s disturbing and needs to be fixed. Toxicity in the community is being cleansed, and cosplayers are focusing on their enjoyment in the hobby, and their mental and physical health before they worry about their costumes. I myself got so tired of the popularity contests and people trying to take advantage of my sister or I for our following on social media. But after stepping back and looking at the situations, I decided that instead of dropping a hobby I loved so much just because of trivial problems, I’d stay and set an example! I’m working every day to show people that this community is still just as accepting and open as it always was, if not even more now! That’s the message I want to show people through my work!
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
Going to events is a great way to connect!! For me personally, conventions are a safe and fun way to meet all kinds of people with the same interests as me! There are all kinds of conventions too! Comic, gaming, anime, music, even Disney themed conventions!! Artists can sell their works at conventions too! Photographers can work and advertise for their own businesses as well! There are local bands who apply to play music at the events, and DJs during the raves! Outside of conventions, keeping up with the community through social media is still useful, but with how social media like Facebook and Instagram are starting to mess up with the algorithms, it’s becoming harder to see your close friends content, and there are more ads than ever. Keeping up with local cons and events is much better to get real-life connections with people!
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
All of my Social Media include Instagram (@DaBerryBestCosplays; This is my main social media), Twitter (@DaBerryBestCos), YouTube (DaBerryBestCosplays), Facebook (Tag Team Cosplays; I share this social media with my sister), and Patreon! Patreon, Storenvy, and Ko-Fi are all sites that People can use to support my work! Patreon allows them to see all of my content in the works, see exclusive content like tutorials, and even receive monthly rewards! Storenvy has all of my prints for sale of my cosplays! Ko-Fi is a supportive website where people can support me of whatever amount they want without getting anything in return. I have been very blessed to have so many people not only follow my journey but also support me along the way!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daberrybestcosplays/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tag-Team-Cosplays-1882982871972764/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaBerryBestCos
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/DaBerryBestCosplays
Image Credit:
@___sixtus___, @Kevinertia, @Adam Lee Photography, @Affliction Media Productions, @Amanda Swanson Photography, @RyzenXia
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