How to Become a Professional Cosplayer
I got an ask on tumblr a while back about how to become a professional cosplayer, so I figured I'd clean up my response and post it here.
Short answer on how to become a professional cosplayer is: you don’t
Long answer is: it’s complicated and incredibly difficult, and depends on what you mean by “professional.”
If you mean “someone who judges contests and/or gets invited to cons,” the VAST majority of those aren’t professionals. They may or may not get an appearance fee, even, depending on the con. (Note to cosplayers: don’t let cons take advantage of you by not paying you for your work for them! Always get per diem, travel, and hotel at BARE minimum, and preferably also an appearance fee.) This isn’t that hard to do, but you need to have a portfolio that backs up why you would be a good guest, and a good reason why you’d be a good guest. It’s just a matter of emailing and/or applying to cons and networking. That, however, would be an entirely separate advice post!
However, most people who ask this are newer cosplayers who isn’t ready for that yet. I assume this because if you’ve been around a while, you know that this isn’t a question. Not “this isn’t a question you ask” (as in, we don’t talk about it in polite society), but that this isn’t really a *thing* in the way that people outside of the cosplay community seem to think it is.
(Side note: I remember this question being asked for at least 15, 20 years online lmao it’s easier to make money cosplaying now than it was then, but it’s still incredibly difficult to make a living wage and fully support yourself on cosplay.)
There are professional cosplayers out there, as in, people who make the majority or all of their income from cosplay. They tend to be few and far between, and one of the open secrets of the community is that some people who try to make a go at it are supported by a partner or family with money.
But! There are ways to make money as a cosplayer. It’s difficult and unlikely, especially with how saturated the market is, but there are ways. Usually this is a side gig and not a full-time thing, but if you're looking to make money off your hobby, there's some options. You can, of course, combine these. Think of what you want out of cosplay and what you can bring to the table to differentiate yourself.
This is all from a USA perspective, which I assume you’re from or at least a similar culture, since you’re asking me and not, say, someone living in Japan.
If you can find someone who is a professional cosplayer or semi-pro who is willing to give you advice and tell you about their business model, go for it, but usually hitting up random people for advice like this doesn't go well, so make sure you have some sort of rapport first.
I’m also assuming anyone reading this isn't asking about costuming generally as a career, which is a whole different ballpark. Actually, that might be something to look into as a career to fund your cosplay hobby (and possible cosplay side gig) if you are interested.
Otherwise, enjoy it as a hobby, slowly build a business if you think you are up to it, and see where it takes you. :]
Short answer on how to become a professional cosplayer is: you don’t
Long answer is: it’s complicated and incredibly difficult, and depends on what you mean by “professional.”
If you mean “someone who judges contests and/or gets invited to cons,” the VAST majority of those aren’t professionals. They may or may not get an appearance fee, even, depending on the con. (Note to cosplayers: don’t let cons take advantage of you by not paying you for your work for them! Always get per diem, travel, and hotel at BARE minimum, and preferably also an appearance fee.) This isn’t that hard to do, but you need to have a portfolio that backs up why you would be a good guest, and a good reason why you’d be a good guest. It’s just a matter of emailing and/or applying to cons and networking. That, however, would be an entirely separate advice post!
However, most people who ask this are newer cosplayers who isn’t ready for that yet. I assume this because if you’ve been around a while, you know that this isn’t a question. Not “this isn’t a question you ask” (as in, we don’t talk about it in polite society), but that this isn’t really a *thing* in the way that people outside of the cosplay community seem to think it is.
(Side note: I remember this question being asked for at least 15, 20 years online lmao it’s easier to make money cosplaying now than it was then, but it’s still incredibly difficult to make a living wage and fully support yourself on cosplay.)
There are professional cosplayers out there, as in, people who make the majority or all of their income from cosplay. They tend to be few and far between, and one of the open secrets of the community is that some people who try to make a go at it are supported by a partner or family with money.
But! There are ways to make money as a cosplayer. It’s difficult and unlikely, especially with how saturated the market is, but there are ways. Usually this is a side gig and not a full-time thing, but if you're looking to make money off your hobby, there's some options. You can, of course, combine these. Think of what you want out of cosplay and what you can bring to the table to differentiate yourself.
This is all from a USA perspective, which I assume you’re from or at least a similar culture, since you’re asking me and not, say, someone living in Japan.
- Do commissions. This works once you have a high enough skill level to have a client base that wants to pay you for those skills. It’s difficult to both get enough commissions and finish enough commissions to have a living wage, though, so it’s really only recommended if you are fast at it and/or are okay with it being a side gig.
- Start a business selling resources. Patterns, 3D models, resin kits, etc. You’ll be operating on thin margins, there’s competition out there, and you’ll need to be good and fast at these things, but some business prowess, skill, and a bit of luck, and people have done it. Some people also sell tutorials and such, but I don’t know how much they make.
- Sell prints. This is going to be the hardest of these to make a living wage on. You can couple this with other things on this list to add supplemental income. Basically, sell pictures of yourself online and at cons, start a Patreon, become a booth babe (there isn’t enough in the way of “official cosplayer” jobs to make a living on, and usually you aren’t paid much and still have to make the costume), etc. This bullet point usually goes with the next two.
- Become an influencer. Confession: I don’t know quite how this works, but your money would be coming from sponsorships, paid posts, youtube ad revenue, etc. This is also a lot of work, and you would basically be hustling 24/7. Think of the direction you would want to take this and what specific thing you would offer that sets you apart, and…..figure out how to become an influencer lmao. I don't know if there are cosplay influencers that make a full living off of it since it’s a somewhat newer field and far from what I do, but the margin of success is also pretty small, I’d imagine.
- Sex work. This is even further from what I know about, so I have NO idea how much money you would make or how to get into it. I’m sure there are guides online. You can do anything from the extremely soft (think gravure modeling: sexy clothes, lingerie, sexy poses, light nudity) to harder stuff (depicting sex acts, whether solo or with toys or partners, catering to fetishes in addition to cosplay, camming, etc.). This is going to be difficult as well and while all of these are not for everyone, this one especially. (Honestly not my thing at all but so much respect for people who can handle it.) You’ll want to keep yourself safe online for SURE if you go into this, and it will require stricter safety measures than the rest of these (which also require strict safety measures). Also think long and hard about whether you want the stigma following you: unfortunately, our society still stigmatizes sex work, and you can lose jobs, friends, etc. if people find out, and it’ll be hard to physically get and keep your money because of banks and credit card processors not accepting sex work money. Less of a concern, but unless you are doing very softcore stuff (mostly pinupy stuff), a lot of cons won't want to bring you on as a guest, as most want their cosplay guests to be a bit more family friendly. This isn’t to say “don’t do it” but it’s something to really think about and look into. I don't know where to get advice on the cosplay specific side of this, but Slate’s How to Do It column has had a few letters about sex work generally over the years – here’s a few (1 2 3)– and usually Stoya points the letter writer to further resources. (Also tends to be only cosplay adjacent from what I’ve seen? You’ll be dressing up but won’t be wearing much in the way of costumes! Mostly wigs and lingerie.) (Also my thoughts about cosplay being seen by those outside the community as only a porn thing are irrelevant to this question, but it is something to think about: this one has a lot of moneymaking potential, but think about how you want both yourself and cosplay as a hobby to be presented!)
If you can find someone who is a professional cosplayer or semi-pro who is willing to give you advice and tell you about their business model, go for it, but usually hitting up random people for advice like this doesn't go well, so make sure you have some sort of rapport first.
I’m also assuming anyone reading this isn't asking about costuming generally as a career, which is a whole different ballpark. Actually, that might be something to look into as a career to fund your cosplay hobby (and possible cosplay side gig) if you are interested.
Otherwise, enjoy it as a hobby, slowly build a business if you think you are up to it, and see where it takes you. :]