Cosplay Corner #4 Interview: Princess Nightmare

Another Cosplay Corner so soon! I got to interview the amazing and extremely talented cosplayer and artist Princess Nightmare. She runs an Etsy store that sells amazing accessories and costumes. She is trying to get to New York Comic Con with her own booth to sell her stuff and she has an IndieGoGo to help her with it. Give her a hand if you can, every little bit helps her reach her dream. Click here when you’re done her interview: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/new-york-comicon-booth-funding/x/4103104

[Show slideshow]

Thanks for doing this interview, how are you?
Great! Thank you for interviewing me!

What kind of a geek niche do you think you fit into? ie. Comics, movies, games, etc.
Too many! I love comics, movies, games, I read a lot I love to read, I love costumes and going on photoshoots for those costumes, I love fandoms-so many fandoms. I based my business off of the love of fandoms and now make Swarovski crystal custom fandom shoes and bags. So I don’t think there is really one place I fit into. The one I fit in the least is with games-but I do play final fantasy games, Kingdom Hearts games, American McGee’s Alice (I was also used as an add for them and was named one of the top 10 Alices in the world), and am with my D&D group every other week so I supposed I still do fit into games!

What are your top 5 movies, games, and tv shows? Movies:
Movies: Princess Bride, Moulin Rouge, Stardust, Emperors New Groove, Kill Bill (1-2)….Frozen may be added to that list soon
Games: Kingdom Hearts 1, Kingdom Hearts 2, American McGee’s Alice, Final Fantasy X, FInal Fantasy VII
TV: Dexter, Revenge, Grey’s Anatomy, Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory (and just started and am loving Hannibal!) I am adding in that rather than all of that I would rather be reading one of my book series of which my favorites are Harry Potter, Sword of Truth, and Mortal Instruments I find more peace in readinf than I do with movies, games, or TV

When you cast a patronus spell what shape does it take?
Cat and on that I could tell you the patronus of every character that is mentioned in the books-I have read them all at least six times. Harry Potter is one of my favorite things ever! (Book NOT movies)

Why did you start cosplaying and what was your first?
I always have trouble with this because I never intended to start cosplaying. I have been playing dress up my whole life, we have been taking pictures of me playing dress up my whole life. In 2011 I did a photoshoot as American McGee’s Alice, posted a photo, it got a Daily Deviation on deviantart, it was used for the American McGee’s Alice Treehouse Brands store, and people started asking where my facebook page was so I made one. It is still kind of odd to me sometimes. When I go do photos, I do them because it is a stress release and makes me happy. When I go in costume to conventions it is for the same thing, I no longer go to conventions as a person, I go as a vendor with a booth. This year I did Steampunk World’s Faire, I hope to raise the money for NYCC, and will possibly do GKE.

You’ve got a really awesome Etsy store, is this sort of thing your day job?
It is not just my job it is my life. It’s what I have devoted me entire self to making it a success. I had an idea, and I think it was a good one. My dream since I was a kid has been to run my own company and now I do. NYCC is the big jumping point (in my opinion) to get the word out about what I do. I have gone for 4 years doing other things as a vendor, partnered with people, etc, but this is all mine and I truly believe if I get the exposure at NYCC, I will succeed. And here I am going to be shameless and ask people to please believe in me and donate $5 because $5 may not seem like much but from enough people makes all the difference in the world. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/new-york-comicon-booth-funding/x/4103104

Do you take commissions and where can they contact you if they are interested?
Absolutely! Contact me on facebook or etsy. I will do pretty much anything. I have done work with crystals for bridal completely unrelated to fandoms, and I am happy to work on something from any love of anything a person has. However, if people are looking for costumes-I don’t do that. I had a line of costumes while working with another company, the goal is sell out of that stock and be done. I am 100% in accessories right now.

What’s you favourite cosplay that you’ve made and why?
Black Cat is one of the ones I made and I love it because I got to do it my way, I didn’t follow anyone’s drawing or comic book I just did what I wanted and I think it came out great. Aside from that a lot of my costumes are screen worn costumes so I didn’t make most of them.

What costumes do you have in the works right now?
So many. Elsa from Frozen, Draculara the Monster High doll, 2-4 Game of Thrones, 3 Steampunk outfits (versions of different characters done as Steampunk but I’m not telling yet), and maybe some more Black Cat related things.

What Cosplayers inspire you?
None. I am not saying this to be rude or obnoxious. I am just more inspired by people like Crystal Ball costumes who makes amazing detailed costumes, her leatherwork is perfection. Most of the cosplayers I have spoken to I don’t feel I can relate to and I see the entire ‘Cosplay’ thing differently. I have also been told lately that it is different/unique/weird that I respond to messages on my page because ‘cosplayers don’t do that.’ Which I don’t really understand. I think, maybe, I am not really a cosplayer, I am just me. I am a designer, an artist, an Art Historian that loves to play dress up and is very photogenic.

What is your absolute favourite thing about cosplaying?
Either the feel of wearing a very special costume-like the confessor dress from the first scene of the first episode of Legend of the Seeker or the outcome of beautiful photos when they come back to me and I get to look at them and say ‘wow I can’t even believe that that is me’

Do you have any cool hobbies other than cosplaying?
Mostly the work I do with crystals. It is incredibly time consuming, I worked on a Hunger Games high heel for 10 hours and only realized 10 hours had passed because 10 episodes of Dexter have passed. I am also a collector. I collect screen worn costumes-mostly Legend of The Seeker because I loved the Sword of Truth books so much, I collect original comic art (favorite artists Joe Linsner and Billy Tucci), I collect Barbies and Monster High dolls, and Squishables, I collect costumes in general as well-and by costumes I do not mean Halloween store stuff-I mean extremely high quality corsets, gowns, and other costumes.

I know lots of girls (and even guys) are often given a hard time for cosplaying or expressing their geekdom because people will say they aren’t “true geeks.” I think this is stupid but it happens. Does this happen to you and how do you deal with it?
It’s actually never happened to me. If it did I probably wouldn’t care. People will always talk if you put yourself out there-it is just the way things are. I am who I am I don’t care who other people think I am. Being a designer and an artist will always be more important to me than being a cosplayer. I will never be a famous or well known cosplayer, I don’t have an endgame in it, so people’s opinions of me in relation to being a cosplayer just don’t matter to me-I do it for fun, for stress relief, and because costumes make me happy.

Anything you want to say to the folks at home?
Go see my indiegogo and help me get to NYCC? Kidding. I don’t know I guess for anyone who follows me or likes what I do I really truly appreciate it. It is really an amazing thing for so many people to be paying attention. So thank you for interviewing me and thank you to everyone that follows me and sees something special in me.

Where can we find you on the internet?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theprincessnightmare
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/princessnightmare
Instagram: http://instagram.com/theprincessnightmare
Twitter: https://twitter.com/princessnghtmre
And right now for the next 30 or so days the Indiegogo campaign I have set up is here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/new-york-comicon-booth-funding/x/4103104 (Sorry, had to, my dreams are on the line here and I am a very ambitious girl! Actually many of the rewards for this are cosplay photo rewards because people have been asking me to sell photos for so long)

Photo Credits:

photo credits! the alice are Bombshell Pinups, black cat is HSL Photography, kahlan/confessor is Black Room Photography

moulin rouge pin up is also bombshell pinups

About the Author

Andew Dupe Andrew is a web developer and general geek. He likes drawing, programming, table top gaming, video gaming, other general geek things, and of course long walks on the beach. Follow him on twitter @dup3 Favourite Movie: Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi Favourite Game: Halo 2 Favourite Book: Name of the Wind