how has cosplay affected your self-confidence and esteem? Related to abilities/skills, personality and looks.

A couple people I know have become much more outgoing since they started cosplaying. They also seem to take bigger chances when it comes to work situations, and meeting new people. Some people have increased self-esteem regarding their physical appearance. However, some people seem to find the community relying too much on "good looks", and have considered things like plastic surgery, which they never would before cosplay.

What about you?

I haven't really thought about it too much.
It's made me a little out going and more open to anything I spose.
I don't cosplay much but after the first convention I went to i'm more confedent in talking and hugging random strangers xD

Tbh I dont think its affected my gregarious nature at all. My family as a whole are pretty much extroverts XD your not allowed to be shy around my mum O_o I will say that cosplay for me is another way to meet like minded people which I welcome as you tend to get firm friends when you put yourself out there at cons.

the surgery thing? that makes me really sad

I feel more confident when my head is covered, liek with a mask or cowl etc. But playing/being in character makes me feel more confident. But im painfully shy. So i dont talk to people much at expos >__<

Its completely brought me out of my shell and changed alot about me. Cosplay brings out my passion of making and creating things!
I used to be painfully shy and really struggle to talk to new people, I also suffer with incredibly low self esteem. As times gone by I've become more confident in various ways: My ability to take risks with the outfits I do and have the confidence I can pull them off (Construction and looks wise) I'm so much more sociable now and have made so many new friends because of it. And although I'm not completely happy with myself I have alot more self confidence in the way I am and how I look.
I'll still panic and worry about a new cosplay venture for whatever reason, but chances are I'm more likely to give it a go compared to when I first started out!

I was never really that confident before. I use to get bullied a lot and was really self consious, but after getting into cosplay I have seen a great change in my personality. I feel more confident to do what I want, be myself. I have met many friends through cosplaying.Most of my friends not into cosplaying I have fallen out of contact with over the years due to people moving etc, but it seems that friends that I have through cosplaying I just can't get rid of XD.

Cosplay has done wonders for my confidence. Before I started cosplaying, I used to hide whenever a camera appeared, but that's long since gone! I'm a lot better around people I don't know (than I used to be anyway) and I'm not afraid to stick up for myself now either. This hobby really has brought out the best in me.

yee it has helped my confidence lots actually tho i think thats also to do wit all my awesome friends. its helped me have a better self image though, i used to hate having my photo taken and now it doesnt seem such a big deal!

Woah, considering plastic surgery because of cosplay? That's quite a scary thought- surgery is already a bit of a slippery topic but because of cosplay? Daunting!
As for me it's made me much more confident in my ability to create things and I have more confidence with meeting new people- I'm still quite shy but sometimes I can just suck it up and go for it!
I think cosplay is like taking drama at school, it's great for improving confidence and acting as well as helping your crafting skills

Sammy is very shy

cosplaying makes me confident but then again cosplay affects me the same way sugar does

maybe i'm confident when i get hyper haha

I'm actually very shy by nature. Cosplay has given me the confidence to start conversations with people I would have been too shy to approach under normal circumstances.

Seconded. I'm very shy (I know, surprising to those who know me). Cosplay has really helped me have the courage to caht with people.

It has also given me that creative release that sometimes I find I want to do. Certainally ever since I had to take a step back from acting after I was really ill.

well, the replies so far are certainly a relief!

I did worry a bit when I saw the "uk cosplay drama" thread, and then next day I hear a friend complain about her looks (comparing herself to models she thinks would look better in this or that cosplay)...

To me, the fun in cosplay lies mostly in making costumes, not so much wearing them, so I don't have a particular opinion about looks & cosplay. It would be a shame if cosplay became so competitive that your genes began to have a serious say in your final execution of a costume.

For me, cosplay hasn't changed my personality at all (I've always been outgoing) but it has encouraged me to learn how to use make-up etc.

Not that I feel I 'have' to wear make-up (I think I look perfectly fine without it!) but having to make the effort for cosplay has encouarged me to dress up more for a party or job interview, for example.

now I'm not hyped up on fanta I can reply logically hehe

Bin a shy person or my life for one reason or another But in cosplay I become natural hyperactive and chatty with everyone I meet

(First expo my friend wanted to ask someone ahead of us about some part of their costume so I called up the street to them)



But tbh I like being someone else cos its an intresting experience

and also I think, well I'm dress in a large dress and coloured wig I haven't got anything to lose in terms of looking silly/wierd to passersby

might as well enjoy it hehe <3

cosplay has definitely given me more confidence. I use to have problems with my body image but since cosplaying I've found I grown to not care.

I use to be heavily bullied about they way I look and I also have a problem with my waist. One side of my waist is hour glass and the other isn't due to my hips being out of line and that use to cause me many problems.

However I've learned through cosplay how to pose to make this less noticeable and even braved wearing a zentai suit in front of good couple hundred people.

And yeah just generally making some of the most amazing friends and boyfriend too have given me more confidence

cosplay has done a lot for my self-confidence im going out more and im talking to peole now so yer

I'd say its helped me before I was self conscious of my body, but since cosplaying I've just become a not really that bothered way of thinking about it, the true test is when I cosplay Yoko really, shes got alot on show! xD

It's also helped cause I was quite shy im abit more outgoing now and love meeting new friends etc

Ummm... I think I might be broked...

Although when I started I used to be ok with it I find I'm not very confident in cosplay at all anymore, I get extreme stage fright and feel really uncomfortable when you get a group of people all at once that want to take a photo,

tbh cosplay seems to scare the shit out of me these days and I'm starting to think its had the opposit effect on me that its had of you guys... for those that know me personaly you'll know i've allways hated stages, but it just seems to have gotten worse over the last few years,

I don't know what I'm doing wrong with it...
Any tips to boost confidance in cosplay??

Cosplay has done wonders for my confidence. I'm an extremely shy person, well, I still am, but I am slowly coming out of my shell and talking to more people that I wouldn't have dreamed of doing before ^^;

Haven't noticed an improvement in my confidence but I don't think I've cosplayed enough to really tell.

However my biggest confidence issue is my eczema and no amount of cosplaying is going to change that so it's more about being less affected by what other people may or may not think, which is really hard to do...

I think it has, when I cosplay it makes me feel...pretty and confident. Out of that, I feel like a fat blob half the time.

I hate myself and my own body because well I've never actually felt good about myself.

When I did Sheena from TOS I felt so good about myself, there were about 7 others but meh I had fun.
When I did Shana from LoD it wasa pair of shorts...now I hate shorts I hate showing my legs off due to the massive birthmark on my left leg but I still had fun with it.

Now I'm doing Alicia from VP2 and well thats a short skirt...how I am gonna do that I dunno.

It makes me a different person I just...like not being me.

I actually didn't realise it had done anything to me until my fellow cosplay friends started commenting when we had a gap between whenever we'd spent any time away, things like 'I can't get over how much you've come out your shell!', 'To think you're talking like this now' and 'You used to just follow so-and-so around but lookitchu!!'

.......So...maybe a bit? I discovered a lot through cosplay and crossplay...

tbh i was the same as you as first cos i didn't realise

it was only wen a week after expo I saw a wh smith staff member point a lad to the manga- he seemed to be looking for something in perticular and suddenly for no reason I just turned and asked what he was looking for, then had a long chat about mangas we like and then I gave him direction to a place he was most likely to find the manga he was looking for

I stunned myself for a few seconds hehe

@HelloKitty- I'm terrified of being on stage too- not entirely sure why i'm doing the masq at kita other than it's given me a deadline to work to and i got talked into a costume specifically for it!

I dont think cosplaying itself has made me more self confident in terms of looks or personality but the people I've met have made me feel really accepted/welcome, so I feel a lot happier in myself and I guess that because I feel comfortable as a cosplayer I'm probably more out going when around other cosplayers

in terms of skills I feel i'm improving on things that I'd always wanted to but didn't have the direct motivation to improve before- like making clothes and i'm not worried about showing my cosplay creations off like i am with my real creative work (although i think perhaps thats because i know it wont be judged critically in the same way because it doesn't really matter!)