5 Things I Missed About Cosplay.

Up until quite recently, I was on a big cosplay hiatus. Due to personal reasons, I left cosplaying, and I wasn't sure if I was going to get back into it. Well, last year I did slowly begin to go back into the world of cosplaying. And now that I am officially on the bandwagon again, I found there are five things that I miss. These are in no particular order, just five things I missed about cosplay.

1. Making things.
I've always been really happy creating things. Either through writing, or drawing, or sewing or really anything. Making things made me so happy. When I stopped cosplaying, a lot of my desire to create things went with it. Cosplay for me was the perfect reason to work with my hands to make beautiful things.

2. Learning new skills.
This kind of goes along with making things, but I learned so many skills while I was cosplaying. I learned how to sew, how to knit, how to do makeup. But when I stopped cosplaying I stopped learning new skills. Now that I am back into it, I want to learn more about prop and armour making. As well as making the skills I already have a lot better.

3. The Community.
I left behind an amazing community of so many talented people. Most of them I knew in real life, so I never really lost touch with them, but the online community I lost touch with. The cosplay community can have elitists but so does every community. In the cosplay community, I find there are a lot more accepting people. The big thing cosplayers stress is that cosplay is for everyone.

4. Going to events.
Now, when I was cosplaying, I didn't go to that many events. I didn't have the money, or the transport, so I had to stick to local events. But the few that I did attend were so much fun. I got a lot of advice about anything I could have asked for. And just being excited for going to an event was half the fun. In 2016 I am going to my very first big convention, there will be more on that in the future.

5. The feeling of satisfaction.
Lastly was the feeling of satisfaction when I was finished with something. I usually worked really hard with what I had when it came to cosplaying. And when I finished something, I felt really proud of what I had done. I find I missed that feeling a lot. Granted that feeling comes from a lot of other things too. There is just something so special about making something with your own two hands. Especially when this thing doesn't exist in real life like an anime or cartoon character.

Cosplaying is a very special art form that holds a lot of stereotypes, and misconceptions behind it. But for those who do it, cosplay is something that I believe never really leaves you. It'll always be a part of your life in one way or another. I have no idea what my cosplay life holds in store for me, but I am very excited to find out.