Spotlight: Alexia Jean Grey (Pt. 1)

Are all the coolest comic women redheads?
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I saw Alexia Jean Grey at the costume contest, waiting with everyone else to go in.  Tip: this is a great time to catch/shoot all the costumes you hadn't seen before.
She was one of several Black Widows at the convention, and, as i came to find out, a fan favorite.  I noticed that when I went ahead and took a lap around the internet checking out photos and blogs from the Baltimore Comic-Con.  And I saw that everyone had a photo of her.  Everyone.  Ever.  Blogs, flickr galleries and websites like Women of Comicbook Cosplay - she's everywhere. This led me to ask, "So, wait.  Her job is to go from convention to convention and be basically a full-time costumer?"  In short, pretty much.  But what Alexia does would be more accurately called a labor of love, putting together and perfecting new looks and costumes with every convention.  She just finished a trip to New York Comic-Con (where she unveiled a female Dexter costume.  From Dexter's Lab!  Love it!)  But before that trip, I was able to borrow some of her time and ask a few questions.


I see that you have been traveling a lot the past few months.  Is this more or less the life for you, going from con to con?  

It has become that way certainty. This is the first year I started traveling the country to conventions. I was always a little worried before going to places before and my fear of planes but decided it would be best for me to travel to more shows. In previous years I would hit maybe between 4-7 shows a year this year I believe I will be hitting 15 shows by Dec. It has been awesome and really great to see how different the conventions are from coast to coast and getting to meet so many talented artists and fellow costumers. Next year I plan on hitting the west and the midwest more, I will be going to a couple in my area though I will be a guest at Megacon 2013 as well as Supercon 2013. There are still so many shows though I hope I can go to in the near future!

I think a lot of people have no idea that there are models who travel and do multiple conventions and appearances per year.  Did you start off local and decide it would be fun to try doing it more often; or was it something else that got you into being full time?

Michael Iacca

I think there are many costumers who would love to fly around to shows. I always wanted to, but a bit of fear of being alone in a strange place was holding me back. I did start off local.  I would pretty much go anywhere within driving distance and if the money was there. My first fly-away to convention was Philly this year and after that show I was determined to take on as many guest spots as I was offered and shows I was able to go to. There are so many great photographers across the states I would like to meet and work with so I needed to take the plunge and just go for it.

I know people can be a little critiquey, especially online and especially about costume accuracy.  But are the people/experiences you have generally positive?  What about in person with other cosplayers, etc. 

- I have been lucky to get a lot of postive feedback about my costumes. Everyone has different opinions on what makes a good costume or not, in fact there are some people who flat out hate costumers in general. That all comes with the territory and just takes a lot strength not to fight about it with the person. There's a difference between critiques and trolls. Take criticism but just ignore the trolls. It's all internet courage and they would never say it to your face in person so never take the internet seriously. I always try to make friends with fellow costumers, were all in the same boat and I understand that sometimes you just run out of time or money to make your costume "perfect". We all sit there and stress out about how it looks, and complain about how sweaty we are and how bad our feet hurt. You will probably run into people who you may not like or may not like you (and sometimes for no reason). Even when they talk about you negatively just don't bother with it, there are to many people out there to get wrapped up about one person just simply ignore it.

Superhero Photography by Adam Jay

http://alexia-jean-grey.deviantart.com/

What has been your favorite costume so far?   I see for almost every new place you go there's a new look.  How many do you do/how often do you do new ones?

- I think overall my favorite costume/fans favorite costume is my Black Widow. Even though she is a simpler costume I put my own twist on her and try really hard to capture the essence of the character in pictures. I have probably two pages full of costumes I would love to do. It all depends on the money and the time between shows if I can do them. I always try to have a new costume for the major conventions (i.e. I will have a new one for NYCC). I just like surprising people with what I will come up with next, I try to make every charcter unique to me and how I would realistically see them. There are some costumes I would love to recreate perfectly but most I try to do something that has not been seen before.

Brian Humprhey Photography

*We'll post part two of the interview soon, but in the meantime, Check out her Facebook fan page.
As for me, I think I have found a new goal.  To lose 40 several pounds and grow some sweet mutton chops and be a full time Wolverine costumer!