We recently partnered with some of our 2023 Comicpalooza Cosplay Contest judges and past winners to photograph them at some of the city’s most beloved locations in their award-winning cosplay.

A special thank you to our partners Color Factory, Smither Park and the Orange Show for Visionary Art, Houston Museum of Natural Science, and 1940 Air Terminal Museum for hosting us at their location and our photographer Ivy Gonzalez for capturing the intricacies of the cosplays and the essence of the locations.

Jessica (Jess) Ontiveros is a native Houstonian with a BFA in Theatre for Costume Design and Construction from Sam Houston State University. While her focus is sewing elaborate and intricate costumes, Jess is looking forward to broadening her horizons with other media and techniques.

SaiyanGodCosplay (They/She) is a bi-racial 7 times award-winning Texas cosplayer that has been cosplaying for over 10 years. Specializing in Props, foam smithing, SFX makeup, wig styling, 3d modeling, and led work. They love bringing their favorite video game characters to life and learning new and interesting ways to turn game physics and detail into real life.

RumplestiltSeam (They/Them) is a craftsmanship-oriented cosplayer that has been cosplaying in the Texas cosplay community and abroad for a decade. They like to focus on balancing performance and craftsmanship to bring their work to life and tell a story. They use their strongest skill, needlework, and fabric manipulation to bring all kinds of characters to life from many genres including video games, manga/anime, comic books, pop culture, and original designs and artwork.

Native Texan, Sparrowhawk Cosplay is an award-winning cosplayer, costume designer, and prop maker with 8 years of experience. She specializes in foam smithing, blueprint/pattern construction, sewing, fx makeup, weathering, and wig styling. She is always striving to learn new skills and techniques while sharing her knowledge with others in the community or those looking to join the community.