Bengaluru: Looks like the city of Bengaluru is unable to keep its excitement for the upcoming 8th edition of Maruti Suzuki Arena Bengaluru Comic Con, India’s greatest pop culture experience. To kickstart the 2019 season in the city, Comic Con India organized its annual immersive Cosplay 101 Workshop in association with The Beer Cafe Biggie, which was hosted none other than India’s Championship of Cosplay Winner 2019 Akshay Churi along with Bengaluru’s Top Cosplayer Sana Khan. The duo took fans through the entire process of crafting their own costumes and props.
A CGI generalist by profession and cosplayer at heart, Akshay Churi a.k.a ‘The Red Comet’ has been active in the cosplay world for the past 5 years and in this short time has managed to win 4 Category prizes, 2 Grand Prizes and the ICC championship. Meanwhile, Sana Khan a.ka. Violexi Cosplay began her cosplay journey back in 2016 while studying fashion design where she began experimenting with materials and techniques. She made her debut at the World Cosplay Summit 2016 and cosplayed at Hyderabad Comic Con as Vengeful Spirit from the game Dota2, and the year after that, as Sarah Kerrigan from the game StarCraft, both of which bagged her the Grand Prize in Delhi Comic Con.
The exclusive, fun-packed, hands-on workshop witnessed an active participation from the city’s enthusiastic geek community. They answered a barrage of curious questions by the audience following an informative session about how and where they can obtain costumes, props, wigs, and more about the art of cosplaying that could make them the next cosplay champion. This year at Bengaluru Comic Con scheduled on November 16 and 17, 2019, there will be 2 separate contest for cosplayers. One would be for contenders of the prestigious Indian Championship of Cosplay Qualifiers and the second one for all who want to be their favourite superheroes. This will take place on both days of the show with grand prizes of INR 50,000 and INR 20000 (Cash Prize) respectively each day.
Speaking on the success of the workshop, Jatin Varma, Founder, Comic Con India said, “Cosplaying is rapidly exploding into the mainstream of Comic Con India events where more and more pop culture fans are now opening up to the idea of taking it as a steady career option. Our workshop was open to everyone; from those who have just begun to take an interest in Cosplay, to professionals who are aiming to make it big in the cosplay world. Fans received all the gyaan related to cosplaying from some of the coolest professional cosplayers in the industry. The workshop further facilitated in generating curiosity among the fans who would like to cosplay at the forthcoming main event in the city.”
So if comics, movies, animation, graphic novels, and all things fantastic interest you, join India’s greatest celebration of pop culture with exhibitions, cosplay screenings, workshops, exclusive comic book launches, meet and greet, loads of awesome merch, amazing panelists, and presenters representing the best in contemporary pop culture from around the world.