Britt was born and raised in a small South Texas town. In a school where football was king, Britt found herself in choir, band, journalism, and theatre. Her passion for performance led her to the renowned University of North Texas College of Music. During her time as a live radio show host, she realized her enthusiasm for voice and direction, she switched to Theatre and graduated with a focus in stage and vocal performance.
Britt can be heard on TV, radio, video games, and around the web representing major brands and companies from around the world. She also teaches workshops on voice over and does casting and directing for voice over projects, and will be judging skit and performance entries.
Carl grew up with cartoons, anime, videogames, movies, and many other platforms for the expanding nerd culture, which fed into a love for cosplay. However, he didn't start going to conventions until 2009. Not a year later, he and some friends created Shinka Studios, and began building a repertoire of costumes and going to conventions to participate in competitions. In winning Best in Show at their very first competition, they built enough confidence to continue to learn and craft.
Over the years, Shinka Studios has been a part of many conventions: winning multiple awards, being in promotional videos, and announcing and judging contests. They can be found in other media as well, including features in Game Informer and Cosplay in America, being interviewed by Forbes, and being a part of Syfy's show Heroes of Cosplay.
Carl and his studio often do unorthodox cosplays or challenging characters in an attempt to bring them to life, learn new skills, and inspire others. Shinka has two goals: "Make others happy" and "Overall improve the community."
He can be found on Twitter as
@cmartincosplay and on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/ShinkaStudios
Caroline has been cosplaying since 2004 and over the years has created more than 50 costumes for herself and her friends. Though initially self-taught, she now holds a BA in Costume Design from the University of North Texas, where she took on the roles of assistant and lead costume designer for several theatrical productions. Her costuming work takes inspiration from many different sources, including anime and manga, video games, sci-fi, webcomics, history, and literature. Caroline enjoys working with many different types of materials for props and accessories, as of late she has been experimenting with makeup and paint techniques. She enjoys sharing the knowledge that she has gained through participating in this amazing hobby, and is always up for sharing techniques and advice with other cosplayers. Caroline can be seen at many conventions and events involving cosplay throughout the DFW area, either in costume or acting as the President of the Alpha Chapter of the Mu Epsilon Kappa Society.
(Velours Requiem) has always had a passion for fashion. Dreaming of becoming a professional fashion designer, she has used Cosplay as a medium to express her creativity and love for design. Self-taught for 9 years, her sense of style is often found in her creations. Her creative attention, spanning down to the smallest of details, has resulted in several awards as well as the opportunity to work as a promotional model, which she continues to do to this day.
Destiny's personal philosophy in life is to never give up. Although the path may be difficult, with hard work and determination you can attain your dreams.
You can view Destiny's creations at:
https://www.facebook.com/VeloursRequiemCreations
Photography by Aperture Ashley:
https://www.facebook.com/apertureashley
Illa Scriptor started cosplaying in 2008 thanks to a trigonometry assignment that encouraged a 'creative presentation.' Her classmates never looked at her quite the same again, but she had fallen in love and founded Saucy Noodle Cosplay as a group to perform with for the crazy fun of it all. They've done everything from wacky song rewrites to soulful dance duets and won a few awards along the way, including three Best in Shows.
As a recent theatre grad, Illa brings her knowledge of both costuming and performance to all her cosplay endeavors. She's learned a lot about important theatre skills like pattern drafting, makeup, wigs, and the rehearsal process through her time in the hobby. While the convention stage is vastly distinct from the theatre stage, she loves being on both.
Megan has been going to conventions for twelve years, and loves creating costumes just as much as she loves wearing them.
She graduated from the fashion design program at the University of North Texas in 2012, and uses the skills and techniques she learned there to create high-quality garments and cosplays for herself and for others. She places great importance on detail work, aiming to make every costume durable and functional as well as accurate. Though she has been cosplaying for a long time, Megan's first entry into a cosplay contest was at A-kon 25, where she and her group won second place in the open
walk-on division.
She runs Hoozasaurus Designs Cosplay and Commissions, which can be found on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/HoozasaurusDesigns
