If you follow me on social media, you’ll know my main focus is celshaded cosplays. It’s the style I
tend to stick to when it comes to cosplaying. But why do I only do celshaded cosplays nowadays?
And what made me choose this distinctive style? Keep reading this blog post to find out!

My Celshaded Cosplay Origins

When I was a teenager, I became obsessed with a video game series called Borderlands. Borderlands
is a first person shooter / RPG game that has a very distinctive style. This style is often referred to as
celshading or a ‘hand drawn’ style.

Borderlands Cosplay Competition

Fast forward to 2019 (when I was 19), I decided to do my first ever Borderlands cosplay… a Psycho! This was only my third cosplay ever, so it’s safe to say I didn’t really know what I was doing. But despite that, I had a lot of fun attempting to imitate that Borderlands style. 

That same year, I entered a Borderlands cosplay competition at MCM Manchester. I don’t know why I entered it (Who did I think I was?!) but I had an amazing experience. The cosplay competition allowed me to meet so many talented Borderlands cosplayers and I left feeling so inspired.

MORE Borderlands Cosplays!

Following the cosplay competition, I gradually started creating more and more Borderlands cosplays. From around 2019 to 2023, I created cosplays of Maya, Amara, Tiny Tina and Mad Moxxi. My Tiny Tina cosplay was particularly my pride and joy, with Amara being a close second. I became very fond of recreating the celshaded style for my cosplays.

Why do I only do celshaded cosplays now?

For about 7 years of my cosplay career, I did a mix of Borderlands cosplays and regular, uncelshaded cosplays from other franchises. In 2025, It clicked to me that celshaded is my specialty. At this current stage of my cosplay career, I can’t sew and I’m not great with wig styling (I have Drawiing Dreamer for that!). So I thought, why not lean into my skills and focus more on celshading?

This is when I officially decided to branch out and start celshading cosplays that aren’t specifically Borderlands characters or Telltale Games characters (a similar art style!). My first ever attempt at this was with my Jinx cosplay. This was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Jinx has now become one of my most popular cosplays ever. I believe people really enjoy that combined Arcane and Borderlands art style. 

Since then, I’ve created a huge range of cosplays from various franchises, all in my signature celshaded style.

Finding your own cosplay style

If you’re desperate to grow your cosplay social media channels, I’d highly recommend finding what makes you unique and focusing on that! Although canon cosplays have always been typically seen as ‘superior’, this can sometimes make it easier to get lost in the crowd.

Say there’s a sea of Hatsune Miku cosplayers all trying to look identical to the Vocaloid… If you decide to add loads of cute accessories to your wig, do really dramatic makeup, crotchet her entire costume, add loads of sparkles, this is more likely to make you stand out from the crowd! Your cosplay will make users online stop and watch.

Don’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd and really make your cosplays your own! I promise you’ll see more benefits from doing this. Doing this with my celshaded cosplays has truly been life changing!

Got a question? Want to collaborate? Get in touch with me!