Sophomore Rebecca Williams feels a rush of excitement and pride.  She is surrounded by people decked out in every kind of costume possible.   Despite the fact that she is hot, sweaty, and suffering from the heat in her self-made costume, she couldn’t have been more proud.

Williams is at the Otakon anime convention, a convention where people can dress up in their favorite anime costumes.  All of her hard work on her latest mascot costume has finally paid off.

Williams’s passion for mascot- making started at age 14, last summer, when she stumbled across the website called DeviantART.  According to Williams, DeviantART is a “social networking site for artists.”  When she discovered some mascot costumes she thought, “that’s cool, I want one,” and started designing her first costume, Aeon Wolf, a made up character.

It takes about three weeks to two months to make a costume, depending on how elaborate it is.  Williams starts out making the costume with a head base made out of upholstery foam.  She forms it to her head and then adds the correct pieces she needs.  According to Williams, this is the most difficult part.

For the rest of the costume, Williams sews together clothes with different patterns and faux fur.  Making one of these costumes costs around $150 to $200.  “I mostly keep [my costumes].  They are personal characters, so they stay with me,” said Williams.  However, Williams has considered selling her costumes.  If she decides to sell the costumes, she will sell them for around $750 – $900 dollars each.

Williams also names her characters.  So far she has made Aeon Wolf, Hana Kitty, Thunder Typhlosion, and Fluttershy from ”My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.”  All of these characters she made up, except Fluttershy.

“I made them all for fun, and I took Thunder Typhlosion to an anime convention, Otakon, during the summer,” Williams said.

Otakon is a popular anime convention held in late July, early August in Baltimore. Most people dresses up in their costumes and people can shop for different kinds of art displayed.  There are also workshops where a person can work with others who enjoy their interests. According to Williams, people who make these mascots are called “Furries.”

“[Otakon] was amazing.  I met so many different people and made some good friends,” Williams said.

“The reason I make these costumes is to make people happy,” Williams said.  “It’s fun. [Being in costume] feels like being a completely different person.”

Caitlin Wolfarth is a News Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.