Identity Theft sheds light on cosplay – the recreating and wearing of costumes as a social activity – by telling the stories of a selection of individuals from the cosplay community. I photographed these individuals in a studio to ensure consistency, and then stylised them as illustrations, using halftone effects and flat areas of colour to create a comic book style. This project allowed me to combine my love of editorial design with exploring a fascinating subculture, and what it means to others as well as myself.
I began by contacting local cosplayers, and interviewed them in order to discover points of interest in their lives as members of the cosplay community. I then invited them for a photoshoot in the studio at the University, using the session as a storyboarding process for the images accompanying their interview.
The cover of my book features textures from across the stories, enlarged and separated into panels. These panels fully wrap around to the back cover.
Photographs were stylised into illustrations in Photoshop, using halftone effects, adjusting the colours, and drawing in additional details where necessary.
The final book was printed using my own inkjet printer, onto off-white sugar paper. The cover was printed onto vinyl paper, using a large format printer, and folded around cartridge paper to make the cover. I perfect bound the book myself.
The final book was exhibited in my University degree show at The Rag Factory in London, alongside two companion posters I created featuring images from the book.
