We’re spotlighting talent in the cosplay community!
Every month, The Variant showcases cosplayers who display talent, creativity, and a positive voice within the cosplay community.

Hello, beautiful people!
My name is Karissa, or Karizma Cosplay!

When not in cosplay, you can find me running around a theatre, stage managing, painting sets or doing costume work! I work for any theatre I can in an attempt to make use of my Bachelor’s degree in, you guessed it, Theatre! I also work as a barista for a large coffee company. I can make a mean mocha. Other than that, I’m just a strange, small, punky gremlin here to make people smile!

 I got my first start in cosplay about a year and a half ago. I wanted to start cosplaying for a while but never had the time until I graduated college. In college I worked at the campus costume shop for about 3 years so I had a basic knowledge of costuming which shot me directly into the crazy fun world of cosplay.

My first cosplay was Jester from Critical Role. Dungeons and Dragons is a huge part of my life and I made this cute tiefling for a last minute trip to the Renaissance Faire. I put together a very rough version of Jester’s outfit in 48 hours (looking like a knock-off version of her), and painted myself blue for the first time. I had more fun in that version 1.0 of Jester than I ever thought I could. I fell in love with cosplay that day and threw myself into the craft 100%. 

About a month later I was in a really bad car accident. While this sounds like it has nothing to do with cosplay or costuming, not having a car and giving myself time to heal gave me the opportunity to really focus on building cosplay. While it was a bittersweet start, it helped me dive deeper into this new hobby. Now a year later I’ve met an endless line of talented, amazing and inspiring people. I’ve been to some incredible conventions and I’ve been lucky enough to get opportunities like this to talk about what I love.

Thanks so much to The Variant, and thank you all for taking the time to read a small part of my story!

Welcome to 2020!!
What better way to ring in the new year than with a double dose of comics cosplay from the two biggest franchises in the game, DC & Marvel!!!

Karissa brought us her Raven from Teen Titans and her Domino from X-Force and we’re literally speechless at the pics she got with Tomisina. Raven was shot on-location during Charlotte Comicon at the Concord Convention Center. Domino was shot at NC State’s Free Expression tunnel.

With her incredibly positive attitude and her stunning cosplays Karizma was literally a no-brainer to be the Cosplay Spotlight that launched The Variant into the Roaring Twenties!!!

WAIT!!…why are you still reading this??
GO CHECK OUT THE PICS!!!!