A Rising Star of Australian Cosplay: Vicky-Vic – Episode 41

In her handful of years in the hobby, Vicky-Vic has risen to the forefront of the Australian cosplay scene, a feat doubly impressive when she not only lives a little off the beaten track in Queensland, but also works as a registered nurse, a job that would take the spare energy out of anyone.

Nonetheless, Vicky-Vic’s enthusiasm and fantastic results have made her star rise so much that organisers of pop culture conventions across the region have begun inviting her as a guest and also a judge of their cosplay competitions. And she’s not even monetised her play (yet)!

It was a pleasure to chat with Vicky-Vic, who will be one of the three guest judges of Tropicon’s cosplay competition, about her love of the hobby, the fun folks in the scene and some of the unique difficulties of being not just an Australian cosplayer, but a slightly remote Australian cosplayer!

I also make a couple of exciting announcements on the Patreon front at the beginning of the episode!

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Up Shit Creek but with Pozible Odds: Terry Serio – Episode 40

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UPDATE 26 April 2015: I cmpletely forgot to mention eleven days ago that the Pozible campaign met its funding goal and beat it by $1,150! Congratulations to Terry and the gang at Sundown Picturehouse!

This episode is going live outside the normal schedule (with apologies to the folks who normally get early access) to support the Pozible crowdfunding campaign for the crime comedy web TV series, Shit Creek, starring Terry Serio!

If you’ve listened to my last chat with Terry for Episode 2, you’ll know (if you didn’t already) that he’s a verteran of Australian stage and screen. Shit Creek is the first web series he’s been involved in, and I’m glad to do my bit to promote its campaign to secure further funding.

As of this posting, the campaign is just under five grand short of hitting its funding goal of $8,000 with 22 days to go, so please open your wallets and chuck these fine folks some of your hard-earned!

If you need a little more selling on the idea, then please listen in for an entertaining chat with a great entertainer. Be warned: This chat is NSFW (not safe for work) and definitely not safe for kids either!

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An Inventory of Play: Rob’s Progress #1

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I record and publish The Paid to Play Podcast because I believe that other people can value the things we enjoy doing, and that if we stand by that value of our play, we can all earn money – whether a little extra on top of our day jobs or enough to support ourselves completely – from them.

But one thing I always want to make sure I do is to practice what I preach. If I reckon others can stand by their play and ask for reward from those who value it, then so can I. And the best way I can do that is to talk about my own endeavours.

The good bit is, there have been some recent and very interesting developments on that front that I’m keen to share with you!

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Cosplay’s Best Mate: Beethy Photography – Episode 39

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Beethy is a photographer based in Australia who has chosen to focus his craft on portraits of cosplayers; people who not just make costumes based on fictional characters, but also go out in public and bring life to those characters. That focus has garnered him not just a living wage but also a fantastic reputation amongst the international cosplay community.

Cosplayers around the world know that the name Beethy means eminently sale-worthy portrait prints of their craft and art, but they also know it means a fun being who brings joy to the process of making great photos. I got to sample his warm personality in this chat, during which he tells his stories of the community and how he became so well known within it.

Beethy also gives a good chunk of practical photography of business advice, including a crash course in taking good cosplay photos and the rules that Beethy built his business around. You may find his experiment into who produces the best photo prints to be a real ~~eye~~ ear-opener!

Oh, and there’s some random geeking out about video games and consoles at the beginning too! I love asking folks what they’re digging right now!

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Paid to Play is on Patreon!

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It’s official, folks! The Paid to Play Podcast now has a Patreon Page!

I’ve been thinking about ways to ask people to support Paid to Play since I first started making the podcast. Advertising never sat right and, I’ll confess, I’ve not looked too hard at affiliate marketing. Kickstarter’s focus on Big Projects just didn’t gel.

But the crowdfunding platform Patreon has felt like the best fit ever since I came across it. I just needed to get the legs back under the Podcast and the confidence that I could put a new episode out every fortnight.

So if you dig Paid to Play, then please, rock along and chuck this podcast a buck or three or five!

Why Should Paid To Play Become a Video Podcast?

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Every now and again, a mate forwards me a link to a website which is advertising for video-bloggers to come on board. My first reaction is usually, “Thanks for the thought, but for crying out loud – I’m a podcaster, not a video blogger!”

Yet, I’ve started getting curious about the idea. I’ve played with video recordings a few times, and creating video versions of Paid to Play has lurked at the back of my mind for a good while.

Is video the next logical step for Paid to Play?

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Paying Sight and Sound Forward: Matt Bond – Episode 38

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I’m pretty sure that I said that Matt Bond puts the rest of us to shame when I first chatted with him at the beginning of 2013. At the time, Matt had successfully overcome the ongoing pain from a pair of broken legs that had put an end to his career in the music industry by becoming a freelance photographer.

Since then, Matt’s photography business has only flourished, but he’s also got back into music, returning to his beloved guitar and becoming a studio producer for local talent. On top of those, he’s added video shooting and editing to his already well-strung bow and is paying his success forward by helping community charities and fellow artists (not to mention the odd podcaster) out wherever he can. And he does all this while being a part-time Dad! I just had to get him back on the podcast for another chat.

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Comic Art on Page and Skin: Paul Abstruse – Episode 37

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Diversification is a byword nowadays; building your life around one source of income is risky, even when you’re doing the nine-to-five. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, especially when your dream job simply won’t pay the bills.

Paul Abstruse has taken his love of creating comic art and built himself two income streams. The first is the one you’d expect, working for comic labels like IDW and Zenescope to produce pages for comic books.

The other is as a tattooist, where he not only creates the ink you see on folks every day; he also creates tattoos of the comic book characters we all love, even inking whole action scenes on people!

And if you’d expect a tattooist to be a very rough and ready type, you should see the art he’s created for the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book series!

Please join me as I chat with Paul about how the Australian body art industry has changed over the last decade, the convention scene in Australia and what it means when the job you love doesn’t quite love you back.

WARNING: Due to technical issues, there are a lot of audio issues in this episode that I simply couldn’t edit out. These include background hum, keyboard noise and dog panting.

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What Does the Life of Monty Oum Mean for Us?

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I can’t remember hearing of Monty Oum until, I think Wednesday, when I spotted a cosplay based on the Rooster Teeth-produced show RWBY on DeviantArt. Right under it was the photographer’s comment:

RIP Monty Oum, creator of RWBY.
This one’s for you, buddy.
You were a huge inspiration to many of us.
Miss you.

As I scrolled down past the picture into the comments, I couldn’t help but notice that for every comment complimenting the artist on her cosplay, there was one saying how sad it was, what happened to Monty.

So I went over to the Rooster Teeth website and found out in very short order just who Monty Oum was and what had happened to him. And that, even though I’d not bothered watching RWBY, I’d been in awe of his work for a good few years now.

Though the tribute video they put together was meaningful, it was the Rooster Teeth Podcast episode where four memebers of the team talked about their time with Monty which really told me about the guy. What I heard… it made me wonder about me. And the rest of us.

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Long Distance Sex Therapist: Isiah McKimmie – Episode 36

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Becoming a sex therapist in the cosmopolitan environment of a major city is one thing, but it’s another thing entirely to start a sexual health practice in a tropical town with canegrowing and industrial roots a good two thousand kilometres from anywhere.

Nonetheless, Isiah McKimmie has established a solid business helping the people of Queensland’s Far North and beyond with their most intimate troubles and has found that sometimes, a little distance can work to your advantage.

Though this interview was recorded in July of 2013, Isiah’s business – now rebranded from “Passionate Spirit” to simply Isiah – is still going strong, and there seems no better time to release our chat than just before the traditional celebration of love and intimacy on St. Valentine’s Day.

(UPDATE 7PM February 2nd, 2015: Isiah just told me that she’s relocated herself and her business to Sydney. I still reckon this chat has value for those looking to start a venture in a location considered out-of-the-way.)

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