Courtesy photo Brooke Stenz appears in her personally designed Ooogie Boogie costume from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in a photo taken by Forest Edge Photography.
ALPENA — With a little paint, foam, hot glue and blades to precisely craft materials, Brooke Stenz, an Alpena-based professional cosplayer, can transform into any pop culture character.
From Oogey-Boogey from “A Nightmare Before Christmas” to Raven from “Teen Titans,” Steins has transformed into many iconic villains and heroes from video games, comic books, films, and other media in her career.
“I love dressing up as different characters and embodying those characteristics,” Staines said. “It's a lot of fun. Plus, it's probably the actual manufacturing of things. I really like getting hands-on with the foam, looking at the reference, and saying, 'Okay, this looks impossible.' I'll try to do that.”
Staines began her crafting career in 2015, making this year her ninth year fully delving into a career that many never thought possible. Around that time, Staines was suffering from severe anxiety and began crafting costumes, she said.
After really getting into the craft of cosplay, her career took off from there.
News photo taken by Mike Gonzalez shows Brooke Stenz's craft area on February 29 with posters, various collectibles and cosplay props displayed around her craft table.
“This is magic, right here,” Staines said as she sorted through all the different types of foam she had placed on her crafting table. “I have a lot of foam samples for boards and such. Each foam has a certain density to them. Obviously I'm a smaller person, so I use the smaller sizes in a lot of my costumes. But if I want something big and chunky or thick looking, “I will choose foam sizes.”
Staines showed off the blade she used to cut the foam, which she has been using for more than a year. To make sure it doesn't get dull, she has a sharpening stone next to her table.
Foam is used in almost every Stenz cosplay. She showed off her different cosplays on different displays and one of the cosplays had angel wings on its back that extended about a foot.
She noted that each feather or ruffle in the wing, which looked like delicate craft paper, was actually cut-out pieces of foam that people might use in a box to move delicate objects.
“It wasn't too bad to make,” Staines said with a laugh. “They're actually small wings compared to what I usually make.”
Courtesy photo Brooke Staines appears in her personally made Sally Whitman costume from the movie “World of Warcraft” in a photo taken by Dustin Valkema.
Now, Steins has appeared on the covers of cosplay magazines and video game magazines such as “The Indie Gamer Magazine”, and has won numerous awards from cosplay contests.
On top of being featured on the cover of “The Indie Gamer Magazine,” Steins was also named “Cosplay Creator of 2021.”
Stenz also went to numerous video game, comic and anime conventions around the country as a guest panelist on various panels and presentations during the event weekend.
“About three years after I started, a friend called me and said, ‘Hey, I have a friend who runs another convention and needs a guest cosplayer,’” Staines said. “So I said, ‘Well, I’ve never done that before.’ Yeah, I will.” That. I didn't know what I was doing. But I went there and ended up playing shows with this convention all over the country. I think I did six shows, and then, almost every weekend, we would get out of town and go somewhere.
The next conventions at which Steins will make guest appearances are the Cadillac Pop Culture Convention on April 6 and the Grand Rapids Comic-Con Spring Fling from April 12 to April 14.
News Photo by Mike Gonzalez Various craft items, magazines, past props and new costumes are displayed on a table in Brooke Stenz's home on February 29.
“Foam manufacturing takes a lot of training,” Staines said. “Unfortunately, sometimes, there is also a lot of money to learn from the practice.”
News photo by Mike Gonzalez Various foam swords from different costumes are displayed on the wall above Brooke Stenz's drafting table on February 29. Keen-eyed horror fans may also notice the Bubble Head Nurse's hood in Stenz's “Silent Hill” costume.
News photo by Mike Gonzalez of Brooke Steines referencing her Ranger Slayer costume from the February 29 “Power Rangers: Drakkon New Dawn” comic strip.
News photo by Mike Gonzalez Brooke Staines shows off her work on the Spellbook, the book seen in “Hocus Pocus” on February 29.
