Granite Staters are harnessing the power of their comic book fandom and creative hobbies to start small businesses and side hustles.
Between Free Comic Book Day (Aug. 14) and Granite State Comic Con (Sept. 18-19), Manchester Ink Link will be showcasing these entrepreneurial nerds, who have opened comic and toy shops, started selling aftermarket comic books and collectibles or offering professional photography that specializes in cosplay, to name a few.
Are you a cosplayer with a love of dressing up as your favorite character and striking a cinematic pose? Wish you could transport your character work into the fantasy, sci-fi or caped-crusader universe where they belong?
Colleen Dionne, a graphic designer and avid cosplayer who goes by the handle Mini Mal, has recently started a business offering to take professional or amateur photographs and add special effects and genre-appropriate backgrounds.
“Sci-fi, fantasy is what I’m probably most interested in but if someone has an anime photo or, like horror, that they want edited, I won’t be opposed to that,” Dionne said.
Dionne created a new Instagram account to showcase their work, and called the business Mini Mal FX. So far, they’ve remastered some of their own costumed photos, such as Professor Flitwick from the Harry Potter series, by adding magical effects like a floating feather.
One of the first professional jobs they did was for a cosplayer depicting Jedi Master Mace Windu. In one scene, he’s depicted seated on a floating chair in a meditation chamber on bustling Coruscant. In another, he’s battling on the bug planet Geonosis.
They’ve also done some edits of their own John Constantine cosplay and added fireballs to the outstretched hands of a magical character a client depicted from ABC’s Once Upon a Time.
Dionne has partnered with professional photographer and friend Jennifer Catania of Norwood, Mass., who has a home studio business called Jen Eyre Photography.
“She does mainly cosplay and some animal photography,” Dionne said.
Whenever Catania has a cosplayer client who wants their photo transplanted into an in-universe setting, she sends the work to Dionne.
Since Dionne is just starting out, they said they’re offering this service for $50 per photo for now.
They are also taking commissions from others who have taken a photo of their own or have photos from conventions, but want to remove the convention background.
“It works out when you can get a location that feels like where you wanna be, but if you’re in the middle of a convention, it’s kinda hard to be in the middle of the woods,” Dionne said.
Dionne has their associate’s degree in graphic design and previously worked in the marketing department of a credit union for about five years. They also have experience making old photos look like new again.
The cosplay craze is huge in New England. Just head to GraniteCon or any of the other regional comic and anime conventions and you’ll lose count of how many creatives there are wearing homemade costumes depicting their favorite Elven princess, giant robot or alien menace.
Dionne got into cosplaying when they were in high school around 2008 or 2009.
“I’ve always been a nerd,” Dionne said. “I grew up with Star Wars. I saw the prequel trilogy in theaters. I absolutely adore Harry Potter. I’ve basically grown up with nerd stuff.”
One of their fondest memories is from San Diego Comic-Con in 2015, when they dressed as Tyrion Lannister from HBO’s Game of Thrones. They were late for a photoshoot on a stairwell, and when they showed up at the top of the stairs, a large crowd of people started to cheer and chant for Dionne, calling them by the name Tyrion.
“It’s just such a surreal experience,” Dionne said.
Dionne has attended dozens of conventions in the region.
This year, Dionne was invited to be an official “guest” cosplayer at GraniteCon for the first time.
