Cosplay, AI & Post production

Recently, in a cosplay group I follow on a well-known social platform, a debate broke out because apparently some people are creating their cosplays using AI and passing them off as real creations. Naturally, this causes frustration and feels disrespectful toward those who genuinely put effort into crafting or performing their cosplays.

However, the controversy surrounding the inappropriate use of AI ended up dragging in the entire topic of post-production, photo editing, and photomanipulation, without making many distinctions between simple retouching and actual compositing.

It feels like there’s a real clash between purists of photography and artists who digitally enhance their work using filters and post-production software, with people especially questioning the amount of effort involved.

I shared my opinion as both a cosplayer and a post-production artist.

“I’m responding as someone active in both fields: I’ve worked in post-production for several years, and I’ve been a cosplayer for even longer. I’ve attended many conventions in the Milan area, met people, made friends. Today I enjoy merging these two worlds to create fantasy images and illustrations. That doesn’t mean my cosplays aren’t real, nor that I want to ‘deceive’ anyone. I’m simply passionate about creativity.

I do NOT use AI. I’ve always done everything with my own skills, using editing software I learned to master over the years. I invested in a good graphics tablet and a good mirrorless camera. After making the costumes, I shoot indoors against a neutral background, using lights and colored spotlights depending on the scene I have in mind. Then, in post-production, I replace the backgrounds, usually with three-dimensional scenarios, which also requires the effort of sourcing, and sometimes creating from scratch, suitable materials.

Needless to say, since AI-generated images have become trendy, people have started pointing fingers at what I create without even knowing the creative process behind it, ignorantly labeling it ‘AI’ even though I’ve been building my sets long before this trend began.

Thankfully, there are still artists who create with their own abilities, but AI is diminishing the perceived value and credibility of these personal skills, and I don’t mean only in post-production. I am, or was, also an illustrator.

For this reason, my only suggestion is not to jump to conclusions with hasty judgments. One thing does not exclude the other. You can absolutely be a cosplayer, make, buy, and wear costumes, attend conventions, and at the same time create photographic sets intended for more elaborate and fantastical results.

Of course, if it really happens that random people generate AI cosplay images and pass them off as their own work or as reality in order to deceive, I’m the first to be disgusted by the fact that now everyone feels like an artist without even knowing how to hold a pencil.

But many cosplayers, for example, don’t have the opportunity to shoot with photographers in suitable locations, so post-production can become a useful solution. Why not? Unless it’s clearly an AI creation, it’s always better to ask the author about their creative process.

The example I’m sharing here is a cosplay I made entirely from scratch, sewing the dress and creating the accessories. I didn’t wear it to a convention; I was interested in creating a series of illustrations using photomanipulation techniques. The before and after.

Since I almost never have the chance to shoot in real locations, I do what I can to achieve something more interesting than a character against a white wall 😉

Ironically, when you handle both the photography and the post-production entirely on your own, the effort actually doubles. There’s no disrespect involved, just the desire to create.”

A response that I believe was thorough, yet unfortunately dismissed with a superficial comment.

I simply believe that in art there are no limits to creativity and everything can coexist. Everyone has the right to express their own style and, as in this case, use photography as a means to create something that goes beyond. It may or may not be to someone’s taste, as with anything, but I don’t see anything hostile about it or any inherent desire to “deceive.”

If anything, those who overuse retouching and filters risk ruining good work rather than deceiving anyone.

I believe it’s important to always leave a personal imprint on what we create with

our own hands, regardless of the technique chosen. You could think of it like a painter creating a self-portrait: some prefer realism, others surrealism; some use traditional techniques, others digital.

Photography, true photography, is something wonderful, just as creativity is, both traditional and digital. If you want to push beyond, what matters is knowing when to stop and not cross that line where what you’re creating loses its identity.

And you, what do you think?