Cosplay Queen: New Brunswick artist's handmade costumes attract thousands of followers online, celebrity commissions

A Ratatouille-inspired cosplay costume created by Jillea Godin of Quispamsis, N.B., is seen. (Courtesy: Jillea Godin)

For Jillea Godin, Halloween is a yearlong celebration.

The Quispamsis, N.B., woman has been creating her own costumes, or cosplay, for 13 years. Her love of the craft began at 17 years old while living in Toronto. She was working as a recording artist when a friend invited Godin to her first Comicon convention.

“I had no clue what it was,” explains Godin from her home. “She said we had to dress up, and I said, ‘What do you mean dress up?’ I thought that sounded amazing, because I’m always the queen of Halloween in my friend group. Everybody came to me to get their Halloween costumes made when I was a teenager. I thought ‘This is Halloween every single day? I want to go to this.’”

Now 30 years old, Godin says she was amazed people could create “movie-quality costumes” in their basement.

“Seeing people just be so good at so many things in one costume. You’re talking 3D printing leather work, sewing, beadwork, sculpting, airbrushing… there were just so many different mediums. It was just really inspiring to me.”

Godin fell deep into the art but kept her cosplay work offline until six years ago, instead putting her social media presence primarily on her music career. When she finally did start posting her pieces, her social media following increased dramatically.

“It just blew up so fast. In a year I went from having nothing to do with cosplay, to touring across North America doing probably 15 or 20 shows a year.”

Godin often attends sci-fi conventions as a panelist to help others learn tips and tricks, and for meet-and-greets.

“I didn’t know I had fans until I went to those shows. I thought that I was just a girl who makes costumes in a basement,” says Godin. “They tell me I’m the reason they got into cosplay, and it makes me cry every single time. It’s very humbling. They’ll message me and ask questions about what type of adhesive works best for sticking fabric to thermal plastic. All these things I just can’t believe that I have the knowledge to even help them. It’s just so cool.”

Her accounts, all under "@whoisjillea," include 158K subscribers on YouTube, 358K followers on Instagram, and more than 494.5K followers on TikTok. Her pieces include characters from film, television and video games, like Lara Croft, Queen Padmé Amidala from Star Wars, the Bride of Frankenstein, and Lord Farquaad from Shrek.

“I've actually reached a point where my art is more recognizable than me. And I think that is, that's it. That's all you want as an artist.”

Her videos include thrifting textiles, painting pieces, cutting and sewing, all coming together to create a wearable piece of art. Godin is self-taught, but points out she grew up “around fabric.”

“My mom is a decorator, and my dad is a tile setter. So, I was always around machinery and tradespeople. I was never afraid of making things. My parents have been making things my whole life,” adds Godin.

“I think my brain works in a way that goes, well, tile setting is adhesive plus materials, plus a surface. OK. So that’s how you make that. With cosplay, my brain just kind of started working that way of looking at an item and going, 'What is this item made out of? What will it look like painted?' So, if I just follow steps A through C, it should probably look like this. That’s how I started kind of dissecting all of the individual projects. And when it started working, I thought, I think I’m onto something. I think I might be an artist.”

After living in Toronto for 12 years, Godin moved back home to New Brunswick in the spring. While still creating music, cosplay is Godin’s full-time job, and she’s the only staff member.

“You have to wear every hat,” explains Godin. “I am the makeup artist, the model, the publicist, the social media analyst, the sewer, the sculptor, the painter. Everything electrical; I have to do my own wiring. The school of YouTube has been very, very good to me over the years!”

Celebrity status

Godin also does contract work for celebrities, including actress and model Julia Fox. Godin created a corset made out of pop cans, which Fox wore on the finale of the fashion competition series “OMG Fashun.”

“It was like a ‘wow’ moment for me to see my work on a celebrity, on television.”

Godin has also created a corset that resembles a cake for another celebrity shoot but is remaining mum on the details. She’s also been commissioned to create Halloween costumes for other celebrities. Her most recent videos display how she created the dress worn by the character Emily in Tim Burton’s 2005 film “Corpse Bride.”

“I’m going to keep it a surprise,” slips Godin. “But one of them I have done work with before, and it will be equally cool, and the other one is completely new.”

Godin was also commissioned by Blizzard Entertainment to be the official character, Lillith, from the video game series “Diablo.”

“I was flying around the States doing guest appearances as her. Her wings are 12-feet wide.”

In 2022, Godin created a Demogorgon costume based on the creature in the Netflix show “Stranger Things.” That video garnered a response online from the original creator of the suit for the first season of the show in 2016.

“He was like, ‘This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,’” adds Godin.

She also wore the costume when she met actor Joseph Quinn, who portrayed the character Eddie Munson in season four.

“He went to give me a hug, and I hit him in the head with the Demogorgon head. It’s the funniest picture you’ve ever seen in your life.”

Another funny encounter happened when she dressed as Captain Hook and met Dante Basco, who played the character Rufio in the 1991 film “Hook.”

“He took a picture of it and put it on his Instagram because he loved the costume. So yeah, the people that the costumes are about are also really, really enjoying them.”

Stitch by stitch

The biggest piece of advice Godin has for anyone curious about cosplay is to just begin and embrace mistakes.

“I think that every single costume I've done has had such an important significance about it that it all led me to where I am now. I wouldn't have the crazy costumes I have now without the bad costumes… because those were how you even got here in the first place.”

Her favourite pieces change all the time, but the ones closest to her heart are the pieces that aren’t perfect.

“If you saw them in person you’d be like, ‘Girl that is terrible!’” she laughs. “Blue leaking out. Bad paint job. But I remember how cool I felt when I was making that costume, and that feeling never goes away.”

Godin says it’s ‘not lost on her’ that her hobby has become her career.

“To make a living as an artist is the dream, right?” adds Godin. “How rare is that?”

Godin says she’s still in awe that her followers appreciate her work, as much as she does.

“But it's funny because you don't even realize how deep your reach goes when you're on Instagram and on TikTok and how many people actually follow, and fall in love with what you do,” adds Godin.

“Like, Julia Fox followed me, and comments on my videos that she loves my stuff and every single time I see it I'm like, 'Oh yeah, me and Julia just, you know, chit, chatting it up.' And every time I'm like, this is probably the coolest thing.”

Click here to see some of Godin's elaborate creations.