Award Winning Cosplayer Brings To Life Any Disney Or Anime Character She Wants With Expert Skill
Cree Michele Rogers is from Savannah, Georgia, USA but for the award-winning cosplay artist and digital content influencer, even the sky is limitless. Her social media alter-ego is Brown Suga Outlaw and you can find her showing off incredible Cosplay on Instagram, inspiring followers on Twitter, or live-streaming on Twitch.
Rogers says she, "makes it a point to use a variety of skills to create fun content" for her followers and by golly does she deliver! Her cosplay ranges from Disney and Anime to Video Games and even Fan Art and she says it's all for the fans:
"With the content that I create, I want to provide representation for young nerds of color to embrace themselves and not feel as though they have to be in a box of what it means to be their ethnicity."
Calypso from Pirates of the Carribean
Brown Suga OutlawCree Michelle knows why she chooses the characters she wants to cosplay:
"When I think back to the characters in film that made me feel validated as a weird black girl, Tia Dalma is easily at the top of the list. I like many others LOVED the Pirates of the Caribbean movies for so many reasons! Hell I love the Disney ride! But when this girl came on the scene all sass and accent, I lost my mind!!! I still need to update her costume but for a random last minute addition to my roster, I LOVE her! "
Brown Suga OutlawOn her blog, Rogers says:
"Cosplay is one of my absolute favorite things to do! I love creating costumes, researching prop making techniques, learning poses and, not to mention, the con going experience. While cosplaying is a hobby for some, it has become a creative outlet for me. With it I am able to put all of my artistic abilities to good use. I have never been one to sit still, so having such an immersive hobby helps to keep me busy even on my laziest of days!"Cinderella
Brown Suga OutlawFan Art Nala from The Lion King
This cosplay was inspired by Chilean artist Fernanda Suarez. Cree Michelle regularly hosts "Fan Art Friday" where she tries to bring fan art to life in her cosplay art and needles to say: she totally nails it.
Brown Suga OutlawWhile some artists can tell you with certainty how many hundreds if not thousands of characters they've portrayed, Cree Michelle is honest, saying:
"Over the few years that I have been putting my nose to the grindstone with cosplay, I have collected quite a few costumes. Between my 28 days of Black Cosplay challenges that I do every February and my work with my team the UsualRangers5, I’ve done a plethora of characters and it gets hard to keep track of them."Kida from Atlantis
Brown Suga OutlawKida as depicted by Fan Art Friday Artist Emmaline Mae Kelly
SalvadorDavy created an incredible version of Kida and Brown.Suga.Outlaw took it to the next level.
Brown Suga OutlawPrincess Tiana
Tiana is one of her top 3 cosplays.
She said:
"I work part time for a princess party company and to be honest, this cosplay was something I never thought I’d be able to do! I’m just now getting into the swing of sewing more complex items and when I first started being Tiana, I was below a novice at the craft. The reason I love being Tiana is two fold."Tiana is in the top 3 because, "it’s fun to be a princess!"
Even though it’s hard to walk around in a hoop skirt that makes it a mission to knock over anything within its radius, I can’t help but enjoy the happiness that my inner child feels! Growing up, there weren’t any black princesses. Black girls had to deal with picking Princess Jasmine because she was tan, Pocahontas because she was tan or Belle…because she was a smart brunette.The problem was that while these girls weren’t white (well except Belle), they weren’t black either. I remember wearing the hood on my jacket and pretending it was the long flowing princess hair that I could only get if I wore a wig or got my hair braided for the summer. Thinking back I realize just how damaging that was to my self esteem. I never felt like I would ever be as pretty as the princesses I idolized. Granted I never could because they’re cartoons and that is the most unrealistic expectation of beauty, but my skin would never be fair, my hair would never fall past my shoulders and effortlessly flow in the wind.
Brown Suga OutlawShe continued:
"Tiana came out in 2009 and I was already on my way out of high school at that point. I figured I would never be able to fulfill that vacancy in my heart from child hood. I even considered working at Disney World as Tiana! But there is a size requirement and at 5’11, I am 4 inches too tall to even apply. But then, 3 years after I graduate high school, I stumble upon Enchant My Party, a princess party company local to Savannah Ga. Not only do I get to fill my vacancy, I get to prevent that vacancy in the hearts of little black girls today!"
Brown Suga Outlaw
Okoye, he General of the Dora Milaje in Black Panther and Marvel's Avengers
Rogers says:
"As the General of Wakanda and the Leader of the Dora Milaje, Okoye is a cosplay that demands attention. I couldn’t put my finger on her most impressive aspect, but a lot of people lose their minds over the bead work on the tabard and the bald cap I learned to apply just for this cosplay!"
Brown Suga Outlaw
Okoye is also one of Brown Suga Outlaw's top 3 favorite cosplays.
She says:
"She was the first difficult cosplay I’ve had to make. The time spent making her was filled with trial and error, stress, and tears. The Black Panther movie went all out with their costume design and the intricate details of the costumes are mind blowing. On one hand I was lucky and made my Okoye cosplay after the movie was released since I was aiming to wear it to the Infinity War premiere."Calliope Muse of Poetry as seen in Disney's Hercules
Brown Suga Outlaw
This Cosplay went viral on Facebook!
Nakia from Black Panther
Brown Suga Outlaw
"This picture got around more than I EVER thought possible! I made this costume for two reasons. 1 for the Black Panther premiere and 2 for my 28 days of black cosplay challenge."
Brown Suga Outlaw
"I'm getting lucky," Rogers says of her exposure.
"Checked out a best cosplays of Dragon Con article and found me amongst some of the best out there! It's nice to see my Nakia cosplay get more love"Maleficent
"No lie, while doing this look, I realized that I could do an entire line of evil women by simply changing the headwear. I could do the evil queen from Snow White, I could do the Wicked witch if the West, hell if I ditch the green skin I could do Cruella DeVille!....I might have found a way to make this month easier"
Brown.Suga.Outlaw
The effort continues to pay off for this incredible artist, beautiful inside and out.
For what it's worth, we don't think Cree Michelle is "getting lucky," we think she is getting the attention her skills and talent deserve! She's an amazing cosplay artist.
Brown Suga Outlaw
