Interviewer: Anthony Andujar Jr
Interviewee: Xenvita
Hello and welcome to the Artist Ant Interviews People Summer Series! Welcome to another edition to my latest talks with local and global creatives that are alive, hustling and thriving in their respective crafts! Today I have a special guest that I’ve known during my final years as a Fine Arts major in college. When I first met this individual, I was shocked that her work wasn’t already plastered upon the zines of Shonen Jump and the world's various manga and gaming sites. Her work is beyond professional, and her style is very distinct. What surprised me the most is her ability to create pieces of work with the same kind of quality again, and again. I don’t know how she does it, but it always inspires me to go hard within my own craft. I’ll leave it to her to talk more about that for the digital realm and all to see. Ladies and androids of the cyberspace, please welcome, Xenvita!!
Q0. Who are your inspirations?
X: Kazuki Takahashi(The original Yu-Gi-Oh creator/artist)
-Tetsuya Nomura (Artist/character design in some of the Final Fantasy franchise & Director/Artist/character designer/ Writer of Kingdom Hearts franchise)
-Shigenori Soejima (Main artist/ character designer of Persona 3-5 franchise)
-Hiroyuki Takahashi (Popular illustrator)
-Pigeon666 (Popular online artist)
-Yusuke Muruta (Manga artist of One Punch Man!)
-Endshark (Popular online artist)
-DJ technorch (A popular musician, their music gives me the sense of imagination and style I love.)
Q1. How did you get into art, most notably writing?
X: I got into it when I was very little, probably around 7 years old and up. But that was mainly a hobby at first.
Q2. When did you take art seriously?
X: 12 years old, I got a Final Fantasy X-2 art book and I was into Tetsuya Nomura's work a lot & it got me interested in character designing.
Q2.1. You tend to make a ton of digital work. How often do you create digitally? Do you start with pen and paper sketches ?
X: Daily and I don't go by pen and paper sketches. I just create my entire work through digital.
Q2.2. You have an interestingly defined art style. What has changed from when you embarked on this journey as an Illustrator?
X: It was kind of a roller coaster. I started out with simple doodles of cartoon characters and eventually shifting to anime. But around my late middle school through high school years I somehow forced myself to create more of a "western style" since anime wasn't coming from the west. But the reason I tried to do this is because I was struggling with trying to be accepted in the western art industry. However even when I tried, I realized how horribly the changes had made my art look. It was ugly, the style was inconsistent in a bad way. When I hit college, I decided to change back to the styles I love and wanted to keep it to myself. I did that so that I wouldn't let the bias western views of styles control me. And going from there, my art looked much better and improved.
Q2.3. What is the most difficult process for you when working digitally? And what projects have you worked on that tested your limits as a digital artist?
X: Personally I'll say the quality and people stealing works and made profits out of it. When it comes to quality, I mean the piece’s result due to its pixels. Sometimes it can look good but if resize/zoom in or print them physically the picture may not look as good on the product so it can be a disappointment to many and myself. Most of the times, is unfortunate to fix this issue.
And even if my works are shared in low quality, the people can save the image to use them for profits and people would still buy them out of ignorance, which is disrespectful to the original artist.
Q2.4. What is a common misconception about you and your work? What common themes reoccur in your work and why do they appeal to you?
X: I don't think there's any misconceptions about me and my works? Or at least I haven't encounter anyone mention anything like that about me. The common themes about my work is mainly in Sci-fi aesthetics, characters/designs/fashion and sometimes colorful colors. They appeal to me because I love them myself, it's just my favorite things.
Q2.5. You've also done commissions for many clients. What are the pros and cons of commission work? And how has it helped your work and how has it hindered you?
X: Pros: Mostly nice/supportive/understanding clients, could make a small extra bucks or big bucks if there's high demand of your works/popularity. It helps me when I needed money in desperate times, but also helps me to get exposure from other clients(ex. Famous YouTubers, Influences etc.) to bring in more clients and potential big work projects.
Cons: Some persistent/difficult to deal with clients, some clients unresponsive after discussing prices, very difficult to get commissions if you're not in demand/not popular. Even if I do have clients/commissions before, I don't always get them. Sometimes I had no clients for months and you have to work hard to get yourself out there in order to have clients coming. Is not the best to have a career in freelance work/commissions if you're not in demand.
Q2.6. Is there a piece that you are genuinely proud of? If so which piece and why? How long did it take to make?
X: Currently I'll say this piece:
Its simple since it's just a close up profile of one of my characters(Bright亮). I don't exactly remember how long it took me but it's probably almost the entire day. I was proud of the renders, colors,and lighting. The eyes were especially my favorite part of this piece.
Q2.7. You tend to dabble in creating work that would be perfect for Role Playing Games. Is there an interest in creating video games? If so, is there a game in the works? What is the premise?
X: Yes I love role playing games and video games in general. I have some personal projects in the works, some games at the moment, but most of them are based on how much I'm in the mood to focus on a thing. I hope that I can at least put something out there someday. But for now, they’re all works in progress.
- 7IMIT5 (An rpg maker horror/surreal game)
- EUPHORIA:PROJECT ENTITY (A visual novel set in cyberpunk-like with a slight horror mix)
- RADIANT AEONS (A story and rhythm game set in the future of humans and aliens/monsters unity civilization and mainly about dancing teams)
I have many concepts for future games but I should focus on working on one of these first.
Q2.8. What piece took you the longest to complete and why?
X: Sorry I honestly don't remember how long it took me but I think this recent work of mine is probably the longest I had made in a while due to it being painting and the amount of details making it.
Q2.9. What projects do you have down the pipeline that readers should keep an eye out for?
X: I'll say any of my current game projects and my webcomic series, Planet Ace! You can read Planet Ace! on Tapastic and Webtoon.
Q3. What drives you in your daily life?
X: Interests, music, imaginations.
Q4. What made you the person that you are today?
X: I guess the internet in general changed me. It's not the best but it did help me discover and learn many things much faster than life sometimes is incredible.
Q5. If you could speak to any living creator or inspiration, who would it be, why, and what would you talk to them about?
X: Hiroyuki Takahashi or OMOCAT. I want to learn how they manage to put their work out there in the business and create an industry of selling merch with their art while still also getting the popular demand of customers. Because I wanna do that myself someday but I just don't have the support or management knowledge.
Q6. If there were any deceased creators , actors, singers, writers, etc that you would want to speak to, who would it be, and why?
X: Monty Oum (Creator of RWBY). He was one of my favorite 3D animators and character designers out there and inspire me a lot. He's probably one of the rarest animators that studies and create very fluid and unique fighting choreography. I recommend checking out one of his best works "Dead Fantasy" to watch his incredible fighting animations. The thing is, I had to speak to him before when he was still alive. It was in a convention (NYCC to be precise), I went to the panel just to greet and ask for his signature and took a picture with him. After he passed away, I wish I could've spoken to him more.
Q7. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
X: Bolivia "Mirror of the sky".
Q8. What is one thing that you fear?
X: Failure, getting denied, others saying negative things about me (ex. How weird I am or I'm useless etc.), no support.
Q9. If you had a superpower what would it be and why?
X: Power like those fairies from the "Fairly Odd Parents" cause they make unlimited wishes of anything lol
Q10. What catches your attention when you meet people?
X: Their personality, the way they talk and fashion.
Q11. What is one word of advice that you would impart to your younger self?
X: If only I could've learned to make music in my early childhood or stream more often I would have at least reach somewhere in life by now. I might still have time but I lack of motivation for learning the music now. Although, being a streamer can be a slow start.
Q12. What are three books that you always remember or return to, and why? How did they shape you?
X: I don't really read books, sorry!
Q13. If you could continue or remake a movie, or franchise, what would be your film of choice?
X: Detentionaire. One of my most favorite cartoons. This series is very underrated and is also made from Canada but unfortunately the series got cancelled after its last season. What sucks the most is that it ended in a cliffhanger too. So I wish for this series to be continued if I have the power to do that..
I recommended for more people to check it out if they like high-school settings with mystery involved, especially something with heavy lore but funky characters like Gravity Falls.
One of the best parts of this series is the characters are very diverse and the main character is a Canadian-Korean boy. Which is extremely rare for a western cartoon protagonist.
Q14. If you were to make a film, novel, or comic book based on an
album, what album or artist would you pick?
X: I rarely listen to albums but I guess maybe DJ Technorch cause I like most of their songs.
Q15. Who In this life, has motivated you to stay true to what makes you who are?
X: My friends!
Q16. Where do you hope to see yourself in five years?
X: Probably still in college dealing with classes or hoping to get a job as an artist in a studio or something.
Q17. What are three albums or songs currently, that you listen to on repeat? And why?
X: This is hard! I listen to many songs on repeat. I tried to find 3 songs that I feel that I rarely skip.
-”Rebel Yell” by Blue Stahli
Only cause I love the vocals and how dramatic the whole song is. It gives me heavy cyberpunk inspiration.
-”Rain” (feat. Kanae Asaba) by Polyphonix
I discovered this song from a really good AMV maker from this one vid (https://youtu.be/cgKlZa9gOb8 ) and because it synced so well with the visuals I just wouldn't stop imagining this song played with this vid or any imagination MV I can think of to go along with the song. Rain aesthetic is also pretty nice haha.
-”Raver Raver Raver” by EFM 7
Is a UK hardcore song. though has always been one of my favs since my childhood. I remember back in the days when I didn't have ipods or mp3 player when I was a kid, I recorded the song from my computer with my Nokia phone just so I can keep listening to the whole song in low recorded quality on my way to school. It was dumb but that just how much I wanted to keep listening to it since then. It was also around the time I discover my fav music genre, EDM.
I realize all 3 songs starts with the letter R...lol
Q18. What color speaks to you the most and why?
X: Teal (Kinda like ocean blue but a little green). I find this color relaxing but also represent a sadness emotion which is kinda what I had personally, because there's struggles that I have within myself. So it's like, I'm chill but I'm not so chilled inside.
Q19: What is your greatest weakness?
X: Honestly pretty much the same things as my fears.
Q20. What is your greatest strength?
X: If I'm passionate or committed to something I want, I'll keep doing it. Which applies to many of my projects.
Q21.What's one thing that you're proud of?
X: How far I have come as an artist.
Q22. What is a mantra that you tell yourself?
X: As much as I always seem perpermistic about myself I have to remember I have the power to make anything I want with my current skill sets and therefore that makes me just as powerful.
Q23. What is success to you?
X: If you change someone/something into goodness/better.
You can follow her work on these platforms:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xenvita/
Art station: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lVEEdo
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