Tell us a bit about yourself in-game and how you got into FFXIV!
Angie: Hello! I have two characters in Final Fantasy XIV, Lulumi Lumi (Excalibur) and Ume Maibito (Balmung). Lulumi is my character from Final Fantasy XIV’s beta. My dear friend at the time, who eventually became my wife, asked me to try the beta out for this game. She was an elusive 1.0 player and really wanted to try to give 2.0 a good shot, so I agreed to try it out. At the time, I was still playing Dragon Nest and every once in a while, I still like to dabble in Ragnaork Online. Old habits die hard, I guess.
I remember very well the first night I played FFXIV. It was late at night and I asked my friend, “Is it safe if I leave my character here (outside of Gridania) and go to McDonalds?” she told me yes, nothing should aggro on these fields. I left, came back, and I was DEAD. Mercilessly slaughtered in the fields of Central Shroud! I remember yelling, “I’m dead, I’m dead! You said I couldn’t die! Oh Agony, oh defeat!” Apparently, as foolish as it is to think about it today, I happened to stand exactly where a F.A.T.E. spawned and was absolutely destroyed by it. Luckily, obviously, nothing really bad came out of it, but it was my first big impression of FF14.
My second big impression of FFXIV was the night sky.
My friend took me to near U’ldah by chocobo. I was a brand new conjurer and just wanted to explore and see things. It was there that night fell and I told her hold on, hold on, can we stop. I just wanted to look at the night sky. It was really amazing, actually. I noticed the sky slowly moved, the stars twinkled, and there were shooting stars every once in a while. It was so much to take in, so I just sat there for 15 minutes and just looked.
I still look at it to this day.
We might as well get straight to business: Guydelot and Sanson (NPCs in the bard questline) feature heavily in your XIV fan art. What about these two NPCs and their dynamic in the game captured your attention?
Angie: Oh boy. Okay, alright.
I really like their dynamic! Truthfully, I also really enjoy their similarity to some characters I have, but we’ll get into that in the next question. I quite enjoy the thought of a bookish, straight- laced character teaming up with a more care-free soul. They have their moments of brightness and weakness, but I think the care that went into their writing really made them shine. Many people don’t know this, but I also really enjoyed characters like Ilberd! There’s just some characters and storylines that resonate with me, and once my wife started playing bard we just would talk about their dynamic and things we liked about them.
My favorite of the two is actually Sanson, which can be pretty surprising to some. He seems pretty dull at first, but he’s the moving force of the story and he’s willing to put his life down to save yours. Besides that, he has to make decisions that could affect the course of war between Gridania and Ala Mhigo and takes into consideration the feelings of both sides.
One thing that particularly stood out for me is the fact that he has no gift in song but still loves song is something I really like. I think he’s a good kid who worries about the Warrior of Light and I see the bards as companion characters- friends of yours even when the world sometimes only wants a hero.
I could go on about Guydelot… but I think everyone knows why he’s a fun character. I will deliver unto you one of my favorite “character design” notes about him, he is described as “wild, sexy and carefree” but also “easily demotivated” which comes across in the story, but his honesty and care for others is also at the forefront of his personality. As the ever famous Marge Simpson of the Simpsons would say as she gazed upon a potato, “I just think they’re neat.” I could go on and on forever, but I think the message has come across well enough.
Along with your Guydelot and Sanson comic “The Quiver In Our Voice,” you have worked extensively on your online comic Solstoria. Given your focus on characters with Guydelot and Sanson, do you have a similar focus on character dynamics in Solstoria?
Angie: You’re putting me on the spot here, I hope you know that.
I do have two characters, and by the way – I am planning on returning to Solstoria. Full color comics are hard, especially when you can never settle on how you want to draw something. That being said, I do think they’re somewhat similar to a dynamic I have in Solstoria with my school-aged alchemy students Lawrence and Edel. They haven’t been super prominent in the story yet, what with Lawrence most often than not residing in the body of a crow, but I hope to get back to them and show off their colors soon.
Briefly, Edel is a student from a prominent family with fears of magic consuming him. Lawrence, on the other hand, is an ambitious student from the farmlands with little magic ability, but desires to gain popularity and placement in order to achieve his dreams. The idea of people who seem to have nothing in common having subtle mutual understandings is just a favorite of mine. I want to see these characters grow and be friends! Or more, you know.
Sometimes, and this was almost true in FF14’s bard quest as well, you like characters and go, “This character was made for me,” and then get the sinking suspicion they’re going to die. It’s just what happens more often than not, and I don’t believe character death is entirely necessary to move a story along – but man, sometimes it feels like I always pick the skull on a dartboard of choices. I actually almost gave up on the bard quest because I thought Sanson was going to die at the end! Anyway, that’s my feeling when I look at a character like Edel, they have the odds against them and they’d be a perfect foil for another character’s growth – but no! I hate that! I don’t want the main character to win! I want the more supporting character (in this case, Edel and Sasnon) to shine sometimes! That’s my feeling on the matter. I like the less spotlit characters and wish to protect them.
What other aspects of FFXIV most influence your work?
Angie: I’ve always been pretty plain about how I draw outfits, but FFXIV really makes me want to try to add more details and just have fun. Of course, sometimes it gets a little overwhelming when you’re working on commissions, but they are commissions, after all… when you draw your own character, you can be lazy.
I’ve also been more self conscious about how the world affects characters, how areas would have more crops than others, this is all important when you build a world, but sometimes you just don’t think about it until you look at other stories that have far more in depth telling than you do.
And to think, I got mad in Tales of the Abyss when I had to read up about Gnomeday in that library.
What are some properties other than FFXIV (music, games, or movies) that have inspired your work? How does the fan art you create for XIV, and the interactions you’ve had with the XIV fandom, compare to your experiences with other IPs?
Angie: Honestly, the world has changed a lot since I even started playing FFXIV. Before we get into that, let’s talk about other properties that inspire my work. For one, I don’t like to watch movies. There’s something about the format of movies that’s just too rigid for me and having to focus for two hours just makes me fussy. Also, almost all movies have a second-hand embarrassment moment where you know the main character has to mess something up greatly in order to proceed the plot and grow, and that just irks me! Musicals are fine, those will never irk me.
As for games, as you know, I work in the game industry. I really love it, it’s always been my main source of inspiration. I started drawing when I was around eight years old because I really loved Breath of Fire III but had no means of finding fanart or anything, the internet was still somewhat young back then andddd I also couldn’t read Japanese. In fact, it wasn’t until I played Suikoden that I felt the need to download the Japanese language pack on my computer. It sincerely got to the point where I could read the strange gibberish a computer wrote when you were missing a language file. I don’t know why I was like this as a child.
Right, other properties. I’m a big fan of a lot of old school RPGs. I love Sailor Moon. I would run home every Wednesday to catch it on UPN 33 when I lived in Florida. My brother and father are both into Dragonball and Robotech. I was starved as a child for content that was made specifically for girls, so I turned to video games instead. I used to read a lot of books too. Most of them by Tamora Pierce, who is without a doubt a great lady! She talks to fans and is very sweet.
Moving on, Ragnarok Online and Detective Conan are also some of my big art influences. You can kind of see it in some of my sketches, I revert to Gosho Aoyama noses when I can’t think about what I want to draw.
Oh, before I fail to mention this, I used to be extremely big into Disgaea. I ran the English LiveJournal community back in the day. I’m a little embarrassed by my enthusiasm and hope everyone who I ever slighted could forgive me. I just really enjoyed sharing info on those games and talking to people about them. I do think the storytelling in Nippon Ichi Software games really influenced me back then. Even if they’re a bit corny, I hope I can make a heartfelt and hopeful story that makes others feel good.
Your work online is mostly digital art, but have you experimented with other drawing materials or art forms? How has that shaped your current art process, and would you say art school had a significant impact on that process, or is it something you developed more on your own after graduation?
Angie: Oh, I didn’t go to art school! I have a degree in psychology! My mom refused to afford that, and I think it was probably for the best. I don’t have loans and I am adamant in studying online and finding resources to help. I’m honestly not the best person to give that advice, but I have done community college and also CDA classes for art. I feel like I just get bored or I’m not learning most of the time… I have done watercolors for a few years and paper crafts. I’m trying to get back into doing more traditional work now that I’m back home, but I find it easier to just move around and work on an iPad, it’s always something I’ve dreamed of having – a sort of digital sketchbook I can just pick up and put down and not worry so much about.
I will say, I feel like I need to just draw to just draw more often, it’s been a long time since I’ve sat down and just sketched for the sake of sketching and not showing anyone. Time is difficult to maintain when you get older and have to split activities amongst your home, your partner, your work and stuff. Honestly though, I’m just going to take it easy and if I get better I get better, you know?
Over the years, I had to get over a lot of hang ups I had and I have a lot to unlearn that I still do. I’m thankful I no longer do art exclusively for work, I don’t think that was very healthy for my situation and sometimes it’s not the best path for everyone, you know? Sometimes I still have bad drawing days and that’s fine when your paycheck doesn’t rely on it anymore, but boy those were stressful years for me.
I will say if you’re going into game design, you don’t need a fancy degree, most places only care about your work output and your portfolio. If you can show what you can do, even if it’s just casual dabbling through Unity or Unreal, that’s better than just a degree sometimes.
I’ve been familiar with your work for several years, and I know that you’re a professional 2D artist and illustrator for games and animation outside of your personal work. Can you tell us a bit about why you decided to pursue art professionally in the gaming/animation industries? Did you always want to do art professionally?
Angie: As I mentioned above, I have shifted my workload to be less about drawing and more about… Visual Effects, strangely enough. It was an open position at my work and they needed people who could adapt and understand math as well as art, so I switched to that a few years back. I still do professional 2D work here and there and there are definitely some art files in certain games that I’m credited to (haha) but I’ve started to lessen on it in order to focus on having time to draw fun stuff for myself.
I started my pursuit in art because I was pretty depressed trying to be a mental health worker, as ironic as that sounds. I just didn’t have passion for anything, I don’t have a lot of passion for many things- so when I do get passionate it’s obvious that it’s something I stick with for a long time. I thought I wanted to be a storyboard artist or an animator, because that’s what most people to do, I dreamt about going to CalArts, because who doesn’t? But I don’t have that financial background nor the passion to do cartoons like… at all. I had to learn that the hard way, unfortunately. I saw dreams and went, hey maybe I could do that too, but they weren’t my dreams. For me, it’s always been games. Even when I went overseas, I felt like I couldn’t devote myself because I didn’t feel a spark. I’m a believer that you only live once, so we know of, so it’s fine to take risks and fail just to kill the “what if” factor.
Anyway, I like to draw, but I don’t think I’m particularly amazing at drawing compared to my peers in the industry, so I shifted careers slightly to balance work and life art. I’m much happier now, but this is very much an “Each Situation is Different”… situation!
You moved from Puerto Rico to the States to pursue more opportunities, then just this past year, you took a break from game and animation art to teach in Japan for several months. Can you talk a bit about what role art played for you during these two significant transitions in your life? What was similar, and how had it changed?
Angie: I moved from Puerto Rico to the US to pursue a masters degree, but I wasn’t really vibing with it and I didn’t think I was mature enough for it at the time (I was 19) and so I dropped it. After that, I realized I really wanted to go back to school temporarily for art classes and just try to find myself and my purpose. I’m glad I got University out of the way early so I could just… go back and not be pressured to succeed when taking classes.
Honestly, in both situations, art was an escape. I drew while desk-warming because I simply wasn’t motivated. I did all of my work and finished early, but you still had to sit around and ‘look’ busy at my job as an ALT. It wasn’t fun for me, which is why I didn’t do it for long. I knew I wanted to go back home and work on art and my main job of VFX, because I truly felt like I was doing something – even if it isn’t as world changing as I wish it was. Sometimes you get the urge to say, I want to change the world and help people out, but you’re sometimes not fit for that job either. Still, I gave it a shot and I can’t say I regret it.
I did go back home once when I lost my job in 2014; it was a tumultuous 2 years, but I was able to work on some pretty high-end games as a contract position in between. Luckily, my life turned around for the better in 2016. Not having a home is no joke.
After your time in Japan, you expressed intent to stay as a freelance artist. What influenced your decision to focus on freelance work, and do you intend to pursue mostly commissions and personal art, or do you anticipate taking on occasional game/animation contracts?
Angie: I wanted to freelance in between work because I knew the work, from previous anecdotes, wasn’t going to be as high-paced as I would like. I was also starting to flare up on some medical issues, so I wanted to make sure I had a safety net regardless of where life took me.
I was hoping I could take on more game contracts in the meanwhile, but it so happens my job just requested for me to come back as it was, and it was an offer I didn’t want to refuse. I hope I can return to Japan sometime as a tourist, but I’m satisfied with hopefully putting down roots soon in the US and having a home. That’s my main goal right now, I want a house! Tired of this rent life!! It’s hard though, but that’s life sometimes.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experiences as an artist and creator for other artists reading this interview?
Angie: Sometimes life doesn’t go the way you want it to, but you still have to look forward and do what you can to make your life happy. I’ve had many ups and downs: I’ve had to pack up my things in storage and move home, I’ve had to say goodbye to family members without being there with them, I’ve had to make decisions I never want other people to make- and I’ve lost a lot of friends over the years. I’ve also, oddly enough, kept a lot and have grown and moved on with a lot of them.
In this day and age where most of us use the internet for socializing and media marketing, you gotta think about what’s right for yourself and what you want for yourself. It’s difficult, but try not to lose the hope of living with the state of the world or current flavor crisis of the day. Sometimes you just gotta cultivate your own experience and not worry so much about others, you know? I promise it makes you feel a lot better!! You sometimes can’t please everyone!
Also, maybe work on a retirement fund early. It’s kind of fun seeing numbers go up and down, bad if they go down a lot though. Don’t be afraid to invest in your future! Also, like, give yourself a treat on good days and bad.
Finally, tell us a bit about yourself in-game! What is your main class, and what is your favorite way to spend your time in Eorzea?
Angie: Surprise! My main class is scholar! I really love astrologian too (that’s Ume), and I also have bard leveled up, naturally. I really like to just do dumb things with my friends online and hang out, sit around and just do like… a virtual meet up? Sometimes you want to just take eight healers into Titan EX, you know? Things like that. Queue seven people into Panda 4 and all commend one person who has no idea they’re being played (as in, we’re all in a group together and they don’t know so we give them all the buffs). Things like that, we’re real sickos.
Thank you so much for your time and this lovely interview!
You can find Angie, aka charmwitch, running around Excalibur as Lulumi Lumi! Otherwise, check out her Twitter accounts charmwitch (main) or lulumilumi (FFXIV)! Her Guydelot x Sanson comic “The Quiver in Our Voice” is available on Gumroad, and if you like her XIV work, don’t miss her original online comic Solstoria!
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