Kannter Art
Tell me a bit about your history playing XIV! What pulled you in, and what inspired you to start creating art and merch for it?
If I’m putting it bluntly, seeing that I could make a male miqo’te in the character creator! But on a more personal note, it gave me a really important space to discover how I felt about myself. I was toying with ideas of gender incongruence at the start of 2020, roughly when I started playing the game, and it played no small role in my discovering that I’m trans masculine. FFXIV for me was one of those world-view shifting games, especially Endwalker in the wake of the loneliness and devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Anything that gives so much to me as a piece of media, it’s almost intrinsic that I put something back into the world for it. It also gave me a very good reason to find a way to play computer games again; I lost the ability to hold a games controller and/or use a keyboard and mouse around 2018 and I now play with a combination X-Box adaptive controller in my lap and joysticks at my feet. A game that sucked me in for hours upon hours was reason enough, and I’m proud that I’ve reached a fairly high skill level, completing the last 5 tiers of savage and a fair number of UWU clears!
How does your personal creative outlook or style influence the merchandise and art you create (XIV or otherwise)? What do you hope people take away or feel from your work?
Joy is always at the front of my mind when I create. I used to get embarrassed about how impassioned I would get over media, but I’ve only recently learned to try and embrace it, to make it a part of my work. ‘Be cringe and free’ etc etc. Being able to convey my emotions succinctly across my work is one of the most important things for me, and channeling that through mediums like queer joy, for example, is one of my favourite ways to create.
Is there a piece of art you’ve created that you are especially proud of – for example, a piece that pushed or “leveled up” your skills, or one that was particularly popular, or perhaps something that came out exactly as you had imagined it?
My entry to the 2023 FFXIV Fanfest art contest. Despite how I’m able to see areas I would change now, I’m still unbelievably proud of what I managed to make, which was an exact replication of the idea I had in my mind. The Garlemald arc of Endwalker hit me harder than I could have ever imagined it, not only seeing the region we’d been desperate to lay eyes on but a story wrapped taut with guilt, grief, and familial loss. The perspective of this piece felt almost impossible to envision, but it was made much easier by sitting in game for hours, staring up at Garlemald’s grey skies. I was surrounded by friends throughout the illustration process, and with their encouragement and help, showed me that I had the potential to create more complex pieces than I gave myself credit for! Getting to the finalist stage was a catharsis I’ll never forget.
What is a future project you hope to pursue, whether in fandom spaces or in your personal work?
Always more and more comics. Whether it be through fan zines, anthologies, one off comics of an autobiographical or fan-work nature, I always love telling stories through my art. It’s a little more far reaching, but that dream extends to guest covers for comics that I admire. That would be a dream come true, haha. But in the meantime, just being able to create my own comics, like “Danse Your Heart Out,” is perfect for me.
You have a short fanzine with your Warrior of Light titled “Symmetry”, and you’re currently working on a webcomic “Danse Your Heart Out”, which you’ve already completed one volume of! Are there any particular themes or circumstances you find yourself drawn to exploring in your comic and fan fiction work?
Ohh jee, I always struggle to express the feelings that go into these things beyond ‘joy’. Of course they’re much deeper than that, but it’s always a struggle to accept being seen so vividly…! I guess I always want there to be a light in a situation, no matter how dire. Whether that light be from a person’s presence, or a persistent force for change, or even just resistance against the inevitable until the end. Symmetry tries to find the moments of peace through what is most certainly an incredibly tumultuous time for Garlemald. “Danse Your Heart Out” revolves around all of the stumbles and blunders taken on the road to self discovery but still staying true to your heart, despite what might be in your way.
All in all, I will move plot mountains to see my characters with a smile on their face. Sometimes those mountains put us both through hell, but hey that’s character growth, haha!
Thank you so much for interviewing me, this has been a wonderful experience!
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The Ludens Atlas
Tell me a bit about your history playing XIV! What pulled you in, and what inspired you to start creating art and merch for it?
As of writing, tomorrow is my 4th year anniversary of starting to play FFXIV which is pretty exciting, I spend my time in game being a filthy achievement hunter and hard core raider and whenever I have a break, I document lots of the cool things I’ve seen in game! Truthfully what pulled me in is seeing the bunny boys and wanting to be a bunny boy. However at the same time I was looking for an online multiplayer game to get good at and after trying Dead by Daylight I fell into FFXIV and haven’t made much of an effort at climbing out since! I was convinced I’d hate the game, or just suck at it, but actually I continually impress myself with what I’ve been able to do! I think just the wide variety of landscapes and architecture make me want to create art, I want to celebrate my time with the game by creating momentos.
How does your personal creative outlook or style influence the merchandise and art you create (XIV or otherwise)? What do you hope people take away or feel from your work?
I just make stuff I want to exist for my use and that’s the way it’s always been and then I sell the extras. I have been journaling my weeks playing FFXIV since 6.2 and use the stickers in my journal often, as well as the crafts of lots of other awesome FFXIV artists!
I love the overworld in FFXIV so much, I do a lot of hunts, fates, treasure maps, allied society quests and gathering. I want people to remember how beautiful and expansive it is, not just a vehicle or space for the main story to take place but a huge and intricately designed world. When you start A Realm Reborn you’re an adventurer and I always want to maintain that feel, a person recording their journal by drawing what they see, the places and creatures they meet along the way.
Is there a piece of art you’ve created that you are especially proud of – for example, a piece that pushed or “leveled up” your skills, or one that was particularly popular, or perhaps something that came out exactly as you had imagined it?
Absolutely, I got back into traditional art in September 2024 when I was sick from work and before then I hadn’t really done any traditional art since I was a child. Since then I’ve been honestly surprised at how well it’s gone and how much I want to share it.
One of the first pieces that made me realise I might be on to something was my Sleepy Hollow House piece from the All Saint’s Wake event. Curating the little pumpkins and all their faces and bringing all the different pieces of the house together was so much fun and taught me a lot, as I work in one colour providing definition and giving an illusion of colour are big skills I’m working on and this is the first piece that really showed that I was learning and doing the thing! There’s limitations and freedom when working with fine liner and I was discovering all of that in this piece.
Creature arts are always popular, I love doing my incredibly niche B-rank mark series in particular, I’m religious about doing all my elite marks for every expansion every week and enjoy my work being reflective of how I play. The Slyphs with the knives are just the best though, and the design of the Slyphs are perfect for my art style!
What is a future project you hope to pursue, whether in fandom spaces or in your personal work?
I think it’s to no ones surprise I’m preparing to make a journal of work detailing a journey through FFXIV, in my heart of hearts I want it to be a stream series, so I’ll need a lot of work to get to the point where I can stream this, so we’ll see. But I do really feel that’s where all of this is building too!
Looking through your work, your beautifully detailed black and white ink landscapes of settings throughout FFXIV really stand out to me. Do you particularly enjoy other landscape and plein air styles of art?
Honestly? I’ve got no idea. Sadly at the moment I’m quite unwell and not really able to travel very much, video games are giving me interesting landscapes to draw whether they are very realistic or fantastical and I can do that all without having to travel. Hopefully one day I can begin to draw in real world spaces again!
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