Kuro Neko Melt Co.
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?
It actually took two tries before I got into XIV properly! The first attempt was not too long after ARR came out. I was invited by a friend at the time, but left to solo most things since they were focusing on what endgame there was at the time – I got to where the Haukke Manor part of MSQ starts when I couldn’t figure out how to proceed and gave up. (Remember when you had to give items to NPCs? And nothing told you where to get said items? Yeah.)
The second time was not too long before HW came out – a different friend and Astrologian drew me in. I got into a FC and stuck around, playing on and off ever since~
I discovered the fandom merch space around Shadowbringers where it really seemed to explode in popularity – I live in a small town in Canada where there’s not much in terms of big cons or events, so the concept was pretty new to me! I thought it was fascinating, and amassed a small hoard of merch for myself.
I am disabled with an eye and a leg condition, and around the end of 2022, my former boss at my day job was starting to put pressure on me to get me to leave and refused any accommodations. I’d been experimenting with making my own wax melts with Gideon’s (of Luminis Candle Co. fame) help, and decided I might as well try to see if I could make it work. Kuro Neko was launched in September 2022 and the rest is history.
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?
Above everything else, I hope that my work, fandom inspired or not, brings joy and comfort into people’s lives. That it makes their game room smell nice, that it makes their bedroom a little more comfortable. That they can close their eyes, breathe deep, and imagine themselves somewhere else, if only for a small moment, lost in time.
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?
I tend to either know exactly what I’m looking for, or have no idea what I’m doing at all. There’s very little in between, honestly!
I’m really proud of my job scents – the Azem summoning circle was such a pain in the ass to vector, and it’s half a miracle that my printer can get it this small without choking.
I also really love how the Scion collection came out – I loved tying roses to all of them, and my partner used the weapon vectors for the promo art that was very reminiscent of that scene at the start of FFX. which I adore.
What is a future project you hope to pursue, whether in fandom spaces or in your personal work?
Things are pretty uncertain right now, for a variety of reasons, and while I would continue to work on Kuro Neko for as long as it is possible for me to do, I am currently on a bit of a hiatus from creating anything new while I get used to having a day job again! When I am able to give Kuro Neko more attention again, I would like to focus a bit more on non-fandom scents, while still making fandom scents!
I would really love to be part of a larger project one day – something like a basket full of goodies from all sorts of different makers, and I hope to get the opportunity to collaborate with more creators one day, be it physically or digitally.
Asking about your creative process is too complex a topic for a single question, so I’d like to instead ask about your art journey. When I interviewed Luminis Candle Co., we talked about some of the other art media xe’ve worked with before focusing on candles and scents. What about scent work and candlemaking sets this medium apart from other forms of art for you?
I have a degree in graphic design, focusing on print – unfortunately with my eye condition it’s impossible for me to focus on that 8h/day. I like vector art especially! I’ve also drawn quite a bit in my teenage years, and did a lot of mixed media jewelry in my 20s.
Working with wax and scents is a very different experience from any other craft I’ve done in my life – I rely very deeply on my sense of smell, obviously, while trying to paint a picture in someone’s head with scent alone. Sometimes it’s very easy… and sometimes it’s really quite hard! It’s a completely different way of thinking from most other forms of art, and I found that to be very fascinating – you’re basically relying on scent memory to paint a picture in another person’s mind.
Follow Kuro Neko Melt Co. and check out their shop!
Online Store
Ko-Fi
Bsky
Linktree
ryaccoon
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?
I wanted to get into FFXIV before I even had any idea what it was because I saw a video on tumblr called “Average Lalafell Day” and thought the character was so cute I wanted to play as one. I didn’t find out what the game was and actually started playing until a year or two later in 2017.
I’ve had a bit of a rocky time playing XIV and quit multiple times due to bad interactions with players and FCs. I always ended up coming back because of how much I loved the actual gameplay, story and characters. I still have trouble playing because of my anxiety but now I have a good friend who’s patient and helps me.
I’ve always had a strong desire to create merch of things I enjoy because I love to make things but I was always too scared to actually try in case no one wanted the things I made. With FFXIV merch in particular I had problems buying cool stuff I found on Etsy because the majority of creators were from the US so the shipping costs to the UK were often more than the item itself.
This year I decided I’d finally do it myself and bought a printer I could use to print my own stickers and prints.
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 like a mixture of cute art and art with a lot of dark colours. I love adding small details to pieces whenever I can. I just make merch that I would enjoy to have and hope that other people enjoy it too.
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?
It might not be my most recent or popular work but I’m most proud of a drawing I did of my Warrior of Light with G’raha Tia in Mor Dhona. I had to challenge myself a lot to draw the background because I don’t usually draw detailed backgrounds but in the end I learned a lot and gained a new love of drawing detailed backgrounds whenever I can.
What is a future project you hope to pursue, whether in fandom spaces or in your personal work?
I want to do more art inspired by the Dragon Age: Inquisition tarot cards and tarot card inspired art in general. Hopefully I can do a series of the Scions because I think it would be really fun to think of how each character would work in that style.
As a lot of your commission work is Warriors of Light from XIV, that means you are also subjected to XIV costume design – and all the pain of its often nonsensical detailing. You seem to have embraced the high amounts of detail in your art, however! How do you approach translating a particularly difficult design, XIV or otherwise, to “paper”?
I love drawing lots of details which FFXIV commissions have given me plenty of opportunity to draw things I wouldn’t normally. When it comes to deciphering the details in FFXIV designs I try and get 3D models of each gear piece or check the specific piece in game if I can so I can rotate it and look at it from different angles which really helps. Sometimes you just have to use guess work to decide how something will look from a specific angle that you wouldn’t see in game.
Follow ryaccoon and check out their shop!
Etsy
Vgen (Commissions)
Ko-Fi
Bsky
Carrd
Inquiries of Art 
Leave a comment