CHOKKOmiilk
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 started playing during Heavensward, haha! I fell in love with HW for its general themes but as soon as I met Aymeric, it was sooooo over! I would not shut up about him! On Twitter, there is a post by huasira that introduced me to the Filipino Aymeric headcanon and I think that made me realize that I could have my own headcanons about FFXIV characters. Headcanons and RP keep my love for FFXIV going strong. Turns out being delusional really goes a long way LOL!
When I started making merch, it was during the period where we were all waiting for Endwalker. I really like working with materials that are tactile. I also really adored all those resin jobstones people were making at the time, so I wanted to experiment with different ways I could make jobstones, and ended up making some pretty guest soaps with the jobstone ice tray. I think that was when I decided I would continue with cosmetics.
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 hiding things in plain sight, so I personally lean toward more subtle merch like the Azem symbol, for example! This was especially important when I was in the luxury space, when I would sneak my Azem omamori onto my work purse since it was minimalist enough that I wouldn’t draw attention to it. So when I first started working with soap and packaging, I intended it to appeal to people who may be in a space where they may or may not be able to showcase their fanart merchandise!
I think the message I want to convey to everyone is “Please take care of yourself.” Taking care of yourself mentally and physically is so important! I want to make handwashing a fun experience, and I hope people can relive fond memories of a character when they use a body scrub. When someone told me that they used my bath salts for a well-deserved bath after a long day, I feel like I’ve gotten a step closer to conveying that message.
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?
Omg I feel like I’m never going to stop talking about how fun the process was for my Love and Deepspace-inspired collection! I feel like I used so much of my toolkit in it and I think to date this is my favourite set.
For this collection, I drew out a simple design for the LaDS mascots, keeping as close to the shape of soap as possible. My friend’s brother had access to a 3D printer so I asked if he could print blanks of impressions of the artwork. From there, I found a type of silicone I could pour over the blanks and made special cavities for the molds. From then, assembling the soaps took a couple months but it was surreal seeing my final artwork turned into something I could pick up and use!
What is a future project you hope to pursue, whether in fandom spaces or in your personal work?
I really hope that I can do an official collaboration with an indie game studio for a launch of some sort, or perhaps a limited run for a larger vtuber! Within the FFXIV fandom space, however, I hope to one day finalize my plans for the job-inspired collection!
When creating new fandom collections, do you take into consideration what kinds of scents or textures you want to explore in the collection, or does the interest in the kind of merchandise you want to create come first, and the fandom you want to create with it come after?
Hm… I’ve always been adamant about making merch for media I’ve played or watched, even if it’s just a little. I really like spending time getting to know characters, their backstories, and their context within their world. Oftentimes I find one character I really like, and I’ll usually find a hook for a scent, then go through my never-ending stash of fragrances to find something that reminds me of them. If I feel like I could be motivated to make a collection for that one person, I will usually look at the rest of the cast and decide on different body goods and scents for the rest!
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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?
Well, I started my first free trial account back in 2014 on an old laptop that could BARELY run it; I couldn’t actually play much of it, but I was hooked on Arcanist from the beginning (I loved magic and pet classes in MMOs for as long as I can remember). It just had so much more to offer than all the free-to-play MMOs I was playing at the time, and the visual style was so unique! I made so many in-game friends, joined a free company that I loved, did savage content… I doodled my miqo’te here and there for it, up until Shadowbringers came out and inspired me to dig deeper and put my own spin on the story and build my WoL as more than just an avatar in a game. He quickly became his own character that I could actually call an OC, and my main one at that! I haven’t stopped drawing and iterating on my WoL ever since. The Crystal Exarch quickly became my favorite NPC, too.
Creating merch, on the other hand, started during the very beginning of the pandemic and the global lockdown; freelance work became scarce, and I had much more time to figure out what I wanted to do apart from applying to hundreds of remote studio jobs. As fate would have it, the first FFXIV community mail-in sticker trade event was organized around the same time, and I absolutely wanted to take part and make stickers of my WoL to share! It was then that I realized that people thoroughly enjoyed the stickers that I made, and I enjoyed the process of drawing and printing and sharing them, so I just started making more (especially of G’raha Tia, which people really loved)… I opened my Etsy in 2020 and sold some stickers, spiraled into keychains and pillows and other stationery, 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?
Hah, I really just like drawing for the fun of it! I don’t think my “style” is very consistent, and if I try to force it to be consistent then I find myself having less fun with the process. I love figuring out shapes and movements of hair and clothing and bodies and facial features as I go, tweaking and redrawing and erasing until my brain feels satisfied, and I learn something new with every piece or genre of merchandise that I take on! I love pinks and vibrant colors, and I’ve been told my art looks “edible,” so perhaps there’s a correlation there.
As for what I hope people take away… I just want them to feel either inspired to create whatever is in their own heads, or to reinforce that their interests and indulgences have meaning! To see a piece of art that I post, and want to pick up a pen or brush or whatever to bring their own characters to life, or express themselves however they please. To open an envelope or a pink package from me and see the little goodies inside and smile, and to feel like they’ve been seen. To know that, somewhere out there, the person who made this piece of merchandise or art that you’re beholding likes the same niche things that you do, has your sense of humor, or shares your favorite color. To me, art is human connection, despite how lonely and isolating the creation process can feel at times. I just hope other people feel that same connection, in some 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?
Lord, I feel like my art is extremely hit or miss, haha! One day I’ll just call something finished because I don’t want to struggle with it anymore, and I won’t feel totally satisfied; the next week I’ll want to work on something and make it something I can be happy with, and it actually comes out great. I’m not sure if there is one piece that got a particularly notable amount of attention, or that I felt leveled up my skills the most; I’m learning and growing and leveling up with every piece, regardless if it comes out the way that I had envisioned in my head or not!
What is a future project you hope to pursue, whether in fandom spaces or in your personal work?
I definitely want to prioritize my personal projects, if I can find the time… I’m an animator at heart, so getting to animate people’s characters for commissions has been a blessing, but my biggest dream is to either create an animated series of my own (even if it’s a short form one) or even animate short dialogue scenes or music videos of my characters and their stories! There are many stories that I wish to convey through visual storytelling that are begging to be let out, but as of right now my job takes up 99% of my time and energy as I work to make self-employment sustainable in this ever more challenging economic climate.
When you pursued animation for your degree and career, did you already plan on continuing other personal work and fan art/merch alongside your animation work? Or has that balance evolved and shifted in a way you didn’t expect?
I’ll tell you, when I was in college for animation, I never imagined myself making fan merch, let alone having it become my primary form of income. I’d always tried to convince myself that, after spending an embarrassing amount of money on a bachelor’s degree, I would end up in a studio with a permanent position, and somehow mold myself into the good little worker and social butterfly that could succeed in the cutthroat animation industry. I was probably on the path to doing that, mind you, before the pandemic struck and slammed that door in my face!
All that to say, things definitely shifted in a way that I couldn’t have anticipated, but instead of wallowing in my constant studio rejections and fake job offers… I picked myself back up and made something out of it. Now, I’m still able to create and do what I love, and that is what matters above all else to me; financial security means nothing to me if I would just be masking and miserable every day of my life. You can make smart moves with the resources you have and the cards you’ve been dealt, and build something that both you of the present and your past self can be proud of!
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