Lumiera Arts
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?
FFXIV is a game that I got into because of my friends; we had originally created characters together on the free trial as a thing for us to do together as friends as our lives became increasingly busier. It became a thing that I would look forward to so that I could enjoy time spent with friends rather than for the story itself (though the game story is still very fun!). As I played the game I saw many other people create physical things based off of characters. I don’t consider myself very good at art in general (I do try, haha) so I thought that making colors based off of characters would be a fun spin on creating merch and thought it would help people enjoy the colors that go into the game.
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 want people to look at my work and see that they can do it too. What I create I think anybody should be able to do if they wanted (I even have my recipes on my site for people if they want to make it themselves!). My whole outlook, and especially my brand, is that anybody can create art (whether they think it’s worthwhile or not) for themselves and others. I like to think that actually creating art, whether it’s a stick figure or a full blown illustration, helps bring back some child-like wonder, and we all could use some of that wonder nowadays. A lot of people seem to believe now that human made art is a luxury and I want, instead, to have people see the palettes I’m making, the recipes I put up and be like, hey! I can do that too! I want to do that! Creativity is, I think, what makes humans, well, human. The emotions we feel, the ideas we create, the art that gets created and I hope seeing my imperfect palettes and art will help people see that they can do 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?
While not XIV, I have a palette called “A Boon Awakened” based on the Hades video game. The colors that are in that palette are ones that challenged me because I’ve never worked with colorshifting paint before. I wasn’t sure whether the mica would actually work with my binder or not and it was honestly difficult to source colorshifting mica from a place I knew supported my limitations of wanting to keep the paint vegan and cruelty free. The paints for the palette, while not coming out exactly how I imagined, were beautiful and I think that even though they didn’t come out as exactly as I hoped, that adds to the charm. Nothing we create is perfect.
What is a future project you hope to pursue, whether in fandom spaces or in your personal work?
I’d love to work on some more personal palettes. What I learned from doing the custom character palettes is that those take a lot from me and while I absolutely enjoy working on them, it left less room for my own palettes that I want to create. I had to put my job stone palette on hold and I’m still working on palettes from giveaways. Once I’m finished with those and the last paid custom palette, I’m putting the custom palettes on hold to work on the job stone palette and some Pokémon palettes based on Poké balls and berries.
Where in your creative journey did you start to grow an interest in making your own paints from scratch as another expression of your artistry, rather than just using paints available on the existing market to create art?
When I first started creating, I honestly never thought to make my own paints. I admit that I did get influenced by several other creators who chose to create physical art based on their favorite characters rather than traditional or digital art. When I started painting, it was hard for me to source paints that were completely vegan, especially in local shops, but one of my best friends was able to source some mica they were planning on using for their projects and shared it with me and I said, what could go wrong? So I ordered some mica, gum arabic powder and vegetable glycerin, along with some tools to actually make the paint and was incredibly happy with how it came out. It brings me closer to my own art that I paint because I had the feeling of accomplishment of making my own paint. I didn’t have to worry about sourcing the paint anymore and if I run out I can just make more since I have the pigments/mica offhand. I think everybody should be able to enjoy that feeling, to be able to look at something they created and, even if it’s not perfect, have that connection because it’s something they made with their own hands and mind.
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Lumeria Studio
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?
What, or rather, who pulled me in was Aymeric, as cheesy as that sounds. I really liked him and I wanted to ship my WoL with him, so I developed her as my first OC and now Lumeria means a lot to me. That progressed to me beginning to draw ship art for them both, which then I showed to my FC at the time and I was asked if I was taking commissions.
I was also working (and still work) as a freelance artist for a friend’s business and he asked me if I was interested in having my own product line, so then I moved into making merch as I wanted to see my art out there. Plus creating my own Aymeric merch is fun, heheh.
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 really lean into the romance aspect as I’m a shipper and NPC enjoyer, and I want others to feel that same joy, and that includes their own OCs. I hope they see the care that I put into my work, it is a little piece of me as an artist that gets put out into the world. That is time and evolving skills that I invest not just for myself, but for others as well.
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 recently painted a portrait of Lumeria wearing one of my traditional Mexican dresses while holding a flower bouquet. It came out better than I originally anticipated and I’m happy to see that my continued study of light rendering has been paying off lately, not just on the piece, but in full render commissions as well. I love being able to implement the mood and feel in a piece that can go beyond “oh that’s nice looking,” specially for the recipient.
What is a future project you hope to pursue, whether in fandom spaces or in your personal work?
I would love to illustrate fanfic scenes for myself and others, and ultimately make a webcomic of my WoL’s story, which is still very much a work in progress as I tweak it and refine it.
The colors in your artwork are positively radiant. For your fully rendered pieces – but particularly your Art Nouveau portraits – what is your process for determining a drawing’s color palette so that the vibrant colors keep the piece feeling cohesive and complementary? Do the style and intensity of the lighting influence how you use color in a piece?
First of all, thank you! I first look at the subject’s colors to determine where in the color wheel they fall in. Is it mostly blues, reds, warm, cool, etc. Then I choose complimentary colors that won’t blend in too closely with each other.
The important part for the pieces is the contrast so each element stands out such as the stars and planets against a starry sky background for example. I also check my values by saving the image and using the grey scale filter to check that nothing is getting blended in together and getting lost.
The lighting is very much depending on the main subject’s colors as I want them to be the main focus of the image, therefore lighter colors will be towards the center of the image, while darker will be towards the edges. It’s all about drawing the eye in.
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