Romaji

Welcome back! Today we have the 17th edition of "Become the Change: Weekly Artist Feature".

If you are new to watching me, or just stumbled across this journal the "Weekly Art Feature" is where I feature an amazing artist from around deviantART. We try to feature different types of artists every week so you don't have to keep looking at the same type of things over and over again.

On top of promoting their art, I also award them a diamond badge which includes a month membership!

This week we are interviewing Antyyy

Please introduce yourself

Well, I am “Antyyy” or also known as “Antyyy’s Papercrafts” and I am a professional 3D model and papercraft designer. I design my own models (with hand-drawn textures) that are mostly characters (existing and fictional of any kind) and transform these into beautiful artworks known as papercrafts – printed-out paper templates that you cut, fold and glue together to make amazing 3D figures or all sorts of things and shapes to display and have fun with.

What made you join deviantART?

I was always an artsy person, so I drew ever since I could hold a pen at 3-4 years and when I got to an age where I was active on the internet and searched for things I like, I saw this community of people online and I joined there to see what other artists are making and just generally to enjoy their works and engage in the community.

hat is the story behind your username?

It’s actually an acronym mix of my real-life name that got made when I had to make a username for my first ever e-mail and chat. I liked it so much and it was very unique and almost never used by others, so I stuck to it ever since.

What made you stay on deviantART?

Actually stay, I would say desperation? There are no other sites like this, with such a huge range and still active community in one place, although the quality declined pretty rapidly in the last 2 years Wix bought the site, because countless people from all types of arts, not just the papercraft-community, fled when they started to focus on their premiums only (people that actually put money into the barely-functioning site). So, big critic of the new regime of the site, but still functional enough and long-ranged that it’s still relevant to searches and contacting people for art, so people can find me and my work, since it is my primary site of posting stuff I do.

What is your chosen art element?

My element is obviously paper/papercrafts. I love the feel of it, the simplicity yet the unbelievable details it can display when you work with it, the range of thickness and surfaces, how much this flat 2D paper surface can be bent and cut and manipulated into an intricate 3D shape, the sheer sturdiness it displays although it looks so weak at first glance, and it just fascinates me to no end. I always loved paper and cutting-out things from magazines since I was little, so holding scissors and cutting precise stuff was something I lived and breath since I was a child. And when I found out that my cutting hobby as a child can be combined with the thing I love most of all, anime, I was hooked for life.

Is there a reason that that is your choice of art element?

I was always fascinated by games; big gamer geek here. And my biggest love were and still are, Pokemon games! So, one day I saw that you could actually get 3D models of my fav Pokemon ever, Pikachu, from the games I played, edit the models and make actual real-life figures out of paper with them, not just buy the PVC-figures that I could never get a hold of. It was like a video-game character came to life out of the screen for me. So suddenly I could have all the figures I always wanted and a whole new world opened up to me. It was magic, and I fell in love with the digital models as well as the printed-out versions and the rest is history.

What is your main source of inspiration?

My constant wish and drive to engage in everything anime probably? I am a huge fan of anime, games, etc. and there are constant new things coming out that I watch and love, so naturally I want to make new papercrafts and models out of the current ones I like. Plus, I am a huge hoarder of everything anime (but never have the money or resources to buy stuff, since not many things are available in my country to buy and you have to constantly ship from overseas - which is soooo pricey), so I love making new ones for myself and my collection to display, it just makes me happy and relaxed when I assemble them.

Why do you continue creating your art?

Half the reason is probably the same thing as my inspiration really, being a hoarding geek that loves new stuff and constantly wanting to expand my papercraft figure collection myself It’s a very hands-on involved art that I love making for myself. And the other reason would be the community, since a lot of people do quit from the papercraft designer business in a few years, and I want to be that driving force to keep things going and letting people see what beautiful stuff they can create for themselves and to let them get involved.

Do you feel deviantART has helped you improve your skills?

Not really, but it did help me find great people in the community and letting people be a part of my work and expanding the interest for this hobby. What helped me with my skills were mostly internet tutorials for 3D programs and drawing programs, since I learned everything from 0 by myself. And the sheer will to make my paper figures look even more amazing and making them myself at some point then, to make the characters and poses I wanted to have for my stuff. That helped a lot to get to this point where I am pretty satisfied with the way I can make a detailed lowpoly 3D models – it’s harder than it looks, because with smaller space to work with, everything needs to be precise and though out, so you need a lot of practical experience to get better at it.

What are your thoughts on your chosen art element’s community?

There are still a lot of active people in the papercraft community, but it was bigger and more active at the beginning when I started. A lot of designers (and assemblers alike) quit in a few years, because it can be quite complicated and you don’t get a lot of actual support and feedback that you maybe wish you would get. Then you have some people on the internet who only live and breathe to spread anger, active trolls and just plain rude individuals that don’t give a damn about intellectual property or respect, so those also drive people away with their toxicity. And lastly, you have the problem of people not wanting to spend time and energy for things they think they can instantly get by buying them online and don’t have the determination or (think they don’t have) hand-coordination to make papercrafts. All these things, and probably more, are pretty serious problems for the future papercraft community as I see it. That’s why I want to continue with my art, sharing it, never listening to negative people trying to trigger me and focusing on the good feedback and people that love this artform. I want papercrafts to be a widely known craft that inspires people to make things with their own 2 hands and to get creative, so the community can grow and be even better. One step at a time.

Do you have any personal goals in relation to deviantART?

Them not being a greedy money-grabbing platform anymore and to actually get to the point we were 2-3 years ago when the site was actually functioning and being great to ALL artists, no matter if they had premium membership or not and them to actually take out criticism and complaints seriously. But that’s just a dream, everything is corporate in the future, I guess... But at least them getting the functionality in order to make chats and comments and notes work all the time, so people can actively engage in the community again and get back to the site and post on it, not just to run away from it.

What are your favorite foods/drinks that you can’t resist?

Favorite drink would have to be apple juice. Pretty lame I guess, but I can’t resist it and it’s the only drink I actually crave from time to time. Foods would have to be some sweets that probably nobody knows that doesn’t live in my country XD mostly chocolate and sour worms. Then of course, my favorite desert, which is meringue pie with raspberries :9 or panna cotta, which I also love. And from the normal savory bunch probably again, typical stuff from my country that nobody knows, and then gyoza and edamame (which I am absolutely mad about, since I love Japanese food), maybe cheese I do loves my cheeses from time to time.

What Movies/TV shows do you enjoy watching?

Anything and everything anime. I am on a platform named AniDB, if anybody doesn’t know it, and you have the whole assortment of any anime coming out in the history ever, from the beginning to now. And on my profile, it says that if I watched all of them together at once, I would have spent 9 years of my life watching those that I did watch (and I didn’t even sort all of them out) XD so it would be futile to list all of them up, since my taste is pretty broad with anime, anything from shoujo, monsters, comedy, drama to action, and all the current seasons. But I can’t stand hentai or fan-service BS. Despise those For movies I mostly go with either Sci-Fi or Horror, and again, I watched all good horror movies out there and it would be futile to list them all again. I have a pretty eclectic taste.

What type of books can you not put down?

Personally, I tend to love anything fantasy-related. Last trilogy I just read were the “Bartimaeus Trilogy” books that I liked a lot. Before that I read some classics of “Stephen King”, and before that “1984”. Again, a pretty broad specter, but I also read all the biggest German, English and Japanese classics, since I do have a Master of Arts in languages and literature and I am a professional translator. My favorite author of all time would have to be Kafka, but I know that’s not everybody’s cup of tea :D

Do you look up to anyone on deviantART?

Anybody and everybody making papercrafts really. I always browse the “papercraft” keyword each day to see if anybody assembled anything new on there. No individual people really, maybe just some of my closest followers that give me constructive feedback and that I am happy to interact with and that’s about it.

Do you have any wise word for new or inspiring artists of your element?

Don’t give up. If you love making papercraft, make them. Enjoy them, share the love, find some active groups to get assembly feedbacks or watch some video tutorials on how to make things, and just love what you do yourself and make them for yourself. It’s a magical form of crafts that lets you basically do figures out of pure nothing and folded-up paper. It’s really satisfying to make them yourself and see yourself grow on each assembly, and do whatever you want to do as a motive. Papercrafts look way cooler than boring PVC figures, they are versatile and you can pose them however you like and do whatever motive you want, they are 100% eco-friendly and 200% satisfying to do with your own 2 hands, they encourage hand-to-eye-coordination and creativity and most of all, they are waaay cheaper than generic made-in-China plastic ones :)

Are there any projects or something else you’d like to promote/share with us?

I do post something new each week and I am always open for any kind of papercraft commission, if anybody is interested in those. I am also always looking for constructive feedback on how to make the experience better or just a though or 2 from other users really, so that would be welcome.

Apart from that, if there is still time (since I don’t know when this will be posted), I currently have a Halloween event going on till the 30th October where you can win any1 of my designed papercrafts, so you can check that out:

Please give us 8 thumbs you’d like to show off

I haven't done this in a while but I thought I would try to do this once a week or so.

Welcome to the 16th edition of "Become the Change: Weekly Artist Feature".

If you are new to watching me, or just stumbled across this journal the "Weekly Art Feature" is where I feature an amazing artist from around deviantART. We try to feature different types of artists every week so you don't have to keep looking at the same type of things over and over again.

On top of promoting their art, I also award them a diamond badge which includes a month membership!

This week is Hollarity!

I hope you join us next time for the next issue of Become The Change: Weekly Artist Feature!

Hey y'all,

It's been a long time since I posted a journal or much of anything. I've mostly just been giving out badges and awards to people randomly and occasionally saying hi to people.

A lot has happened since my last journal and I've been thinking about and visiting this site more and more. It's a big part of who I am.

Honestly, I've been thinking about coming back a bit. I'm just not sure if it will be on this account or my other business one.

Heck, are there even people here that still remember me?

I haven't posted in almost two years. I haven't even been on much in that time. But now I seem to keep coming back. A lot is happening in my life that is making me uneasy and scared. Time is passing by and I'm unsure of the future.

I think I keep coming back because I miss the old days, the old friendships, and the fun. I was looking at my watch list and old comments. I kept thinking about old memories and fun times I used to have on this site. The friends who literally kept me going with their kindness and love, that I don't even know where they are today. I know that is the way of life. That some people just come into your life to help you grow, and then get blown away in the winds of life. But even if I am forgotten by them, by you. There is a special place in my heart.

I don't know if anyone will read this, but I miss y'all. I hope you are doing well, and I still think about ya!

If you wanna catch up or anything, I am on discord. Romaji#4543