The Summer Festival

To end off the week, we’re putting a spotlight on the fabulous Angels Tale Art! Introduce yourself! Hi! I’m Ellie (or Angel). I’m an independent artist; I love designing and drawing shoujo and kawaii art and stuff! I’ve been doing artist alleys for almost 4 years and worked with the game industry before. I enjoy playing games and making art ^^)/... Out of all three types of art you do, which one(s) excite you the most and why? It’s a bit difficult to choose. But I guess digital illustration excites me in a way that I enjoy doing it constantly. Also, it gives me opportunities to explore, try different things and improve. Which mangaka's style do you enjoy the most and for what reason? I enjoy shoujo art style a lot. When I’m in a bookstore, I would reach for shoujo manga. The reason might be I really adored that style since I was a child and as I grew up, I honed my skill towards that style. Another mangaka style I enjoy is Junji Ito’s! <3 From your perspective, what traits do you believe make a good artist? For me, I believe traits that make a good artist are determination, open-mind for correction, learning and experimentation, and passion. :) What were you most looking forward to at SummerFest 2020 and at other local events? I always look forward to seeing fellow local artists, their artworks and crafts! Fellow fans and event goers, participants, everyone! I really enjoy the community! :) Do you have any social media pages where our audience can see more of your work? Check me out on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelstale_art/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelsTaleArt And recently, I have been starting streaming on Twitch! ^^ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/angelstale_art

Hello everyone! We’re here again with another artist spotlight, this time showcasing the duo Noodle & Sarahsolmiiie! Introduce yourself! Hi! I’m Princess Noodle and I love art and crafting and cosplay. I like doing original art but when I get stuck I fall back on making fanart of my favourite characters. This is my first time selling art and I’m super excited to table at Summer Fest!...Continue reading

Happy Monday! Today we are featuring the local artist krispy! Tell us a bit about yourself! Hi, I’m Kristine (or krispy)! I’m an illustrator and animator from Vancouver, and I’ve recently started making comics as well. Feel free to give Carrot Man a look-up on gumroad (for free)!... How did you come up with your artist name krispy? My name is Kristine, so one of my friends back in early high school would call me krispy. I didn’t like it at the time, but I’m glad it came to be and stuck around; it’s nostalgic. What type of art style interests you the most? Oh man, I like a lot of things! At the core, I think I’m visually drawn to strong shapes, with rich texture and colour. But I think anything that meshes well with its content tends to interest me. From your perspective, what traits do you believe make a good artist? Geez, that’s a hard one...There are a lot of things I think are important! However, I feel like knowing your voice and being aware of how it affects people is vital. It sounds deep but it’s not haha; for example, I like to make work that brings a sense of comfort, so I tend to draw things that are silly, whimsical, and colourful. If people connect with that, then I’ve successfully said what I wanted to say. What's the most memorable thing you've experienced as an artist? Overall, just all the new friends and interesting people I’ve gotten to meet! If we’re talking about a specific moment, I think it was back in 2017? Someone had bought a couple of keychains from me. They came back a few hours later with a drawing and note about how much they loved my art! I was so moved-- I still have their drawing stored safely in a binder. Please visit Kristine’s Twitter and Instagram accounts to view more of her work! Twitter: @krispyhu Instagram: @krispy.hu

Today’s spotlight is with the team behind Isekano, an upcoming augmented reality anime dating sim! Introduce yourself! Isekano consists of a small team of game designers, programmers, and artists. This is our team’s first game together! Most of us have a background working in the game industry and being involved in the local anime community.... Can you tell us more about what ‘Isekano’ is? Isekano is an upcoming anime dating sim where you meet, chat, and date your heroine in augmented reality! It is currently in development right now, and will be made available on mobile. What was the inspiration for the concept of this game? We are heavily inspired by visual novels, Pokemon GO, and dating sims. Our vision is to realize the idea of dating anime waifus in real life. With mobile slowly becoming a bigger platform for this genre, we feel that there is room to innovate and give players a new experience. What is the biggest challenge so far when creating your own game from scratch? The tech behind the game is definitely the most challenging. We are working hard to build the AR and geolocation features behind the game, which is something that isn’t present in existing visual novel engines. It takes up a lot of time and resources, though also rewarding to see the progress. When can we expect Isekano to be available for users to play? Isekano is still in its very early stages right now, with no definite release date yet. We need all the support from the community! Want to stay up to date with Isekano? Check out the official accounts below! Twitter: https://twitter.com/IsekanoGame Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IsekanoGame Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isekanogame

We’re back with another artist spotlight! This time, we are interviewing Meg-chan Doodles! Tell us a bit about yourself! Hi there I’m Meg! I’m just a girl who loves cats, eating sweets, drawing memes and crying over fictional stories and characters. My current obsession is playing Animal Crossing and reading danmei (Whaddup MXTX fans)... Is this your first time exhibiting your art at the Summer Festival/local events in BC? While this isn’t my first time exhibiting in Vancouver, this will be my first time at SFU and I’m very excited about it! How would you describe your art style in a few sentences? Non-existent haha. I’m not sure if I have a style. I always want to work on different subject matters in different styles depending on my mood, from cutesy and simple to more painterly and realistic to more stylized or more anime-esque. Though lately I’ve been more in the painterly mood. What are your favourite urban legends/stories related to yokai? Is there a particular yokai that terrifies you the most? I used to live in Japan and in a town famous for yokai. There was one yokai I learned about there named Betobeto-san that would follow people late at night and you could hear its shoes clacking behind you. But when you turn around there’s no one there? If you want to get rid of it, just step to the side and say After you, Betobeto-san. I just found this kind of cute, especially when you look at Mizuki Shigeru’s rendering. As for scary yokais, there’s a lot but kuchisake-onna is kind of scary...there’s no win-win if you encounter her. You either end up dead or disfigured What was it like starting out as an artist? Do you have any words of encouragement for the budding artists out there? Starting out was so difficult, I have no formal academic training so progress took longer and seeing my slow improvement was frustrating. But at the same time when you just start out there’s a lot you can’t do so when you finally develop the skills to do it you feel so proud of yourself. To any new artists out there, build your fundamentals and just draw what you like! Art is a hard road and maybe you want to give up but in the end it’s all worth it Want to follow Meg and her art? Check out her social media here! Instagram - http//www.instagram.com/megchandoodles (illustrations) http://www.instagram.com/snowykitsuneart (cute art and merch) Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/shop/megchandoodles