Insights Into Teens

Insights Into Teens: Episode 61 "Artistic Expression"

April 13, 2020 Joseph and Madison Whalen Season 2 Episode 61
Insights Into Teens
Insights Into Teens: Episode 61 "Artistic Expression"
Show Notes Transcript

This week we highlight the artistic talents of our co-host Madison. We'll take a look at several outlets for artistic expression that she enjoys from music to writing and illustration to creative construction. We've got a few pre-recorded segments that will allow us to showcase Madison's musical talents on the Trumpet and some spoken word versions of her creative writing exploits.

We also took the time to digitize a selection of her artwork. We'll get a chance to look at how her artistic styles and skills advance from basic custom comics through her own character generation and the evolution of her own unique art style.

Finally we'll look at her creative construction expression through her custom lego creations. We'll take a walk through her unique apartment complex that allowed her to expand beyond just doing instruction based Lego builds to something a bit more complicated and creative.

Art plays an import part to the development of our youth. Encouraging those creative endeavors is key to grown of skills, imagination and expression. If you would like us to feature some of your artwork on a future recap podcast feel free to send some samples over to comments@insightsintothings.com.

An original podcast by a husband and wife team of self professed pop-culture geeks. It is a discussion about all things entertainment from movies and music to television and pop culture. We examine some of the more obscure aspects of the entertainment industry.

spk_0:   0:01
insightful podcasts, informative hosts Insights into Thinking, a podcast network. Welcome to Insights Into Teens, a podcast series exploring the issues and challenges of today's youth. Your hosts are Joseph and Madison Whalen, a father and daughter team making their way through the challenges of the teenage years. Welcome to insights into Teens. This is Episode 61. Artistic expression. I'm your host, Joe's of Whelan. I'm here with my talented and creative co host, Madison Whelan. Everyone. How you doing today, Matty?

spk_1:   1:08
Very good.

spk_0:   1:09
So this is our artistic expression podcast. One that we've tried to do. I think the last four episodes, right, schedules, circumstances, and various things have kind of conspired against us actually getting this one off the ground. But, uh, we did a lot of prep work for it. I had a time. So we have a couple of prerecorded segments that we're gonna be doing here that we did earlier on. So tell us about what today's episode is, since this really is this was your idea. So tell us what this episode is.

spk_1:   1:44
Yeah, that this actually in mind for a while. So basically we've said this before. I'm very creative, and I love to do different forms of art. And I decided on an idea for this podcast to show off some of that art since I have different versions of art.

spk_0:   2:04
Okay, so tell us about the forms of art we're going to see today.

spk_1:   2:08
All right, so there are four main forms of art. Um, the 1st 1 we're going to go through is my music form of art. I play the trumpet, and we're going to get Thio here and learn a bit more about that. Next up is my writing portion. Because I love to make stories and such you're going to hear a few of Martin. You're gonna hear a bit of my writing. Um, and we'll probably talk a bit more about that. And then the big part is probably my artwork. I have loads to show you, and we're probably gonna talk more about how I started doing the art. And finally, we have my creative construction because I'm in tow. Legos and I built a bunch of cool stuff on my own with Legos that I want to show off.

spk_0:   2:58
Okay, so So what we have is, um, your music first and we do have a couple of prerecorded segments for that. We have some readings from your writing pre recorded that we're gonna show. And we also have, um, some artwork of yours that we've scanned that will be able to show us well. And then we have some hands on physical demonstrations of your Lego stuff, Right? So first thing that we're gonna do is we're gonna talk about your music, So let's take a quick break. It will come back and talk about your music. For over seven years, the second SIF Empire has been the premier community Guilt. The online game Star Wars. The Old Republic with hundreds of friendly and helpful active members, a weekly schedule of nightly events, annual guild meeting rates and an active community both on the Web and discord. The second sieve empire is more than your typical gaming group. We're family. Join us on the Star Ford Server for nightly events such as operations flashpoints, world boss funds, Star Wars trivia lottery and much more visitors from a red today at www dot second sif and fire dot com. So I should mention batty. You do play trumpet, right? No. Before we show the clip. Tell me a little bit about what got you into into joining Ban and while you pick the trumpet.

spk_1:   5:00
Well, um, thing is, it all started when I was in fourth grade. Um, we had the option to join band. I remember. I think I saw, um when I was just starting fourth grade likethe e assembly and all the instruments that you could have played, And I'm not exactly sure, but I just think that the trumpet just stuck out to me. I'm not sure why, but I just thought that the trump it was a cool instrument. We had a few other options, like sex, the phones, flutes, clarinets. But for some reason, the trumpet just took out to me. Um, and I think I actually kind of like the song that they were able to play. And I don't know, I'm not exactly sure how it really why I really chose

spk_0:   5:48
it. Well, I do know you mentioned that your band teacher this year had talked about possibly trying the French horn. Uh, did you give it a shot that you did? You try that? Is that something you actually might be interested in and switching instruments.

spk_1:   6:03
I mean, I'm still trying to debate myself. I mean, it would be a really cool instrument because I've never really heard of anyone else playing it. Um, and I definitely think could be kind of a cool way Thio express my musical talent and maybe a fun instrument to learn. But, you know, I'm still trying to figure that out for myself.

spk_0:   6:26
Okay, Uh, just a caveat. Here. I I don't have an ounce of musical talent in my body. I do play rock band with you so I can pretend that I'm musically talented, but clearly your talent from a musical creativity side comes from Mommy here. Mommy plays the piano, and she used to play clarinet as well. So I want to run a clip that folks take a look at it. And then maybe you can comment on their what we're seeing after after we play the clip. All right, here we go. Ah, Madison Whelan's musical debut. Huh? Ah, uh ah. Uh ah Ah. Uh ah. Uh, uh huh. Uh, so what? He could tell us what the songs were. I mean, we could probably recognize two of those. What was that first song? you did.

spk_1:   8:32
The first song was called Bio Them cabbage down. And these were just a few warm up songs that I was playing in my first few years. Um, up. And so, um, file them cabbage down was just a repeated song to get us to learn a wth notes. But I thought it was a cool song, and I wanted to sort of choose. I decide to choose that as part of the, um, video and presentation for the podcast.

spk_0:   8:58
So question for you on the trumpet. So there's there's three vows on the trumpet, but you played a lot more than three notes there. So how do you get more than three notes from three valves?

spk_1:   9:10
Well, there are different ways on how you can use the vows, but the most, um, but some of the finger rings are the same. You just have to put more air into it to get the higher notes.

spk_0:   9:21
Okay. Okay. So you've been playing for how many years now?

spk_1:   9:26
Um well, I started in fourth grade about four years now,

spk_0:   9:32
and you still like playing the trumpet?

spk_1:   9:33
Yeah. It's given me some difficulties, and sometimes I want to quit, but I still enjoy it, and I I'm still doing it. So

spk_0:   9:42
So what was the biggest problem that you had when you first started playing trumpet?

spk_1:   9:47
Um, well, the biggest problem I had in the beginning was I couldn't get the notes high enough. And, like my CI's were like, like, seasonal low notes em to begin with. But I got them really low. Um, but luckily, after a few months, I was able to get the hang of it, and I was able to get pretty good high notes.

spk_0:   10:07
So you started playing fairly young. Um, and you're not playing with a special size instrument. You're playing with a regular sized trumpet. Did you have any issues holding it? Any issues with finger positioning, anything like that that you struggle with anything because the entrance was too big The beginning?

spk_1:   10:25
Um, not exactly. I mean, show was hard to get the fingers finger rings down in the beginning, but overall, it wasn't that hard to carry your hold. So Okay. Able to do that fairly well.

spk_0:   10:40
So do you think this is an instrument that you want to continue with, uh, through high school?

spk_1:   10:46
Um, my mind. I mean, um it's a good pastime for me. I enjoy playing it. Um, and, um, I definitely like showing my creative aspect in more than one way.

spk_0:   10:59
Now, I know you had some apprehension about possibly joining marching band If you got in the high school. You didn't seem to be particularly interested in that. Is that something that would would, if that was a requirement? Is that something that would sort of and you're trumpeting?

spk_1:   11:17
Well, I probably wouldn't do it at school, but I actually own my own trumpet. Um, the school doesn't pay for my instrument. Um, we actually bought it from one of my mom's.

spk_0:   11:30
You bought it from Pepe?

spk_1:   11:31
Yeah, I bought it from my adoptive grandfather. And, um and since the school really doesn't need to take it away and I basically own it, I can probably just do it at my own time. Because if, like if, like, I can't do it at school, I can just do it as a pastime, Um, at my house.

spk_0:   11:52
Okay. Are there any other instruments that you think you'd wanna learn other than the trumpet?

spk_1:   11:58
Um, I am kind of looking into the piano, though. I know only like I mean, I know a few songs on it, like just too, but, um, I still want to learn more. Um, I like the instrument on day just I know. I've always just been a fan off the piano.

spk_0:   12:16
Okay, well, maybe we could look into getting you some piano lessons. Maybe, Uh, anything else you wanted to add to your musical artistic expression?

spk_1:   12:25
Um Mmm. Well,

spk_0:   12:31
dropping all the way.

spk_1:   12:34
I mean, I do like playing the drums on Rothman, and I've actually, like, when I was actually in music, I actually had my band teacher as my music teacher during that cycle. Um, I had actually done on one project with some other people on drums, and I've learned a few things from that. Like, um, sort of how to do a drum rule from rock band. I've learned how to keep the good rhythm so I might even do drums. I'm a little No.

spk_0:   13:01
Okay. Well, you were like a renaissance girl here, aren't you?

spk_1:   13:05
Why not?

spk_0:   13:06
S o that was only had on the music side of things will come back and we'll talk about ah, little bit of back to writing and then Ah, a few readings from you if you're writing, so Ah, you like the right? Yep. Okay. So I can't take any credit for your musical talent, but I think I can I can stick a feather in my cap, my proverbial cap here and and say that, You know, you might get some of your writing skills from you because I do enjoy writing. Tell us what you like about writing.

spk_1:   13:44
Um, I like with writing, mainly because, like, you can create your own stories and you can have, like, I've learned a lot of stuff in the l a about story making, and I've actually done Oh, I've actually done a few writing pieces from l. A. And

spk_0:   14:05
what is L. A

spk_1:   14:06
l A Is English English language arts. It basically is. Um I guess reading in away

spk_0:   14:19
from

spk_1:   14:20
you learn different, um, literature. You learn different types of literature. You learn different tech structures of literature. Um, and you learn. And you Well, I got sorry. Um, you learn different forms of writing

spk_0:   14:43
different styles. You learn how to edit your writing and you basically learnt the arts of storytelling. In addition to have obviously learning the English language, right? Why, That's the primary goal. Right. Um So what? We're gonna play for you now? I think we've got three, um, excerpts in the in the segment?

spk_1:   15:08
I think so.

spk_0:   15:09
Um, and these were one with the story that you wrote. Um, and the story itself was Were these your original characters?

spk_1:   15:19
Uh, yeah.

spk_0:   15:21
And what inspired this story?

spk_1:   15:25
I don't know, Like, for some reason of all, um, I don't know. I developed this tactic, but I've always been so I have always been a storyteller. I love telling stories. I love to go in depth in a lot of things. You know, I talk a lot, Um, and I like to talk about stories. And, um, when I started making characters, I started telling like a story about them and like how, um, like a bit about what type of person they are, how they turned out to be that person, what their relationships are with others. And then they started going in the more in depth with, like, short stories and little descriptions and stuff like that and backstories, um, and then at some poor and I got three characters and I ended up making, deciding to write an entire book about them.

spk_0:   16:23
Okay, so that's the 1st 1 The 2nd 1 was Well, I'll tell you what. How about we play the segment and then you could give us a break down afterwards? Alright. Alright. Here we go. Madison Whalen. Spoken word.

spk_1:   16:44
This is an excerpt from The Dimensional Demons by Madison Whalen. Jeff, do one. I need the girls, Nora. Monday, January 18th It's hard to describe how I got to this point. I'm in a normal middle school. I have the two graves friends in the entire world, and I am no longer bullied getting Boyd. The only problem is that I don't know my parents and the fact that I came from enough from a different dimension. I know, I know this is starting to make no sense. Let me explain. I came from another dimension or an alternate universe, as some people call it. I don't remember anything from my dimension because I was only a year old when I was sent to Earth. I do know that the people who inhabit it are either possessed by a demon or an angel. I also know that I was supposed to have an angel in me. But I was taken from my parents and corrupted by a demon. Once I was taken back to my parents, I was found to be too dangerous for their world. I was then sent to this dimension known to my planet as the Earth dimension. And I was put at the doorstep of a man and his wife. Once they saw me, they took me and intruded me like I was their child. Although I had some differences. First off, I'm unico, meaning I'm a human cat. Second, since I have a demon inside me, whenever I would get angry, Demon would come out. They try to act normal. But inside they knew that they knew that they feared me. When I was 10 however, I got into a car aggress with them. I was the only survivor. I was taken to an orphanage and was either feared or picked on by the kit by the kids. There I was, went to I was Since then I went to a normal school and I met my closest friends. The first was Alice, the second goarmy start. Do you remember if you doodle as a kid. Did you ever think it could turn you into a young artist? What I just described is exactly what happened to me. I'm sure we've all drawn something at one point at one point in our lives. Nonetheless, I was the same. It was a habit for my toddler. Bring to pick up a crown and start drawling. I remember one day when I was waiting for my dad to pick me up from my day care, I decided to draw a picture of him. I remember grabbing a piece of purple construction paper and grabbing crayons to Jo Ellan as a three, A four year old. I wasn't some Picasso. I know that I drew his head so big that I needed to make the body smaller. I, of course, made smaller doodles later on, but the next big thing in my art journey was making comics. I started doing this because I had just gotten a sponge up comic and really like the idea of making comics one starting fourth grade. I again making comics somewhere based on spoons of episodes and others were completely original. When I was in after care, everyone there would read my comics. I made comments from fourth grade to fifth grade. I stopped X six because I wasn't fond of the art style, and I really didn't have time to draw them. Even though I didn't make comics, I still tried to perfect my art style during the summer. Since I wasn't very social and I hated doing sports and physical activity, I would sit and draw in my sketchbook. When I learned that my friends at my summer camp liked to draw, we started a small our group. When I started seventh grade, I was pretty solid in my art style. Occasionally I would take out a piece of paper and start making a character. This is This was, of course, when I had free time. Sometimes I would finish, and sometimes I wouldn't. Whenever I need to draw something for class, I always use my artistic vision. This is how I began making art. This is an excerpt from the Devil with a Heart Ah, Halloween Tale by Madison Whalen. It was a chilly fall night. The wind made the branches sway and leaves fell on them were falling. Looking out her bedroom window, Midnight was preparing to sleep It was the night before Halloween, the night before midnight, and her family would go out and terrorize everyone around them with all the other ghouls and ghosts around. Although she scared people our whole life and I never really felt joy from it, like her family did, She sat at a desk, turned on her desk lamp and started reading in her general. She had gotten the journal for her 10th birthday and was writing it it ever since. Most of her entries were about her feelings and thoughts of scaring others. She never told a family this because she would be seen as a let down. Her family had been scaring mortals for centuries, and no one complained. When she finished, she closed her diary and hid it under her desk, turned off her desk lamp and went to lay in her bed. She began to play with her tail, something that we're normally calm her down and put her to sleep any time. Except tonight, she was too worried. For the next day. She remembered the first few times that she scared mortals. She did it with her friends, Dolly inner Gina. She didn't mind scaring until she saw the effect that had on the mortals As you closed your eyes. Midnight thought of all the terrorized faces she would see the next day.

spk_0:   22:44
Okay, so they were three, um, stories

spk_1:   22:50
sort of. Well,

spk_0:   22:51
what with the one was more of a I guess autobiographical story of you wrote for school. That was a school assignment.

spk_1:   23:01
Well, technically, but, um, the last two ones were school assignments,

spk_0:   23:06
right? But I'm referring to the one about the middle one there. About how you got into art. Um, so So you write fiction, and you do a very good job of writing fiction, but you write non fiction as well. Yeah. Um, what do you think is your favorite style of writing?

spk_1:   23:28
Um, I'd like to say my favorite style of writing is mainly like, I guess, folk tale realistic fiction, stuff like that. I like doing more fiction than non fiction. I mean, I do have some nonfiction, um, writings, but, um, I think I want to do is fiction mainly because you, um get make up your own story instead of nonfiction aware. You're describing like, um fact or providing information that other sources probably have. I

spk_0:   24:08
just like

spk_1:   24:09
being original, I guess.

spk_0:   24:11
And typically, where do you turn for your inspiration for your stories?

spk_1:   24:16
Um, I guess. Um um where I turned my in my, uh, inspiration. Um, I guess I would go with, um, having to make characters like I used. I make characters, and I used the character design Thio tell their story. Basically, like, there's certain factors of a character that I used to tell their story. And then I go into a little more depth. I'm using my own creativity and imagination, combined with all the factors that I can get from their looks.

spk_0:   24:54
Okay. And what is the typical process of character creation for you? Do you come up with a back story first? Do you come up with what they look like? Do you come up with where you want them to go in the story? What? How do you go about creating your characters?

spk_1:   25:12
Well, my the first step would be Thio, I guess, create the character itself. I have an app called gosh, a life that I use and, um, I can make the characters there. It's very easy to make them and I can choose their names and I can choose what they look like and what clothes they wear. And just, um, all the other factors that go into that. And then, um, I use that as thean separation for the story like then I go into more of their back story like, How did they end up looking like how they are? What does the personality seem to be with their looks? Um, I basically then used the character designed to sketch out their entire backstory personality, trade, stuff like that.

spk_0:   26:00
So you you make the character reflect their personality, and then you build their personality based on how they look. Yeah, that's an interesting approach.

spk_1:   26:10
And then if I feel as though there I like the character a lot, I end up taking them and making it into a story like the first. Except that you heard, um, off the recorded versions.

spk_0:   26:24
So when you go about creating a story, how do you How do you build the story? Is this something where you come out with what you want? The end goal, the story to be anything you tell a story? Or do you start telling a story like a day in the life. And then the story kind of takes on a life of its own. How does what's the anatomy of a story for you?

spk_1:   26:45
Well, I think very early. Very early on, when I first started, like, actually drawling. Um, I definitely think I had. I didn't find the in goal until and I just started making the story as and I just basically played it by ear by that from that. Like I just described the story. And then I put events in, and then I just like I never had an angle for a story. Um, I just basically start the story and see how it goes from there.

spk_0:   27:22
Okay. Almost like a kind of, ah serialized version doing comics or something like that. Yeah. Um, did you draw on real life when you build your characters in your stories, Is it experiences that you've had is people that, you know,

spk_1:   27:40
um I do have, like, I do have a tendency of making my characters go into middle school like Mae and sort of go through cynical, similar, uh, similar difficulties is may Honestly, I think that's really the only factor of real life I have because I just love making so much fiction just because, like, ah, hi. It's like a little escape from reality, I guess.

spk_0:   28:08
Okay, on DDE, honestly, when I write that sort of the same thing for me, too. So that's that's kind of cool. Uh, anything else you want to add to your rating repertoire? Mmm. That about sum it up

spk_1:   28:27
pretty much, I guess.

spk_0:   28:28
All right, well, we will take a look at your artwork, uh, when we come back and for a quick break. Insides into entertainment. A podcast. Siri's taking a deeper look into entertainment and media are husband and wife Team of pop culture Fanatics are exploring all things for music and movies to television and fandom. Well, look at the interesting and obscure entertainment news of the week. We'll talk about theme park and pop culture news. We'll give you the latest and greatest on pop culture conventions. We'll give you a deep dive into Disney Star Wars and much more. Check out our video episodes at youtube dot com. Backslash insights into things our audio episodes at podcast insights into entertainment dot com or check us out on the Web at insights into things dot com So let's talk artwork. So one of the big things that you seem to do on a regular basis is our What kind of art do you like to create?

spk_1:   29:57
Um, I like to create characters. That's one of my main things for art. Um, I like to three different care. I like to be characters that have different looks and different personalities and different stories to them. Like I said, like I said in the writing portion of the podcast, I create the characters first and then based their personalities, traits and back stories and stories on them from just the character design.

spk_0:   30:27
So you've been creating characters for quite some time now? Yep. Some of these air borrowed from other property. Some of these of your own. Um, I'm assuming the artwork we're looking at is a mixture of everything. Yeah. So what mediums do you generally tend to work in? Are you pen and paper? Are you colored? Pencil pastels? Watercolors? Do you pay? On came asses. What do you How do you like to create?

spk_1:   30:58
Well, that's the thing. Like for like, the majority of my artwork. I just dependent Patton. I just do. Ben intends paper and pencil.

spk_0:   31:07
Okay. No paper in pencil,

spk_1:   31:10
paper and pencil

spk_0:   31:11
sketch.

spk_1:   31:12
Yeah, I don't really color my artwork in very much. And when I do have to call them in, they don't look as good as they would when I don't color them in. Um, I don't know, but I've got more used to calling the stuff in. And I hope to try and actually get more used to it as time goes by because I don't just want thio. Um, just being, um, making artwork. That's just black and white,

spk_0:   31:43
right? So So. But, you know, the first thing that we're gonna look at here happens to be black and white. This is ah, early comic that you dig. You're a big SpongeBob fan. I assume. S So this is a SpongeBob comic. Um, how old were you when you when you created this particular one?

spk_1:   32:06
Well, if anyone paid attention, Thio the middle segment in the writing that I showed I was talking about how, in fourth grade, I you guys have got me a SpongeBob comic that I was really into because I was in tow. SpongeBob so much then And I'm still a big fan. of it now, And, um, I had love the one idea in the one main comic in it, and I decided, Hey, why not recreate it? So I was in fourth grade, and I basically made a recreation of that comic, and then it started a whole chain off. Hey, why don't I make other SpongeBob comics just cause and then that arm started basically my entire art journey.

spk_0:   32:52
So the other SpongeBob comics that you were making, they were custom stories of your own, were they not?

spk_1:   32:57
Well, yes, Some of the some of them were based off of other episodes. I just changed it around a few ideas, but the majority of them are my own original stories. I basically created them, and I even created my own characters. And I had, like, a whole thing going on. Um, and I was really into it, and I had actually done it for abouts maybe one or two years, I don't know, but it was a pretty lasting one, and I have lots off them right now.

spk_0:   33:35
So tell us a little bit about this style that you did these in for these the original style of SpongeBob or did you add your own flair to these?

spk_1:   33:46
Well, characters that looks similar to the original characters are basically SpongeBob plankton, um, squid word. And well, I think that's kind of it. The rest of them, I had to put in my own unique style because it was for me. It was a bit hard to make the other designs. So Patrick looks a bit more round. Then he should, um Mr Crabs just looks as though he, um, is just more square than normal. Um, and Sandy has a flatter surface of her face instead of the three d version. Um, and I and Karen went through a few off her own designs, and I ended up actually giving her more of a digital face in the future in the future of these comics. And I actually really liked how I did that.

spk_0:   34:43
So So you took the original style of the comics and then kind of added your own flair to

spk_1:   34:52
Yeah. I mean, some characters look similar. Another's look, um I mean, there are recognizable, but they have different styles to them in a way.

spk_0:   35:01
So this one here, we actually do have you've colored this one here is this Ah, story that you came up with. There is this excerpt from an existing SpongeBob episode.

spk_1:   35:15
Well, I actually had a few of these drawings. Some of them were based on other ones, but this one was a completely original one. Of course, there was the SpongeBob trick or treating episodes. And you've seen swims Robin Patrick in those costumes. But that specific scene that I drew it was completely original. Um, SpongeBob and Patrick didn't dress up his mermaid, Narbonne and barnacle Boy in this bundle up episode. Um, and they didn't go to school with house, and he didn't say go away. Like

spk_0:   35:48
that whole

spk_1:   35:48
scene didn't even exist. I just took existing ideas from certain parts of different shows and decided to combine them together.

spk_0:   35:59
Okay. And then, you know, you've kind of evolved beyond doing SpongeBob at this point, haven't you?

spk_1:   36:08
Yeah, um, I guess once I stopped doing the comics I started, um, improving my own art style.

spk_0:   36:16
So this is this shot that we have here is a very early example of your style, and and I'm frilly with what your art style is now. And these appear much more around it, But it's the same kind of theme I would say now, were these inspired by Gosha life?

spk_1:   36:37
Um, no, I hadn't gotten gosh alive at that point. But, um, some of these characters are recognizable from other things. The thing is, um, at this point, I was in sixth grade and I had a friend, and we played with some, like towards me at a whole store lined with that. And at some point, I decided to draw some of these characters somewhere based on kids TV shows that I was watching at the time. I

spk_0:   37:05
I see some teen Titan figures in here.

spk_1:   37:07
Yeah, we actually, I actually it was because I had a bunch of teen time toys and I brought them in the school and we, like, played with them. And then it came up with this whole storyline, and, um, we actually had watched this one Netflix Siri's, um and that was basically the main inspiration for most of this.

spk_0:   37:28
Okay,

spk_1:   37:29
um and yeah, that was pretty much. And of course, I had my own original characters, like we created, like, a bunch of and characters like Alice, Princess and Max.

spk_0:   37:43
Okay, So the characters that we have on this sheet here. These are all your original characters?

spk_1:   37:49
Yep. None of them were really taken from anything. We just, like, had that one. Um Well, um, the first, um, the middle character and the only and the boy were both, um, forms from, um, were different characters based off of the one Netflix. Siri's like Curry was a sibling of one of the characters. And Sheen was the son of the off another character, but, for instance, was totally original, and I just made her like that.

spk_0:   38:25
Now, do you have any back stories or anything that you have written down on any of these? Because I know you've developed a lot of backstories on, um, many of your characters. My curiosity is is, have you ever actually committed those backstories to, um to hand written? Ah, you know, stories, air or anything?

spk_1:   38:48
Well, yes, The very first Tom excerpt from the writing. We actually, um, introduce the three main characters. We have, um, Gwen, be Alice, who I mentioned before, and my character whose name used to be Maddie. But I changed it over. No, Nora, since I actually have 32 friends who um, those characters were basically those were the main characters that they played. Alice was, um, one for my friend Elena. Um, Gwen be was, um it was not an original character, but one that my, um, friend Lindsay always wanted to play. And Maddie was basically the cat human form of me. Um, which evolved into having a completely different name than mine because the other two had different names. Night kind of didn't want to have the same name for my character. So I changed that up in a bit about her looks as well.

spk_0:   39:51
So this excerpt that we have here is from a comic that you did. This was a do it yourself comic book package that you had gotten is a gift that were important time and this one. You did a whole story line on this, but you did this in a particular style. What style did you do this in?

spk_1:   40:12
Well, um, at this point, I had been a fan of the youtuber name who was titled as the odd ones out, and I decided to make a comic book sort of based around that. And I also based it a bit more about my own life, but, um, so the character designed are similar. Just the names are different on dhe. Um, just the art style was different form than than I was used to. Um, but, uh, yeah, I, um I just wanted to do it because I was a big fan of the youtuber. And, um, I decided basically to make some fan art. I guess

spk_0:   41:02
so. This one is an excellent example of aren't meat storytelling. And you've obviously colored this one in a CZ. Well, so this one's telling us a story while you're still doing on the guard. So it's kind of Ah, a nice combination of the two of these. And, you know, certainly when you look at it from a career standpoint, you could certainly be a comic book artist. You know, that's something you're interested in moving forward. Yeah, but I noticed you don't do the style much anymore. Is any particular reason?

spk_1:   41:36
Oh, thing is, this is similar. Thio the art style. Um, this is just sorry. So this was that. Aren't style was actually similar to the yard style that, um, the YouTube are actually did and I decided tow have that but put my own twist on to it, making sort of myself as a character and plate basically playing out a bit of my life in that.

spk_0:   42:03
Okay. Interesting.

spk_1:   42:05
Yeah.

spk_0:   42:06
So this is kind of an example of your more contemporary style of art here. Who is this character?

spk_1:   42:13
So this was a character. So at some point, I decided to put myself to a small challenge, basically making animals into humans. So I chosen a sloth for this one. And, um, this is basically since thoughts of sort of slow and tired. I made this basically a lady college student. In a way, I gave her a baggie hoody with a cute little sloth. Um, hood. I made her sort of look like a bit of a nerd with glasses. Um, I made her also cute, and I decided that she'd sort of be that kind of college vibe wearing sort of like pajama like clothes. Um, she's wearing sweat pants and holding a math book from her college work. And I basically just tried to make her look a little like, slightly slow and maybe a little tired, but I just thought that there was was kind of a cute style, and I got a fake good. It would be a nice look for her.

spk_0:   43:12
So this style gets us into your more angular faces. Now were earlier on when you were doing these. They were they were around it. So now you have, Ah, very distinctive style that you have here. Now, that's I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. To me, these look very similar to a form of enemy Japanese anime. Yeah. Do you get inspiration from that style of art?

spk_1:   43:39
Yes. Sort of. Like I was I kind of like the style of enemy. And I kind of wanted Thio. Um, once again put my own twisted, knew it. And then I started drawing faces like this. Um, and it slowly evolved into my now more natural style that I use currently.

spk_0:   44:00
Okay. Um, so do you have a lot of characters at this point?

spk_1:   44:06
Uh, yeah.

spk_0:   44:06
Um Why?

spk_1:   44:12
Well, the thing is, um I just like making character. Some of them were based off of gosh life creations and some I just drew on the fly. Um,

spk_0:   44:23
So tell us about this character here.

spk_1:   44:25
So this is actually I actually decided at some point to make versions of spun from characters if they were human. So this if you can tell us, Sandy cheeks, um, I put my own little spin on her with my own art style at this point, Um, and I definitely think she looks very cute. I love her hairstyle. Although I could probably do much more now, Um, I just love how I could put my own little spin on it. And, um, I was able to create a good, um, character design.

spk_0:   45:00
So do any of your characters reflect you or your personality?

spk_1:   45:06
Um, I mean, some might have made reflects some parts of my personality, but they definitely don't all reflect them. Um, some reflect my shyness. Some reflect my creativity. Um, some reflect, um, I guess my sarcasm and away, um, but

spk_0:   45:28
what does this character reflect?

spk_1:   45:30
Um, this one honestly doesn't really reflect. Um, much of me. This was just one of my gosh like characters that it was really into at the time. Her name is Jackie, and she's actually a robot. Just hold back story toe wear. Like

spk_0:   45:44
course she does,

spk_1:   45:44
of course. Yeah. Most of these characters do have a lot of backstory. Others? Not so much. She has one of those, like in between backstories. Not the most detailed, but definitely like Maur to tell than some other ones. Basically, um, she was created by an evil scientist who wanted to take over the world, and his assistant didn't want that to happen. So he reprogrammed Jackie to hopefully destroy your creator. Sally didn't work, and she was put it and she was put into an academy. Basically, for people who didn't fit in society A k a. The people who, um well, the people who were complete maniacs, I guess.

spk_0:   46:22
Okay, well, that's certainly a good backstory. Anything equally interesting about this character?

spk_1:   46:31
Well, this character I liked, um, at some porn I had on the idea to make to basically emerged two characters together. He's Steven is a prime example of that. Um I took, um, to existing characters. A character named first prize, another character named, um, Arjun Crafters. And I merged them together to basically make um, Steven on Steven is a robot, like his like first prize, but he also has the same creativity as arson crafters. Um, if you noticed, he has, um, hiss sweater. And I actually made it look like he made it himself. This also goes into Hiss sort of personality. And Baxter. He's the one that represents my creativity. Because he made this water all by himself. He has a few stitches on it on some good googly eyes, some piece of fabric sticks to it and his own little design. And I wanted him. No. Seemed like he was creative, but also sort of shy. So he sort of represents both of those personality traits And me. Um, he was definitely one that more represented me than than anything else, but he still represented marching crafters and first prize because both of them, Because I've seen crafters. It's both shy and creative, and, um, first prize is pretty shy.

spk_0:   47:57
Okay, So is there anything that you are looking to do too? Challenge yourself artistically at this point.

spk_1:   48:07
Well, I have heard of, like, different art challenges, and I might want to try them out like different challenges like the Three Color Challenge statue. A pretty popular one, because I've got more into color now. I might actually just, um and that might actually get me into thinking like, Okay, how do I create a character with just three colors, like I can think of? Okay, What is this character style? What is there like, a whole idea. What What's their favorite colors like

spk_0:   48:37
that? Anything. And when you were you, obviously, you've done several different styles of art at this point in time when you want to learn a new style where you about learning a new style?

spk_1:   48:49
Well, it starts off by me thinking that I'm getting tired of my off the current style I'm doing, and I sort of want to change it up a bit, since it's not really appealing anymore. And I want my art to look better. Um, I don't know exactly. And I find certain ways on how I pick it up like, um if I like, I don't really know how I pick up different designs like I have this design and I might like round off the phase. Or I might change the hair styles that I d'oh. But overall, I think, um, once I get, it's. I think right now it's sort of hard to say exactly how I change styles like how I changed from the SpongeBob style to the more rounded one, I think, was mainly because I started making characters like myself and my friend Lindsay in them. And that was more rounded than I started going into more detail with the body and the hair. Um, I basically just, um, like, find imperfections in the art, like,

spk_0:   50:00
so it's what you your art style is is a matter of refinement. It sounds like you don't just wake up one day and decide. Okay, well, I'm going to do Impressionist or I'm going to do modern Are you know, you don't just have, like, a light switch. Just turn on and just decide you're gonna do something different. You you start out with styling. You continue to refine that style. That's how you evolve. It's an evolutionary process. Yeah. Interesting. And where do you I mean, obviously, you're very character centric in your artwork at this point. Where do you turn to for inspiration for your characters?

spk_1:   50:41
Um, I like to watch, um, like, actually this one. Youtuber. Um, Look, um, I watch now, and she does a great job with, um showing her different ways of art styles. And I definitely like watching her because she, um not only does she doesn't even do characters, but she does, like different animals And, like, different themes. And she home is the one who actually got me into painting on canvas is again, Um, she was the inspiration behind that. She's the inspiration for me to try and at color to my art, Hopefully making it look a little better. Um, and she's a great artist, and, um, I think she right now is my inspiration for it.

spk_0:   51:30
Okay. I think that was pretty much everything we wanted to hit on the art side of things. We did have creative construction coming up. Was there anything you wanted to add for your artwork? Signed? Ah, nothing.

spk_1:   51:50
I don't know. I think we covered most of it, though.

spk_0:   51:52
I think we talked it all out. All right, so we'll come back and we will talk about what your creative construction side is. So you work with legos? Um, I had several Lego projects. Larger Lego projects, mostly Star Wars, all star wars. Um, I don't do Legos. My fingers, unfortunately, are not. Shoot it for it. Nor do I have the patients to do that. I don't like putting furniture together. They turned the mommy for furniture. Um, so whenever I've gotten a Lego project, almost always gifted to me for Mommy, unless I picked one of two things up, they turned out to be money making opportunities for you. I contract. You're my Lego contractor. I contract out to you for constructive purposes. Um, but you do more than that. You do more than just read the instructions and put stuff together. Um, you have a very creative aspect when you talk a little bit about how you are creative with Legos. What you like to do. What? Legos.

spk_1:   53:12
Well, I like Legos because there's so many different parts and someone to different colors. And when you merged them together, you could make, like things that are unimaginable and things that you never thought you could have made. Um, that it's sort of similar to, like sculpting, but instead it's slightly more controlled with a bunch of different parts.

spk_0:   53:33
Okay, so what we have to show you today is what's been an ongoing project for you, right? It was Was it a challenge that you found online, or did you just come up with the idea of doing color theme rooms.

spk_1:   53:51
Well, at some point, I, um, sounds like this'll. One youtuber was watching at some point, they more building with Legos. And there were also, like, ideas on making characters with only, like, one version of a color and that I got me into thinking, What if I use one color builds for like with Legos?

spk_0:   54:18
Okay, so let's take a look. Get your close up all there. So tell us what we're looking at here.

spk_1:   54:27
All right, So this is, um, part of the a compliment. I call it an apartment complex of one color rooms. So at the bottom here, we obviously have purple and characters somewhere in here don't money. Uh, here's the character. So

spk_0:   54:49
your character's air, even color themed?

spk_1:   54:51
Yeah. I use parts of other characters that I have from other Lego sets, and I make them color theme to their specific house. And I have different ways on making them. Like this one has a bed window, if you can tell. There's also a table, a chest, um, and lots of other little stuff. Um, I like to put different types of furniture with all the types of um, blocks I have. So, um, and her name's actually Violet. I named a few of them. Basic

spk_0:   55:29
course way. Sure you can't call a Rose, right?

spk_1:   55:34
Nope. Okay. So, uh, the next floor up is the, um, brown floor. This one, waas one that I had a lot of animals that were color theme to be brown. So I ended up deciding to make that And some of these builders lady more unique than others. Some don't have bed, some just of couches and other pieces of furniture. And some have, like, um, other pieces that that most others don't have. Um yeah, it Ah, this is the care. This is the character for this one. And she has a lot of animals. She has a dog, a hamster monkey, a horse and a rabbit. Yeah, uh, some of them have a lot of pets, and some just don't have a lot.

spk_0:   56:26
So So let me just stop you there for a second. Just a It's a couple of questions. So? So the furniture that you have in there, you've got beds, you've got couches, you've got chairs, you've got tables. Were these pre built Lego pieces that you have been a part of it. Did you build these costume?

spk_1:   56:45
I decided to make him custom. Um, most of them are custom. I don't know if there's any, like, ones that are completely like intact pieces. Not that I know of. Um, but most of them were just built by myself because I'd like, taken all the pieces apart.

spk_0:   57:03
Okay, So how long does the typically take you to build a room like this? This size

spk_1:   57:09
depends how much I have, how much patience I have for it. Like I can build one. And Fernand, I could build one and like 30 minutes, or if I just procrastinate on it, I can It can take up to a data finish, but typically there quite easy to make us long as you have all the right parts.

spk_0:   57:28
So that's a That's a good segue going into my next question there is when you're going to build these color theme rooms where you get the parts for it, you're just going through a box of Legos that you haven't pulling out the part where you going out and buying packs off line or it shows and stuff.

spk_1:   57:46
Well, it's a little bit of both. I have an entire thing off. Ah, Lego parts that I don't have any other use form. And I have a bunch of colors from them. And when we do go out to shows or used thio, um, there would be like Legos and I would occasionally by, like, a pack because I needed a certain color for it. Um, so, yeah, most Some of them are from that, um and others are just once I already had.

spk_0:   58:17
So outside of the apartment complexes are there any other freestyle projects that you like to do with Legos?

spk_1:   58:26
Build with the instructions. And I, um and I decided to start doing this because I like the idea of it. And I wanted Thio, see, and I wanted to challenge myself, basically.

spk_0:   58:40
Okay, Um, that was all I had. Well,

spk_1:   58:44
I wanted to show you a unique

spk_0:   58:47
Okay,

spk_1:   58:47
um, it's such a, uh we'll just put that

spk_0:   58:52
Jews put their head off to the side there.

spk_1:   58:54
I wanted to show, um, a unique apartment complex which is actually a two room one, in a way.

spk_0:   59:01
Oh, duplex. Okay. Yeah. Let's see what we got here. Let's make sure we got out of

spk_1:   59:08
the yard. Looks right.

spk_0:   59:09
Well, look at that.

spk_1:   59:11
Okay, So the reason behind this is mainly I didn't have a lot of red parts, and I didn't have a lot of orange ports or decided since they're similar colors, I decided to combine them into an entire room in a way. So I have the two different characters, and I'm thinking like they're roommates and they don't really get along very well. Um, I was able to make, like, a kitchen, a bed and a little living area with a little stuff. Lobster for the red and with the orange. I really didn't have a lot of parts or just want to have a window of bed a little sing here. I don't know what it

spk_0:   59:48
is. Balloon Arch. Apparently,

spk_1:   59:50
yeah, I had this and I thought this was a really cool idea. So I just added it in is also show off here in a little table with two shares. I had honestly get a lot out. Pretty creative. There wasn't There, wasn't There was, like, a lot of space to fill with this. And such little space.

spk_0:   1:0:06
A

spk_1:   1:0:07
little like pieces.

spk_0:   1:0:09
Yeah, that's a good example of what you what you do when you don't have that much to work with. Improvise. Exactly. So I think that was all we had to talk about today. We will come back. We will get your closing remarks and shout outs in cold today. Go for closing remarks.

spk_1:   1:0:34
Um, it's gotten hard to do crawl closing remarks now, but I don't think something. So I guess, in a way, show you creativity in some way. If you have creativity boat up inside, you like me, um, find a way to express it. Um And, um, you can use your own original ideas, but still have inspiration from other sources. Just make sure not to copy anything if put an idea into your own form. And please don't copy anything and try to express your creativity in any way.

spk_0:   1:1:10
Okay,

spk_1:   1:1:12
that's got to be one. That's not gonna be the best.

spk_0:   1:1:16
I think you did fine. Um, but, uh, kudos to you for your artistic ability. I think, uh, I think you've got a wonderful talent.

spk_1:   1:1:25
Thank you.

spk_0:   1:1:26
Continue doing what you do. And, uh, if folks want to reach out to us, you could subscribe to our podcast. on Apple podcast stitcher. All the major problem casting You can shoot us an email at comments at insights into things dot com. You can get our audio podcasts at podcasts dot insights into teams dot com, or you can get audio video, YouTube transcripts and everything else on our website ID insights into things dot com. If you have your own artwork that you like to shoot over to us, um, I think would be kind of cool to highlight it in a follow up segment Later on. Feel free. Email it over to us. We'd love the showcase it. Yeah, um, re stream live on twitch on five days a week, a twitch dot tv slash insights into things. And we have two other podcasts. What do we have?

spk_1:   1:2:30
We have insides in entertainment. Um, which is our weekly podcast was by you and Mommy and it doesn't it. Tomorrow on monthly Posca, our monthly podcast hosted by you and my brother Sam.

spk_0:   1:2:44
And I think that's it. Yep. Thanks for joining us.

spk_1:   1:2:47
As always.

spk_0:   1:2:48
That's another one of the books

spk_1:   1:2:50
five you want

spk_0:   1:2:50
by good