To Link the Fire Episode III: Carson-Drew-It & VaatiVidya
Sep. 24, 2015To Link the Fire Episode III: Carson-Drew-It & VaatiVidya
Back in June this year, I had the amazing fortune of being interviewed in an Edge magazine articlealongside Hidetaka Miyazakiabout online communities filling in the blanks for games they love. The journalist, Ben Maxwell, asked me: “Why is it important for you to do this?”. My reply was:
Back in 2008, whenDemon’s Soulsfirst launched, Japanese fans were lost as to what to do, or where to go in the game world. The stubborn amongst us decided not to give up, and started recording our findings on the Livedoor-hosted Japanese wiki.Slowly but surely, we created a resource that took a difficult and mystery-shrouded game and documented the whole damned thing. I find myself 7 years later with an accidental mission: That any gamer can feel welcome in the RPG they want to try, and they feel there’s a community there for them with ideas, support and simple or in-depth explanation to complicated or obscure concepts.
In these 7 years I have been introduced to, discovered and met amazing individuals and teams who create exceptional content around the games we love. Fextralife would like you to meet them too.
In this series we will be showcasing members of the Souls community, who through their passion, dedication and hard work have become a bigger influence than most. Some of these individuals are already well known and others have been operating quietly behind the scenes. We hope you’ll get to know all of them, learn some things about them and gain some insight into the pillars of the community. You can find Episode Ihereand Episode IIhere.
Click on the tabs above (orwatch this video) to get started meetingCarson-drew-itandVaatiVidya.
Fexelea
Our first interview is Carson-drew-it. He is best known for his creations of wonderful artwork and materials for several popular youtube and twitch channels, as well as T-shirts featuring souls characters. You can find him onTwitteror on hisTumblror visit his artstreams channel.
Fex:Tell us a bit about yourself, where are you from? What are your hobbies? What do you do when you’re not drawing?
Carson: I started drawing at a really young age. It’s been about 20 years since I first started getting tutored in art, then eventually going to an art high school and finally going to get my Bachelors in Illustration. I always wanted to focus on my art so I started making T-shirts, and they blew up immediately, so it’s something that I am really proud of. I also started building an art community through my streaming, I stream exclusively art and we are working our way through all the bosses by drawing every single boss and NPC on Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne.
Fex:How did you arrive at the Souls series? What brought you here?
Carson: When Demon’s Souls came out, my best friend and I took a day off school. We didn’t know much about the game, we had gone into a store and we liked medieval fantasy games so we picked it up and I think we played for 2 days straight in his basement… yes, in his basement. We didn’t make it far, we were still in Boletaria, but the thing that got me hooked was the idea that you were not this super powerful being that walked in and had more hitpoints than anything you found. The idea that anything you fought had the same odds as you… it’s how it felt before being able to level up in The Nexus, so you essentially just had to get better at the game
Fex:So is that how you got hooked?
Carson: Yes, it is exactly what got me hooked. From there, when Dark Souls came out I fell in love with that game, completely. It consumed my life, it was the only thing I could think about… I would get home and play Dark Souls for hours until I had to go to sleep… then I would wake up, go to work and think about Dark Souls. I barely got any work done, I spent most of my time browsing your wiki, looking up lore and different enemies and if I was stuck the night before I would look up information about the fight or weapons that I could change in my build. It was a rabbit’s hole. I would go to work, then log into your website, and I would be perusing… and before I knew it, it was lunch time so I would eat, go back, and before I knew it the day was gone and I had gotten nothing done.
There’s something so charming and amazing about Dark Souls that hooked everyone that way.
Fex:How did you start doing Souls related art? Is it something Dark Souls triggered?
Carson: It was entirely Dark Souls. We talked about my desire to focus on my art and hone my craft, and it felt natural to focus on the thing that I was obsessing over and that consumed me. I decided I would make my own cartoonish interpretations of the characters and post them online. I had bought a notebook that I had filled all the pages of with characters and had a lot of them accumulated before I even started. “What would Alvina look like”? and then I drew her, and it just went from there.
Fex:Do you do art for other games as well?
Carson: I’ve started working on the Bloodborne ones. I’ve done a lot of drawings of the Bloodborne bosses and still working my way through them.
When Dark Souls II came out, as I was fighting and beating the bosses I decided I wanted to do something called “Boss Rush Mode” on Tumblr, which was me drawing all of the bosses in a particular order. I pretty much went to your website, looked up the list of all the bosses and said “ok that’s the order I’m drawing the bosses in”, and I did that and drew every single one of them. I think this was one of the things that got people to follow me and interested in this. That and working with VaatiVidya, because he had approached me after using a drawing in a video, he said he loved them and we talked about it and we started talking and collaborating until he eventually commissioned work from me, rather than using drawings I had already done we came up with ideas for drawings that he would use.
Fex:So how much must you practice to get this good?
Carson: Many hours a day (laugh). It’s been on and off but I try to draw at least three hours every day.
Fex:Is this something you do as a full time job now, or is it still a part-time thing?
Carson: It’s a part-time thing, I work full time as a graphic designer for a trade show company. I kind of fell into that work but ideally I would be doing this kind of illustrating work full time.
Fex:What techniques do you use in your art?
Carson: I use exclusively traditional media, I go through pads of watercolor paper very fast. It’s just paper and ink. I normally don’t make roughs, if I make a rough it’s normally on the page I’m going to be using for the final and I kind of sketch it very lightly on there. My roughs tend to be very lose and from here I use Newton inks and a liner brush. The process is I would ink the whole thing and come up with lighting and such on the spot.
Fex:Out of all your souls works, which is your favorite and why?
Carson: One of my favorite ones is the drawing that I’ve done of Oscar. Just Oscar sitting amongst the rubble, quite like you find it. It’s a very simple piece, it only took me 15 minutes to draw and paint, but it stuck with me and I always come back to this drawing for its simplicity and I find my more recent stuff is very detailed and a piece takes me 3 hours to do. There are many elegant things about that which I hope to bring back to my work that I am doing now. It was one of the first ones so there’s the sentimental value too.
Fex:Do you work with other content creators often?
Fex:How should people commission work from you?
Carson: The best way is to send me an email, which you can find on mywebsite, or they can contact me on Twitter.
Fex: Is there anything that they should know or be prepared with?
Carson: Having a concise idea of what they want. I keep my rates confidential and client-to-client based on what they are looking for but I do charge hourly so the more information they have for me it will work the best as we spend less time going back and forth.
Fex:What is your favorite thing about the souls games?
Carson: Coming into the world and feeling almost like an archeologist. You are coming into this long abandoned, ancient world and all the world-changing events have already happened and you are there picking up the pieces, discovering what has led to the world being the way it is by the time you get there. That, to me is the most fascinating thing.
Fex:If you could meet one person from the souls development team, who would it be and why?
Carson: This might be everyones answer but it would definitely be Miyazaki. I would like to sit down and talk to him about storytelling, and the way he tells stories and the kind of stories that engage him most.
Fex: And here I was, thinking you’d tell me you would want to meet with the artists.
Carson: (laughs)… that would have been a good answer wouldn’t it. I’m sure there are other writers that work for the games as well and they would be equally interesting to meet and talk to. I guess I would like to meet the writing teams, the people who are in charge of coming up with the story.
Our next interview needs little introduction. HisYouTube Channelboasts over 450,000 subscribers, focusing on souls lore for all souls games. Famous for lulling hollows to lore enlightenment, VaatiVidya has become the largest youtube channel within the Souls Community. Find him onTwitterto get in touch.
Cas: Tell us a bit about yourself, where are you from? What do you do when you’re not creating souls related content ?
VaatiVidya: My name is Michael, I’m from Sydney Australia. A few months ago my answer would have been that I am studying at university. I was enrolled in a Health Sciences degree until quite recently but I decided to take a break from that as you know Youtube has been getting better and better. I’ve been increasingly realizing that health is not an industry that is as interesting as Youtube and entertainment so I’m trying to move onto Youtube more full time now. In terms of what I’m doing when I’m not creating Souls content, I’m spending time with the girlfriend or working out. I recently spent some money on a bit of home workout gear, it’s been really good and I saved a lot of money not going to the Gym, I bought a squat cage and a bench and such, it’s been fun.
Cas:Whats a typical day like in the life of VaatiVidya?
Cas:Do you plan out how the video is going to go?
There have been many times when I’ll go through the entire game and miss a cutscene or forget to press record and have to record the entire playthrough again so planning is really important. The most recent that comes to memory is when I needed to get a bit of footage of me as Henryk summoning Gascoigne. But you can only summon Gascoigne before fighting him as a boss, and Henryk’s set is further on in the game, so I had to go through the entire game, and dress up as Henryk and summon Gascoigne. But I forgot to get Henryk’s set when I started NG+… it was like… I could go through the entire game again, or not include this. People who have watched the video will now know why it’s not there (laughs).
Cas:How did you get into the Souls series? How did you discover them?
Cas:When did you know there was something special about this game? When did it click for you?
VaatiVidya: It wasn’t really until Dark Souls that I really got into the series. I played until the Taurus Demon, but then put the game away because I was busy with school or too frustrated. But I hated that feeling of walking away from a challenge, so I picked it up again and I smashed through the part that I was stuck on. Everyone has experienced that feeling, right, when you beat that bit you were stuck on. It’s really addicting, you get addicted to it and you keep playing and you push through the entire game and you feel you’ve accomplished something. That’s when I realized it was something special. I went on to play the game long after any other single player game would have lost its appeal, just playing through things I missed or putting together a PvP characters, things I would not have done on other mostly single player game.
Cas:What is your favorite thing about the souls games?
VaatiVidya: That is a tough question. I guess most people would think that it is the lore that I like the most, and its true for the most part but the lore is what I most want to make videos about, it’s my favorite thing to talk about. But in terms of what my favorite thing is, I guess it is the PvP. It’s what first got me addicted to the game: having that experience of the first playthrough, and then somebody invades you and gets your heart racing and excited about the game, it contributes to its longevity. It’s one of my favorite things, although in Dark Souls II and Bloodborne I didn’t get invaded much.
Cas:When did you get into gaming and what are some of your all time favorite games?
VaatiVidya: I got into gaming when I was pretty young. One of my first memories of games that I’ve played is from a game called Lenny Loosejocks: It’s this really really Australian point and click, it’s fantastic, you should check it out. I think the game that really got me addicted is Pokemon Yellow on the gameboy. I think it’s the game that is responsible for me having terrible eyesight, as I played it on a Gameboy Color without back lighting… I used to lie awake when I was 7 with a crappy light on and play it all night. That game was what really got me into gaming.
From there I went to all the Nintendo consoles and later PS3 and then PC. So I missed a lot of amazing classics that others have played… but the first games I fell in love with are the Zelda games, which is where the name Vaati is derived from. I specially liked a Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. Then I got into MMOs: Runecraft, World of Warcraft… I didn’t have many games on PS3 when I was younger, I couldn’t afford too many so I played a lot of Call of Duty as casual as that sounds. It made me very good at first person shooters, it’s one of those games you can play over and over again when you don’t have a budget to buy lots of games so I played lots of those.
Cas:What games are you playing right now?
VaatiVidya: I tend to try to chose one game and get really good at it. A lot of the games on my list right now were really addicting, but right now that game is Heartstone. I don’t recommend anybody try because it’s incredibly addicting and it’s a good way to spend a lot of money and there’s too much RNG… it’s a not a great designed game but it’s designed in a really good way to get you addicted. Playing a lot of that, I did reach Legend recently, I’ve done that twice now and it puts me on the top 0.25% of people of playing that game which is a statistic that makes you feel pretty good… but there’s so much RNG it’s just playing over and over again, so it’s what I’m playing a lot.
Cas:What is it about Souls lore that inspires you to cover it in such detail?
VaatiVidya: I’m sure the things I say are not something that hasn’t been said before, but really the lore is just so great because it’s obsure and obtuse. I was sharing my ideas about the game long before I started making videos. My videos just became an extension of what I used to talk about, it’s really great to be able to share those interpretations online, inspire debate and discussion about what the true store could be. Wether that is making videos or talking to your friends or community… I guess what I’m inspired by is Miyazaki’s genius and I just want to share my interpretation of that genius like everyone else does.
Cas:How do you decide which video to do next?
VaatiVidya: I’m quite deliberate with the order I chose for the Prepare to Cry series in particular. I design each episode so that anyone watching, if it is the first episode they watch, they’ll still understand what is going on. I try to start each episode off with a recap that is engaging but also teaches you about the main part of that story. So for example if it is Gascoigne I’ll talk about what the Beastly Scurge is and how it originated. If you watch it in order, you’ll notice that they are sequential. For example with Bloodborne Gascoigne’s story was the perfect one to set up Yharnam as a setting and talk about the Plague of Beasts and what that could do to you; then we did Eileen, which was a glimpse into how important hunters are, and then Djura’s background makes you question whether what you are doing is right, question the hunt… and now the video on Alfred, that we did recently makes the viewer realize that The Hunt is not a great thing and what the Church is doing is quite evil. It pits the Church against the Vilebloods, you might think they are the bad guys but compared to the Church they are not really that bad at all. And hopefully we’re gonna end with Gherman’s story which is a story about humanity and how it was twisted by the Great Ones. It is all sequential, and I spend way too much thinking about it, about what video I should do next. I feel like a lot of it is lost of people but it means something to me that’s why I do it.
Cas:What is your favorite bit of lore from the Souls games and why?
VaatiVidya: I think that has to be Artorias’ story. I am a bit bias since that is the first lore video I made, I think, or at least it was the first that was relatively successful, and the Prepare to Cry series is quite the reason why the channel is successful at all. Artorias story is one of self sacrifice, determination and it’s tragic in the end as it didn’t end well or achieve anything; but the real tear-jerker is the fact that the player has to go through and do what Artorias could not and put both him and Sif out of their misery. It has so many elements that make him powerful.
He is designed to every last detail, it’s very intrigued, they show how determined he is as even though his arm is harmed he still uses the two-handed Greatsword with one arm. The subtle details make the character powerful, and whilst other characters have that, Artorias might be the one who has everything in terms of design.
Cas:What do you think your role is within the souls community? What part do you feel you play in it?
VaatiVidya: I see my role as mostly a service role. I want to create videos that people enjoy, to put something out there that stands on its own and its a resource that people can consume and enjoy… something that make people interested in the story of this game, something that may inspire people to participate in this community.
Cas:What are you looking forward to the most in Dark Souls 3?
VaatiVidya: I’m really hopeful for Dark Souls III, I’m hyped that it’s multiplatform and bringing the community back together… I didn’t like that Bloodborne excluded a lot of people as it’s tough when you’re making Youtube Videos. Having played the game, I’m trying not to get too excited as I have made that mistake in the past, but I think for me it’s the Weapon Arts, because for me souls games have always been about the weapon you chose and crafting a character based around that weapon you chose and finding a weapon that is perfectly suited to the way you play. I think Weapon Arts are an extension of that and if they are done correctly, they should be a way for your character to have more “character” if that makes sense. I’m not sure if we can customize this weapon arts, but they should add more flavor to each weapon and we saw in Bloodborne that’s a pretty awesome thing… it’s just a shame that in Bloodborne there’s like six weapons… I think weapons can really add to the longevity of a game and I think that is something Bloodborne is lacking. So, I really hope there’s a lot of weapons and I’m hoping they are gonna be detailed.
Cas:Is there anything you hope makes a return in Dark Souls 3?
VaatiVidya: I hope they try a lot of new things, but I hope they keep the things that were successes in previous games. So, Weapon Arts is almost a holdover from Bloodborne, as they are activated with the left bumper, so I like that they are adding that, I like that they are getting rid of lifegems as they are something I don’t like in Dark Souls II, or at least they seem to be getting rid of them. I hope they bring back invasions that are easy to perform and that it’s easy to get invaded and that PvP becomes a big, central part of their goal as there are many people in Twitch that play over and over just for PvP and they are pretty much fighting against the system as they don’t put much emphasis on PvP so I hope there’s more emphasis on that.
We hope you were thoroughly entertained and that you learned a little bit about those two wonderful people. Stay tuned for the next episode in the series, where we will bring you two different members of the community on our quest to get to know them all.
Check out Episode Ihere. Episode IIhere.
Fexelea
MMO raider by day and guide writer by night, Fex enjoys multiplatform gaming, good books and animes, and streaming with a cold beer.
*Sydney, Australia
I’m 90% certain that he make’s Vaati’s cover art. Sounds like he does a lot more too.
Anyways, this is really cool. Not only do we get to see what they think, we also get to see people getting along! A rare occurrence on the internet. We’re engaging in jolly co-operation and it is AWESOME!
I’m really enjoying getting to interview these guys. Can’t wait to see who is next
Cas
I was wondering when you’d grab Vaati, he seems to be among the more popular and all.As for Carson, I’ve never heard of him before, but his art looks really amazing.
amazin
