Nom!

Welcome to another edition of Artist of the Week! This week’s artist is CartoonLion, one of the minds behind AskFutashy! You can find her works at her DA here, her FlutterDashPie pony tumblr here. and her personal non-pony tumblr here. She also does the art for Roxanne and Baily on the SocialStereotypePokemon tumblr, which you can find here.

Please enjoy the interview after the break!

How long have you been into art?

I’ve been into art as long as I can remember. As a kid I always loved looking at the pictures in the books and would even occasionally steal my parents’ magazines just to look at the pictures in them. I’ve always had a great appreciation for the visual arts.

How did you learn how to create art?

One day, when I was just a toddler, I was watching my father draw and I decided I’d try doing the same. From that day on, I’ve been drawing.

How did you get into pony art?

Even before MLP, I liked drawing horses – lot of them, but that’s because I do love horses. But I guess you could say that MLP also got me to draw even more of them. After months of trying to avoid the series, I gave in and watched it then before I knew it, I was drawing the ponies. I hadn’t drawn horses or anything else in a very long time so it was wonderful to get into it. I think it may have something to do with their adorable charm. But now I’m getting a desire to do more original stuff or even something non-pony after too much MLP, oop!

Where did the idea for Futashy come from? How did you meet Megasweet? What is it like to work in collaboration on this tumblr? Could you briefly explain the “futaverse”, for those whom are uninitiated.

The story is same every time I tell it – it was a spur of a moment idea starting with early comics of Futashy behaving like a bad pet. Before that I generally did like futa and loved Megasweet’s futashy pictures so that’s how the inspiration came about. I met Megasweet on the fimchan boards, first with friendly exchanges on each others’ art and then I started visiting his livestreams and vice versa and I guess that’s how we got to know each other. It’s great collabing on the tumblr really; we just have great fun with the Futashy character and her family! The Futaverse is basically this – it’s about Futashy, basically Fluttershy with an extra member who lives with her human family which happen to be Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. She tends to get into lot of antics with humans, Spike, or some other ponies. It’s all for fun, it’s not meant to make any sense or be taken seriously. We do this because it’s fun.

Have ponies changed the way you think as an artist (what inspires you about ponies)?

I think ponies have helped me become a more confident, more open-minded artist and maybe as a person in general too. Ponies have also helped me improve my artistic skills as I’ve been experimenting with them a lot, finding new ways to draw and color them, the scenarios I can put them in. I guess it must just be their charm.

How have ponies affected your life in general?

Like I mentioned in the last answer, I believe the ponies have helped me become more confident and more open-minded, like I don’t feel a need to hold back anymore, I can just do my own thing now. I’m also talking with new people I would have never dreamed of even sharing a quick chat with and it’s awesome. Just awesome.

What else do you do besides art (hobbies, jobs, etc.)?

Well unfortunately I don’t get to do much as I’d like to but whenever I can, I do like going outside for an occasional walk. I also love watching films particularly the older ones before the 21^st century, reading books especially fantasy ones and comics, and video games when I want to unwind.

How many tumblrs do you run? What do you enjoy about running tumblrs? What would you recommend to people that want to run them?

Well at this time, I run about 4 tumblrs plus some more I’m involved in. It’s fun, tumblr is addictive yes, but damn it’s fun. If you want to run a tumblr, go ahead! Just do your own thing and don’t worry too much about what people think as long you’re enjoying yourself.

What do you enjoy about creating characters? How do you go about worldbuilding in all of your stories?

The best part of creating characters is firstly, their personality and the situations you can put them in and then comes the design part. I love making characters that are bit grounded with some quirks there and here without them being all overdone and just…a design drawing nightmare. When I world build I just get a very basic idea/setting in my head and try to work with it, adding more to it until eventually I’ve got a world I can work with. And that world usually keeps growing.

Do you have any future projects that you are excited about?

Well I have had this original idea that’s been brewing in my head for a while now but have yet to get it to paper. It’s a secret though so I can’t tell you too much! Tee hee.

What was your favorite project that you worked on?

Well I used to have this comic series that I started up in high school but has long since then gone on a hiatus due college and other things like loss of good motivation. I did genuinely enjoy my time while I was drawing it however so I am currently brainstorming a way to end it on a satisfying note. I don’t want to leave it unfinished but I also can’t go much longer on it so it’s about time it came to a close soon.

What advice would you give new artists?

I’ll say this, just keep drawing, working, whatever, and never stop! I’ve been drawing for a long time and only have been able to learn my skills through learning and lots of practice. And I’m still growing and learning too. Don’t hold yourself back. Just do it. Don’t be afraid to ask for help but also don’t be blind and deaf when help is offered to you as well, it’s all right to take constructive criticism as it can help in the long run too when learning and working on your skills. Don’t get too discouraged. And more importantly, never give up!

And if you’d like to take a step into the “futaverse”, you can find Askfutashy [NSFW]here[NSFW], and Futaquestria [NSFW]here[NSFW].