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13 Sep, 39 tweets, 8 min read
Twitter artist Interview #2, with the immaculate @muffywithlove
[guide]
Q = Question 🐬 = Meeti 🦀= Muffy
Q: Introduce yourself
🦀: I’m Muffy! I’m a Black designer for kids cartoons based in Canada! You can find my work here: muffylevy.com

[example of her work]
Q: How are you?
🦀: I’m doing okay!! Really busy with work lately but that’s a good thing I guess 😂
🐬: I hope you get time to relax!
🦀: I hope so.. but it’s hard to say no when cool projects come across your desk though, you know?
Q: What got you into animation?
🦀: I remember watching Inuyasha on TV in grade 3 for the first time and I think it changed my life trajectory entirely LOL. I wanted to be a lot of other things before that, but seeing that narrative and anime for the first-
-time really just made me want to draw
Q: Why do you draw?
🦀: I think for a lot of reasons - I wanted to be a part of something bigger than me, a part of a team of people trying to tell meaningful stories to kids, hopefully even telling my own someday?-
And, if you’ve seen my growing up black comics, art gives me a place to put pain in a really healthy way - I usually keep them to myself though haha
Q: What media has influenced you and your art?
🦀: I mentioned Inuyasha already, but I ended up also being super inspired by other anime and JRPGs growing up; I was a big fan of Kirby, Disgaea.. Sailor Moon?? So many games and anime 😭
🐬: I love Kirby so much shdjdkf
Q: Who are your main inspirations and why?
🦀: This is kind of a hard question for me now, but I was always really inspired by Mary Blair’s shapes and colour work! The same could be said for Genndy Tartakovsky and Gigi D.G!!-
-Their lineless work and use of colour was super inspiring to me 🥺 and CUCUMBER QUEST is so good!!
Q: What is your general process when creating art?
🦀: I usually do a quick sketch, then block in the colours.. for stuff I post online I usually like to sit on something before I post it or hand it in for work since like, I feel like I always catch mistakes or choices later
Oh, but if I ever do line art I usually use the pen tool in photoshop to do it 😅 or too book’s pencil is really nice too.. freehand it takes too much time for me
🐬: SAME I’m working on a piece rn and it’s taking me ages to freehand all these props and clutter on the furniture
🦀: I KNOW RIGHT?? That joke about redrawing the same line over and over and over.. couldn’t live like that anymore 😂 So much respect for people who have the patience and steady hands for it!!
Q: Do you have any resources you’d like to share?
🦀: I like default brushes in like every program but the maxpack brushes on procreate are so great!! My favourite ones are the gouache ones? I use “maxu gouache smooth” specifically a lot for most of my illustrations these days
Q: What is your favorite finishing detail to add?
🦀: I like putting a dark radial gradient over the whole thing at the end of big illustrations, I feel like it brings the focus to the centre more.. when I do smaller illustrations I usually don’t do anything though
Q: What helps you make ideas for a new piece?
🦀: Like everything makes me wanna make art 😂 it’ll be hot outside and I’ll think “I’ll draw something about that” or, I’ll watch something sad and want to balance out and draw something bright and fun
Q: Have you ever felt discouraged with your art?
🦀: It’s hard not to feel discouraged sometimes! With so many amazing peers it’s hard to feel like you fit in sometimes, you know? Or like, when I had my first design gig I felt like I was doing everything wrong and I was always-
-a hair away from getting fired (I wasn’t). I think what helps me out of those moments is remembering that no matter what my voice is what got me in the door or that, other people have their own artistic voices and u do too, you know? Even if you feel like you know someone who-
-is better than you, they aren’t you. And all our artistic journeys are different in the end too
Q: How has being a black woman affect your experience as an animator?
🦀: I pretended for a long time that it didn’t matter, but like.. I didn’t realize how stressed out I was at my first job being the only black girl in the office? There were fleeting moments where I shared an-
-office with another black girl but that’s so sad isn’t it?? We bonded over our mutual Kirby love and played Star Allies together during lunch sometimes. I really hope animation hires more Black talent, we really need it!! My latest production I was so, so lucky to be on a whole-
-team of Jamaicans Face with tears of joy it was so much fun and we shared a lot of wild animation stories that basically ended in.. we hope more Black people get into animation and don’t get discouraged at the door
🐬: I really really really hope more people of color find their way through the industry, I don't want to be the only desi person in the room
🦀: And you shouldn’t be!! 😔 it’s so important for poc to get in but then also feel safe on the teams they’re in too!-
-I’m feeling good about the future though?? 🥺
Q: You kinda already answered this question already but, how do you continuously stay motivated when creating art?
🦀: Sometimes not drawing is the best thing you can do. Just existing and doing other hobbies helps a lot, you know?
Q: What is the most challenging piece you’ve ever made?
🦀: This is such a hard question 😭 emotionally?? My therapy comics definitely, every one is hard.. technically? It was probably an FX design I did on my first job - it was a big rainbow explosion on Care Bears-
-It had a lot of revisions and by the end I was really wondering why I was there, my supervisor noticed and was super kind about the whole thing though
Q: What has working as a designer in the animation industry taught you?
🦀: I think, I’ve learned how to make specific style choices to fit into a production, you know? you end up losing a lot of personal quirks to match everyone but that’s not a bad thing
I think not taking criticism in a work setting too was something that had to be learned for me too, it doesn’t really reflect on you when you get a revision, sometimes your art director just has something REALLY specific in mind or their idea didn’t look how they wanted it to so-
-they change the whole thing
It’s easy to think it’s a you problem, but it’s just a bunch of artists trying to fit together and make someone else’s vision real
Q: Do you have any tips for anyone aspiring to be in the industry?
🦀: Draw what you love!! Put it in your portfolio!! But also, especially for TV portfolios, they want to know you kind of know what the job is, so turnarounds, mouth charts, pose sheets, hand charts…
I feel like they’re all super important in design portfolios but sometimes I don’t see them at all when people apply. I think like, if you love drawing food you should do a food prop sheet!
You should definitely have fun with the content of your portfolio but I feel like a lot of people do illustrations and not design sheets 🥺
Q: I heard you liked to collect things, what do you collect?
🦀: LOL okay so, I collect games I rented as a kid but my parents never bought for me. And Luigis.. I collect Luigi figures 😭
🐬: why Luigi 😭
🦀: SO LIKE. his one state is anxious? Like, u get that but also!! I have-
-a brother whose really good at video games, he was always way better than me 😂 as a kid I always found him super relatable
Q: What’s your favorite game?
🦀: Oooh Paper Mario!! the original one 🥺 I play it during winter most years, it’s a big comfort for me
Q: Do you have any advice for smaller artists?
🦀: Ohhh, definitely just draw what you love, and get to know other artists who love similar things to you! And always be kind!!
Thank you to anyone who spent their time to read this interview. And also thank you so much to @muffywithlove for doing this with me!! Send her some love 💕💕💕

[end of thread]

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