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Vol 2 Ch 24 | Flashing Your Bits feat. Adorkastock
137 Plays1 year ago
We are joined by Sarah Forde, pose reference model and creator of Adorkastock and Adorkabows! Tune in to this week's sleepover for discussions on Sailor Moon, artistic reference modeling, and strong opinions on Shel Silverstein.
You can find all of Sarah's socials and support her work here.
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Transcript
Introduction of Sarah Ford a.k.a. Adorka Stock
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome back to the Sleepover Podcast. This is Fandames with Parks and Nebula, and we have a super special guest joining us today. We have Adorka Stock, or Adorka Bose, or Sarah Ford. Hi, Sarah. Hello. It's me, all my names. All of your names, all of the
Sarah's Journey as an Artist and Model
00:00:29
Speaker
things. Do you want to tell our listeners, and also I think Parker, a little bit more background about what it is that you do content-wise and what you sell, I know you make
00:00:40
Speaker
some pretty awesome things. Sure. Yeah. So my name is Sarah. I'm 39 years old. I live in central Massachusetts. I have been an artist my whole life and I started pose reference modeling just after college, which in hindsight was very belated to my own usefulness.
00:01:00
Speaker
But I have a degree in fine art, I have a BFA, and I love figure drawing. And once I got out of school, I didn't have access anymore to the models and the resources that I had while I was in school. And I said, Oh, my goodness, I need to I need references. And so I started taking photos of myself. So that's how I started the pose reference modeling stuff.
Artistic Influence and Digital Transition
00:01:19
Speaker
And my art journey has been like a
00:01:22
Speaker
an ADHD disaster. So like I'll do something for 10 years and I'll drop it completely. And then I'll do something for 10 years and then I'll drop it completely. So I'm currently in my bow phase where I'm making hair bows, one of a kind, very fancy hair bows. And I'm like about four or five years into that. So we'll see, you know, I should have another half decade or so left of both before I burn out all that one.
00:01:48
Speaker
I get that because I don't need it for me. It took one Google search to realize I've been using these post references since I was in my fine arts phase in high school before I ADHD autism rained out of that permanently. So I knew I haven't drawn. I haven't drawn in three years. Me neither. I don't think I've drawn like something real. I've done little doodles here and there. I make sticker designs I don't use and then move on. I haven't done actual fine art in maybe like two years now, three years. I kind of love it.
Sarah's Influence and Fan Interactions
00:02:18
Speaker
I have just dropped traditional art completely. Now it's all digital and I really like it. I did studio art in college and we had all the models and everything. I hate
00:02:33
Speaker
that I can't just hit control Z and that I have to actually erase these lines and then not tear the paper. I have to literally rip the seams now. It's very therapeutic. You know, you gotta cut it apart and do it again. It doesn't feel therapeutic at all. I need to get an ergonomic seam ripper. I'm gonna lose it if I have to. You do need one. It kind of feels a little bit like I'm flaying myself and I have to use like the little thin one that came with your machine to rip everything out.
00:03:02
Speaker
You need an ergonomic one. Time to self reflect. So, Sarah, you and I have followed each other. I also just rip them, honestly. I don't backstitch if I don't like my seam. So I can just go. Do you not tear your fabric when you do that? It depends on the fabric. Okay. I can usually just, I rip the first like three and then it's clear enough I can just. Yeah.
00:03:32
Speaker
Get a good grip finish my edges so it's fine. I am like the most Methodical seam ripper if I have to redo it. I will pick out every individual seam Because I can't I'm too afraid. I'm gonna tear the fabric. You're crazy. You're using like a fox. We don't fos way on your current project Just tear it. It's okay. It will live It'll be absolutely the fuck not
00:03:57
Speaker
You have to see, that's the thing though is that I have so many more years of experience on you. Like it's okay if I just go, I got more. All right. All right. I'll let you live with that one.
00:04:09
Speaker
Sarah, it's so wild that you and I have actually followed each other for a little while now, but we've never gotten a chance to interact. And I was telling you before the recording, but for all the listeners that I have kept up with your work for over 10 years, which is really wild.
Balancing Personal Life and Art Career
00:04:28
Speaker
And I think you're probably the only independent creator that I have kept up with for that long. And like, oh, she's on this platform now. Okay, now I have to go make an account, follow her here and like, oh, okay, I gotta go support her here. And I as a visual artist and as a cosplayer and now like trying to get into better posing and modeling for cosplay photos.
00:04:51
Speaker
have found your creations and your pose references so invaluable. So I'm so glad that I get to actually talk to you because you have been like with unknowingly and not just for myself but for probably thousands, you've been this instrumental part of my artistic journey. So it's just really cool and just I love all the stuff that you make.
00:05:13
Speaker
That's awesome. Sometimes when I make conventions, people come up to my table and they'll be like, oh my god, I've been drawing your stuff since middle school. And I'm like, oh my god, how old am I?
00:05:25
Speaker
I'm so sorry that I have to add to that statistic. No, I've been doing this for 16 years. Yeah, I think since I was in middle school, probably not even maybe a little bit earlier, maybe sixth or seventh grade is when I started using your stuff. Because I would find it also reposted on Pinterest and like DeviantArt. And then I would follow those links backwards my all right, we're here. I started in 2007 with this. It was the year after I graduated college. So yeah, 16 years this fall. It'll be incredible. Yeah.
00:05:54
Speaker
So you didn't drop it after 10 years. It's interesting because so I started in 07 and I kept it and I was doing it and it was definitely a hobby. It was 100% a hobby until I had my kid. And my kid was born in 2014. So that was seven years later. So had I not
00:06:14
Speaker
like figured out how to monetize post references, I don't think I would have kept doing it because at that point I had a child and I was I still wanted to make art and there really wasn't room for that to like keep doing that to keep dedicating time to it. But it was almost the exact same time that Patreon like became a thing.
00:06:33
Speaker
and i was like well i'll just try this because i don't i don't know what else to do like i was kind of selling post packs through deviantart i had like a paypal like website where you could like buy packs and stuff but it was so inconsistent and i i didn't know how to market myself and i didn't have any you know i didn't have an email list i didn't have like the basics of marketing and so like patreon came around i was like well
00:06:55
Speaker
Give this a go, you know, and it was so like half-hearted and I didn't know what I was doing and it was a huge mess and then I had to fix it later, but it was really good timing because I don't know if I would have kept going, honestly.
00:07:06
Speaker
I am so glad that you have.
Challenges of Online Presence as a Body Model
00:07:08
Speaker
I think I have two or three of your Poe's hard drives, and every now and then when I get into a super hyper-fixated, I have to draw something. I'm just like, where the fuck is that hard drive? Oh, the little flash drive? Those are vintage now. I think there's 10 left on my website, and then once those are gone, they're gone. That's the end of those. Maybe I'll buy another one.
00:07:33
Speaker
Back up your files. Don't keep them on the USB drive. Oh my gosh. Get the big terabyte out for them. Keep them forever.
00:07:41
Speaker
That's awesome. I was so chill for all of the lead up to it. And now that I said all of that, I'm like, oh my god, I'm talking to him. The realization set in after the last 20 minutes. It's so funny because when it happens at conventions, it'll happen again and again. And sometimes I have my mother-in-law helping me at tables, or I have friends that come and help me and stuff. And they're like, fangirl.
00:08:10
Speaker
Sarah, finish your sandwich. Come here. I'm coming. I'm coming.
00:08:17
Speaker
That's so cute. Oh my goodness. It's super cute. I like when people stop by and tell me how much the post references help them. Because honestly, I'm sure this is stuff we're going to talk about in a little bit. But being female on the internet and having pictures of your body on the internet has a bunch of stuff that comes along with it. Not all of it is nice. So the more and always the bad things always feel so much heavier than the good things. So whenever you hear from somebody in person, like, hey,
00:08:43
Speaker
you helped me you helped my art you helped me like figure out what i wanted to do like i've had people be like you saved my life and i'm like that's really intense but i'm so happy you're here you know like um so like hearing that stuff from people is even if it's you know just once in a while is always great well and also to be such a good resource for drawing real human bodies and not like hyper sexualized or
00:09:08
Speaker
like insanely stylized like in all of your photos you're a legitimate like average lady here i am i don't look like a supermodel you can't even understand how hard i've been trying to hire like a giant titty tiny waist huge butt lady like i'm like that's like the one thing i'm missing right now and old people
00:09:28
Speaker
Yeah. Old people are so hard to draw. I just gave up on that. I've never ever- Can't even tell you how many old people I've been like, listen, I will pay you. And they're like, no one wants to see that. I'm like, everyone wants it. Please let us see how you wrinkle. Please. I'm begging. You should. I wonder if you could go to like a local retirement home and ask if you could partner and be like, do you want portraits done or anything and see if they would be interested? Yeah, but they have to be in their underwear.
00:09:57
Speaker
No, just like a white t-shirt and like some shorts or something a little bit more modern. I need the gregarious outgoing, you know, 92 year old who has lost all her fucks and is like, I'll do anything, you know, I need that
Diversity and Representation in Art
00:10:12
Speaker
lady. There are a lot of those ladies, like older women who like are really confident and like are, but they're all like fitness people.
00:10:20
Speaker
So they're old, but they're also buff and jacked. And I'm like, that's cool. That's great. I'm so happy for you and that. But it's not what I'm looking for. I want grandma rolls. Oh my goodness. We need to be able to put you into a D&D universe as a cool witch, please. Well, you guys know skydancer stock, right?
00:10:43
Speaker
Yeah, so he passed away a couple years ago, but Marion is his name and he is just like the quintessential wizard, right? Like you look at his images and he's got the beard and he's like, I don't think he was that old, but he has that old guy look, you know? And it's just like, you know.
00:11:02
Speaker
It was so good. I want the lady version of that. I want like the wizened old grandma model. I'm trying to talk my mother a lot into it. It's not working. Please, just please.
00:11:14
Speaker
It's hard to form it. Yeah, I get that completely. And I don't know, we can even just tow right into that. But I totally understand like having your body be on display. I've been a cosplay model since I was 14. I started doing it a little bit more when I was 16, 17, 18 is kind of when I started taking my modeling way more seriously.
00:11:34
Speaker
And I'm, I have six to nine different types of other downloads, only six of them you can actually tell from like looking at me, which is similar to Marfan's in terms of how people look. But since I was like 15 or 16 years old, I would have people on the internet see my cosplays and then message me asking if I had like an eating disorder or if I was sick or if I was, I've gotten comments saying I look like I'm on meth because I like I'm so skinny just because I'm
00:11:59
Speaker
I'm like this, I'm a disabled creator and it's just, it is what it is. But it really does feel so hefty when it's like one message maybe every two months or so that someone has to comment on me like that versus like the normal positive reflection I get. It's so hard. And so for you to have your body in so many different ways and so many different reference packs,
00:12:23
Speaker
for 16 years. That's like all of the stages because bodies change they grow weight is gained weight is lost. There's so many people reflecting on like how you look and still do that it definitely has to like really affect you in a lot of ways. I know the positivity does help balance it out sometimes. But like one message like that can always just
00:12:48
Speaker
kind of put everything on hold. Sometimes it feels like when I come back from conventions if one person sexualizes me in a way I don't like I have to hide in my room for like a week because I just don't want to exist anymore. In terms of like it's I don't know it's when you're in this field, it's like people don't understand that you're not a commodity you're still a person. And it's
00:13:10
Speaker
always been like that. I feel like being a woman on the internet, especially on DeviantArt, DeviantArt's the worst place to post your body. Those people are weird. Oh my God, it's like a different breed. Good old DeviantArt. Good old DeviantArt.
00:13:27
Speaker
It still kind of is, it's true. Oh my god, it still is. I don't use my DeviantArt for cosplay anymore. I kind of use it as an archive. And then I'll still get weird DMs from dudes who are like, I'm going to use this. Like, oh my god, whoa. That's weird. Please don't. Like, oh, this guy, he saved my area, favorited my Power Girl cosplay. How cool. And then I look at the folder and like, ugh. I don't want to be included in this, actually. Actually, I'm going to block you now. Thank you.
00:13:56
Speaker
It's scary. It's hard. It is scary. And it is hard.
Body Image and Mental Health
00:14:00
Speaker
And on that lead in, I would love to hear what you do or what you have done in the past that has worked or maybe not worked to combat that and to kind of overcome that with such a body focused business, Sarah.
00:14:16
Speaker
Yeah, a lot of it over the years. So when I started pose reference modeling, I was 22. I'm now 39. So I've also had a baby in there somewhere. So there's been a lot of physical changes. So it's very interesting and strange to have a 16-year record, pretty consistent record of what my shape has been over the course of that time.
00:14:42
Speaker
And in the past, I've never had any diagnosed eating disorders or anything like that, but I have mentally struggled with food relationships. So when I was 22, I could eat whatever I wanted, and I always looked what I thought was great. And then as I aged, and as my body has changed, I've had these like, I'm trying to age gracefully, where I'm trying to accept my changes, accept
00:15:12
Speaker
things that are different um and just kind of let them just be and it is hard because you know whenever like i could post a picture that's from right after i had a baby and you know some somebody will say like oh you look like you've gained weight in this photo and they might not even be saying it in like a negative way they might just be like making an observation but it's still gonna like fat phobia is so ingrained in like culture and society that it's still gonna hit me like
00:15:41
Speaker
yeah i'm fat in that photo i'm not i'm like a size eight or whatever which is like totally still like straight sized like mainstream like totally culturally you know accepted and not outside the norm but like you you get like this
00:16:00
Speaker
you get like this effect on you where you like you have these associations from society that's like fat equals bad which we know it isn't but like it you can't help those feelings right so those feelings happen and then you have to like consciously recognize them and be like.
00:16:17
Speaker
this person either doesn't know what they're saying, maybe isn't saying it for the reasons that you immediately reacted to, but also to be able to reflect on it yourself and feel how you feel and then just not let it keep sitting on you.
00:16:36
Speaker
So if I see these comments, you know, and I have models who are fat, like so now I'm posting these photos of models who are fat, who are definitely outside of what society considers like a normal range of weight. So I get that they don't, which I, you know, is one thing
00:16:52
Speaker
that like I sounds a little savory, but I'd like to be that front for them. Do you know what I mean? Like I'd like to have that stuff hit me instead of going directly to them because I can filter that stuff out before it gets to them. I mean, same thing with my black model, same thing with kind of anybody that's, you know, my trans models and stuff. So I can take who I am and what I've learned and I can put myself in front of those people.
00:17:18
Speaker
Do I wish that Ruby, what is Fugitive Ruby on Twitter? She does fat post reference modeling. She runs fatphotoref.com. I love that she's doing it, but I know she gets the same thing. I know she gets hit with this stuff and she gets it right up front, but she's taking that hit for all her models. You know what I mean? So it's the same thing. It's like once you've built up that tough outer crust, then you can
00:17:47
Speaker
it still hurts but it rolls off easier. So like you see these comments from people and you can you can kind of like like I post on Imgur regularly now and Imgur is definitely like not the friendliest like social media right like people just say what they mean and like you know and so I get these comments and I like being able to sort of laugh at them
00:18:11
Speaker
and being able to like genuinely like even if you feel the pinch a little being able to like allow it to be funny and just be like oh yeah haha yep
00:18:23
Speaker
I'm so ugly or whatever. And there's no point. There's no point in fighting with people. I've definitely learned that the fastest way to disarm a lot of these commenters is to just laugh along with them. And sometimes people are purposefully hateful, and sometimes people are just trolls.
00:18:43
Speaker
and trolls are quickly disarmed if you participate right like they if you think it's funny and they think it's funny and everyone's laughing then it's funny and everyone's laughing if somebody is coming at you with the intention of being hurtful it becomes pretty apparent pretty quickly and then you just block them and move on with your life exactly well i think it's also i wouldn't necessarily call it savory
00:19:05
Speaker
to kind of filter that out for your models because unfortunately it's probably not something they haven't heard before. Like all three of us are AFAB and have experienced so many things on that spectrum of just body critical language and
Diverse Representation in Pose Modeling
00:19:24
Speaker
expectations and associations and that can only get worse for anyone that does not fit another person's idea of what is correct. And I wouldn't call it savory of anything. I would say it's being a good employer and a good friend and a good creator to want to foster the positive aspects because when you introduce your
00:19:50
Speaker
Oh, I can't remember their name, but the model that is an amputee? Oh, yeah, Nova. Nova. When you introduced Nova, I was floored and super excited. And then I got hit with that wave of like, Oh God, like I hope no one is rude to this person because they're so perfect for this exact page. Like they're so, they're so into it. Their poses are phenomenal. They're such a good model. And
00:20:19
Speaker
It means a lot to me because my grandmother was an amputee and also a seamstress and a creator. And it was that kind of taboo mindset. And so to see it pop up on my Twitter feed now and on DeviantArt in such a positive light and to see that affect everybody else around your creations, I think that's a good thing. I wouldn't call it savory. I think you should. Yeah, I guess like the thing that drives me crazy is that I wish these people could do it themselves and that I didn't have to front.
00:20:46
Speaker
I guess that's, that's what the feeling is, is that I wish I didn't have to be the filter because I wish that more, I am hard pressed to find any POC pose reference models. Almost all of the big names that I know are, are white. And it's like, you know, I know Aquias, uh, Aquias are on TikTok. He, sorry, they do modeling and, um,
00:21:09
Speaker
You know, you know, they do great stuff and that's the only POC like, and they don't even do specifically pose reference modeling. They do like fashion modeling and like video game stuff and like a lot of really great content. But like there aren't that I know of that I've been able to connect to. And if I, if people know of them, tell me, link me up, hook me up. I will lift, I will promote, I will share, I will retweet. I will, everybody that's ever messaged me to be like, I want to do what you do. How do you do it? I have told them everything I know.
00:21:39
Speaker
Like anyone who has ever come to me and been like, I want to do what you do. I'm like, here's the book. Go nuts. You know, like I want everyone that wants to do it to do it. So yeah, it just that's the part that that drives me crazy is that I wish I didn't have to be the front. I wish that people like Nova, like if he wanted to model and pose referencing was something that he was passionate about, I would want him to just do it, you know.
00:22:03
Speaker
I don't think he does. I think he just had fun doing the shoot, you know, with me in Starlight. But I just want, you know, I know when Ruby, you know, goes and puts herself out there with fat photograph, you know, that she's doing that at a cost, you know, and
Networking and Finding Models
00:22:18
Speaker
it's like, oh man, I just wish it wasn't
00:22:20
Speaker
The fact that I feel like I, when I reflect back on 16 years of harassment and degradation and all the bullshit that I've had to deal with, I mean, don't get me wrong. Most of it has been good. But when I think about those bad things and I think about how much worse it would be for someone who isn't thin, white, and relatively within society's standards of beauty, wow. How much more could we have if people weren't assholes is basically the point I'm trying to make. Exactly.
00:22:51
Speaker
I think that maybe you could have a really great model market if you reached out to local cross players because they're already doing modeling. Yeah. Yeah. And then that's a lot of where my models come from is like networking through conventions. Like that's how I meet a lot of people and a lot of friends anyway.
Diversity and Challenges in Cosplay
00:23:11
Speaker
So, you know, that's how I met B. That's how I met, um,
00:23:16
Speaker
can't remember I have to like I'm like how did I meet all these people you know it's funny because most of the models that I've hired are people that I just know like through one way or another it's it's kind of rare for me to like reach out and just find like almost strangers like Danny the fitness model the Latina fitness model that I just had recently this like it was last summer I can't even remember I think we might have connected because I
00:23:44
Speaker
I found the photographer liked my stuff, and he was like, oh, do you want to do a collab or something? And somehow we connected there. And that was the first time I did a shoot with people who were wholly new, that I didn't know through someone else. It was like we had connected on Instagram. But now it's like, oh, yeah, Danny. Yeah, and Afro. Yeah, Afro. So yeah, my buddies. Because once I know someone, they're pretty much my friend forever.
00:24:11
Speaker
You guys are my friends forever now. Welcome to the circle. Message me any time you want to chat. I get that a lot. My friends, two of my best friends are both people of color and they are both cosplayers. They've blown up on a lot of like their boards for the type of cosplay they do. One of them is a very, very short Filipino girl. And she gets criticized a lot because she's very short and has this flat chest and just a lot of people don't respect her even though she's a 30 year old woman.
00:24:41
Speaker
And so if she does, because she does a lot of very huge technical builds, she cosplays as boys, but she also cosplays as like hot demons from fate who weren't wearing that many clothes. But because of that, all they do is criticize her for her body or how she looks or whatever, because she's a person of color. And the same happens for my friend because he's a large black man who cosplays people who are traditionally like Japanese white characters. And it's nonstop with amount of like,
00:25:09
Speaker
Criticism people have since the last two years, he gets a lot of like Netflix adaptation comments on his shit. And it's just like a level of these. It's so tiring. It's so tiring. It's always from people who do not like participate in it.
00:25:26
Speaker
And they think they're being funny and clever, but like after like the 300th time of hearing it, you're kind of like, it's not really actually funny at all. It wasn't funny the first time. Nothing created, no. I'm two foot four, so I hear people comment on my height all the damn time. I haven't heard a new line since I was in sixth grade.
00:25:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that you said nothing creative because that's my litmus test for trolling. Like, if I'm on TV and I heard if I'm on Instagram, if I'm on image or whatever, and I see a post that is because I have my troll Dhar is pretty good right now, after this long. So if I see a post and I'm like, that's bait.
00:26:02
Speaker
I can kind of like, I can almost judge it based on how like original it is. Do you know what I mean? Like if someone says something that I've heard a million times and it's the same old joke and I'm like, whatever, you're fat, you're ugly. If it's any version of any one of those, then it's just kind of like, haha. But every once in a while, like something will pop up and I cannot think of an example, but something will pop up and I'll be like, that one stung.
00:26:24
Speaker
a little different like that one hit a little different and then I have to like analyze like where where where did you get in like how did you get through the cracks you know yeah like how did you what was the precision on that you know and then at that point I'm almost saying well well done you know actually surprise you know and I will reply to trolls like that and like be like you know
00:26:51
Speaker
That one actually hurt my feelings. I've been doing this for a really long time. So good job. I'll get one on TikTok where it's like cringe. I don't really care about that. And then I get some that have really just read me and it's like, all right, I'm leaving it because that's good point. It's interaction, right? Like all those, you know, when people like it doesn't hurt me, none. The very first time I posted or very close to the first time that I posted Lauren Ashley on Facebook, it got picked up by like a fat hate group.
00:27:21
Speaker
you
00:27:21
Speaker
And it was like, it was relentless, but the flip side, and I did eventually end up turning off comments cause I, I moderated for like 12 hours. So I deleted shitty comments and I was moderating. I was replying to things that were like. That I thought I could be educational, like people who didn't seem like they were intentionally being mean, but might just be stupid. So like I was trying, I was moderating. It was like 12 hours. I was like, I have to go to bed. So I just turned off comments and went to bed because I don't want to wake up in the morning and you know, deal with that. Yeah.
00:27:51
Speaker
But the flip side is that that post had so much visibility and so much engagement that everyone who followed my page probably saw that post. Multiple people shared that post with their friends, you know, and so like, you know, it sucks that drama fuels, that's what the social media algorithm wants, right? It wants fighting, it wants all that crap. So it's like,
00:28:17
Speaker
you know, the flip side is that a lot of artists found me from that post. Yeah. And a lot of artists got to see good fat representation, you know, for pose reference stuff. So it's like, but is it worth it? It's like, it's just nuts.
00:28:36
Speaker
So I want to go back to one thing you said a little while ago. That I've already forgotten. Go ahead. That I will repeat to you because I understand the ADHD brain. That you mentioned that everyone that you talk to that wants to get into this, you're like, yes, here's everything that I've learned. And obviously, we're loving the inclusivity and the diversity that you've learned along the way as well. But what was the big catalyst
00:29:04
Speaker
that got you started on it because if memory serves, I don't think there was any community or anything online that had this kind of resource that wasn't like just photos of a live figure drawing before you started posting everything.
00:29:19
Speaker
DeviantArt had post reference galleries. They had stock photos for photo manipulation. So this was like girls in fairy dresses and men in suits and men in suits with guns and girls in big gowns with very fancy hair. And it was all to photo bash things together to make like book covers and illustrations and stuff like that. It was all photo manipulation.
00:29:44
Speaker
there was also a section of nude models, right, for artistic reference. So your traditional, go see the naked lady up on the table in the seated reclined position with, you know, and then you draw that pose and that's for traditional art, you know, study. So I was illustrating, I had, like I said, I was fresh out of college and I was on DeviantArt looking for pose references and I was finding
00:30:10
Speaker
I didn't want to look at naked ladies really, which I am queer, but at the time I didn't really like, I didn't need the titties and all the bitties. I just needed to pose. So you can actually be a lot more creative with your posing when you're not worried about flashing your bits, I've learned.
00:30:26
Speaker
And so I would go looking for these women who were wearing swimsuits, who were dressed as scantily clad fairies, who were dressed as sexy vinyl torture women. And so that's where I was finding my pose references because they were body shaped things. And I could ignore the tutu and I could ignore the wings and I just needed the pose. Once I exhausted myself of what DeviantArt had, which was like maybe a year after I got out of college, I was like,
00:30:55
Speaker
Well, now I need to do something else because that was it. I used all the, you know, that I could find. So I was like, well, I'll just, I have a bodysuit because I think I had a, at that point, I think I was starting to go to conventions. So I was considering like cosplay and things like that. And I, it was going to be Sailor Moon, right? So I had already started buying like white bodysuits as the basis of a like Sailor Moon costume.
00:31:18
Speaker
And so I was like, well, I'll just put this on. And that's the right shape. And I'll take a bunch of pictures of myself and draw from that. And so that's what I was doing. And my friends were like, oh, these are really cool poses. Did you have a reference? I was like, yeah, it's me. And I'd send my friends the photos. And they were like, oh, this is really cool. You should post these. You could stick these on TV and art. I was like, oh, they don't really have a section.
00:31:40
Speaker
you know for this on deviantart and they were like oh yeah i just just put it in you know someone told me where to put it i was like okay so i started posting them but they were like the shittiest photos like i don't know like if you've ever gone back back back to the beginning of like the the deviantart gallery but like actually there's
00:31:59
Speaker
Like they're just so low resolution. They're maybe 700 pixels wide. They're like 1200 pixels tall. I mean, these are like tiny, you know, I was using a Panasonic like point and shoot, like, you know, this is 2007 people. Tech was not that great. I didn't have a good camera. I didn't have a DSLR. I didn't have any of that. And so probably within the first month of me posting, DeviantArt scrapped my entire gallery.
00:32:24
Speaker
Oh my god. They just the moderators of stock and resources were like, this is not high quality enough.
Persistence in DeviantArt Community
00:32:31
Speaker
And they put everything in scrap. And I cried a lot because I want to cry for you right now. I went I went from like, zero to like 500 followers within like a couple of weeks of posting and 500 followers at the time.
00:32:48
Speaker
was like the most followers I've ever had on anything ever and I was just like oh my god and people were constantly like we love this this is great what you're doing is amazing this is so helpful please keep making it I have a request can you do this and I was just doing Sailor Moon poses at that time like that's it that's all I was doing because that's what I was drawing and so I contacted the moderator because everyone's a volunteer at this point in DeviantArt it might still be for all I know
00:33:13
Speaker
And I contacted the gallery moderator and I was like, listen, people are using this. They like it. They're getting use out of it. So even if it's not good enough for you, it's good enough for them. And I kind of had to make my case because these photos were not good enough to edit in Photoshop. They weren't high quality. They weren't high resolution. They were grainy as hell. They looked like shit. But you could see each finger and you could draw from it.
00:33:41
Speaker
And so I kind of had to, for lack of a better word, force my way into them letting me be there, basically. I was like, I'm going to keep doing this. And the reason you saw it is because people like it, and it ended up coming to your attention. So deal with me, basically. That's incredible. And so what I started doing, which is so stupid, is I just didn't crop the images tight.
00:34:11
Speaker
So like it had to be a minimum of 600 pixels on each side. That was the rule at the time. So instead of cropping to 579 by 1080 or whatever, I would crop to 610 by 1080 and I would submit the motherfucker. And that's what I did. I was fitting within their guidelines. The images were still terrible quality.
00:34:32
Speaker
They were still grainy as heck and could not have been used. I mean, people use them for photo manipulations, and they still do, which blows my mind. But I followed their rules as asshole-ishly as I could. Love it. Malicious compliance. Malicious compliance. And it's funny, I am still friends. The girl who was the moderator at the time, she's not anymore. We are still friends. She felt really bad for me because she thought what I was doing was great, but she had to enforce the rules she was given.
00:35:02
Speaker
And so, yeah, it was it was definitely a time. And I mean, I think back on it, I'm like, that could have been it. Like I could have just given up right then. I could have been like, fuck it, you know.
00:35:13
Speaker
This is such the art student brain in me coming out, but that reminds me, and I can't remember any of the names now, of the court case from, I think it was the 1800s, where someone literally sued an artist that was doing some of the first abstract painting, and they were like, this isn't art, you're not allowed to be in the salon, so you're not allowed to do all this, you can't be an artist, and now it's like, guess what, bitch? 150 years later, we're repeating it, but even better, and now it's ladies, and I just, I love that.
00:35:41
Speaker
I there are times in life where you do need to like accept defeat and step back and like figure out your shit and there are times in life where you need to be a stubborn asshole and just charge forward like a bull in a china shop like absolutely you made the right decision because look at the communities that have popped up not only on deviant art but all over social media from all different countries like there's a German artist I think that I follow now that does pose reference and it's you like
00:36:09
Speaker
you were just this really cool catalyst for that and I'm so glad that you didn't stop after they scrapped everything because I know I would have cried for four days and then like no more of that. It's so funny because I go back and read like you know when you're 22 years old I'm sorry 22 year olds but your brain isn't fully formed yet and you like you don't have full like
00:36:34
Speaker
brain control of your emotions, really. I mean, who does really, unless you try really hard, but at 22, every problem is a big problem still, you know, and it's like, sorry, I'm almost 40. I'm going to sound like an old lady right now. But like, when, when, when something was, might have something to do with the neuro, neuro, neuro, non-typical stuff too. But it's like, when something was bad, it was the worst. You know, it was like all consuming, bad. And so the fact that I was able to like,
00:37:05
Speaker
take a deep breath and honestly I gotta give credit to the moderator at the time because she was supportive you know she wasn't like your trash and your stuff is trash and we don't want your trash go away she was like just try to follow the rules please you know and then I can let you post your stuff you know she was trying to help me um but yeah it's crazy it's crazy to think about how like
00:37:27
Speaker
There definitely were post-reference materials, right? Like they existed. You could buy like books and things. You know, everyone remembers like a how to draw anime, you know, books of like the, I want to say like mid 2000s or whatever. Oh God, I saw one in Hobby Lobby the other day. They're still making that. They did exist and there were, you could get post-reference books
00:37:52
Speaker
A lot of them were geared towards that classic figure jarring right so it was the contrapposto and the you know and it was that stuff but to get something lady jumping with a sword may be less easy to find. I have been told I do not know if this is true but I have been told that Japan was publishing
00:38:14
Speaker
post references that were geared more towards like manga artists and things like that in this time, in like that late 2000s sort of time period. I never saw them, I don't know about them. When I went to Japan, I did buy a whole bunch of post reference books and they were all naked, all of them. And I was like,
00:38:38
Speaker
But they were action poses and like jumping and move in all this crazy stuff. And I'm like, you just gotta just put a little snow.
Accessibility of Art Resources
00:38:45
Speaker
Okay, just doing it live. That's fine. Just just skin tone, John, please. Just low angle. It's all there. Okay, you know, but I was like, I'm gonna buy these books because these are great.
00:39:03
Speaker
That's awesome. And I mentioned briefly, I talk about it, I think on every fucking episode, I'm from Oklahoma, I'm from the South. So it's very like Southern Baptist, and then Parker's from Utah. So it's Mormon community.
00:39:18
Speaker
I really wanted it to be accessible to kids. That's the thing. I wanted young artists to be able to use it. And also, I feel like adults have a need for that as well, depending on their beliefs or their living circumstances. Because my partner, whenever he went to college, he went to a private Christian college because it had the best art program, but all of their figure drawing classes were clothed.
00:39:43
Speaker
and they were all clothed in the way that you are clothed in your photos with the viatards or the dance tights and things. And I hadn't considered that even young adults that could consent to seeing nude models don't want to. I don't really want to see it. I don't want to see it. Me personally.
00:40:01
Speaker
I'm drawing the upper thigh, but I don't need to see a lip like exactly. It's cool that it's there. I want to throw this out to my not safe for work artists because I feel your pain because finding reference
00:40:17
Speaker
for that stuff is hard. You guys probably have seen the Pose Reference Archives. They've done a fantastic job filling that niche because they're young and beautiful and thin and wonderful. And they are very confident and they're a couple, which is a great benefit.
Cosplay Journey and Community
00:40:34
Speaker
And so they've done a really great job trying to tactfully fill that niche.
00:40:41
Speaker
Which has been wonderful, wonderful to see, you know, and it's like, um, and if you need a more detailed reference, there are many websites that you can go to. My friend used to be an NSFW artist, so whenever she ran out of ideas, you pull up the hub and see what you get and hope for the best.
00:41:04
Speaker
Never, ever good. It's always the tackiest face acting of all time. I can't use this and back to the drawing board to try to figure it out. Get some ball jointed dolls and put them together on the table and take a picture. And all of the horror stories of a roommate walking in and seeing your little ball jointed dogs.
00:41:27
Speaker
Um, yeah, it's either or it's how many are you go faces? Do you want to look at? Take your pick. I'm sick of that.
00:41:39
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Well, I would also love to hear about your Sailor Moon love and your cosplay journey because I know that you don't cosplay a ton more recently, but you did cosplay for quite a while. And Parker is a professional cosplayer. I'm getting back into it. Shut the fuck up. Don't look at me like that, Parker. You've cosplayed for over 10 years. That doesn't make me a professional. I started taking it seriously only three years ago.
00:42:08
Speaker
Okay. And? I don't get paid to do it. Go semi-professional. Have the title you wish to have. I'm semi-professional. I do commissions, but I'm not getting paid to do this full time. I have to pay for everything I do. So it's not professional. I'm a hobbyist. I'm of the mindset that if it's what I want to be doing, it's my profession. I'm a professional podcaster and panelist at conventions. I am not a professional cosplayer.
00:42:38
Speaker
I think it's on my Instagram bio though, so I look cool. There you go. But that's different. Professional is a loose word for me. But also Parker is a sailor Uranus cosplayer. And so I just thought it would be so cute to hear your journey and talk to you about that as well.
00:42:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean all my cosplays have been made by other people pretty much. I had a bunch of friends that did Sailor Moon cosplays so I would just pay them to sew me costumes. Song of Amazon did a whole bunch of my earlier costumes. She did all my versions of Sailor Astera. She did like the fan. I cosplayed a couple of different other fan guardians so she did those costumes for me.
00:43:21
Speaker
I cannot remember what stage name she uses. I can only remember her real name, and I don't know if she would want me to use it on a podcast. So I have my friend, Brew, who does a lot of beautiful cosplay. She did another fan, Guardian, for me. And she's done a couple of other, like I cosplayed Tiana from Nanoha once. And I don't know, I've done a whole bunch of them, but it's always just been like other people make it for me, and I just throw money at them. My mother-in-law and I
00:43:51
Speaker
made the I did Esmerald from Sailor Moon. I did her once and she helped me make that dress and I made the accessories. And then she also helped me make I was Sailor Mercury's beauty change rod. I don't know if you guys have ever seen that cosplay. It's so funny. But it's the it's the super transformation one. I have to look this up now. I'm sure it's on DeviantArt somewhere on the Sarah Ford
00:44:18
Speaker
I will find it and I will include it on our episode resources. That one was actually one of my fun, that one was really fun because it was, I drew the design as part of a project runway, like Sailor Moon Project runway challenge. And it was like design address based on an item. So I designed an outfit based on the beauty change rod. And then I was like, I'm cosplaying this. And I like took it to my mother-in-law, I was like, let's figure out how to make this. And she's like, you're a mad lad, let's do it.
00:44:47
Speaker
What's that? Yeah, I mean all my like all my cosplay has just been very sort of casual. It's gotten more casual like you said I don't I don't like aggressively cosplay but like when I go to cons I'm working so I just tried to do things that are like pretty chill like at anime Boston this year I was like an AU Gideon nav if the ninth house had a semi-formal prom and it was really just an excuse to wear my suit.
00:45:11
Speaker
Yeah, I don't blame you. I am going to mildly interrupt because a tiny little guest star has just popped her head in. Oh yeah, let's go pram! Sock session! Look at you, cutie! I don't think we've had a recording session in the last few weeks that Launchbox has not interrupted. Hi, cutie!
00:45:29
Speaker
Her name is Lunchbox. That's a good name. She is a little menace and we love her very much. I'm actually surprised that I haven't heard Earl at the door screaming, because my top door is closed. This is his cat tree back here. I love all your Earl pictures on your socials. Love that fat gray man. Such a big man. A distinguished gentleman. That's true. It's true.
00:45:57
Speaker
Oh my gosh. I totally get that. I did not make my own Fuku. We did the entire group and we all wanted to make sure we all had like matching bows and we're all somewhat color coded to one another. We all had matching Fukus. So all of ours were commissioned by one person.
00:46:15
Speaker
who did all of them. It was not too many. But we looked incredible. We did a whole shoot at a convention for it. We could not move. We were in this convention spot for maybe three hours because people just kept coming up to us and taking photos because we had a whole group. When you get a big group, you get a lot of attention. Yeah, it's insane, especially when it's Sailor Moon because it's not like older fans who are recognizing it. Kids will love it no matter what because it's
00:46:42
Speaker
Yeah, because it's colorful. They don't know who you are. You'll still be stopping to take like 20 pictures. But there were so many chibi moons. There were so many. One of the chibi moons was my friend's baby. One of them was my friend's baby. And so she was like waiting for us to be there that day. And that was awesome. That's so cute.
00:47:00
Speaker
I love introducing young kids to cosplay. I did Star Guardian Lux, which is not a common-known costume when I did it. I did it right when she released, and no one knew who I was. They did just assume I was Sailor Moon, so that whole day I was being paraded around. I was Sailor Moon, even though it was not. I feel like it happens a lot, especially because I'm in Utah and we have a big
00:47:22
Speaker
convention I say in quotes because it's not catered to anything specifically. It's just kind of a big pop culture con. So no one knows any niche cosplay there it feels like. It's mostly just superheroes, comic books, pop culture. And so just being in a brightly colored costume can sometimes be so much and it's so fun to just interact with the littles. But Sailor Uranus was definitely one of my funner ones I got to do because of that because it's like
00:47:49
Speaker
everyone knew who I was because I'm one of these super big name like, animes and if it's not animes not your thing you at least knew Sailor Moon because
00:47:59
Speaker
it's been going for so long. Oh, yeah. You go ahead, Sarah. I was gonna say, well, it's funny when I cosplayed fan sailors, because people would be like, they would know it with Sailor Moon. But they'd be like, which sailor are you? What? And I made Sailor Sarah before I knew about the outer guardians. So like, I didn't, there was no purple sailor guardian. I picked my favorite color. I made a sailor guardian that was purple. There it was. And you know, some people were like, Oh, are you
00:48:28
Speaker
are you sailor sort of sailor sad and are you different than her like maybe really like confused and then my my other friends that i dressed as were way way totally different from so they would be like you're clearly from sailor moon but help a guy out here
00:48:48
Speaker
I get the opposite because I will show like my in-laws or my family pictures of my cosplay and I did Parker and I did Mako and Ryuko from Kill la Kill and I made my Mako sailor uniform and I showed a picture to my partner's aunt and he goes, you're a sailor moon. It's like that nice mom who sees something. It's like, it's Naruto. Yeah, it's Naruto mom. Yeah, it just made me laugh.
00:49:17
Speaker
My kid is doing her first like serious cosplay this weekend because we're going to Kid's Con. Oh, who's she going to be? She's Ice Peach.
00:49:25
Speaker
That should be very cute. Yeah. We had to be a little flexible on the dress because I was not going to make her a dress in like two weeks. I was just like, we're going on Amazon and finding a blue dress. There it is. It's blue. It's definitely not the right cut. It's not the right style, but it's a big poofy blue dress and we got her a veil and I got her a wig, which I have to style at some point before Saturday and the gloves and the crown and all that.
00:49:50
Speaker
I think I think she's gonna be really and I'm not going to cosplay because I want people to pay attention to her. So I want her to be like the little princess star of the day. It's gonna be really fun. That's so precious. My mom was a seamstress. I told this story a lot on the podcast. My mom has been like my number one fan for the longest time. She listens to every single episode and texts me. But she's been making my costumes since I was
00:50:16
Speaker
literally born, like anytime there's a hell of a costume, she would make it. She's done crazy costumes for herself. I think she was, I can't even remember the name, but like the dudes from Legion with the weird bowl cuts and like the body suits, she was those guys one year. She was Miss Macaroni Lady from Death, like Metalocalypse at one point. Like my mom does weird niche costumes. And so when I started cosplaying way back in middle school, she's like, I got you. And I wanted to make a bunny suit. That was the first thing I made when I was like,
00:50:45
Speaker
15, but she's like, yeah, let's do it. Like she got me the fabric. She got me the patterns. Worst bunny suit I've ever made in my life. Horrible. But the fact that she let me do it was so cool. My first, my sister has been sewing longer than I have. And she's crazy. Her first costume was Sailor Jupiter.
00:51:03
Speaker
And it was like, that was before, um, simplicity made their own pattern for it. And so she had to like butcher together a bunch of patterns for uniforms and she hates it. She knows not want any photos of it, like available where they can be seen. Cause she hates that costume so bad, but like Jupiter was her first sewing project that my mom helped guide her every way through because we were just desperate to learn cause she did it all the time. And we didn't really have conventions in Utah. I mean, we had one, but.
00:51:33
Speaker
so small that no one knew about it, especially when I was a little child. And so when like FanEx first came to Salt Lake, it was finally like our chance to try because Halloween was the only time otherwise. I didn't know what cosplay was. I just knew my mom liked to dress up as very weirdly niche specific things for Halloween. Sometimes that's what it was. And then as soon as it started to come, I would see it more on DeviantArt and more on Pinterest because I was a kid.
00:51:59
Speaker
who had way too much internet access from a young age. And so it's like, I always knew this was cool. I just didn't know where to start. Like I would order an Amazon wig and wear a t-shirt related to whatever I was trying to be dressed as and call it good. And so it's always that just like first step of just trying out what you can with what you have and having that support to do it that really helps kind of incubate the hobby and let it grow to be way more now.
00:52:28
Speaker
Yeah like halfway I'm like oh I hope she loves cosplay and the other half of me is like I don't really want to keep doing this. You're gonna have to learn how to because I sew but I like but I hand sew I don't machine sew so like you know at some point I'm just gonna hand her off to her grandmother and be like all right you're in charge of teaching this kid how to make actual things because I make hair bows that's it.
00:52:47
Speaker
Yeah, back when Bratz dolls made a like machine, I got a little tiny Bratz doll machine for my mom that came with like its own little bundle of fabric and its own thread. I still have the purple spool I should have grabbed actually, because I desperately need it. I still have it from when I was like seven. And that's when I first started to learn how to sew. And of course, I didn't know how to make clothes. I didn't know how to make garments. But I would make these tiny little stupid purses and give them to my mom and she would
Cost and Creativity in Cosplay
00:53:15
Speaker
use them they weren't really like anything but two seams so they were just like rectangles with raw edges and she would still use them just because it's like you made it good job thanks mom you're my hero thanks for not telling me my purse was absolute trash
00:53:33
Speaker
This is so nice to hear from both sides because I know Parker, your mom had you when she was very young and she is, she's like what, 46? She's like 46 right now, yeah. My mom is 22 or 23 when I was born.
00:53:49
Speaker
So Sarah, it's really awesome to hear the mom side of watching your little one grow up. You're like, yeah, you can do this costume. Yeah, I'll support you. Let's help you out. And this is an improvement because originally her first idea is that she wanted to be that little pixie character from Glitter Force.
00:54:11
Speaker
Oh yeah. She wanted to be the the pixie version of it and I was looking at the hair and I was like I don't know how we're gonna do this and she's like oh well maybe we can do the princess version and I was like this isn't better and I was like I was gonna do whatever I could to like make it make it happen but like Ice Princess Peach is so much more obtainable in two weeks.
00:54:38
Speaker
There's so many more references for how to cosplay Peach in some way. Yeah. And there's like commercially available crown. Like I don't have to make the crown. We can just go buy a Peach crown. You know, I actually went on Poshmark and found the perfect earrings for like $12. You know what I was like?
00:54:55
Speaker
See, this is great. Yeah, we're good. Just gonna throw this together. But you know, cosplay is expensive. You know, even if you're just buying things and slapping them together, closet cosplay can be expensive too. So, you know, I'm looking at this and this is basically like an $80 costume for an eight year old, right? And so like, is this a little much? Probably, but it's kind of her first con. So, you know, I'm kind of like, I want to make it magical for her, you know, and people are gonna love her.
00:55:22
Speaker
And I'm anti cosplay fast fashion like I'm fine with buying costumes but when it's always like a seasonal like anime that you're just going to cosplay once and then or use it again it's like you should be putting more love into the costume. I have all of my costumes that I've ever worn and I will never fit into them any like I will never fit into a costume that I wore when I was 22 it's never gonna happen the hips don't go back that's it so like
00:55:53
Speaker
But I can't get rid of them. I can't, you know, my husband's like, well, what if you donated them? I'm like, too. And he's like, he's like, well, what could you sell them? And I'm like, who's going to cosplay my Sailor Moon character from 1999 other than me? So I might as well just save them until my kid is big enough and then be like, you're Sailor Starra this year. It's retro. Have fun.
00:56:17
Speaker
Yeah, I get that. My costumes are very niche to my body type, so I can't sell them. So my closet is full of all, I think so far, technically, if I broke down from when I started to now, I've probably made around 100 costumes.
00:56:31
Speaker
And I've been, since coming out of COVID, I used to not do photo shoots. I used to just strictly do like convention only costumes. So I would make three new costumes every single time this yearly convention would come up and call it good. But since COVID happened and there weren't events anymore, I would start to push myself more. And that's how I was completing like 20 costumes a year or so on. And now that, yeah, I'm crazy. I'm already on like 30 for this year. That's incredible.
00:56:59
Speaker
Yeah, she's insane. My goal is to make 365 bows this year, so... And you're up to, like, 100, right? Oh, let me... Or, like, just shy? I'm curious where I'm at. Let's look. I am at... 116. That's insane. And you only hand sew. Yep.
00:57:21
Speaker
hand sewing drives me crazy. I commend you for it. Yeah, I would. Today is the 130th day so I'm behind now. I'm 15 behind. I gotta get going. I had to hand stitch this belt for a cosplay I'm working on and I finished the belt two weeks ago and I still have the cuts on my thumb from
00:57:43
Speaker
I'm stabbing myself trying to hand sew the stupid needle. So I commend you for hand sewing so much. I stab myself a lot. I need to get one of those hand things that way I don't have to push. I can just use my fist to do it. The calluses on these fingers are pretty... When I go give blood, they always ask for your ring finger to prick it. And I'm like, don't use my right hand.
00:58:13
Speaker
he'll stab it and nothing will happen because the calluses on these two fingers are so yeah actually they're getting a little weak right now when i was prepping for anime boston i was sewing for like eight hours a day for like seven weeks or something so they got pretty gnarly i've gotten weak and soft now because i've been doing uh you know administrative work which is yeah way less physically enduring
00:58:41
Speaker
It drives me crazy. I don't have the patience to sit there and do it. And so I just try to, if I can't do it by machine, I will make it happen. But I don't like doing it. And I only know how to do a basic, like, I know how to do a whip stitch. And that's the easiest one.
00:59:00
Speaker
Whenever I have to do like the dangly bits on bows, anytime I have to do any kind of what I would consider jewelry work, when I have to do like beading and when I have to do like chains and sometimes I'll do like it, do it fancy and there'll be like multiple dangling things. I'm always like, stupid jewelry crap, I hate this stupid part. And then I'm really happy when it's like pretty and it looks nice, but the whole twisting and this bit with the little thing and I'm like, no, I hate it.
00:59:28
Speaker
I have to add beads to like a, um, basically kind of like making a beaded sleeve for it. And I have to go kind of, yeah, a little bit. I'm doing an army from one piece, one of her different versions for a con in a few weeks. And I have to do the stupid sleeves with it. And I have to gently kind of whip them on there so they don't move. I would just tie them, but I don't want them to look messy if I just tie them. And so I have to finally by the poet and just.
00:59:52
Speaker
You're like, I hate it. It takes so much time and I always concurrence without fail, but I do plan way more photo shoots and way more conventions than I used to. So I'm getting way more, uh, we're a family out of, yeah, that's how I justify making so many is like, if I wasn't using these, then it would just be really wasteful.
01:00:16
Speaker
And I feel like character designs, especially for characters that are aimed at younger kids, are getting very complex compared to like when we were younger.
Impact of Modern Animation on Cosplay
01:00:26
Speaker
Because animation has changed, right? Yeah. There's too much detail on this. Can we start smaller? Yes, because I was thinking about like one of the first big costumes that my mom ever sewed for me was Jasmine from Aladdin.
01:00:42
Speaker
And it was out of really shitty poly satin from Hobby Lobby and it fell apart very quickly. But you know, I loved it. And it was just very simple crop top, long sleeves and pants. There you go, kid. Go run them up from Halloween. And now it's like, oh, I have to get out the crimper and tease the swing.
01:01:03
Speaker
I don't know what that is. Good luck. Let me boot up the cricket. Let me tell you, though, the shows she's into right now are like new She-Ra, which she's watched like eight times. Avatar, Last Airbender. So like she's super into that right now, which is a great time to become an Avatar fan, because there's tons of new content coming out. I'm like, oh, she's going to be stoked. And what else does she watch like religiously?
01:01:30
Speaker
There's one other one that she watches on like, on like endless repeat. Oh, well, she did watch a lot of Glitter Forest, which was very cute. That's pre-cure, right? That's the English pre-cure. But there's one other show that I can't remember right now that she, she, it's like I said, it's, she's, she's not diagnosed, but I'm like, you're the ADHD kid. These are your comfort shows. Like, you know, she just cycles through. Is that Owl House? I could just.
01:01:55
Speaker
I really, I tried to get her into Owl House. Oh, Hilda, Hilda is the only one. Hilda's really good. I was like, do you want to cosplay Hilda? We could do that. You already have her hair. My partner and I are watching.
01:02:13
Speaker
the new DuckTales, like the 2017 DuckTales. It's so good. If your child has not watched the new DuckTales, you absolutely should introduce it to her because my ADHD brain and my partner who I think has something attention wise going on, his brain is just like laser focused. It's so good. It's hilarious. I really didn't think it was going to be as good as it is, but it's it's great.
01:02:42
Speaker
and super easy designs. Yeah. You would be webbing out for Halloween. There you go. No problem. Luckily, when I did my Avatar cosplay, I did mine so it was easy peasy. The worst part was my big sleeves. I did not pattern those. I put them on the fold and I guessed and it worked out for me. I was very lucky because I made that costume in six hours, I think.
01:03:07
Speaker
I don't look at my hems, but it was fast and it wasn't easy because it was just layering the fabric properly, making sure it had like nice shine for pictures. And that was it. I didn't have to worry about like hand sewing a bunch of embroidery. It was my, uh, one of the Fire Nation girls. Okay.
01:03:24
Speaker
But like, it's like now if I want to cosplay like anything Disney related, I have to hand embroider Maribel's dress from that. Like they're all I appreciate the change. But if I want to cosplay Rapunzel, I don't want to have to go get a bunch of like fancy pattern materials and have to make a bodice and course it. I'm not doing that.
01:03:50
Speaker
That's ridiculous. Can we put them in a simpler outfit? Like Bell easy outfit. You gotta get like, you gotta get the bootleg figure and then cosplay that. True. The one that they did not bother to put figures or like any. It's purple. It's a purple to be like bootleg.
01:04:13
Speaker
Rapunzel. It's me. I'm Rapunzel from the original fairy tale, non-Disney associated. It can be as minimalism as you want. I'm like for the princess party Rapunzel who they don't have the licensing for. So I'm just, I'm here. I'm purple princess with long hair. Purple flower princess. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You're the spirit Halloween brand. Yeah.
01:04:40
Speaker
But now they're licensed, Spirit Halloween stepping their game up with actually like getting a license for what they make. Yeah, you know, must be nice. Which is insane to me that younger fans have access to so many cool things now like awesome Halloween costumes, they have access to like accessible collector's items like Funko pops or
01:05:02
Speaker
like cool pre-order bonuses even just watching anime now is so much easier oh my god i remember watching the 420p three-parter on youtube that was the best one okay i have i have to tell you this story when i was 16 years old so i had been a sailor moon fan for two years i started watching sailor moon in 2000 wait
01:05:26
Speaker
when I was 14, so however old I was when I was 14. Math is hard. About 2000, I think. Wait, how old am I? Anyway, when I was 14, I started watching — 1999! There it is. April 9th. Woo! File unlocked. All right. April 9th, 1999 is when I started watching Sailor Moon. Two years later, I found out — at some point, I found out about Sailor Moon Stars, which was not released in the United States.
01:05:48
Speaker
And then through Soothing on the internet at the time in like 2000, 2001, I found out that you could get VHS tapes of the fan subs. And I was like, all right, I want to get these. Like, I want to see this show. Like, this is so cool. It's a whole season of the show that I like that I've never seen. So I was like, I found this website and it was like, you know,
01:06:07
Speaker
$49.99 and they would send you like eight VHS tapes that were like the the subtitle like hard subs on the VHS tape.
Nostalgia and Anime Culture
01:06:17
Speaker
So I was like, hey, dad, I need your credit card. And he was like, why? And I was like, I want to buy this thing on the internet. And he was like, what is it? And I'm like, it's a videotape of this TV show I like. And he was like,
01:06:30
Speaker
Sure. I was like, heck yeah. So in like 2001 or something, I used my father's credit card to buy V Kill Sailor Moon fan subbed VHS tapes that came in the mail in like a box.
01:06:49
Speaker
Like California or something and then I just fucking devoured them I think I sold them and it was like on the side of each tape It was like handwritten like Sailor Moon stars like 194 to 200 you know like I mean I wish I had like taken a single photo of like any of this you know and that was the that was how I watched stars for the first time and it was like I
01:07:12
Speaker
I'm like, that was batshit insane. Even now, if my kid came up to me and was like, can I use your credit card to buy something on the internet? I'd be like, what?
01:07:21
Speaker
Excuse me? First off, how do you know what a credit card is? She knows. But in 2000, like can you... Oh man. My first exposure to anime besides like 4Kids and Toonami was because my dad had all of Robotech on VHS. And all of Akira. So Akira was my actual technical like first one I can remember because it was a nightmare. It was the first anime I ever saw.
01:07:48
Speaker
I should not have seen that. No, I think I was like 12. I think I was younger. I was probably like three or four. But the scene where his arm is erupting scared me so bad. But my dad also had a figure of it. So I would just be like, all right, this is fun. I've got so many body horror issues between Shel Silverstein and watching Akira at too young of an age.
01:08:09
Speaker
Yeah, core memory unlocked at the Shell Silverstein thing. I remember being so afraid of those books, but loving the writing like I want to read it, but I don't want to look at it. A little kid that turns into the TV because he watches TV too long
01:08:29
Speaker
the no light on in the attic where it's like the kid's head that one yeah oh man this is the one with the kid that he says he tries to he grows a foot taller and there's just a foot sticking out of the top of his head that man was crazy
01:08:46
Speaker
Good kid's book if you just take out everything that's in it. Oh my god the art. Actually he is he is oh no I was gonna say is he still alive? No he's not I had to go look it up he died in 1989. Oh he's long dead never mind my bad. Let me tell you the fact that my kid reads those books now I'm like yes.
01:09:05
Speaker
Yeah, his portraits are scary. Yeah, his portraits are like little teeth on the back scary. They're just you know, it's it's definitely a
01:09:17
Speaker
I've got friends who are like those friends who are like super into like horror, and I am not super into horror. I feel like I had all of my exposure to horrible things, like before the age of 14. And then I just kind of noped out after that. But I'm like, man, if you've got a kid that has any inkling of like any of like being into that weird shit, man, just get them because I'm a bunch of shells. Yeah.
01:09:43
Speaker
That makes sense now why I'm a big horror fan. I read, so I read to the library, I go to the school and volunteer and I read to the third
Artistic Community and Personal Growth
01:09:52
Speaker
grade. And one of the days I was like, I'm going to read you guys poetry. And the kids are like, you know, I was like, all right, but it's Shel Silverstein. And a couple of them were like, oh, you know. And so I picked like the poems that I thought were like the edgiest that I could get away with, like reading in public at the school.
01:10:06
Speaker
Um, and so it was like, I can't even remember which ones they were, but they were, they were funny. They're all funny. They're hilarious. Um, and every single kid, as soon as we were done, like they get up and go pick books, they all went to the poetry section. Like the whole chunk of them just went right. You know, it was, when's the last time a third grader checked out a poetry book? Really?
01:10:27
Speaker
And then they were all over there. They wanted in. And I was like, yes. That's so cool. It's so nice to hear how much creativity and artistry has permeated every corner of your life and to see that pass through your kid and now you're volunteer work and all of your following online.
01:10:48
Speaker
So I love that we have this community now that everyone could connect so easily and we can chat across three time zones and like hear all the positivity. It just like hit me again. I just love it.
01:11:05
Speaker
When I was little, not that little, but when I was little-ish, you know, teenager-ish, when I'm learning all my morals and watching Star Trek Next Generation and figuring out how to be a good human being, my dad had a conversation with me once that was like, first of all, I was raised by hippies, so they were very like, you know, chill vibes people.
01:11:29
Speaker
But my dad and I had this conversation once where he was like there, there are fundamentally two different kinds of people in the world. There are people who serve themselves, and there are people who serve others. And while you can't 100% always serve others because then you'll deplete your own resources and have nothing to give.
01:11:47
Speaker
Try to be as often as you can the person that's in service to others you guys know the giving tree, right? Like so he gave me this in conjunction with sort of that a version of that story And so that has always you know, my dad had a complicated life and he wasn't the happiest man But I think he gave me a lot of wisdom because as I've gotten older I've definitely seen that play out in my experience with others like
01:12:14
Speaker
you can't be completely selfless. You can be completely selfish. And so just sort of watching how people interact with the world and trying to, you know, keep myself on that arc towards doing as much good for others as I can while also enjoying my own life. I think sometimes people get wrapped up in
01:12:41
Speaker
You know, I think it's amazing when people can dedicate their whole life completely to service. That's wonderful. Um, but I'm sort of a materialistic bitch and I can't completely let go. Um, so I try to, I try to find like a, a good middle ground where I'm giving as much as I can, but also sort of letting that, uh, the pleasure and joy of life, you know, in as much as I can too, because we are not here for very long.
01:13:11
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, to make a living, you have to live. Like you have to make it work and you have to live. Capitalistic hellscape that we live in requires. Unfortunately, so you have to do something that makes you happy in that time as well. I feel like absolutely spoiled that.
01:13:28
Speaker
I have somehow, through process of trial and error, found my way to a job that fulfills me emotionally, that is interesting enough to keep my attention and also makes me money. It's such a happy thing. Honestly, it really has only been in the last
01:13:54
Speaker
two or three years that I felt that my art and stock has become a career. Like really, the last time I had like a full-time job was like 2013 before I had my kid. I had a part-time job before I had my kid. That was the last time I was like employed by someone else. And then once I had my kid, I didn't really want to go back to working for someone else. I just kind of wanted to do my own thing, which is, you know, the dream. But it took a really long time. It took
01:14:23
Speaker
essentially seven to ten years to feel like I was doing good like really doing something that was you know I'm making enough money that it didn't it wouldn't make any sense now for me to go get another job because I'm making a nice job right like and that's a really good feeling to feel like I've
01:14:43
Speaker
I feel like I've succeeded and even though it's still kind of a struggle and every month I have to figure out how I'm gonna make money like how am I gonna make money this month I don't know Sarah let's talk about it um but like it's so nice to like be there you know it's like little Sarah wants to be an artist when she grows up and now
01:15:02
Speaker
I am. Yay. And you're an artist tenfold, like you're an artist in so many different regards, which is so I feel like that is truly the dream.
Sustainable Business and Career Fulfillment
01:15:12
Speaker
Like, oh, I'm going to make bows for 10 years. I'm going to be a model for 10 years. I'm going to do this for 10 years. Like, that's just that's incredible. Yeah, it definitely is exciting. And it's so nice to see that mindset in someone that has the platform that you have.
01:15:29
Speaker
um, and the reach that you have and to remind yourself, like you're here and you're like gracious and gratuitous of it. And you're not taking it for granted at the same time. You're still like giving back and helping others and volunteering. And I have these conversations with, I have, I have marketing people now. This is like a thing that I started doing once I made enough money. It was, I hired people to like run my social media and, you know, do that stuff. So we'll have like meetings and stuff and they'll be like, all right, Sarah, here's how we're going to maximize your profits. And I'm like,
01:15:59
Speaker
Great. I just want to like, I just want to pay myself each month. Like I don't need to bare minimum. I want to run my payroll every month. So if we can pay my credit card and pay myself, I mean, yes, would it be if I made a ton more money, I could do more. Sure, I could. But the amount of work that it would take, you know, if
01:16:22
Speaker
You know, I'm at maximum capacity for art right now. I can't make any more art. I could hire people and I can outsource. Those are the two, you know, paths to more income with my art. I don't want to do either one of those. With pose reference modeling, I can scale up because I can make one pack that I could sell 50 times or I could sell 500 times. Right. So that is where marketing can help me. That's where they can do the outreach and they can do, you know, promotional stuff. But when they come to me and say, you really should increase your Patreon levels, like a dollar is
01:16:52
Speaker
Ridiculous and I can agree with them most people don't have dollar patreons anymore that's kind of a thing of the past and I can see why I've been encouraged to change that and make it like minimum five or whatever and then go up from there.
01:17:08
Speaker
But also, at this point, I don't want to mess with the golden goose, right? Patreon right now is what's paying me. That's my most stable income every month, and I don't want to poke that dragon. It's fine. It's been growing organically on its own since 2015, not on its own with effort, but it's growing.
01:17:35
Speaker
slowly. And that's great. I had a big jump in 2020. That was that was when my Patreon had a big jump. And that was because I wonder why. Yeah, I had a Twitter thing. A lot of people were home making art. So it was a it was a combination of this one thing on Twitter, going very, very viral for like a week.
01:17:56
Speaker
and just a lot more people like being home and making art. So 2020 was a big game changer for me financially, which is crazy because for a lot of people, it was the opposite, right? I was like, oh my God, I have no conventions. There are no shows. I went from 14 shows a year to zero.
01:18:20
Speaker
So yeah, it was kind of wild how it worked out. But that same thing happened with the art. Once I couldn't sell at conventions, I had to sell online and I had to figure out how to do it. And it was great. So I was like, if the pandemic had never happened, what would I, you know, where would I be? I don't even know. Because it really lit a fire under my eyes. Yeah.
01:18:47
Speaker
I feel like it did for so many creatives because all the voice actors we've talked to, they're like, yeah, I record remotely now and haven't gone back to a studio and it's easier for them to do that. My husband and I both work from home. That's spoiled as heck. Incredible.
01:19:07
Speaker
my um in the same vein of like your service my mantra since i was 17 is that we're here for a good time not a long time yeah because i'm chronically ill and it would piss every single nurse off when i would say that because i used to be in and out of the hospital pretty frequently anytime i say that i would get an immediately shut up parker because it was not the time or place to be saying something like that but it really is just kind of
01:19:32
Speaker
It's silly, but it keeps me going in a way where it's like sometimes just being like present for myself comes first. And if you want to be, I'm very, cause I'm, I'm on the autistic spectrum and I try to be very empathetic to everybody. And I definitely do put other people before myself a lot, especially when it comes to like my community. Cause I do a lot of group events. I do a lot of photo shoots.
01:19:55
Speaker
I try to show up and I try to be a resource for people and I try to get like my friends connected to photographers or vice versa. And I try too hard sometimes. And so just like letting myself have a karaoke night at a bar like I look silly. I'm in costume doing karaoke right now. Who cares? I'm having fun. Where I have to I have to live to a degree. And so I totally like understand having to still be selfish to like a little degree because it's like
01:20:24
Speaker
you're not. Yeah, that was that was kind of what my dad was. That was like his like thing. You know, he was like, you know, you can give but you can't give so that there's nothing left because then you can't take care of you. So I'm so glad we all agree that the Giving Tree is terrible. I hate that philosophy. I hate that. I hate that book. I just didn't like it at all when I was a kid. My mom used to wonder if it was written that way.
01:20:53
Speaker
to be like alarming. Like it's meant to be spiteful. Like when you get to the end, if you like are expecting the tree to realize and then it doesn't and then you're like, oh shit. But I don't know enough about. I feel like I know too many kids though who never saw that point. They saw that and they're like, yeah, that's awesome. People should do that for me. It's like, no. I truly didn't see how
01:21:23
Speaker
like scary, honestly, the ending of the Giving Tree was until I was like 18 or 19 and went back and reread it.
01:21:32
Speaker
But I also remember hating that book because it was always printed just with the line work. There was no color in it. And me being the small artist child that I was, was like, oh, so it's a coloring book. And my mom always having to swat my hand away and say, no, you can't color in the book. It's supposed to be like that. So maybe I'll just go destroy an old copy of it. Go color in it just to have that feeling.
Parenting and Anxiety
01:21:57
Speaker
Enjoy it. Enjoy being a child.
01:22:00
Speaker
I will take the paper from the book and use it for my selfish gains. You're just like that damn kid. Oh my gosh. I think that whole book was supposed to be a metaphor for motherhood. I really. Yeah. Which. And not like a guide for children on how to live. Yeah. I think it was. You should read this to your child and realize you should not do that. That's. Yeah. Yeah. That's how I feel.
01:22:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's just because just because of, you know, circling back to Shell Silverstein and like how he is and how things are all to like the extreme.
01:22:43
Speaker
There's another children's book that that reminds me of that I feel is also like, oh, moms, if you're reading this, maybe don't coddle your kid to that extreme. And I cannot remember the name of it. It's the one where she sneaks into his house when he's 30 and he hugs him.
01:23:00
Speaker
as long as you're living my baby you'll be yeah i'll love you always yeah exactly yeah that book made me cry like a little bitch after i had my kid i was like yeah i know which one now you saying that got me there because that's my mom reacted the same way i get it i'm here yep sweet
01:23:17
Speaker
only in the fantasy realm. And then you like actually read it to a child and you're like, Oh, I love you so much. And I would do anything for you. But if you turn 30 and need me to come rock you to sleep at night, I am gonna have to say no. It's you know, so being a mom, it's like, really, especially being a mom of an anxious kid. It's really, really hard to balance the I'll help you I'll protect you with the you need to figure out how to do this on your own.
01:23:47
Speaker
that is like one of the biggest things that we're doing right now and watching my kid go from i can't i'm scared to let me try i can do it has been like one of the most fulfilling things as a parent you know to like see her start to recognize her own insecurities and be able to like
01:24:10
Speaker
self motivate into like a try mentality has been like really cool. I also struggle with some really intense anxiety. And I saw this image that I will DM you on Twitter after this recording, Sarah, that it's like one of those little decision trees. And it says, Do you want to do this thing? The answers are yes, or but I'm scared.
01:24:37
Speaker
And so if you go, yes, it says, cool, do the thing. It says, but I'm scared. And then the answer is do it scared. And that has just clicked so well with me. And I don't know why it's so simple, but just like, yeah, just keep going. Just do it scared. Do it scared.
01:24:52
Speaker
There's two things in that vein. My Saturday, she also has very high anxiety and basically I have these conversations with her where she's like everything I do to like promote and encourage my own art career, I'm doing it scared.
01:25:10
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like this Kickstarter, she's doing it terrified. Do you know what I mean? Like that, once she realized that about herself too, it was like a light bulb, right? It was like a light bulb moment. Like just do it scared. And then, uh, the book I'm reading right now, which I wish I had in my office so I could pick up and show you, but Jeb Corliss, he's a, um, wingsuit guy. He like jumps off buildings and flies like a squirrel.
01:25:30
Speaker
whoa it's his like life story it's like a it's like an autobiography and like that's kind of like that's kind of his thing too is like what he does is scary it is terrifying but like that's why he's doing it you know like when he was younger he did it because he didn't care if he lived or died now he cares and loves his life but he still does it because that's his that's his peeking under the hood of the reaper
01:26:00
Speaker
That's his affirmation of life, right? Is doing those things that freak you out. And for some people, that's jumping off a 3,000 foot waterfall with a wingsuit. And for some people, that's going to the grocery store. Yeah.
01:26:15
Speaker
For me, for some people in this call, that's going to do. But that's the thing. Anxiety, when you avoid the things that cause you anxiety, it makes you more anxious. And every time you do the thing that causes you anxiety and live to tell the tale, you've had one more whack at that part of your brain that says scary. And it makes you that much more resilient.
01:26:42
Speaker
So have you dealt with that in more recently with switching over from poses to a focus on bows or throughout your creative career? Has it always been that just do it scared mentality? No, because I don't have anxiety at all. You're like, I'm nailing it. I got it. That's the thing. It's like my husband, my kid, most of my friends are in that ball of anxiety. I get anxiety for
01:27:12
Speaker
things that make everybody anxious like you have to take a test or like actually even really speaking like public speaking I don't really get very anxious about that but like you know I get I get like regular anxiety but I don't live with anxiety and and I've had panic attacks but they've been like unrelated to like events I don't know what it's called when you just get a random panic attack but I've had panic attack
01:27:41
Speaker
Yeah. So like, but I had between panic and anxiety is like the panic ones who just show up and anxiety is usually where it's rooted in like something that's happening. Yeah. Yeah. An experience. Right. Yeah. So yeah, no, I don't have, I don't have any of the anxiety, but I have, I have the ADHD and, um, and I have like, uh,
Fame and Genuine Interactions
01:28:04
Speaker
like really terrible memory problems, which, you know, wherever that comes from. But yeah, I've actually really I've had to really learn a lot about managing anxiety because because I've got the anxious kid. And because my husband did such a great job hiding it for so long. It's what we're good at. The masking is strong. Very good.
01:28:28
Speaker
It has to be. It's part of the anxiety is the masking it. No one can know you're anxious. Everyone thinks he's just a real laid back, chill, cool guy and he's sitting there quietly going. I have a marquee board on my desk at my day job and it says outside I'm hooting, inside I'm hollering.
01:28:54
Speaker
I love that. That's how I live. Truly beautiful lifestyle. That's me. Oh my gosh, Sarah, I think that I'm going
01:29:07
Speaker
to maybe call it quits while we have the time to wrap it up. If there's stuff we didn't get to, you guys can have me on again. I would love to talk to you again. Every single guest. Literally, it's like, we will take you back whenever. If you want to come back, just tell us. We'll put you on. Yeah, like you said at the beginning. We're best friends now. When I get something cool going on or whatever. Yeah, exactly. We can hang out anytime.
01:29:32
Speaker
You'll have to come out to a convention sometime, maybe to FanEx and Salt Lake. That's one that I usually go to to see Parker. You can sell your bows. I go to Kohler Khan, so you'll probably see me at some others. You know, it's been a life dream, a life goal of mine to have a convention invite me as a guest. And it hasn't happened yet, so. No. You want to put a good word in for me somewhere. Parker knows people that are involved with it. I don't know that many people. I'm really trying. I'm trying to know people.
01:30:01
Speaker
Me getting my panel accepted there last year was kind of like fighting tooth and nail a little bit for them to get back to me. So we'll see what I can. But I do know people, so maybe I can try to get some strings pulled a little bit. That's like the one thing I haven't unlocked that I'd be super down.
01:30:20
Speaker
I'm really bad at it. Like I'll be walking right next to showrunners at cons and they'll be like, Oh, Hey, there's that guy. And then just keep going. Cause it's like, the amount of effort involved for human interaction. Yeah. I don't want to be up and like, Oh my God, you're the, you're the showrunner for this con, right? It's me, the person who talks here every year. Well, that's, I gotta say that's one thing that I've got. I feel like I've been, um,
01:30:46
Speaker
The amount of known that I am is really, really like teeny tiny, right? Like I don't have like a million followers or whatever. Like I, I'm in the like multi hundreds of thousand, which is still a whole freaking lot of people, right? It's like a little city. Um, so like there's enough people that know who I am that when I go to cons, it'll like, it can come up.
01:31:07
Speaker
I've never been like recognized at the grocery store or something, you know, like that, right? Like people in town don't know who I am for that reason. They know I'm Sarah. I run Girl Scouts and I work the elections and I'm a volunteer. You know, that's how they know me. So, so like when I interact now with people who have like actual fame, it's, it's changed how I
01:31:35
Speaker
like approach that you know like when I met Patrick Stewart who I like freaking love and absolutely wanted to like you know flap and fangirl you know I sort of found myself just talking to him and just being like oh hey it's super cool to meet you your work has been really meaningful you know my dad and I
01:31:57
Speaker
I used to watch Star Trek together when I was a kid. He passed away a couple of years ago. Meeting you is really cool. Can you sign my journal? Thanks for all your hard work. And it's much easier for me to contextualize. I'm sure there are people who if I randomly unexpectedly met, I would probably have a little freak out. But I do feel like it's given me this weird peak
01:32:26
Speaker
into like what that must feel like you know what I mean like when we saw people the pictures of people at the Met Gala like the after party when they were literally just like like Lil Nas X and like somebody and like they're like taking selfies and hanging out and it was like in my head I know people are like oh rich people having a party whatever but in my head I'm like it must be so nice for them to just like
01:32:49
Speaker
hang out and party and have fun and have a night where they can just be themselves and hang out with people they know and have a good time and not feel like they're constantly like on stage, like in the spotlight, you know, and it's just like, God, that's that must be so fun.
01:33:07
Speaker
And I've heard on so many podcasts and YouTube shows and whatnot that the people who get approached like that, and they're like, oh my God, you're whoever, when they're out at Disney World or doing something with friends, they're like, oh, yep, that's me. They always appreciate the interactions that you described more than the fangirling, that it's more of like, hey, you're working a lot to me. It feels more genuine. Yeah, it does. It feels more genuine.
01:33:36
Speaker
Like, but you can't help it get excited, right? Like you can't help it. Yeah. I, I met Aaron Hansen once and I didn't think I was going to meet him. I just kind of ran into him in a like alleyway. I was like, Oh my God, it's you. I stepped on his foot. I like blacked out for 30 seconds and I have a picture that I don't remember taking and I'm like, cool. That's, that's going to haunt me forever. Yep.
01:34:03
Speaker
It's like when we met Chris and we're like, we have a stupid little podcast joke and now we just go up to him at cons if he doesn't care and he puts us in his back and makes like everyone wait while he hangs out with us and he fangirls over us now. Chris, I love you. I appreciate you. You're the best. It's just, it's weird. Once you get to that scope where you know people on that level, it's like,
01:34:25
Speaker
They're just people. We're just people. We all just wanna rock. It's so true. It's really, it's so true. And like, there are definitely a hundred percent. Like, I'm sure there are famous people who think they're like God's piss, but like most people are just regular people.
01:34:46
Speaker
And it's fun to like level with them a little bit to just like have a real conversation with them because you know, they appreciate it. And I don't know, I'm not like on any level of anyone's but I was at like a tiny little convention two weeks ago and people were like, Hey, you're Crown Guard cosplay. I'm like,
01:35:04
Speaker
Yeah. When it starts happening, it's weird, right? I don't have like a large following. I think I only have like maybe I think I'm almost at 2000, which is kind of bad. I've had a little nest egg for the last 10 years. So whatever. But it's weird when people like know me by that instead of just
01:35:24
Speaker
Parker, because I've always been Parker in the community, but now I do panels at these events and I do talks and I run a podcast and I host group events, learn how like, Oh my God, crown guard. I'm like, no, I'm just the most dude you've ever met.
01:35:40
Speaker
It's like, let's do that together. It's very weird to see that circle grow a little bit. It's like, I didn't even realize it was happening. There's more people are starting to know about me by proxy, which I mean, I don't want to equate myself to a celebrity by any means, but it's awkward. It's weird. No, it does. It gets weird because sometimes at conventions, people will come up and they are 10 feet away from the table and they want to come over and say hi, but they're scared or they're nervous or they don't want to... It is really cool to
01:36:08
Speaker
Full circle. I started this episode fangirling over Sarah and now it's like oh, we're just people and friends It's so so cool. So you'll come to a con I'll go to a con I'll see you I'll be like friend-shaped person and I won't remember your and then I'll stand really far away and be like, whoa
01:36:27
Speaker
I know that person. And then I'll walk away because I don't know what else to do. My boyfriend's really good at that. Like, well, we saw Lily Pichu, who is like a super famous YouTuber and like league like streamer. And I was like, Oh my God, it's Lily Pichu. And he goes up to her and it's like, this is my girlfriend. Um, here's her business card. Like don't take it. I was like,
01:36:49
Speaker
What? Extravert powers. Incredible. He was the first one to like, I don't want to say like pop my bubble in terms of like, I don't want to bother these people who are big names. I know I'm friends with a lot of people who are like, very big in the niche community I'm a part of, but it's like weird now that they just my homies. It's cool. I don't know.
01:37:12
Speaker
Yeah, this is my friend who's famous for being a Josuke cosplayer. I don't know. Best friends now.
Promotion and Conclusion
01:37:20
Speaker
Well, we're at a convention if you see a five foot tall lady. That's too vague of a description for this entire state. This is too vague and that can count as too many of my friends next to me.
01:37:37
Speaker
I have too many short friends, Nebula. I'm sorry. I need you to feel the judgment in my gaze. It's not my fault that you are average height. 5'2 is not average height. 5'2 is itty bitty. Average height for a lady is 5'5, 5'6. I just found out I'm short. How tall are you, Sarah? How tall do you think I am? 5'5. 5'4.
01:38:03
Speaker
But the internet thinks I'm like 5'8", because I take photos from my belly button height. When people meet me, they're like, you're shorter than I expected. Yeah. The way to do it. Camera angles. You are 14 inches taller than me. Almost a foot. Oh, you know, a full foot taller than Sarah. Dang. Adorable. Well, Sarah, where can everybody find you and find your business and support your amazing creative endeavors?
01:38:30
Speaker
Yeah, so two websites AdorkaStock.com and AdorkaBose.com are the two main sites. And if you go to AdorkaStock.com slash hub, you can get all of my socials and everything. I'm pretty easy to find because it's pretty much AdorkaStock everywhere.
01:38:47
Speaker
And Adorkabos is also on a bunch of social medias. I don't have like a, I don't think I have a hub link for that, but you can find me on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, my Tumblr is still Sailor Asterix, I haven't switched it over yet. But yeah, I'm all over the place. If you start on the dot coms, you can filter your way out from there. Do you have any upcoming conventions that you're going to be at or anything?
01:39:15
Speaker
I have no conventions planned for the rest of the year. I will be applying for another anime convention, which is a very small convention in Massachusetts that runs in the fall. I think it's in October this year, but I go to that one because it's just like a home con kind of local show. It's a little teeny tiny itty bitty show. So no con plans, but I've got, let's see.
01:39:35
Speaker
Looking at my schedule on the wall here, I have a big, I don't know when this podcast is going to air, but I have a big shop update that's coming May 26th, where I'm going to drop a whole bunch of new merchandise into my art shop. And then next month, I'm planning on doing a huge one of a kind hair bow event.
01:39:55
Speaker
And pose reference stuff is kind of wishy-washy right now. I'm working on trying to schedule some new shoots this summer, hopefully. And it's almost pool season, so hopefully we can get back in the water too. If you need niche body types that look like Slenderman, I'm here. I'm your girl. Yeah. If someone looks tall and a little spindly, I got you. That sounds like someone I don't quite have yet, so yeah. There you go. I got you. With cosplay experience.
01:40:25
Speaker
Yes, I have lots of cosplay and model experience. I did art modeling before I did cosplay, so yeah, let's chat later. So Sarah can find you, what are your socials and where can everybody else find you?
01:40:37
Speaker
Um, back to the professional poll, I, or the, my, my spiel, you can find me on Instagram at crown guard cosplay. You can find me on Twitter at little light B. Um, I don't use any of my other social medias anymore. I feel like you can find our podcast at fan names, pod on Instagram and Twitter. You can find us on Spotify and apple podcasts, and you can find our patreon at fan names.com or sorry, fan names, pod at patreon.com.
01:41:04
Speaker
There we go. Spiel done. So for the third episode in a row, it's patreon.com slash fan base. Yeah, I know. I can't do this anymore. I can't do the spiel. I've lost it. You don't have intro rights and you don't have ending spiel rights anymore. I still get my ending spiel rights. You just have to correct me. Deal with it.
01:41:25
Speaker
Well, you can find me at Nebula underscore inky on Instagram and Twitter. Um, and thank you so much again, Sarah, for coming on. And we're definitely going to have to have you back because you are such a delight to talk to. Oh, thank you. Things that we can just talk about more. You can go forever and ever and ever. When we were in between barely a dead moment, only when we had to look very hard at what was happening in front of us. So we just couldn't handle saying more words.
01:41:52
Speaker
But we did it. It's okay. It worked out. We made it and we made it to the end. And it won't happen again. We will fix it so this does not happen again. Incredible. Thank you for being patient with us. Everybody else? Yeah. Go buy a bow for Madorka bows.
01:42:09
Speaker
Yeah. Yay. Or a pin at this point, because there really aren't any bows on the website yet. Buy something. Yeah, buy a poster reference pack. Become a patron. Become a patron further and love. Subscribe to my YouTube! My poor little baby YouTube. YouTube shorts, go, go. Alright, bye everyone. Bye.