Interview: Whirlwynd (artist; creator of 20 Galaxies)

Today, I bring you another interview! Last year, I've interviewed a voice actor from Canada: Marcy Goldberg. I would love to interview more voice actors, but I had a hard time reaching out to them either due to their big following on social media or them not checking direct messages, so I gave up. So this time, I have chosen to interview an artist! Meet Whirlwynd (or Geminic Blue), artist and creator of the 20 Galaxies comic.

I’ve randomly discovered her works Monday night in a YouTube playlist. The video I watched that made me check out their channel is this animation from 9 years ago:

So, I chose to interview her because I was scrolling on Whirlwynd’s Tumblr blog and I was amazed by her artworks! I typed up all of the questions on my phone during my hair appointment Tuesday. I had a hard time coming up with some questions 😅!

I was worried that she wouldn’t reach out, but Thursday, she was kind enough to reply and answer all of them. Thank you Whirlwynd/Geminic Blue for the interview!

If you like this interview, let me know if you want to see more small (or big) artists get interviewed by me! Or maybe small voice actors.

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Me: Hello. My name is Arnézia and I am an artist and future animator. I discovered your channel yesterday and I have to say… you are amazingly talented! I do have a couple of questions for you; kind of like a small interview. I would also like to feature you on my WordPress blog if you don’t mind. I’m also making my own original comic as well but it’s currently private since I’m planning on protecting my works by copyright.

Whirlwynd: Hi Arnézia! Thanks so much for checking out my work, I’m glad you like it 🙂 I wouldn’t mind at all being featured, and if you ever wanted me to give your work a shoutout when it does come out, let me know. I don’t have many visitors these days but I would do what I can!

Me: What software do you use to make your animations? What software do you use to draw in?

Whirlwynd: I use Photoshop Elements to draw the frames, OpenToonz to string them together, and Premiere Elements for effects and compression. Or if I’f just making a short GIF, this site: https://ezgif.com/maker

Me: The animation that led me to check out your YouTube channel is 20 Galaxies Episode 1 Part 1 (found it in a playlist). Your comic is also featured on your WordPress blog, but only book 1. When did 20 Galaxies start, how did you create it, and are you still working on 20 Galaxies currently? Is it your first comic?

Whirlwynd: 20 Galaxies is a very old project, definitely my first original work. I started it for a class assignment way back in 1992 — we had to write a journal entry every day, and I started writing stories based off of my dreams. I’ve been working on it intermittently since then, but I restarted it way too many times and never really got past the first book. I am actively writing the second one, though.

Me: Do you remember how the 20 Galaxies animation (episode 1 part 1) was made (how did you get voice actors, music, etc.)?

Whirlwynd: When I first worked on and released that episode I was participating in a small community of amateur animators so I think that’s how I got a lot of the voice actors that time. The community isn’t active anymore, unfortunately, but it was a good resource exchange. A lot of the music I made myself with my now broken-down keyboard, some of it came from incompetech.com.

Me: Besides 20 Galaxies, any other original projects or comics you’re working on?

Whirlwynd: I’m working on a series of short stories called Dreamcrashers! It’s a high fantasy/comedy about a group of adventurers that have to jump into people’s dreams to save them. And probably the world, of course.

Me: Are there any artists that you are inspired by/influences your art style?

Whirlwynd: Naoko Takeuchi and CLAMP were my biggest influences early on, more recently Lynne Triplett (Engelbaum webcomic)Me: When did you start drawing and when did you get into making comics?

Me: When did you start drawing and when did you get into making comics?

Whirlwynd: I remember drawing stick figure comics and making little notepad animations when I was 10-ish years old. I wish I still had them. I do have some of the 20 Galaxies comics I made in 1996.

Me: Besides Tumblr and YouTube, any other social media platforms? I saw that you have an Instagram but it hasn’t been active since last year. I would also love to promote your Ko-fi and Patreon.

Whirlwynd: That would be so nice of you! I’m on a bit of a break from social media at the moment, but when I’m around I’m most active on Tumblr.

Me: Any advice for me as a small artist and beginner animator and for all of the other small artists and animators out there?

Whirlwynd: If I were to give advice to my younger self, it would be to start on smaller, short projects before working up to the longer-form ones, especially with regards to animation. I would have thought it was just me, very much underestimating how much time and effort a project would take, but it seemed to be a common theme in that animator community I was in 😅

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If you're interested in checking out Whirlwynd's works, I will link all of her socials, Ko-fi, and Patreon below. Whirlwynd is mostly active on Tumblr, but I will link her DeviantArt and Instagram just in case. Thanks for reading and thanks again, Whirlwynd for the interview!

https://geminicblue.com/ - you can also submit your own independent website to be featured on there as long as you follow the submission guidelines!

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/geminicblue

https://www.youtube.com/@geminicblue

https://www.youtube.com/@WhirlwyndsWanderings

https://www.pillowfort.social/Whirlwynd

https://www.instagram.com/geminicblue/

https://www.deviantart.com/whirlwynd

Donate/support at:

https://www.patreon.com/geminicblue

http://ko-fi.com/whirlwynd