A little of history with Milie: Chapter XI
It’s a new episode of A little history with Milie, we have TibiaFanart.com, a fansite focused on art made by and for Tibians. The item that represents them in Tibia is the great Yeti Doll.
Makadamia (Administrator) will tell us some details about her website and fansite item.
Yeti Doll Story
How did you come up with the idea of creating a fan site about Tibian art?
I have always enjoyed watching art. Unfortunately, I am not an artist myself by profession, but I really like to spend my free time creatively. It started with participating in contests, then curiosity led me to DeviantArt, where I found a veritable plethora of professional artists, as well as hobbyists who have created fanart in the past. On Instagram, too, I found a really huge number of them. Then I thought it was wrong to have to search for all these beautiful artworks on so many platforms. It occurred to me that by creating a fansite that collects all these forms of art together, I will not only help advertise such works and their creators, but also facilitate access for those interested in learning more about the subject.
Some fansites, when they are created, think about having a main character on their website and that in the future they can become their fansite item. Did this happen in Tibia Fanart?
No. In fact, many fansites have their dream item already at the stage of creating the website. I, at this stage, was really focused on creating content (I created it myself and it involved me heavily), and the choice of “Yeti Doll” as a fansite item was not planned at all. It was actually the co-founder of TibiaFanart, who was a fan of this sprite, who gave me the idea and made me believe it was a good idea.
Illustrations created by Amy Meow.
Have you had other sprite options in mind?
Even before the site was created there were some tentative plans for sprites, but it was too soon. When I faced the creation of the fansite, how much work and time I had to put into it before it took shape – I gave up thinking about the fansite item and just got to work. When it came time to introduce the item – I continued to be hard at work creating content. I became interested in the fansite item many months later, being at that time at the stage of “what could it be…?”. And then Vussia came along!
How did the idea of having a Yeti as a fansite item in TibiaFanart come up and what is the relationship it has with the website?
The idea of having a little Yeti as an item representing TibiaFanart belonged to Vussia, with whom I founded the fansite. Although at first I did not consider such a possibility at all, it did not take me long to be persuaded to put the idea into practice. I also liked the sprite.
As a person who not only creates fansites but also such sprites, I don’t think that the item representing the site should be obliged to reflect the theme of the site. From my point of view, a fansite item should be visually appealing first and foremost, and that was the priority. Whether it fits the theme of the site is a secondary and strongly individual matter. After all, such a doll might just be the mascot of the site!
How was the process of creating the Yeti Doll? (Explain it in detail and preferably with pictures).
I created the sprite in 2017. It was one of the first ideas for a fan item for TibiaBosses. Unfortunately, my experience was minimal at the time, and the sprite did not meet my expectations. Therefore, I quickly forgot about it. I refreshed it only in 2021 on the occasion of a fan pre-memory contest organized by TibiaGallery.com, in which it was suggested to make an Amazon Set doll and/or a Yeti doll. There, however, my sprite did not take any place.
Below you can see the process of making the Yeti:
At this stage, my Yeti Doll looked like this:
Unfortunately, the sprite had to undergo a fix due to the lack of black outlines in the magic pollen animation. Although I liked the previous animation better, this became an additional opportunity to improve the appearance of the magic sprite. The final result looks like this:
And this is how my Yeti has changed over the years:
♡
And with this we end the interview, remember that if you are a fan of Tibian art, you can visit TibiaFanArt.com to delight your eyes with the works of art that Tibian artists offer through this fansite.
