Welcome to the Hatena Featured Artist section of our blog, where we introduce Flipnote creators from around the world.
We post the Hatena Featured Artist every week on Wednesday, and hope to introduce a variety of different artists that will inspire and entertain you.
Be sure to check here every week to see some of the most amazing artists on Flipnote Hatena. Maybe we'll even feature you someday!
Today's Hatena Featured Artist is GIGANTOR (id:Fuddy-Duddy) from the Americas region.
Please tell us a little about yourself.
Hello everyone, my name is GIGANTOR (id:Fuddy-Duddy). It is such a pleasure to do this interview! I would like to thank Hatena for letting me be featured as an artist. This has been a dream that I've been wanting to accomplish since I first started animating on Flipnote Hatena.
Well, the first thing that you should know is that I am 18 years old. I have a large family -- four brothers and a niece (she is such a peach). I was born and raised in California. I graduated from high school in 2011, and at the moment I am staying home to care for my family.
I am going to attend college to study Culinary and Business Management and Psychology pretty soon.
What are your interests or hobbies, and how do you spend your free time?
My number one interest is cooking. I have always enjoyed to cook ever since I was seven years old.
Another one of my interests is psychology and philosophy, because I hope to better understand human emotions. I have been self-studying these subjects since I was eight.
My main hobby is randomly animating and doodling, and I tend to do that with all the free time I have. I have been drawing for a long while now, ever since I watched my sister and my Dad draw and create beautiful paintings. Personally, I think I have a long way to go.
Animating is a different story. I first started animating on my Nintendo DS Lite with PictoChat, and I was so excited when Flipnote Studio was released for the Nintendo DSi. At the time I did not have a Nintendo DSi, but my older brother WRECKtos (id:WRECKtos) did, and that's when I started. I'd like to thank him for that. I didn't create my own Hatena account until last year when I bought my own Nintendo DSi XL.
One other thing I like to do in my free time is to chat with my friends on Hatena.
Please introduce some of your best Flipnotes, and tell us why you like them.
★ 'Paper Animations' - My random paper animations are my one pride and joy. I have made countless of them in my free time. They are never planned and are a "one-thing-led-to-another" kind of thing in the best possible way, just like most of my flips in general.
★ 'My Spine!' - Nothing like family time to create random animations. This one for instance is one that I made up with my brothers, who always seem to help me think up crazy, odd, and rather funny animations and with voices. This took some time to make and hearing that crackling sound each time I was replaying it while animating it was painful and funny to hear every time.
★ 'Panda Hungry' - This Flipnote was a collaboration of ideas and randomly said things that I came up with during a telephone call with a friend. Somehow, one thing led to another and a manly panda came to mind, so we decided to make it into a animation. It took a while to do because I had to get my friend's voice over the phone, with timing that took a bit of time (she was the bamboo stick).
★ 'Weekly Topic: Hair' - Fluff is my favorite creature to animate, I made him up about 3 years ago. I made him one day because I was so hungry. He wasn't really much of anything but a big fluffy creature who loves to eat. The only thing he knows how to say is 'Feed me', but he sure does many crazy things!
★ 'Advice from an Old Person' - This is my favorite random Flipnote that I made with my older brother. We were laughing so hard! I hope you will all enjoy this too. The newer Flipnotes that I have been making are becoming easier and easier to make. I'm slowly improving, and in time, I hope to become a good animator.
What techniques or skills are you especially good at in your Flipnotes?
Creating animations by the classic, one-thing-led-to-another style. Motion is one thing that I am good at. I do what I can, and I am still improving.
What are some techniques or skills that you wish to improve, try, or learn to do in order make your Flipnotes better?
I want to better understand human anatomy in motion, and mouth movements. I am still working on that.
Please introduce some of your favorite artists on Flipnote Hatena , and tell us why you like them or their Flipnotes.
★ ヒートマン DWN15 (id:GrittyKittyFitty22) - This creator is very creative and has a great imagination. She is serious about her artwork and through her hard work, and determination, shows true works of art that inspires me to try just as hard, and improve.
★ Nikuo (id:NIKUO290) - This creator makes the most epic flips ever. These fighting animations are so detailed and very motivating!
★ Gregorious7 (id:xxx-winter) - Gregorious7 is in my opinion, crazy, odd, and a very awesome creator. I always check out his flips whenever I have a chance.
★ PickyEater (id:AnotherPickyEater)- Her cute and smooth animations are so cool, she is very artistic.
★ Da-kun (id:Rakugaki321) - The very first Flipnote I ever saw was by Da-kun. He is truly one of my all time favorite creators and is an inspiration.
★ Nearshot (id:Nearshot) - Nearshot was another one of the first creators I saw on Flipnote, a great motivator, even if shes been gone for a long while.
★ K (id:smashingpumpkins) - A seriously cool/creepy creator. He makes very enjoyable flips!
Is there something you would like to say to the Flipnote Hatena community?
Keep on Truck-truck-truckitty-truckin'! For all you animators, future artists of the world, keep moving forward, never give up!
Don't let the bad flips bring you down, and always practice, practice, practice! Trust your instincts, you never know how far it can take you.
It has been a pleasure animating for Flipnote Hatena. I thank you all for taking the time to read this, and one last thing: Thank you my fan's for helping me get this far, your comments and stars, and your words got me motivated to make even more random flips!
Thanks for checking out the Hatena Featured Artist, and please let us know any feedback that you have in the box below. Also, please be sure to check out Flipnotes by the creator we interviewed here, and show them your support with your stars and comments!
