The All Ages of Geek crew interviewed VTuber Artex to learn more about his journey!
1. What made you want to start Vtubing?
I think it was a slow process, I didn’t understand Vtubing that much at the beginning. A Vtuber named Jay King followed me when I joined one of those art sharing posts on Twitter, when they were really popular. After seeing a good amount of posts from them I started understanding more and more, then I started seeing more and more people becoming Vtubers and I got curious, it looked like something fun, so I decided to give it a try, and after a lot of trial and error, I was able to create my model, get an overlay, emotes (even though I’m still not affiliate) and all that cool stuff. I may not be popular yet, but I enjoy doing it.
2. How did you decide on what your model would look like?
I used to stream with no webcam (I still don’t have one), to compensate I tried to make a fake webcam using Vroid Studio, to create a 3D model of IRL me, and VirtualMotionCapture, to load the model and make it work like a proper character, then I just needed to capture the program with OBS. After I got interested in being a Vtuber I thought my model wasn’t something I wanted to use for that, I needed something that was more of a “persona” than just me but as a 3D model, so I decided to design one based of a dinosaur, since I love dinosaurs, that was cartoonish, since that’s what my art style mainly is. I liked the first design enough to try using it as a profile picture for a week or two, but I started to like it less and less as time went by, I knew it needed a redesign, so I grabbed my tablet and started to draw whatever I had in mind, trying to find something I liked from everything I drew that I was able to use for the actual redesign. I used creatures from Lil Monster, an old Gameboy Color game, as references. I love the monster collecting genre a lot, so I thought it’d be fitting. After an hour or so I ended up with the character I’m using right now, I was extremely satisfied with the design, and I still am, I feel it’s a good reflection of what I am, and thankfully easy to draw.I also created a human form, but I have it just in case I don’t have the option to use the dino form. I created lore for both forms to make them more than just pictures. I never imagined I’d end up caring for a character this much to be honest.
3. What can people expect to see from you in 2021?
Well, first of all, having the animated model on stream all the time. I can’t do it right now because sadly my computer can’t handle prprLive (the program I use for the model) , OBS and the games running at the same time, but as soon as I get enough money I’m getting a better pc. I’d also be able to stream more games, I have a bunch of games that I want to stream but can’t, once again because of my pc not being good enough.I also want to collab with all kinds of Vtubers, I’ve been in contact with some of them, so hopefully I’ll be able to do collabs soon. It doesn’t need to be just Vtubers either. As I get more followers, and more active people in chat, I want to do more stuff with a lot of chat participation, like all those crowd control games, activities that require channel points, let them play sounds, suggesting emotes, even playing directly with them. Hopefully I’ll be able to do it this year, if not, there’s always next year.And last but not least, marathons, races and charity events. I’ve been wanting to do them for a long time, but I couldn’t because I’m still too small as a streamer, or I was too shy to contact other people, but I’ve been improving myself, so why not try to aim for them, it’s a nice goal in my opinion.
4. What has been your favorite part about Vtubing so far?
I can’t just choose one, I was able to meet so many new people, I became more motivated in general, I’ve been going out of my comfort zone quite often lately, and improved myself a lot thanks to Vtubing (and therapy). I’ve even been actually seeing growth on both my twitter and twitch account once again. I have to say, overall, it’s been a really positive experience that I’m glad I’m part of, and I hope more people decide to give it a try, there’s not even the need to aim to become like one of those big Vtubers, do it your own way, at your own pace, and don’t be afraid of reaching out to others Vtubers, you’ll see you’ll end up having the time of your live… hopefully.
