We had the pleasure of chatting with voice actor Ollie de Vega! Check it out to learn more about his creative journey!
1.What initially inspired you to become a creator, and how has that inspiration evolved throughout your creative journey?
A: I was initially inspired by a lot of the voice acting from the various anime, cartoons and video games that I watched and played during my childhood. I would always try to imitate certain lines and scenes in those kinds of media and had a blast doing them (though my family would think I was crazy especially during the heated moments of the scenes!). That inspiration has evolved by first making a Youtube Channel showcasing my talent. Then afterwards that passion died down a bit and I focused a bit more on life. Once the COVID-19 pandemic happened, to me it was a second chance to try this again. Now I’m a fellow content creator who uses streams to showcase my talent as well as to meet people and make connections in the indie creator scene.
2.Can you share a specific moment or experience that fueled your passion for your current creative project?
A: The moment that I saw my favourite voice actors just be more than what they are via with content creation gave me the drive to do what I do. The biggest example would be the cast of Critical Role just constantly playing DnD every week for the internet to see. I look up to each and every one of them since they were all in a lot of my favourite kinds of media. I hope to do something similar to them eventually as I keep on grinding in my art as well as to get better at it.
3.What challenges have you encountered as an indie creator, and how have they shaped your approach to your work?
A: The biggest challenge for me is when it comes to trying to audition for work and not panning out like I’d hope. I learned that focusing on one genre of voice-over isn’t the best of approaches. So I decided to branch out and not just try to audition for animations and video games but as well as commercials and narration. I learned how to diversify my voice in order to seem more flexible and gain more experience.
4.Are there any particular creators who have significantly influenced your style or approach? How do you incorporate those influences into your own unique voice?
A: I have many creators who have influenced my style and approach to voice acting. A few names are Matt Mercer, Patrick Seitz, and Liam O’Brien. I incorporate those influences in my own unique style by tapping into just my energy when it comes to the rougher sounding voices as well as the calmness of mature characters. The three that I mentioned have an incredibly unique way of telling stories with their various range in their voices and I do my very best to incorporate that in my own unique voice.
5. How do you navigate the balance between staying true to your artistic vision and adapting to feedback from your audience or collaborators?
A: When receiving feedback from my audience and/or collaborators, I see it as a way to build on and improve my craft. I make adjustments where necessary and if I feel like it fits what I can do with my voice then I proceed. At the end of the day most people want to see you grow in your craft in order to bring out the best in you, so I always keep that in mind when trying to improve my craft while staying true to my artistic vision.
6.Can you recall a memorable success story or milestone in your indie creator journey that stands out as a turning point for you?
A: When I landed my first video game job in a dating sim. I always told my community that that was one of my goals as a voice actor and it happened a lot quicker than I expected! That was the turning point for me as I started to become much more driven and began to drop my demo and approach different genres of voice acting as well.
7.What role do setbacks or failures play in your creative process, and how do you overcome them to keep moving forward?
A: I view failures and setbacks as learning experiences. When those occur of course I take a minute to separate myself in my mind from the whole situation. Afterwards I begin to look at it in a clearer frame of mind in order to see what went wrong and how I could improve. And once I realize how I can do those things I move forward and keep going, I feel as if setbacks and failures try to stop you. But once you adapt and learn you become stronger and overcome those hurdles and proceed to get better at your craft and keep it going.
8. How do you manage your time and energy to sustain a consistent creative output while juggling other aspects of life?
A: I do my best to stick to a certain schedule of when I can stream, voice act and just live as a normal person would. When it comes to the voice acting aspect I feel that it’s the most flexible of the three things mentioned above. Of course I hold myself accountable by always having a to-do list in my studio in order to see what needs to get done every single day. Once all those tasks have been completed I feel happy and productive due to me living a balanced life while doing what I love.
9.Have you found any unexpected joys or rewards in the indie creator community, and how has it contributed to your overall experience?
A: Meeting other like-minded creators has been the biggest joy as I dive into the indie creator community. I like picking those other creators’ brains as well as sharing my thoughts and ideas of creation with them. That way we can all learn from each other and build on what our visions hold. It also just helps me feel closer to them as people too.
10.If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring creators, what would it be based on your own lessons learned?
A: My advice for aspiring creators is to do your best to stay consistent. Look at whatever you put out there as experiments to see what the results are. Look at what you did great and keep it going and build on it and as for the aspects where you fall short: learn, adapt and grow your creation in order to potentially bring something to the table that was greater than you envisioned.
11. What are your thoughts on All Ages of Geek? What are some things we should change/do? What are something you enjoy about our website?
A: I feel as if All Ages of Geek is definitely a great place for creators to come through and feel safe as well as to be themselves without any judgment. Speaking candidly this is my first time hearing about All Ages of Geek but I already feel safe answering these questions. I would love to be a part of something of yours and work with you. I like how your website has lots of information about you and reading all about it it’s definitely a fantastic place for creators to be themselves.
12. Goals for 2024?
A: Goals for 2024 is to try and get more work under my belt as well as to put myself out there more as a content creator. I want to make more connections with like-minded individuals in order to not only elevate myself but as well as others since we’re all running this marathon together. I also want to try and get a commercial voice-over demo done and try to get an agent for that genre of voice acting.
Support the creator:
– Twitch: twitch.tv/blowfishmantv – Twitter: twitter.com/blowfishmantv – Instagram: instagram.com/blowfishmantv – Tiktok: / blowfishmantv -Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BlowfishmanTV
