Clash Finalist Interview #9 – shigemitsubaki

We had to hold off posting Tsu’s interview until round 3 results were announced, because we wanted to preserve her identity as one of round 3′s secret wildcard agents… but it turned out to be pretty good timing! From the meaning of her username to a very special Real Life project, read on to learn more about the 1st place winner of this year’s AP Clash of the Wallers!

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1. Congrats on making it to Round 3 – Final Round! What are your thoughts on the competition so far?

It’s been a huge blast! Every theme has been very challenging but wide enough to allow vastly different interpretations. The turnout has been very good, too… even taking ‘sudden drop-outs/no-shows’ into consideration, people on the whole have been very enthusiastic.

2. Have you found any of the rounds particularly easy, or alternatively, particularly challenging?

Round 1 was brain-breaking xD it involved a lot of philosophical soul-searching and whatnot… particularly since I had decided that I would try to submit original art if possible. Round 2 was a little less restrictive and in a sense, easier, except that it got me at a rather tight moment and I had to work in a hurry.

3. What was your experience like as a secret wildcard agent for rounds 1 and 3? :3

Fun, fun fun! It makes you feel like putting the Mission Impossible soundtrack on… I wonder if there will be competitions in the future that will allow you to go all the way to the endgame undercover… okay, maybe that’s just me being silly xD Jokes aside, I like the wildcard system a lot because a win by default is not very thrilling for the opponent, either.

3. Where did you get your username from?

I had originally planned to take the name Jadis, from The Chronicles of Narnia, as my username, but it was taken :/ and all the succeeding names I typed were also taken. I finally typed in one of my RO (Ragnarok Online) characters’ names, Tsubaki… which was also taken… then I decided to add to it and it became ‘shigemitsubaki’, which means ‘camellia bush’.

4. How did you get into walling? Was there anything that particularly inspired you?

I read about AnimePaper in the newsletter of an anime org at my university (sometime in 2007). It sounded cool so I went to the site and was blown away by the awesomeness of the wallpapers! I wasn’t really the chatty type… so I decided to wall my way into the community instead of going in forums-wise.

5. If you had to describe your walling style in one sentence, what would it be?

Stubbornly scenic with rough bits that some lazy arse was too sleepy to clean up. 8DD I used to do a bit of vector work too, but now I find it too time-consuming for my ever-decreasing attention span. xD There is little science in my work- it is mostly intuition.

6. What’s your current desktop? (Please link us to the walls so we can see what they look like! )

My current desktop is a drawing by fuzichoko of pixiv, http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/7351/fuzichokomoe111663sampl.jpg fuzichoko and nouzui on Pixiv are two of my favorite artists, when they upload new stuff it is always mind-blowingly beautiful!

7. You’ve made some wonderful works of original art for Clash. Did you ever study art formally?

Yes, I have… I started drawing (seriously) in my last year of high school. I am currently in my third year at the College of Fine Arts in the University of the Philippines, majoring in Visual Communication… and truth be told, lagging behind considerably in a lot of aspects = 3 = practice, practice!

8. Are there any online or RL projects that you’d like to pimp? xD

Hmm. Well, I’ve done some work for a comic anthology, called Philippine Adventure & Romance Stories. Our aim is to give Filipino expatriates a bit of history about their homeland, in a form they would appreciate. (hence, it’s in English) I’m told it’s selling pretty well!

9. What was the first thought that went through your mind when you saw the round 3 theme? How will you approach round 3?

The first thing that went through my mind was ‘ooh! sweet’ cause… haha I think this will require much less soul-searching than Round 1. I already had this concept in my head, so I’m just going to roll with that and try and introduce some stylistic touches of my chosen waller into my work despite the genre shift.

10. Do you have any favorite walls out of all the Clash entries so far? Could be your own, or it could be someone else’s…

So far, I love both of Felesya’s entries (well… the 2nd, from what I can see on the thumb!) and Storm-and-fire’s FMA entry. Deto’s Moyashimon wall was a surprise, but undeniably refreshing and cute. And I’m rather fond of my carrots >D

11. Lastly, any final words you’d like to say to other Clashers?

GO CLASHERS GO!! The final lineup is a little unexpected, but good luck to everyone <3 emoticon and I’m looking forward to the next Clash too, if you guys decide to hold another one

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Much thanks Tsu! Congrats on the well-deserved win!

Check out interviews for more fun tidbits from your fellow Clash finalists!