The Arterview: elcheeso

For this arterview session, I suddenly found myself in sunny Australia. Judging by my debriefing, this was the home location of elcheeso, who after numerous messages had gracefully accepted our demands of interviewing him. My info revealed that he could be found in a unit commonly known as Cheesingham Palace, and after twice confirming that the location actually exists, I arranged for a cab in that direction. Much to my relief, the building itself was not constructed from edible foodwares, but was nonetheless an impressive structure worthy of its inhabitant. A sign etched into the front door announced that I had arrived at the right location, and I promptly rang the doorbell. A small figure revealed itself in the now opened doorway, and escorted me into the inner chambers. Paintings of hams and sculpts of various cheese blocks filled the halls, and soon we reached a lounge containing a fireplace, two armchairs, and a man. After politely declining the refreshments that were offered to me, I sat down in the available chair and steadied my eyes towards the lord of the household.

You're a steady visitor in many parts of Smogon, elcheeso, and a common sight in irc channels as well. So let's get this clear right from the start: Just who are you?

Some asshole.

I slightly twitched.

An interesting answer. Would you like to elaborate?

Ok, I'm some old asshole who's aussie and pretends to be a cool guy.

He was careful about revealing too much information. I was clearly dealing with a professional.

And how's Australia this time of the year? Is it as hazardous as people like to believe?

It's hot, spring sucks. And while it's not CROCS AND VENOMOUS SPIDERS OR SNAKES coming out of shoes to KILL YOU hazardous, it's still kind of shit. Fucking magpies all over the place.

I can imagine. What are reasons one would want to visit, or yet, want to live here?

Well, I wouldn't recommend it, only reasons I can see for visiting are poor life choices, or being suckered in by touristy bullshit. Then again, I'm someone who hates travel and I find this country boring as hell. Which I like as a similarly boring person, so ... take that as you will.

Speaking of lands with dangerous wildlife, how did you get introduced to Pokémon?

Basically, it was through my boyfriend back in the RBY days. I think ... he got Blue, and of course he needed someone to trade with, so he roped me into getting Red so he could catch 'em all or whatever. I was in my 20s at the time and basically had this attitude that I couldn't be seen playing or liking kiddy games for babies, so I acted like I really hated the game whenever it was brought up, when in reality I really liked it.

I raised a brow. Picturing elcheeso as a closet gamer was an amusing thought.

That actually continued until Gen 3, then I skipped DPP and got back into it with HG/SS (which is actually my favorite of the main series games) and by that point I felt like I was too old to give a shit about what idiots think about me playing Pokémon at that age. So now I'm open about liking Pokémon and just have to deal with the odd 13-year-old who thinks that adults aren't supposed to have fun or play games or whatever, and should instead be busy, I don't know, popping out and caring for babies and having mid-life crises or something.

I bet he doesn't even know what a Tangela is.

elcheeso made a small nod in agreement.

What do you think is the reason you like these games?

That is a hard question.

And with that, his forehead furrowed while he searched for an answer.

But I don't know, I think its just a combination of a lot of factors, though I'd argue the major one is of course my inner OCD, plus the idea of owning all these cool or adorable animals.

Two good reasons I have no issue siding with. So what caused you to arrive at Smogon's shores?

I had originally discovered Smogon back in the dark ages (probably 2007 or so) after checking out some shit on Serebii. Might've been after reading one of their Pokémon of the Week things, I can't quite remember. I can't even remember the details of how I ended up looking for Smogon, just that I did. Didn't sign up or anything though, I just checked things out.

Then 2010 rolled around and I was working on my art (having got a tablet back in 09), and found myself on Smogon again via a friend of mine who linked their analyses. I ended up checking out the forums and noticed there was an art section, so I lurked for probably 6-9 months just checking out other people's art and trying my hand at spriting, which I had discovered through Smeargle's Studio (which is surprisingly easy and also kind of entertaining). I eventually joined in 2011 and went from there.

Took the site 4 years, but it seems the addiction has finally kicked in. Your skill as an artist is certainly one aspect that has fortified your position as a known member around the forums, where your contributions have ranged from everything from Tournament banners to CAP designs. What made you want to pick up digital art?

I'm assuming I can't avoid answering the actual art questions, huh?

You wish.

Well, I'm not actually sure what made me get into digital art, I think it was just the idea that i could draw things and then erase any mistakes I've made with little to no effort, as opposed to traditional art which is far less forgiving of mistakes. My boyfriend bought me an Intuos tablet for my birthday back in 09 since I wanted to get back into art (had sort of gone off it for a long fucking time due to work, school, and all that jazz) and I've gone from there more or less.

Is there a common theme in your artwork, or rather, something that you prefer to draw?

Besides Pokémon? Not really. I enjoy doing realistic takes on mons but I don't actually do it all that often. I also enjoy cutemons but I'm utter horseshit at actually drawing them in a cute way, they usually end up looking soulless lol.

I was close to mentioning that artwork can reflect the artist's mindset, but I luckily kept my mouth shut.

Word on the street says that you're also quite the artisan when it comes to baked goods. Would you like to either confirm or deny that claim?

I can confirm. Granted, I don't think I'm particularly good at it but I do enjoy baking, I just hate the clean-up. But baking definitely has a benefit over regular art in that it's far more delicious than paper. Haven't done it in a long time though, I should probably get back into it. It's just hard to justify making 20-30 cake pops shaped like, I don't know, dicks, unless you're having a party or something. Granted, that shit would be hilarious. I should do that. My friend has his birthday tomorrow so he'll have the magic of edible rainbow-colored dicks for dessert.

I'm sure you will rise to the task. Judging by your shiny postbit, you're also one of the moderators for Smeargle's Studio, the only place in Smogon where one can post home-made Pokémon sketches and not be scorned for it. What's it like holding that position, and is SS a nice forum to rule with an iron pencil?

SS is quite possibly the most boring forum to mod on the site, especially since the move to the new forums. I mean, even with our forum rules missing, very few people break them. I only have to delete posts or threads once every few weeks, basically. People are very nice about things and usually don't break any obvious rules, like posting plagarized shit. I had been hoping to rule as a tyrant but the people there don't rebel or anything, it's incredibly dull.

With the advent of Gen 6, I'm sure a fresh batch of artsy high schoolers will make for some moderate entertainment. Is there a story behind your chosen username? And on a related subject, how fond are you of cheese?

Well I'll answer the latter part first. I love cheese, though I'm not really someone who has tried a lot of different types. I fucking hate blue cheeses but I'm all about brie/camembert/wensleydale and of course a good vintage cheddar. That said though, this name isn't originally mine, so saying theres a meaning behind it would be a lie. Or at least it's a meaning that I don't know lol.

Basically what happened is that back in the time of the dinosaurs, my cousin (whom I'm pretty close to) bought World of Warcraft but decided that she didn't like it after a week or two, so she gave her account to me because she knew I was planning on buying it myself. elcheeso was the name of the account, and I've sort of hijacked the name to use as my online handle since then.

Since Smogon has competitive Pokémon battles as its primary focus, have you participated in some battling yourself?

Yes, but I'm kind of a shit battler lol. I mostly just stick to randbats or LC, the latter because of babby mons. So cute.

His face softened up in a warm smile, only to become grave serious the next moment.

Except of course I discovered that the best mons in LC are in fact fucking ugly.

Drilbur has its own charm, don't be hatin'. But we do care about your preferences though, because now we've arrived at the ultimate question: What's your favorite Pokémon? You may only pick one.

Actually, it's not really a hard choice. My favourite is Woobat, but I feel bad for not at least mentioning my main girl Jynx.

You're a man of many talents elcheeso, and I'm thankful you took your time to answer these questions!

Hooray, it's over.

Critique

If one were to go through all of the work elcheeso has archived in his own thread within Smeargle's Studio, it would be clear to anyone that he has not only come a long way since his early days, but that he also hasn't been afraid to experiment. Be it sprites, cute vector images, or realistic Pokémon renditions, elcheeso has probably fiddled with it at one point or another. And while his work used to be confined solely to his thread or various forum contests, they can now be seen in places such as Tournaments, Smog articles, and hub sections on-site. He is also a common sight on various channels like #pokemon and #smeargle, and is often available to share his sage advice or clearly biased opinions.

Because of his versatility when it comes to his art, pinning down the key characteristics is not an easy task. His earlier works have often found themselves in the "uncanny valley", where some realistic images didn't quite go the entire way and instead contained some faults that set them apart from the real deal. But very much like a budding flower, or an unappetizing caterpillar, elcheeso has gradually improved and is now capable of complex pieces with more advanced poses and lighting, and his lineart has also developed to the point where he can comfortably utilize it as framework to produce more realistic drawings. So while he has some areas left to work on, elcheeso remains as one of the more seasoned artists within Smogon's halls and will most likely continue to surprise with his intuitive and creative visuals in the future.

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