Well another day in the week long spotlight to the girl gamers across the world.  Since this site is a place for artist and gamers...we had to finish the week with a female artist / gamer who has enough skill to back up the claim of being a girl gamer who digs art!

Meet Beavotron!!!

Could you please start with a brief introduction about yourself...who you are and what you do for a living? Where you are from... age..etc.

My name's Alexandria Neonakis. I was born and raised in Halifax Nova Scotia, also known for being sort of like Maine, birthplace of Ellen Paige, home of Picnicface, the guys who did that viral video, Powerthirst. Kate Beaton is also from Halifax, she's the best thing to come out of here in my humble opinion. Oh and Bryan Lee O'Malley the guy who makes Scott Pilgrim lives here now... oh and Darwynn Cooke, man there are lots of great things about Halifax, I could go on forever... but enough with that. I am a "graphic artist" from 9-5, which is sort of an umbrella term. In my old job I did character concepts and user interface design for video games. In my current job I do graphics for educational software. from 5-whenever I pass out I do illustrations. For fun, freelance, whatever. I just love to do illustration it's my real passion. Oh and I'm 24. I don't care when people ask my age, does anyone still care? That seems old fashioned.

With the stigma attached to video games being for guys...what drew you into the world of gaming?
What age did you become a gamer, and what game in particular hooked you into becoming a girl gamer?

It was my guy friends that pulled me into the world of games. Namely, my best friends in Junior High. Summer of grade 8 was spent in a friend's basement playing Final Fantasy 7. The game that started it all. Well... I can't say it started it all, it started the obsession though. Before that I was pretty into PC games. I really loved all the original Duke Nukem games. Fun jungley platformer goodness. I played Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Commander Keen, Jazz Jackrabbit,Hocus Pocus (awesome platformer. I think this is on abandonware sites now... it was so sweet, I'm sure it's aged beautifully haha) Monster Bash (another Apogee DOS platformer... I killed Apogee games when I was a kid) oh and Phantasmagoria. No one remembers this game when I tell them about it. It was this weird puzzle/mystery/horror game that gave me nightmares.

So I guess you can say that I've always sort of been into video games. My dad bought me a computer when I was about 8 or 9 and it just sort of grew into a fierce addiction. I even delved into the nerdy world of MUCKs and MUDs during Jr. High.

Love your distinct art style! I see you are a self taught artist.. who are some artist that have influenced you along the way?

Definitely Mary Blair... a lot of the Disney artists have had their influence on me, but she in particular has a style I find really appealing. Ragnar, Loish... there are so so many artists who I admire and who I've been influenced by, I can't even begin to name them all. Deviantart introduces you to lots of fantastic artists. I love that place. I recommend any new and seasoned artists to get an account on there, the networking you can do is unreal.

With the invention of Xbox live and Playstation Network the gaming world is more connected than ever. When playing online in public games what are the most commonly annoying things you encounter as a female gamer?

I'm sure many female gamers have had this or a similar scenario happen while using the voice chat while in game:

Me: There's a spy heading towards C, someone should grab him

Everyone: ....

Some guy (after a pause): Dude... are you like, 12?

Me: ...no, I'm 24

Everyone: .... (long pause)

Me: ...I'm a girl

Everyone: OOOOOOOH hahahahah. Oh wow, a girl!

Me: yeah... well B just got capped and that spy's totally at C, so gg all.

Have you ever met and connected well with any other girl gamers online? Add on question to that...do you prefer to play with other female gamers or it does it really matter?

Yeah I totally have, my friend Rhia plays games. I met her online through the Penny Arcade forums. I don't have a preference, I'll play games with anyone. My WoW guild leaders are a husband-wife team. Bink is awesome. I've been in her guild for... geez, probably 2 years now? She's awesome. There are a lot of ladies in my guild actually.

Are guys intimidated by you as a girl gamer and an artist in the industry?

I dunno, maybe? I do know they get sort of pissed when I kick their asses, but they'd probably get pissed if I was a guy too. Most guys think it's cool, talk about that for a few minutes, then we just get back to blowing stuff up/shooting up faces. Not too many people linger on it for too long, and I like it that way. My boyfriend is a designer/hardcore gamer and he seems to love it.

I think they probably usually just think it's funny, especially on my WoW account. I have a male Tauren Deathknight named "Snufflekins". And even though you can't name the horse, I refer to mine as "Pretty".

Ok...multimillion dollar budget for a dream project for you you to work on would be?

Probably an MMO. Man do I ever love MMOs. Maybe like a really awesome old west style one, or one with zombies. Something totally sweet.

Three things guys need to know about girl gamers?

This is a hard to answer question since girl gamers are as different as guy gamers, there's nothing you can really say that will apply to all girl gamers. I think that girl gamers for the most part want to be treated like any old gamer. I have experienced people giving me special treatment after finding out I'm a girl, and treating me like I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to play the game. Girl gamers can be just as good as guy gamers, and no I don't need 5000 gold, random stranger, thanks for offering though... (actually I do need it. i want my epic flier.)

then again, i've encountered girl gamers who totally want to be treated like girl gamers. Like the ones who brag about being a real girl in general chat in main city chat channels. I always just heckle them with the obligatory "girls on the innernets? unpossible!"

Could you break down your creative process on a piece? Nothing too in depth just an overall blue print of you take a piece from start to finish.

Start with a sketch, usually in photoshop. It's usually super rough. Then I start cutting in basic shapes with the pen tool. I go from biggest shapes to smallest details. i will sometimes do a full image just with shape layers and the pen tool, but sometimes I'll use brushes. Then I do color correction layers and usually a texture overlay.

I have a detailed video tutorial, you can get to it through here:
[link]

Five Years from this date and time...what are your plans and dreams with consideration with your art and your career?

I want to be working as a concept artist for a company like Valve. Or whatever awesome company will take me

Favorite game ever???

It's totally WoW. I have played the poo out of that game and it has managed to keep my attention for almost 4 years now. There is something to be said about that. I also like TF2 a lot.

Thank you for your time! I really appreciated you agreeing to be interviewed! Good luck on that decision on school vs career...No matter what choice you decide the path will lead to awesome results!  Also click here for a link to her site!

+ 0

+ 0