Artist Bio

chubbykraken | about the artist
Hello my name is Ari! I'm a digital/traditional illustrator and graphic/web designer, currently strengthening dev skills to make video games with my spouse; a musician, coder, and tech repair extraordinaire ♡ I've been traditionally drawing since age seven, but started seriously considering art for a career at seventeen after graduating high school. In late 2007 I'd begun dabbling in front-end web design, back-end coding, photo-editing, and forum-building for friends' online RP groups on proboards, zboards, and invision.

That dabbling led to experiments with digital illustration using a mouse and painter program, which laid the framework for my career today. I'd loved it all so much that I dropped nursing as a major mid-2011 to learn digital illustration and graphic design. That same year I got my first graphic tablet (Wacom Intuos4) and have seriously pursued digital art ever since. Later upgraded to a Cintiq Companion Hybrid, Cintiq Pro 16, and iPad Pro with savings from years of artwork. The latter two are still used for work projects!

Being a part of tumblr in the mid-2010s was another major turning point for my artistic pursuits because of the active fandom culture and fellow creatives I befriended there. Blog followers reached out for a variety of pieces; turnarounds of characters, fic or album cover art, tattoo designs, event invitations, photo editing, and web assets for their own blogs/sites/boards. It was the first time people paid me for artwork and I did that as a side hobby for nearly eight years-- wasn't ready to be a business yet due to commission projects fluctuating in frequency so much.

During that period I also put out well-received fan art and original art for various tumblr, youtube, and twitch fandoms. This paved the way for later opportunities, both artistic (character & fabric design) and social (mod & community management). Having an unconventional career will always be a bit of a rollercoaster, but I'm proud to work with enough repeat clients now to maintain stable digital service models! In 2020 it finally felt right to formally make the switch from hobbyist to business, which is where I'm at now.

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Art, coding, and modding all have crossover skills which complement each other well, while also allowing me to have a flexible personal schedule. I'm Chamorro & Filipino American from a HUGE and close family. Since childhood I've helped with various tasks and life events-- often had elderly or chronically ill relatives and pets who required specific care/assistance with physical labor. More recently, close friends (chosen family!) like having a listening ear or consistent body-doubling to aid with executive dysfunction. Being present would be much harder with different jobs.

So to everyone who has supported my art through the years, thanks so much for encouraging me to follow this career path and helping make this way of life possible 🤍

Former Handles: ari-murder, whythatsabsuuurd, and-you-have-my-bow, macabrepoet
Tablets: Intuos 4, Cintiq Companion Hybrid, Cintiq Pro 16, and iPad Pro 4th Gen.
Programs: CSP EX, Procreate, VS and VS Code, Moho Pro 12.5, Aseprite, Godot, and Blender.
Supplies: Uniball mechanical pencils, Mitsubishi Hi-Uni graphite pencils, Pentel Hi-Polymer erasers, Sakura Pigma Micron pens, Winsor Newton watercolors/colored pencils, Copic or Chameleon alcohol markers, Liquitex acrylic paints, Canton mixed media/watercolor sketchbooks*

*Please don't spring for expensive tablets, programs, and supplies thinking they're the only way to make "good" art. Any high-end things listed above are for work projects. You can do amazing art with recycled, secondhand, and inexpensive materials as long as you have the desire to create. Masterpieces might be made from anything if you apply your creativity, skills, and techniques well-- hone those while saving your wallet!