guest: dkbkbrainrot

[quinnpriv1]

GUEST: dkbkbrainrot

PROFILE RATING: E/18+

BIO: My name is N (she/her). I’m only really known for my My Hero Academia headcanons and fanart, but fandom has been a big part of my life since I was a kid and there are lots of other series I’ve spent a lot of time brainrotting over. I love cats, books and painting! Really excited to have been nominated for this. :D

PREVIEW: Other people’s opinions aren’t important. What’s important is how you feel about your work and how you can improve upon it.

 

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GENERAL QUESTIONS

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[Quillifer: What is the first fandom you remember being involved in? What drew you to this fandom / community?]

I think the first series I became a fan of in the sense that I was creating for it was Danny Phantom, but if we’re talking fandom as in a community with shared interests, I think my first fandom was Naruto.
 

[Quillifer: How long have you been involved in fandom?]

About 17 years, I think? I remember I was 12 when I made my first DeviantArt account—that’s when I first started interacting with people.
 

[Quillifer: If you could travel anywhere for inspiration in your creative works, where would you go? Have you already gone on a majorly inspirational trip?]

I haven’t gone anywhere, but if I had to go, I’d pick something close to the fandoms [I have an interest in.] E.G. Japan for anime, Korea for manhwa, etc.

For me, personally, I always get way more inspired by nature, so I would probably go to the mountains.
 

[Quillifer: If you had to choose an item of clothing, a food dish, and a color to describe yourself, what would you choose and why?]

Item of clothing: pants. I feel like that’s the one thing I'm always wearing. I have never worn an outfit that doesn’t include a pair of pants, plus it feels like it’s the kind of thing that covers you up and I’m the type of person who doesn’t like people knowing too much about me.

Food: rice, because it’s basic and I’m basic. I like working with the core/canonical elements of any series more than the extra stuff you build on top of it (fanon), but also, I like clichés in my fanwork.

Color: black, but I’m not entirely sure why. It’s my default color for everything.
 

[Quillifer: What are your hobbies / what do you do outside of fandom involvement?]

Outside of fandom, I read books and paint. Sometimes I experiment with cooking, but not very frequently.
 

[Quillifer: What kinds of technology do you use to write and for everyday life? (iPad, laptop, phone, etc.)]

Laptop for writing, laptop + graphics tablet for drawing. Occasional Samsung tablet for doodles.
 

[Quillifer: What is your advice for fellow creatives / people interested in getting involved in your avenues of fandom?]

It’s so basic (like rice), but the only advice I have is to stop being obsessed with numbers and statistics—none of that means anything. Other people’s opinions (good or bad) aren’t important. What’s important is focusing on how you feel about your work and how you think you can improve upon it.
 

[Quillifer: What is the mark that you want to make on other people? (Strangers vs. acquaintances vs. friends, etc.) What do you hope people take away after they get to know you / your work?]

Ahhhh, I’m good with it if people enjoy what I enjoyed making. I don’t have ambitions about making a mark on the world or anything. Good art makes a mark in its own way in different ways for different people. Plus, ‘good’ art is subjective.

Whoever sees [my work] and likes it will have a mark made on them, even if it’s a small, insignificant one. I don’t have to know about it, but it’d be nice if they think about [that impact] even once long after they’ve closed the tab and moved on to other things.
 

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ARTIST-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

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[Quillifer: How do you know when a piece is finished?]

Honestly? When I get sick of looking at it.
 

 

[Quillifer: How do you promote your own work? How long did it take to build the audience you currently have?]

I post at specific times to make sure it reaches the most number of people and I reblog/retweet at other specific times to account for people on the other side of the world, lol.

It took about 5-ish years to get here for Izuku/Katsuki, but I’ve been drawing for other fandoms for a much longer time and honestly it’s funny because the reach I have on THOSE accounts is only a tiny fraction of what I have for My Hero Academia (MHA).

[Quillifer: What is the coolest / best part of being an artist?]

I think the fact that you can whip up a little doodle in response to someone and they always find it funny.
 

 

[Quillifer: Have you ever done collaborative projects with other artists/writers/etc.? How did it go? What did you like / dislike about it?]

I have a lot of fun doing artist collabs because there’s so many ways to go about it, but with writers in pre-agreed collabs, I think it’s hard to draw for something someone else has visualized to a T. I do like drawing fanart for fics, though.
 

[Quillifer: How would you describe your art style? Who / what are some of your biggest stylistic influences?]

I think it’s a mix of moë (cutesy) and kinda edgy. The biggest influence is always the specific series I’m drawing fanart for.

For my personal art—like OCs (original characters) and stuff—I think my influences are manhwa, Death Note, and Noragami.

[Quillifer: What is your dream project / art piece?]

A webcomic. :D I have everything planned from the characters to the plot to the setting—just gotta find the time and energy.
 

 

[Quillifer: What is your goal with your art / what do you hope to achieve when people look at your work?]

At my core, I just wanna have fun with it if I’m being honest. I recently started working with paint and a brush and all that and I think it helped so much to be doing it for myself because it really did reawaken a love for art that had gotten lost somewhere along the many years of posting for views.

If we’re talking about things I wanna get better at—drawing backgrounds, digital painting, and improving at composition, probably.

I also think I’m not a creative person LOL. I think a lot of people think art = creativity, but sometimes people have the technical skill and not the imagination. I would like to be more creative and come up with interesting ideas.
 

[Quillifer: This is something I want to know more about—ironically, I wouldn't describe myself as a ‘creative’ person, either. How do you define creativity / what your strengths & weaknesses are?]

In terms of art, I think visual composition. Do you remember the apple trend or meme 2 guys made on MS Paint and where they overlapped the colors and the mix showed their individual colors? Most of the time, what’s going through my head isn’t something new and imaginative, it’s just a sequence of events, which is why I think I do so well with comics but terrible with illustration.
 

 

[Quillifer: What’s one thing people might not know about you and/or your art journey so far?]

My journey has been super straightforward. I don’t think there’s anything that stands out as special.
 

 

[Quillifer: What do you listen to / watch when you draw?]

Podcasts and video essays, mostly, but sometimes music.
 

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WRITER-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

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[Quillifer: What are some of your most commonly used words/phrases/etc.?]

A few weeks ago, I noticed that I use ‘one hot line’ often when describing bodies pressed together, which I then got very self-conscious about so I have not used it since, but I am very tempted to.
 

[Quillifer: What do you want readers to take away from your work? What is your favorite type of comment/feedback? (I.E. what makes you honored for people to point out when they read your work?)]

I think I use writing as a way to analyze the characters—or my interpretation of the characters, at least—so it’s not as much that I want others to take that away from my work. Rather, I want to get those thoughts out there so that I personally can see how I feel about something, and that something may or may not be something others agree with.

As for feedback: I like comments where people tell me what they like about the fic, even if it’s not that detailed. Dialogue they liked, specific sentences they felt had vivid imagery, something that stood out [about my] characterization.

I don't want people to feel like they have to leave a comment out of obligation, though. I don't mind getting less comments—I’d rather people comment when they really feel like they have something to say rather than just doing it because they know writers like getting comments.
 

[Quillifer: Are you the type to outline your work or do you just go for it? What does your drafting/editing process look like?]

I used to be the [type of] person who jumped into stuff without any clue what I was about to do, but nowadays I prefer having a bullet-point list of things I want to include. I don’t do ‘drafts’—I toss words on the page (sometimes this takes 1 day, other times it takes 3+ months) and coming back to them later to see if I still like them, or, if not, what I can change about it or decide if [a concept] needs to be scrapped.
 

[Quillifer: What are the easiest / most difficult things for you to do as a writer?]

The easiest thing is dialogue. I think I can come up with dialogue that sounds like the characters very easily, but I struggle with showing movement. “Character A did [x] and then did [y] and then [z,]” but the audience doesn't need to know all of that.

Sometimes, I end up following the characters around with a camera and then I have to remove parts of that. I think it’s a habit from seeing a film running in my head that doesn’t translate to writing as much as it does to art and I draw more frequently.
 

[Quillifer: What are some of your major media influences? (Books, movies, music, etc.)]

Movies and books, definitely.
 

[Quillifer: Which movies and books would you say have been the biggest influence / that you still think about a lot?]

Lots, but I don't think they've been the biggest influence in the sense that they have impacted how I approach fandom. Rather, the more books/movies/TV shows I engage with, the more ideas I have for fanwork.

Most of the time, the media that had a lasting impact on me was good enough for me to think about it for a long time afterwards. [Reading books does] improve my writing style, but that's not something I can attribute to specific books.
 

[Quillifer: What is your dream story to write?]

To be honest, I don’t have a dream story, I like writing whatever comes to mind. I do have dream genres that I wanna write (horror and mystery) but I haven’t managed those yet.
 

[Quillifer: Do you have a specific reason you haven't approached horror & mystery yet? Is it due to lack of experience with the genre/vibe?]

I think [these genres] take a lot of planning and I am too lazy to sit and plan that extensively, hahaha. I have some original stuff that I've done, but that was a while ago and I don't like those stories anymore.
 

[Quillifer: Who are some of your favorite authors (fanfiction or published)?]

I don’t have favorite authors so much as I have favorite works by good authors. People don't always write stuff that appeals to you and I’m picky as hell anyway, so I don't know if I would say someone is my favorite author.
 

[Quillifer: What do you think brings readers to your work? What could you show a new reader to entice them to subscribe to you??]

Unfortunately, right now it’s the follower count from my current ship, ha ha! I think my fanfic reach is largely due to the fact that I advertise my stuff and it reaches a fair number of people. Also, because I never want to write something someone else has already done, I end up thinking of something new that I can add—and honestly, that is why I write so rarely. Most stuff has already been written and there’s nothing else I feel like I can add.
 

[Quillifer: Do you like your old work? Why or why not?]

Some of it yes, most of it no, hahaha.

I like the [fics] that came from the heart, but most of them are obvious attempts of a high schooler/college student trying to write fanfiction and being bad at it, so no, I don’t like it. I’ve hidden those away in a closed collection so nobody else can read them anymore.
 

[Interview hosted on May 18, 2026 via Discord. Edited & Posted by Quillifer.]