VGA ZINE QUESTION ZONE: Ashlynn Barker a.k.a. Fake Gamer Girl
Ashlynn Barker is a comics artist and game designer. She is interviewed by Mick R.
Courtesy of the artist
Where does the name Fake Gamer Girl come from?
The title of my comic (kinda) was taken from an old song I wrote in 2016 under Ashby and the Oceanns. To be honest, I just picked it as a first thought and like most weird titles, I've been explaining it for 3 years. But it's mostly just a title that to me reflects my imposter syndrome as a visual artist and as a gamer, and it has "girl" in the title... so it was probably a little bit of self-validation.
Courtesy of the artist
What inspired you to start a webcomic series?
It's something I wanted to do for a long time. I've always drawn visual art as a hobby... I was also a little embarrassed because I never went to art school. It's been intimidating, but my comics are truly just a record of my progress as a self-taught artist.
If you had to summarize your comic in one sentence, how would you describe it?
Fake Gamer Girl Comics is a webcomic about trans stuff, video games, and depression. lol. (I also described my music the same way, it's the triforce of my personality, I guess.)
Who are some of your influences?
There are so many talented trans artists! Check out Close Your Eyes Look At The Mountains and Kaycee Cosmos. I just love being in a comic community where everyone is doing their own thing.
Can you describe your process for us? How do you take something to an idea to a finished comic?
Generally, I am an anti-perfectionist. My workflow is mainly digital and at this point I just sketch when I'm laying around and sometimes the initial thought is good enough to work on as a comic (which involves about 30 minutes-1 hour of redrawing, coloring, finalizing), but a lot of times, those doodles are just deleted. I'm not too precious about keeping art or editing til it's perfect... I just try to make something and move on.
Courtesy of the artist
Your use of color is very intriguing, is there any special significance to your choice of colors and hues?
I used to be afraid to experiment with color and only made black-and-white art for a year online before trying colors... Even early color comics were monochromatic. Slowly, I just started experimenting and finding colors I liked and disliked and it kinda just became a big part of my art over time. It's still weird because again... I did not go to art school and I've been so enamored by other artists and their skills with color & lighting... I feel like I'm just starting to learning for sure.
Your comic feels very cohesive despite frequently changing focus and protagonists. How do you account for the sense of continuity your work has?
I gave up on making the same type of comics for any length of time because it's just not how my brain works. I do have more-focused projects, but my daily comic is a container for anything I want to make, try, experiment with... It's more rewarding to mess around and try stuff than to perfect one story or type of comic.
Your comics feature almost exclusively trans and nonbinary characters, was this a deliberate decision on your part?
I'm just trans... and I find it hard to write or create content about cis folks. Like... so much of what I love and interact with is trans content... It's just this big spark of creativity for me and I find making content for my community to be the most gratifying.
How important is trans/nonbinary representation in media to you?
Super important! To me though, it's more important that trans creators and artists are brought into projects AND paid... Representation isn't enough at this point. We just need more diverse groups of people brought into these projects early on.
What part do you feel your comic plays in the greater trans comic community?
I am super grateful that people get what I'm doing... I think I try to be a positive impact and overall do a good job at that. It's funny because people know me from my very-intense emo folk music... and now people know me for my very silly art... It's cool to have recognition for very different projects. I feel like that connection with the trans community as I grow and change has been very cool and rewarding.
You've been doing some coding lately. How has that been going?
I really enjoy coding. My long term goal is to make more story-based comics AND small indie games. I think that would be an exciting career. I just need to remember how to do math.
Courtesy of the artist
Do you have anything our readership could play right now?
Sure! Check out fggcomic.itch.io! I have two games out now for FREE: Rebel Kitsune (a text adventure) & Bunt Girl (A Breakout-style game with ghosts).
Do you have any tips for reaching the top score in your games?
Go for the edges in Bunt Girl. A lot of enemies are more difficult trying to hit them head on and shooting over them and juggling the ball (or other objects) is pretty key to getting a good score. You can also score farm certain levels, but it hasn't been too much of an issue. However, there are 50 levels in Bunt Girl which always throw people off... But there are so many bosses! You should play it and stick with it to the end!
What does the second half of 2020 hold for you and Fake Gamer Girl?
Well... probably some major life changes, so I'm sure I will have a hard time doing everything I want to... But I think I'll make a couple of different small indie games for free and I'll keep working on comics & music! That's probably it!
In a maneuver that we are brazenly stealing from the A.V. Club, we asked Derrick Fields a.k.a. Waking Oni for one question to ask our next QUESTION ZONE participant. He asked: If you could befriend one mystical beast, what would it be and why?
A chimera! Snake? Lion? Other thing? They are... so dope.