Where does the luck come from? Ask Clover!

This was suggested to me in my intro-thread and it sounds like a lot of fun. So I'll take a swing at this. I never thought to do something like this on a forum before. Normally I answer bundles of questions on my tumblr!

If you'd like to know more about me personally, I have a FAQ (more like a novel!) listed on my tumblr's about page. So feel free to look through it for ideas if you like.

If you have any questions for me, shoot away!

 

Cherry score for @[member="Nature Lady"] !

How often do you question logic in real life?

Constantly. Real life often makes very little sense to me and I end up questioning everything like a 5 year old. I'm very lucky to have a fiance who tolerates all of my questions especially when I ask him to dumb down a lot of the topics to help me understand them better. I struggle with a lot of politics, social cultures, and mind sets of others. But being allowed to awkwardly (note sometimes offensively) discuss them helps me learn for the better and understand the stances of other people. I don't always agree with logic of the typical world or others, but I still try to find the middle ground of basic understanding so we all can remain civil.

Worst thing that's ever happened to you?

Easy, getting sick. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand health is a constant fluctuating matter. As we age and experience new things, so do our bodies. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. There is nothing I could have done to prevent this as a whole. I personally got a shit deal with my genetics and started to develop Rheumatoid Arthritis when I was about 15 years old. I come from a hard working family so it was a real struggle for them to understand I wasn't just lazy but actually sick. Because of this I didn't get treatments until it was much too late. When I was about 19 years old my symptoms had grown very severe and crippled my upper arms. Scariest years of my life because I still had no diagnosis at the time and everyone in a joking manner kept saying I was probably dying. I very much thought I was.

Before RA made me disabled, I was a very active child with lots of really big dreams. I'm extremely fortunate to still be able to pursue my art career despite my health and body's short comings. But I still know what it felt like to be healthy, to be active, to have energy all the time... I miss it dearly. Being chronically ill is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. And even worse? There is no cure for it. I will have to live like this for the rest of my life trying to cope with it.

 

How long have you been drawing Pokémon and what got you to do it?

I've been drawing Pokémon since I first ever started to watch it. That was before I was even trying to learn how to draw real artwork too. I always just aimlessly doodled before I was 12 years old without any direction or ideas. I have no idea what made me WANT to draw Pokémon. I remember always buying the coloring books and getting those fun Pokédex like books where you learned a little bit about each Pokémon and had some cel shots from the anime of each one.

I distinctly do remember I first traced Machop and Charizard. I wasn't able to draw freehand at the time, I couldn't focus the lines or understand how bodies worked/connected so I practiced by tracing. A few years later I had a ton of those "How to draw MANGA" books and I practiced a creepy style between those and lisa frank making pikachu girls all over the place. Fun times. As time continued I just kept on revisiting Pokémon for doodle-fodder and now it's one of my favorite subjects to create in!

Any place in the world that you'd like to visit? Why so?

Lots of places! First it was originally Japan. Weeaboo alert. But still, even now that I'm older I'd still very much would love to go and see it all for myself. Go to a real Pokémon center and pick up a favorite plush.Visit temples and taste all kinds of different foods. Sounds like so much fun to me!

Now I do have plenty of other places I'd love to visit. I especially want to visit Ireland because I'm 25% irish and my grandmother and grandfather are from there. They moved to USA when they were younger and had my dad here. I'm just really curious about my irish heritage and I'd just love to go sight seeing there. Do some landscape photography. Also like to go to Finland, I'm also part Finnish so pretty similar reasons as above. Just curious as to what it's like and to see it for myself. Overall I'd love to just go walking all over Europe if I had the health and funds for it.

Ohhh and now that I think about it I'd still would love to go to Africa for a photography safari trip. But I think that's completely out of the question now due to my health which is a huge bummer.

 

After trying to stare at your current avatar for a good 20 seconds, I realise that is certainly not a clover. It's green and orange, fine, but what on Earth is that?

It's a shiny Zubat! Specifically, it's my character June. She was my partner in Heart Gold when I had burned out on Pokémon for a few years and decided to break open my HG game I had sitting on a shelf since SSHG first came out. It's thanks to her and HG that made me fall in love with Pokémon all over again. I drew that icon special for this forum. I didn't realize it would be so hard to tell what she was, my bad.



Did you pick the name 'Clover' because of an obsession/love with luck, or some other reason? If the former, when did you develop this habit?

I loved clovers and "irish" themes since I was very young and my irish grandmother would give me all sorts of items she brought with her from ireland. Every year she would give me a new belleek item and I adored the delicate details. I've always had a fondness for clovers after that.

But the obsession with clovers wasn't that big until later years. I always just liked it as a silly nick name. When I was trying to find myself a "brand name" to sell my artwork under and making a living out of. How I wanted to see it titled on shelves and stores. Finally after many months of consideration and testing I came up with the brand name "Clover Coin Designs" and I'm absolutely obsessed with clover themes now! I actually don't really care much about love or luck. In fact I'm incredibly unlucky in both categories, but I also believe in making your own luck. Maybe that applies?

The real reason I picked "Clover" as my username here was first; I needed 4 characters. Originally I was trying to get AJ. That didn't work, so instead I went to my Pokémon trainer characters! My favorite Pokémon trainer original character is Clover Parker. I made her up for fun when I started Heart Gold. First run in there I immediately ran into a shiny zubat, a cute little female I named June. I played my heart out in that game and treasure both of these characters very dearly. Thanks to them I completely fell in love with Pokémon all over again like when I was a kid. <3 She's just such a cute girl to draw and such a fun theme to work with! Plus it also slides into an alias that many people associate me with "Clover Coin" so it's completely win-win in my book.

Do you prefer multiple-choice questions or short-answer questions? and why?

I like short-answer questions for the sake of easiness. I often run out of spoons (energy) and socializing takes a lot out of me. Even the online talk can be a pretty big drain, I've been slacking really hard on tumblr with my asks there because it's become such a chore to repeat the same answers over and over again.

But I also like multiple choice questions, seems even easier than short answer. All you do is check a box right? But then I don't get a say in my actual answer and that's kind of a bummer.

What is your favourite piece of punctuation, if any?

Favorite? Hmm. I suppose it's a tie for ... and ! since I use them the most.

 

How and when did all this Clover Parker business start, how did your OC become what it is today?

OH BOY Let me see here... Well obviously it was a total whim when I started my Heart Gold game. I just picked the name Clover and was using the HG theme of "Ho Oh; the phoenix" to really get a new and fresh start with Pokémon since I wasn't enjoying later games/generations as much any more. Clover was a redeeming name for me and my business, so it seemed only fitting to use that as a silly nick name in game.

Everything kind of changed when I first ran into June, the shiny zubat. It was my 3rd legit shiny ever, 10 YEARS since I last saw a shiny in my games! I only ever found 2 shiny oddish in my Silver and Crystal games before. Groans at them both being oddish in the same exact location.... Now I wasn't sure what to think of her at first, a zubat? Really? That's pretty bland. But then I remembered I am playing later generations, Johto is when the crobat was discovered and I did think crobat was really cool... So looking up more about June after I caught her I was surpised at how much I liked her green and slightly citrus color scheme. A green zubat for a girl named Clover? I mean talk about perfect!

As I played more I only got more into it, I wanted to actually visualize my character in the game enjoying her adventures with June. So I started to work on concept art for her character and super cute trainer outfit! I even made her a custom Pokéball that is themed around a "Friend Ball". Finally with her outfit down, I got really excited about her entire character.

I had so much fun with her, I thought others would also enjoy my adventures with Clover and June too. I planned on starting a writing/comic/art ask blog featuring them but I was starting to get sick again that time. (Every winter was extremely hard on my health and left me bedridden so I coudln't be actively drawing or doing much of anything.) So it never got off the ground. I still personally hold hopes that I'll kick my butt into gear and just start doing it and story boarding her adventures!

So now I use her as my own personal representation. Well, she's not me, but I like to think she's everything "good" about me, everything that is adventurous and positive in my life stashed away in the Pokémon world living an exciting and happy life. And that makes me very happy whenever I see her.

What is your favorite flower?

Super easy, Lilacs! I grew up with them all around my farm and love them this day. It also happens to be my favorite color, purple, and my favorite scent!

What breed(s) are your dogs?

I have three dogs! Oldest is Shade, he is a border collie/blue heeler/husky mix. But he's also the biggest couch potato you've ever seen in your life. So weird for 3 working class dogs mix?

Next up is the bratty girl Candy, she is a full breed Pembroke Welsh Corgi. I rescued her from a breeder, she has a slight birth deformity in her back that makes one of her legs like a stick. She doesn't feel pain and it doesn't bend, so you see her "hopping" with her hind legs much like a bunny when she gets around. Don't worry about her, she can still out-run me and lets everyone know when she needs help getting up on furniture. Haha.

And last the baby of the family. Ollie. Well actually his name is Apollo but I've been calling him Ollie ever since I met him. lol He's a giant baby, demands my attention 24/7, isn't even MY dog, and is the biggest goofiest lover you'll ever meet. We have no idea what breeds he is, we're guessing a rottie/shepard mix from what his previous owners told us.

I owned Shade and Candy before meeting my Fiance, Prov. When we were just getting together he had adopted his own puppy, Apollo/Ollie, and that dog completely imprinted on me. Now that we're together I feel so bad because he clings to me more than he ever does to Prov! Prov gets pretty miffed but hey, my two dogs now ditch me for him completely. Candy use to sleep with me every night, now she only sleeps with him! Pfff!

What is your favorite thing about LV so far?

TOO SOON TO TELL, I'm still breaking in my LV bubble. I'm sure we'll have a much better idea in about a month. I'm personally really excited by the idea of getting back into casual RP with my silly Pokémon characters.

If you could develop a new skill or talent, what would it be and why?

Ohhh, this is a good one. Well for sure I always wanted to cook BETTER. I can cook, I love cooking, but I just wish I was better at it. More proficient I guess. I've been a picky eater my whole life but once I started learning how to cook it's really helped open me up to new and fun flavors of food!

Now if we had to pick a skill I have 0% in, it would have to be sewing. I'd love to make plushies personally, stuffed animals, toys, all that fun plush stuff. I especially would LOVE to learn how to make plushies of my personal creation The Pillowing! Maybe then someday I'd have a real life size plushie of my personal pillowing companion Cherish. <3

What is your favorite wild animal? Why is it your favorite?

Oh no, gosh... Well let's see...I have to think hard about this.... hmmm...

Well Foxes are very sleek and extremely clever, plus they're so much fun to watch with their wild antics. But oh crows are also really amazing and so intelligent! Errr but obviously my favorite animals of all time are weasels, ferrets, martens... I mean just look at them. So cute I could DIE. Yeah, okay, I need to vote for weasels/ferrets/martens I think! I just love seeing any photography or documentaries about them.

 

How did you end up with a code for Toyhou.se?

I'm not really sure how it all started. But I know if you sign up and then pay a subscribe fee you get 4 invite codes every sunday and customization rights to your profile! Lots of artists were invited and lots of them gave out dozens of codes. I got my invite from another artist on DeviantArt and have been hooked ever since. It's just a great place to organize yourself and your characters.

I loved the idea so much I just had to support it. So now I have a ton of invite codes, if anyone ever needs one, please let me know! I'm more than happy to give some out.

 

@[member="8542Madness"] Thank you, I appreciate that. I'm just so sorry you understand it yourself. We gotta stick together and help each other out when we're low on spoons.

Your current place of residence bursts into flame, and you only have time to grab three things to make it out in time. What three things do you save?

It's actually pretty hilarious in a twisted way for me, because this has literally happened to me as a child. Present day? I have to say my 3 dogs. Everything else can burn so long as I have them.

Do you like having large groups of friends, or do you prefer smaller groups?

I love having large social groups, but smaller trusted group of friends who know me well and don't take my jokes too seriously. I don't mean to be, but I'm rather crude.

How can you draw pixelated? I really want to know..

Most people I know do it by mouse. I personally just use the binary tool in Manga Studio 5 and blob colors together into shapes, no sketching or line art. When I tried sketches and line art I always made it look bad, so I am practicing lineless style and improv. If you need tutorials, I suggest going to deviant art and looking them up!

Why shiny zubat?

It was the Pokémon partner that helped me get back into Pokémon games again after I bored with them. Detailed answers can be found here and here.