We are halfway through September and the days are getting darker and colder, but we have a new designer appreciation article to brighten up your day! For the DA of September, I got to interview the very talented Annie. A huge thank you to Annie for letting me interview you and for leaving a little surprise in the DA!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
- Hi! I'm Annie (yes that's my real name)! I'm 16 and I was proudly born in the Republica del Paraguay (But I grew up in Canada, so I'm really more Canadian than Paraguayan...) I love to sing, game, and learn new art forms like ukelele, kalimba, piano, 3D sculpting, animating, etc... basically whatever I can get my hands on before I get distracted and move on to something else A fun fact about me is that I have tics. The reason is currently unknown, but I talk about it in my blog dedicated to them. I'm always up for talking about my experience with it as tics and tic disorders have always fascinated me, so if you're interested in chatting about it I'm always free!

How long have you been designing for vp and what initially sparked your interest in doing so?
-I've been designing on VP since I joined in 2018, I thought it was just the coolest thing that I could draw something and eventually people could wear it, kinda like irl with clothes and designers

When did you become a badged designer?
-I became a badged designer in March of this year

Where do you get your design inspiration?
-I get my inspiration almost entirely from Pinterest. Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest. I think it's every artist's best friend at this point. Or from Claire's amazing, awe-inspiring, never-seen-before design inspiration thread, of course.

What program do you use for designing? And do you use a mouse or a drawing tablet?
-For designing I use FireAlpaca, my tried and true. free, easy, not super complicated. I currently use a cheap Huion tablet I bought on Amazon with babysitting money, but my first few designs in 2018 were made with the good 'ole mouse. I'm definitely not skilled enough like others here who use mice to use one myself, it looks like old Microsoft Paint drawings I made in 3rd-grade computer class when I try.

Approximately how long does it take you to design one set?
-It can really depend when it comes to duration. If I'm in a crazy million-ideas-per-second mood like I was in March (gave myself burn-out right after) it could take me a day at most with all my chores and school stuff in between. If I'm designing like normal, maybe at most 3 days (also with chores, school, etc) or sometimes a couple of hours if I'm in the flow and have free time. The thing that takes the most time is finding something I'm really inspired to make, I can get a bit picky and have to put my current skillset into consideration as well which rules out a lot.

How much time do you spend designing on a weekly/monthly basis?
- If I counted weeks in a month maybe two weeks in a month. A lot of sets and items get scrapped in those two weeks, however, so I'm often left with one set barely making it past the deadline.

Do you have a set that means something special to you or that had a special story behind it when you created it? Can you tell us why / what that story is?
-I'd have to say my application sets are the most special to me. I'm so happy with how both turned out and I've wanted to join DT since 2018 and these are the sets that got me in!