 Temi Chang loved all forms of art. She was studying hard and learning all about fine art, creating paintings based on the classics that dated back hundreds of years in an effort to become a better artist. At the same time, she had also fallen deeply in love with more modern forms of inspiration. She was overwhelmed by the amazing, beautiful work on display in popular anime, cartoons and video games. These newer art forms didn't come with the same prestige and respectability of the fine art paintings that Temi was learning to create, but they were no less meaningful to her. One day, Temi would prove just how influential a video game could be. Her contributions to gaming and animation, most notably the indie smash hit Undertale, would define her career as an artist and make her a source of inspiration for multitudes of fans around the world. It all started with Breath of Fire. When Temi Chang was very young, her cousin would sit with her and the pair would play the Super Nintendo's fantasy role-playing game together. Temi fell in love with the feel of the game and the gorgeous sprite art that told such a powerful story in spite of its simplicity. She was only young, but already she felt a desire to one day work on a game herself, creating artwork that lived up to what she saw playing Breath of Fire. Gaming was only one of her interests at the time. While she was still only eight or nine, Temi had her hands full drawing the coolest dragons she could possibly design. She had a desire to immerse herself in fantasy worlds and it seemed that the best way to do this was to create her own monsters and heroes through artwork. Her interest in pictures of huge, scaly beasts led her to explore the internet, where she stumbled upon a website called DeviantArt. Here, Temi was blown away by the incredible works of art that other site users created and was all the more amazed to discover that some of these artists were only a little older than she was herself. Temi realised that if she applied herself and really pushed to learn as much about drawing and painting as possible, she might be able to make artwork that looked as wonderful as the things she saw on DeviantArt. Temi's uncle bought her a cheap digital drawing tablet and she began practicing every day, trying to improve and develop her skills. Her mother, very supportive of this hobby, enrolled Temi in a series of fine art and life drawing classes so that she could hone her abilities as much as possible. Meanwhile, gaming continued to inspire Temi as she developed as an artist. As a teenager, she found other unique and interesting games and this desire grew within her. She played games like Yumi Nikki and Cave Story and marveled at just how much artistic expression was possible in relatively simple pixel art games. Temi hoped that one day, she might get the chance to be involved with one of these relatively small indie projects that were making waves among gaming fans. This all paid off as Temi earned a scholarship five years in a row that let her attend a summer camp that focused entirely on learning about painting and drawing. She often felt overwhelmed by just how talented the other artists were but she was pleased with how her own abilities were developing. At the same time though, Temi found a rift in the art world meant that some professionals and teachers would look down on her hobbies. Temi wasn't just drawing influence from traditional fine art sources but from video games, animation and wider culture and this didn't sit too well with some of the more established experts that she'd brush up against. This made Temi frustrated as surely any influence had the potential to help her grow if it was something she cared about. She paid no heed to her dismissive art teachers and embraced her love of fan culture, diving into the internet to find like-minded peers. She got involved with communities and forums online offering to draw art requests and later embracing social media like Twitter and Tumblr as a way to share her art with others. When it came to professional employment, Temi really wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life. She loved art and she knew that she wanted to do something that allowed her creative freedom but her specific direction was unclear. Temi followed the path of least resistance. She had a friend who was looking to major in 2D animation and to ultimately convince Temi that she might as well study the same thing. The pair were accepted to study at an art institute where Temi met plenty of other like-minded aspiring artists. Temi's time at art school was some of the best of her life. She was naturally fairly shy and withdrawn and wasn't hugely interested in social situations so developing friendships with similarly artistically driven people really helped her to grow. The only real drawback was the debt. Temi felt very uncomfortable about taking out student loans to pay for her time at art school and worried that she might end up burdening herself for life if she couldn't find a way to pay these off after she'd finished her studies. Art degrees aren't known for their stability and had she gone down a different path Temi might have preferred the practicality and employability that something like an engineering degree might have afforded her. Probably the best part of studying was getting the chance to associate with other creative students. Everyone in the digital arts department was eager to help each other sharing ideas, resources and opportunities to learn and develop. Temi found herself learning and growing a lot as an artist from all the feedback and encouragement that her peers offered her. Then, one day, something exciting happened. A simple message from one of her fans a game developer and musician named Toby Fox would make Temi's life a lot more interesting. Things were about to get busy, complicated and exciting as she was about to embark on one of the most enjoyable artistic projects of her life as she joined Toby in making a little game called Undertale. As her online presence grew Temi would occasionally get messages from fans of her work asking for help with different projects or for art to attach to things they were working on. One day though, she got a request for more work than anyone had asked for before. Temi was well aware of Homestuck and so receiving a message from Toby Fox who had contributed significantly to that budgeting multimedia experience was very exciting indeed. Toby was a fan of Temi's artwork and, as such, was hoping to get her help in completing a video game he was working on called Undertale. Toby loved Temi's artwork and as he began making plans for his project he wanted the opportunity to work with her using her artistic talents to make Undertale the best game that it could possibly be. For her part, Temi was thrilled for the chance to work on the game. At this point, the game was still very early in development but from everything Toby had already done this seemed like Undertale was going to be wonderful. Not only was the existing gameplay really solid but coupled with Toby's own music Temi was sure that he was on to something special. Temi and Toby, along with other artists including Kenji and Merigo worked on all of the character designs and sprites that he had yet to figure out. For the most part, Toby had an idea of the characters that he wanted in the game and simple sketches that Temi would elaborate on find a finished style for and create an adorable pixelized form. There was a lot to do. Temi helped with environmental art as well as the game's sepia-tinted opening cutscene. She added little tweaks to some of Toby's creations such as adding finesse tutorials sprite art. Temi also came up with some wholly original designs some of which Toby liked enough to develop and add into the game. Lesser Dog, for example, came from one of Temi's ideas before being expanded upon as the pair worked together. Going back and forth on designs with Toby never really felt like work. Temi had a fantastic time chatting with him and discussing ideas. If anything, this felt like an extension of the friendly art sharing and pro bono drawings she'd been doing for friends for years online, albeit on a much bigger scale. Talking about Undertale was interwoven inside a genuine friendship. Sometimes the pair would discuss designs. Sometimes Toby would share reference materials and descriptions. And sometimes they'd just send each other cute photos and videos of Pomeranians for hours at a time. Temi even ended up becoming the basis for an entire village of characters as a kind of Easter egg. At the time, Temi's avatar on social media was a cute drawing that had been done by a friend, Betty Kwong, to represent her before Betty actually knew what Temi looked like. Partially as a joke, Toby began turning this cartoon Temi into a character in the game, making it a parody of the real Temi and the way she used to talk when messaging people online. Somehow, this idea grew into an entire village of characters within the game, as a tribute to the artist who'd contributed so much time and effort to making Undertale work. Together, the pair worked to put together the game's Kickstarter to earn some funding that would help them with their project. Temi made additional illustrations, comics and other artwork to help their presentation look as good as it possibly could. So naturally, Undertale shot well past all the expected funding goals as fans fell in love with Temi's artwork. As fun as this process was though, Temi began to feel pressure mounting up. She hadn't really expected Undertale's development to stretch into her senior year at art school, but now she found herself swamped with schoolwork and trying to balance her art duties for Undertale on the side. There really didn't seem to be enough time for everything, as Temi began struggling to keep on top of all her different assignments and projects. She felt guilty for not being able to help more with the latter half of Undertale's development, simply because she didn't have enough time for everything that was on her plate. In the face of adversity, Temi buckled down. She pushed through her final assignments at school and gave Toby all the support and help that she could as Undertale drew near to completion. Finally, both of these two enormous projects wrapped up. Temi felt triumphant. She'd made it through the gauntlet and achieved her goals. At this point though, while Temi was vaguely aware of the popularity of Undertale, she had no idea how much of a gaming superstar she'd become. It wasn't until Temi attended a convention, Magfest, that she discovered the extent of the new fandom that had sprung up around her work. Countless people came up to her, expressing their love of Undertale and of her art in general, and Temi was left with the satisfying realisation that, along with Toby Fox, she'd made something that people really cared about. This was only the beginning. As Temi faced the wide world outside of college, she found herself working on other games and projects within prestigious development teams. She was able to lend her professional talents to a new game in the long-running Shantae series, as well as working at Studio Yotta on a lot of animation projects for their various clients, including Cartoon Network. She even managed, thanks to the overwhelming success of Undertale, to pay off her student debts without any hassle at all. This, in and of itself, felt like a phenomenal achievement. Temi had grown. She had learned, and she'd made things that she could be very, very proud of. Her lifetime of creative work stretched out in front of her, and she was eager to see where her career would take her next. The moral of this story is that you should never ignore who you are at your core. Temi Chang has a love of fine art and of cute animation and found the importance of not ignoring either side of her inspirations. While her teachers might have looked down on her interests when she was younger, it was only by embracing her love of video games and pop culture that Temi was able to make things that resonated with others. Don't listen if someone tells you that the things you love are silly or juvenile. Embrace what makes you special and you'll find your place one day. Learning to develop your talents isn't always easy. It takes daily work to truly become great at something, and it can be a long, stressful, difficult process to achieve your dreams. You may find yourself drowning in work as you try to balance work or school with more creative pursuits. You may, like Temi Chang, find yourself sacrificing your free time to help ensure that you have time enough for everything you're trying to do. Don't underestimate yourself and remember that you have many skills that can aid you in your goals. Temi's success has come not just from her own personal talents but her friendly ability to work and laugh with others, generating new and fun ideas to help make Undertale the best that it could be. Remember who you are and where your talents and interests lie. One day, if you keep working to improve yourself, you'll find the perfect way to make your mark on the world.