It is our pleasure to revive this site from inactivity with an interview from ToastieMan, an artist (though, he won’t admit it!) who has gained a reputation on devientART by drawing his interpretations of the standard eight bosses in the game. With this said, we’re also introducing the Art Gallery page.
Hi ToastieMan! Thank you for taking the time to have a chat with us.
ToastieMan: Hey, no problem at all. Thanks for being interested enough to ask me to!
How did you first hear about Mega Man X: Corrupted?
ToastieMan: I actually just randomly ran into one of the youtube videos posted about 5 years ago or so. I watched them, thought they were neat and well done and just sorta moved on. I didn’t really pay much attention to fan projects back then since megaman still had some life on the official scene. The way things are now though, you know, it’s pretty dry on anything official happening and so I started to really notice the fan game scene, especially when finished fan games start coming out that are bleeding with care and quality. Anyway, I ended up running into Hurricane Hoatzin’s theme on youtube, loving the hell out of it, looking up the game it was a part of and realizing after seeing those old youtube videos on the channel that it was that same game I’d run into all those years prior. That’s when I got excited, because here it was still existing, and boy had it progressed since I last saw it. I was just super stoked that it was still being worked on and had such fantastic progress to show for it.
How did you become an artist?
ToastieMan: Ah hell, I don’t really think I’ve achieved that title yet. But maybe a better answer is I’ve just been drawing ever since I was a little thing.
Did you have a particular order of taking care of the bosses?
ToastieMan: I wanted to draw Hoatzin first because he is my favorite of the bunch and Vulpex I had the most requests for so I decided to save him for last. I figured he was the fan favorite so I thought saving him for last would give me optimal time to have any bouts of inspiration if I was going to have any at all. I didn’t have any other particular order in mind. It was just whoever I felt like drawing at the time.
When creating fan art for Mega Man X: Corrupted, what the process you normally take to complete a piece? Do you physically draw the character first and then use Photoshop? What programs do you use?
ToastieMan: I use photoshop for everything. I used CS2 for years and I’m currently running CS5. All of my work is done via an old Bamboo Fun tablet I’ve had for years. Pretty much 90% of the work is just me using a stylus and the brush tool from the sketch to the finish. Warfare Milodon is the only exception to that. He ended up being built more than he was drawn what with all the straight lines, measuring, selections, warping and re-sizing I ended up doing. Everything had to be so exact that he ended up feeling more like a drafting project than a hobby drawing. He also had the most revisions.
Do you prefer the classic Mega Man, or the X series? Have you played them all or plan to?
ToastieMan: I have played and beaten all of the main games in the classic and X series other than the old Gameboy ones, which I never owned, and I prefer the X series. They’re both super fun experiences but I enjoyed how X built on the gameplay fundamentals of the classic series and I just like the darker setting and atmosphere, also Sigma is probably my favorite video game villain of all time.
Now for some quicker questions! X or Zero?
ToastieMan: X. Always X! My brother would always play as Zero, ha.
Do you still play the Mega Man X games?
ToastieMan: If there’s any one game series I’ll probably never stop playing it’ll be megaman. Everlasting peace isn’t gonna fight for itself!
Where can your fans go to find your work?
ToastieMan: The deviantart site is the only place I have my work online, so looking for my page there first is best.
Will you have additional artwork featuring Mega Man X: Corrupted?
ToastieMan: More art of the game in the future is a very firm probability.
Thank you so much for your time! It’s been a pleasure speaking to you. 🙂