Read the article and stick around for info on a giveaway
JisuArt with her booth at Super Smash Con
Her full name is Jackie Choe. She’s currently residing in the Midwest and is only 18. She loves Smash Bros, drawing, video games, and playing music full-blast. She finds herself at many events selling her art, and while she’s not shy, she’s certainly mysterious. With how busy she is in art and improving at Smash, she rarely finds time to even leave her booth, much less tell her story.
One of JisuArt's many popular pieces
JisuArt started getting into the community by watching videos while jogging. She noticed the video that she was watching was a game from her childhood. She started to watch and realized that it was a recording from the live broadcast of EVO 2013's Top 8 for Super Smash Bros. Melee. She had heard of Smash tournaments before, but this was her first real introduction. “I remember after watching mang0 vs. Armada, something just snapped cause after that I was hooked”.
Her brother sold their Gamecube and copy of Melee, so she had her parents drive all around town to find a setup. Being only a 15-year-old sophomore at the time, she only had enough money to afford a Gamecube but not a disc. She asked one of her school friends to pool in some extra money – while her friend quit playing Melee, she had started a school club to play Smash.
"I actually don’t know" is what she says when asked how she started with art; she has faint memories of drawing or trying to draw when she was young. After starting her club, the fateful tournament named “Shuffle V” emerged. It was part of the MLG grassroots movement, and it was the first big tournament (back when 300+ was considered big) she could attend that was not 30+ hours away.
Being a busy high schooler, she had no time to practice. She noticed a big lack of fanart for the relatively small community, so she decided to use her talents to fill this gap. With no sleep, in the next 72 hours, she created 5 of her most iconic pieces, got them printed, and brought them to sell at the event.
"The rest is pretty much history," she said. She started off with an etsy account. And her first customers were high-profiled names like Rapture, Mang0, M2k, Hbox, etc. She had never sold her art before, let alone present it to such a large crowd, so she found herself overwhelmed by the positivity. Later, she felt the need to launch JisuArt once her schoolwork wasn’t an issue. She switched her studies from public schooling to online, and as soon as possible, she made it her mission to launch her career as an artist.
A Day in the Life of JisuArt
She wakes up, answers emails, works on art, and is even so busy that she has a list of overdue stuff. In the competitive field of entertainment, she hardly has time for Smash Bros, but she works hard to obtain a schedule that will allow a more stable and steady income.
"Oh man, my process is so different every time," she says. She loves doing practically every style, which means she has to prep and study before beginning to draw. Her process boils down to thinking of an idea, quickly sketching the idea so she doesn't forget, refining and correcting the draft, and then fine-tuning it once again. Each stage varies from piece to piece, but she believes there is no "correct" creative process and that the stigma of artists being 'magical wizards' making things that average people can't fathom making needs to be thrown out. "The true magic is the idea, not the process of making it".
"I've always been pretty particular with how things should not only look but how they feel and what they represent. I'm sure that has a lot do with why I love Melee since it's such an expressive game."
"Only recently have I gotten enough help to be able to leave the booth for more than 30 minutes at a time," finding herself glad at what she has accomplished thus far.
In the immediate future, Jisu has confirmed herself to show up at Shine and Twitch Con. The Big House 6 and SmashTheRecord are currently a possibility. Her long term plan is to expand her artwork into new genres, attending new events, and starting up many big projects. These projects include things like a Patreon, YouTube channel, and Streaming – many of her supporters have been waiting on these, but she doesn’t want to release anything until she knows both her and her fans will be satisfied with it.
She has some skill and experience in creating graphics for games. Her social media pages will reveal more soon.
"Any and all content creators should be proud and confident of their endeavors. There's people out there on the internet that are harmful, whether it be trolls or just people that are bored. It's their job to make you feel like crap no matter what, but if you know what you're doing and just keep going the magic will happen somewhere," she finds herself saying to many individuals. So many artists follow the same model, but only one in a million are truly successful, so find what makes that stand-out approach and start using it.
She advises other players to support content creators – it only means higher quality and quantity. "If you're wondering why Smash/any community doesn't get enough love, it's because the people who do pour their hearts out for the game don't get enough support to maintain/grow it." While she doesn’t want to see people throwing out all of their earnings at every single pop-up shop or tourney, she definitely believes in expressing monetary gratitude when the work that’s been done is good.
"My main goal with Smash was to grow the creative aspect of the community. I wanted different ways for Smashers to express their love for the game through artwork and merch. I think overall it's been pretty successful as more and more artists join in and create more content for us to share and enjoy.
Nowadays you can find me traveling to events, creating new artwork, and maintaining/growing my brand -- but wherever my path goes, I will always thank Smash for being my first ever big start and my all-time favorite audience/community.
Her social media pages can be found at her website JisuArt.com with her DeviantArt, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter being @jisuart and her Facebook Fanpage as @JisuArtOfficial
The official SmashBoards x JisuArt giveaway can be found here
JisuArt: The Mystery behind Her Art
In 2013, when the Smash Bros. scene started rapidly expanding, great talent was discovered both in and out of the game itself. One such artist was JisuArt, known for her art featuring top-tier gaming/pop culture products. She's often found selling them at her booths at many events including Genesis 3, Super Smash Con 2015/2016, Pound 2016, The Big House 5, and EVO 2016.
JisuArt with her booth at Super Smash Con
Her full name is Jackie Choe. She’s currently residing in the Midwest and is only 18. She loves Smash Bros, drawing, video games, and playing music full-blast. She finds herself at many events selling her art, and while she’s not shy, she’s certainly mysterious. With how busy she is in art and improving at Smash, she rarely finds time to even leave her booth, much less tell her story.
Getting into Smash
One of JisuArt's many popular pieces
JisuArt started getting into the community by watching videos while jogging. She noticed the video that she was watching was a game from her childhood. She started to watch and realized that it was a recording from the live broadcast of EVO 2013's Top 8 for Super Smash Bros. Melee. She had heard of Smash tournaments before, but this was her first real introduction. “I remember after watching mang0 vs. Armada, something just snapped cause after that I was hooked”.
Her brother sold their Gamecube and copy of Melee, so she had her parents drive all around town to find a setup. Being only a 15-year-old sophomore at the time, she only had enough money to afford a Gamecube but not a disc. She asked one of her school friends to pool in some extra money – while her friend quit playing Melee, she had started a school club to play Smash.
How JisuArt Blew Up
One of JisuArt's "First Five"
"I actually don’t know" is what she says when asked how she started with art; she has faint memories of drawing or trying to draw when she was young. After starting her club, the fateful tournament named “Shuffle V” emerged. It was part of the MLG grassroots movement, and it was the first big tournament (back when 300+ was considered big) she could attend that was not 30+ hours away.
Being a busy high schooler, she had no time to practice. She noticed a big lack of fanart for the relatively small community, so she decided to use her talents to fill this gap. With no sleep, in the next 72 hours, she created 5 of her most iconic pieces, got them printed, and brought them to sell at the event.
"The rest is pretty much history," she said. She started off with an etsy account. And her first customers were high-profiled names like Rapture, Mang0, M2k, Hbox, etc. She had never sold her art before, let alone present it to such a large crowd, so she found herself overwhelmed by the positivity. Later, she felt the need to launch JisuArt once her schoolwork wasn’t an issue. She switched her studies from public schooling to online, and as soon as possible, she made it her mission to launch her career as an artist.
JisuArt's Everyday Life
A Day in the Life of JisuArt
She wakes up, answers emails, works on art, and is even so busy that she has a list of overdue stuff. In the competitive field of entertainment, she hardly has time for Smash Bros, but she works hard to obtain a schedule that will allow a more stable and steady income.
"Oh man, my process is so different every time," she says. She loves doing practically every style, which means she has to prep and study before beginning to draw. Her process boils down to thinking of an idea, quickly sketching the idea so she doesn't forget, refining and correcting the draft, and then fine-tuning it once again. Each stage varies from piece to piece, but she believes there is no "correct" creative process and that the stigma of artists being 'magical wizards' making things that average people can't fathom making needs to be thrown out. "The true magic is the idea, not the process of making it".
"I've always been pretty particular with how things should not only look but how they feel and what they represent. I'm sure that has a lot do with why I love Melee since it's such an expressive game."
Expanding the Brand
Concept Art for her future Game Development endeavors
Concept Art for her future Game Development endeavors
"Only recently have I gotten enough help to be able to leave the booth for more than 30 minutes at a time," finding herself glad at what she has accomplished thus far.
In the immediate future, Jisu has confirmed herself to show up at Shine and Twitch Con. The Big House 6 and SmashTheRecord are currently a possibility. Her long term plan is to expand her artwork into new genres, attending new events, and starting up many big projects. These projects include things like a Patreon, YouTube channel, and Streaming – many of her supporters have been waiting on these, but she doesn’t want to release anything until she knows both her and her fans will be satisfied with it.
She has some skill and experience in creating graphics for games. Her social media pages will reveal more soon.
What JisuArt Recommends
"Any and all content creators should be proud and confident of their endeavors. There's people out there on the internet that are harmful, whether it be trolls or just people that are bored. It's their job to make you feel like crap no matter what, but if you know what you're doing and just keep going the magic will happen somewhere," she finds herself saying to many individuals. So many artists follow the same model, but only one in a million are truly successful, so find what makes that stand-out approach and start using it.
She advises other players to support content creators – it only means higher quality and quantity. "If you're wondering why Smash/any community doesn't get enough love, it's because the people who do pour their hearts out for the game don't get enough support to maintain/grow it." While she doesn’t want to see people throwing out all of their earnings at every single pop-up shop or tourney, she definitely believes in expressing monetary gratitude when the work that’s been done is good.
"My main goal with Smash was to grow the creative aspect of the community. I wanted different ways for Smashers to express their love for the game through artwork and merch. I think overall it's been pretty successful as more and more artists join in and create more content for us to share and enjoy.
Nowadays you can find me traveling to events, creating new artwork, and maintaining/growing my brand -- but wherever my path goes, I will always thank Smash for being my first ever big start and my all-time favorite audience/community.Her social media pages can be found at her website JisuArt.com with her DeviantArt, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter being @jisuart and her Facebook Fanpage as @JisuArtOfficial
The official SmashBoards x JisuArt giveaway can be found here
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