Interviewing the community

[Scorch]

I noticed a bunch of interviews for more well known members of the community, and I decided to do one for the regular grunts....if you want to do it, just copy and paste these questions and add your answers under the questions

1) What is it that you like about TG?

2) How did you become interested in TG?

3) Have you actually completed any TG releated materials?

4) Do you have any formal art training or are you self-taught? Same goes with working in 3D rendering software?

5) What's your opinion of the current state of the transformation community?

6) Do you find the Process to be a welcoming place for TG art? (This has been a complaint which has been registered a few times in the past, which is why I ask)

7) What about the PROCESS of TG do you enjoy the most?

8) Which TG artists do you like?

9) What media of TG do you like, art, video, written?

10) Have anything you'd like to add about yourself that people won't know, funny story or whatever?

[Scorch]

1) What is it that you like about TG?

I like a good process and how people try to adapt to their situation, some adapt better and some resent it. I like the idea for a few of Mako's movies, such as Eleven where we learn in Tales from the Underground that Nikki is plotting to take out the people who made her.
I also like BE.

2) How did you become interested in TG?

Oddly enough, breast expansion. This goes back years and i'm not even sure of everything anymore, as it was over 25 years ago, it was an old music video on some variety show and women were talking about good certain foods were for their bodies, and yeah their boobs grew bigger at the start. I don't really recall much afterwards, but it seemed to be in my head for years, then I thought "Would be weird if that happened to a guy." I imagined a few years later about a scientist who grew boobs after drinking potions and became a vigilante called Boobie-Man....shit, i was a messed up kid....then I saw a trailer for Dr. Jeckyll and Ms. Hyde and my imagination went into overdrive.

Funny thing was, I didn't even see dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde until I was in my early 20's.

3) Have you actually completed any TG releated materials?

A few, made a couple using South Park studios (one of which is one of my highest viewed deviations), a few Kisakae 2 TG's, a TG/BE and a short story called Failsafe, which was a sort of prequel to Eleven.

4) Do you have any formal art training or are you self-taught? Sane goes with working in 3D rendering software?

I can't draw to save my life, I use basic PC software. Self taught.

5) What's your opinion of the current state of the transformation community?

The process is doing great, but I noticed a huge shift a few years back, several transformation sites vanished, gendertech, fruitbasket (or whatever it was called) and transformation sites which didn't vanish suddenly became pay to view...I'm TPTV, too poor to view. T_T

It's getting better now, TF media came back and TG comics is going stronger then ever.

6) Do you find the Process to be a welcoming place for TG art?
Meh, wouldn't really say welcoming, but not unwelcoming, some new guys are better recieved. My first TG's were laughed at, and my response was "Try doing it better yourself." Miss Mako and Carmen Sandiego....I mean Daniel Sangeo seem to be welcoming to newbies, Mako said that I could write a short prequel to Eleven, as long as i credited him for it, and I did. Too bad the story didn't make a hit here.

7) What about the PROCESS of TG do you enjoy the most?

When it's done in slow and steady pace, where it's not just "2 second boob job" like in Ms hyde, where it's like flat chest to D cup in 2 seconds, I perfer more when it's like eleven, where the breast growth takes about 15 seconds.....I think that's the 4th time i've mentioned Mako...Yeah, he's paying me to bump his stuff. XD

8) Which TG artists do you like?
DanielSan, Mako, Smooth, CBlack, the guy who makes Eden on TG comics and the Mirrors Cycle Guy, oh yeah Rayne and the other creator of AG.

9) What media of TG do you like, art, video, written?
I like all 3, I perfer video and art myself, but one of my favourate TG's ever Sheena was a story...as was School of Changes, the first TG i came across.

10) Have anything you'd like to add about yourself that people won't know, funny story or whatever?

My grandma has a painting of the Laughing Cavalier and I was terrified of it...but I was 3 at the time.

[danielsangeo]

Hah. I'm not going to be able to shed that Daniel Sandiego thing, am I?

[monkat]

1) What is it that you like about TG?

It's totally a humiliation thing. Even F2M, it's just about being robbed of what you knew as your sexuality, a major piece of your identity just being gone. Your self-worth is diminished. Beautiful. Of course, that's more prevalent in M2F because of the usual height/muscle deminishment (as well as a lack of "just desserts" on the F2M side), but at least to me there is no issue relating to the other side.

2) How did you become interested in TG?

Like, a decade ago I was brought to the forums through a link on the ararchive, and discovered TG, and it totally scratched that itch.

3) Have you actually completed any TG releated materials?

Like, creation-wise? No, I'm a pretty worthless person when it comes to creation. I mean, you could blame how I was educated, but I can't really do much other than academic or career-focused things. I'd love to learn how to do just about anything, but I don't know anyone to train me and I'm learning more and more how difficult it is to learn without someone there to assess your progress, and guide you.

4) Do you have any formal art training or are you self-taught? Same goes with working in 3D rendering software?

N/A

5) What's your opinion of the current state of the transformation community?

I dunno. I'm not sure I really consider it a community.We just share a spot where we dump or sell things to get off to. I think any self-centeredness can just be attributed to the fact that you're mistaking a marketplace for a community.

6) Do you find the Process to be a welcoming place for TG art? (This has been a complaint which has been registered a few times in the past, which is why I ask)

Generally, yeah. Why not? If we're just talking about the forums, it's basically just a link hub. I'm not sure how it could be construed as being negative.

7) What about the PROCESS of TG do you enjoy the most?

I mean, it depends, but it kinda goes back to the first question. It's less about physical changes than it is about psychological ones. And that takes more than a dialogue box, by the way.

8) Which TG artists do you like?

If we're going to limit ourselves to traditional visual art, I'm a fan of a lot of people, mostly on DA. I can't remember any names, but that guy who does those amazing pencil drawings has an amazing talent for drawing faces. I wanna say snoopbone, but he's an author and I don't think it's the same guy. It's definitely a "dog" themed name, though.

9) What media of TG do you like, art, video, written?

Generally, art. Video tends to be cringey, and most things that I read are more general-transformation deals. Tainted Sins, comes to mind--definitely a lot of TG in his(her?) library, but I wouldn't call him a TG writer.

10) Have anything you'd like to add about yourself that people won't know, funny story or whatever?

Despite the aforementioned fetish for humiliation, I'm actually pretty horrified of it in real life, and largely plan my life in a short-sighted way to avoid it at all costs. Kinda ironic.

[Ichigo3924]

1) What is it that you like about TG?
Well, I suppose the major thing I like is the change, and how the victim deals with the situation and where they go with their life from there. As for the physical aspects of it..... I guess it's sort of akin to BE in a way.

2) How did you become interested in TG?
Well, that's a story. Like most people in this group I was..... let's just say interested in transformations, for some reason they would always grab my interest in a cartoon whenever the plot may just go into it. One particular show that I remember was (I think it was the pilot of) "My Gym Partner is a Monkey" where the main character, gets hit by a tranq dart and then turns into a monkey. Anyways, I sort of graduated to TF stories on the internet, I sort of began with werewolf stories, and had found the site "Doc's Lab" where I would do most of my browsing. It was there that I encountered my first TG story (along with werewolf themes), and for some reason or another, I was hooked. From there I found deviant art (through the artist "Akuoreo") and later this forum. Years later, here I am now.

3) Have you actually completed any TG releated materials?

Sorry for the pony. As for why, I am not artistic enough, I've always contemplated writing a TG story but I've never had the guts to go through with it. The most I've done is create some archives via favorites on deviant art. Although the art's been trickling down as of late.

4) Do you have any formal art training or are you self-taught? Same goes with working in 3D rendering software?
SEE ABOVE.

5) What's your opinion of the current state of the transformation community?
I'm not seeing as much content as I'm used to, and that worries me a bit....

6) Do you find the Process to be a welcoming place for TG art? (This has been a complaint which has been registered a few times in the past, which is why I ask)
I suppose? I'm pretty much just a lurker.

7) What about the PROCESS of TG do you enjoy the most?
Aside from the mental changes (if there are any)........ *sigh* the boobs.

8) Which TG artists do you like?
I am a fan of many.
Arania, Cluedog/Smooch, Akuoreo, Mr. DNA, Black Shirt Boy, Saphire Foxx, MentalCrash, Onna- Tokomei, Fuze, Imric, KannelArt, tgwonder, TheTGArtist, Ian Samson, Dynamoob, Seer Coltz, Sturkwurk, Infinity, CBlack, Siproites, and whoever else I forgot......

9) What media of TG do you like, art, video, written?
Stories, comics, or just sequences are what I prefer. Captions are good as well, preferably anime captions.

10) Have anything you'd like to add about yourself that people won't know, funny story or whatever?
.........I'm a brony? I feel like that's obvious now though what with the above pic. I'm not too sure, I don't really have much....

[danielsangeo]

Originally Posted by monkat

8) Which TG artists do you like?

If we're going to limit ourselves to traditional visual art, I'm a fan of a lot of people, mostly on DA. I can't remember any names, but that guy who does those amazing pencil drawings has an amazing talent for drawing faces. I wanna say snoopbone, but he's an author and I don't think it's the same guy. It's definitely a "dog" themed name, though.

You wouldn't be talking about cluedog, would you? And she's a she.

[Scorch]

Originally Posted by danielsangeo

Hah. I'm not going to be able to shed that Daniel Sandiego thing, am I?

Nope, now would you kindly just tell us where you are instead of making us trek the globe?

[wandering_spirit]

Originally Posted by Scorch

Nope, now would you kindly just tell us where you are instead of making us trek the globe?

Aren't you referring to Carmen Sandiego?

As for my answers to the 'interview':

1) What is it that you like about TG?

There's a lot of different things I like about TG. First is the idea of shedding one's old self and becoming someone else. I usually like the "bad boy to good girl" TG, but I won't scoff at most TG categories. The only thing that truly bothers me about TG is when it's used for corruption, domination or enslavement. I guess I'm just that kind of guy... I don't mind racial changes, reality changes, or even Male-to-Bimbo changes, as long as it's well-executed and not overdone with sexual clichés.

2) How did you become interested in TG?

Back when I was younger, I think the two things that got me intrigued about TG was reading Ranma 1/2 and seeing a trailer for "Dr. Jeckyll & Miss Hyde". I also watched a lot of 'magical girl' transformations online, and some of the ones that intrigued me the most had three things that got me hooked: age change (progression to, or regression into, sexy young women), breast expansion (to a reasonable size) and gender change.

3) Have you actually completed any TG releated materials?

Plenty. I made a lot of TG-related pictures, captions and stories since I got hooked on TG. Sadly, with DeviantArt shooting down my captions since I used pictures off Danbooru or Gelbooru, I lost most of my TG material.

4) Do you have any formal art training or are you self-taught? Same goes with working in 3D rendering software?

I'm self-taught, though I tend to use some mild tracing for the more important lines of the body. I don't use 3D rendering.

5) What's your opinion of the current state of the transformation community?

I'm usually a drifter, these days. I spend a lot less time doing TG art, since I have work, games and a story that I am spending a lot of off hours on - a fantasy-genre story made of my role-play experiences as a D&D player. If anyone wants to read, I'm always looking for critiques, as I want to publish my stories one day.

6) Do you find the Process to be a welcoming place for TG art? (This has been a complaint which has been registered a few times in the past, which is why I ask)

I can't say I have a lot of great experiences here, as I tend to pop in and out a lot. The good times I've had were role-playing Yu-Gi-Oh! style, as well as Eden School, and the times I was able to request works. With the request line died down, the atmosphere has gone a bit sterile, and while I spend a lot of money on commissions, I don't do it for TG anymore.

7) What about the PROCESS of TG do you enjoy the most?

I like the changes to be well-described, but not overly so. I don't mind seeing changes go... a page long, for instance... but not when it takes forever for everything to happen. Depending on the setting, I also like some mental changes if they help spruce the process, but if it's too quick, it just doesn't cut it. Picture-wise, poofs are fine if there's a reason behind them, but I usually like it when there's at least a few stills to show how much change and where the body's changing.

8) Which TG artists do you like?

I don't really have a list, as there are a lot of good TG writers out there, but to point out a few good TG-drawing artists, there would be some solid names like Mako, Diggerman and DanielSan (the latter of whom I chat with from time to time). I also had a lot of fun with the few RPs I was in here.

9) What media of TG do you like, art, video, written?

I don't really have one that I like more than the other, but I like them all... in some aspects. I tend to be picky, and using 'real life' to make TG videos usually doesn't cut it.

10) Have anything you'd like to add about yourself that people won't know, funny story or whatever?

As I said before, I am trying to have my stories - which I spent off-time during two years to write - published, and am looking for people who would be interested in reading them. If you want to give it a read, just send me a note with your email address so I can send you the complete first tome, or check out my galleries at DeviantArt (mistylear.deviantart.com). The story folders I wish to publish are 'Upon a Star' and 'Broken Threads'.

[Scorch]

Originally Posted by wandering_spirit

Aren't you referring to Carmen Sandiego?

Yeah, see a few months back, I wrote sandiego instead of sangeo, so daniel changed his avatar to Ms Sandiego. So i refer to him as Sandiego for a joke.

[zdarkness]

Not to sound like I'm not enjoying reading these interviews. I am enjoying them. However, wouldn't it be better to host this thread in General and open it up to more than just TG related questions?

[Sphore]

That could just be a different thread, this seems to be fine for the community in this subforum.

[RavenRift]

1) What is it that you like about TG?

The fantasy element. I love the idea of becoming a woman, and to be able to do so in a matter of minutes or seconds is thrilling. I'm surprised most of these responses don't say this, but I hate being male. I want a quick and easy escape, and TG makes me feel like I am one step closer to one. Naturally this has lead to it being a bit of a fetish as well.


2) How did you become interested in TG?

Naturally it stems from my gender identity issues. I would say I was seven when someone in my class told me a tall tall of a boy he knew that woke up one day and was randomly turned into a girl. I remember that being the first time i wished it would happen to me, the first time I desired to be out of my gender. At that time it was simply a desire that I kept to myself, but nothing more than that.

Come middle school it became a little more, for lack of a better way of putting this, sexual. Everything in middle school was about sex, so naturally this small desire became very strong, and very arousing. I don't think I had a single fantasy in middle school where I thought of being a guy and having sex, I much rather preferred the girl side of it.

In high school my hormones became slightly more tame, and normal lustful desires of being a guy and having sex with a girl became normal, however the tg part never once subsided. It was in high school that youtube became big, and I never got the idea to look anything up until that mountain dew commercial. I recorded that commercial on my VCR and watched it repeatedly until the tape in the machine literally snapped. I looked it up on youtube, and found the term "tg" through it.

The later half of high school I searched TG and came across Mashiro's bride transformation on youtube, as well as some others related on the side. The bride one, however, was the gateway into the community. From there I found his website. I read his stories, and eventually wondered if deviantart had anything on this subject. As you all know, it did and still does.

I found TGComics from there at about the time Smooch was added as an artist. I never once even went to the forums though, until very recently. I've been checking the front page of that blog for years, yearning for new material.

I avoided forums because it meant I wasn't the only one. I liked the idea that the content existed because people thought it was funny, and wanted to be the only person alive with these identity issues. To go to a forum admitted that I was just another one of the crowd, and that really upset me. Especially considering how much of a social taboo it is.

The longer I spent on deviantart the more more I read their journal entries and the more I saw the community as a collective rather than a bunch of dudes that wish they were female. Eventually that lead me here, and the rest is history.


3) Have you actually completed any TG related materials?

No. I am currently writing down my first TG idea on fictionmania, but that's about it. I can't draw for crap, and lack the patience to perfect it.


4) Do you have any formal art training or are you self-taught? Same goes with working in 3D rendering software?

Since I said above that I don't draw at all, I'll change this to be about my writing. I have taken many writing classes throughout college and in high school, and used to write fan fiction on a Nintendo forum for personal practice. Eventually that lead to role-playing, which was more interactive, and never really lost my edge there.

I do, however, have a problem with editing. I hate re-reading what I previously wrote, and often times will make a mistake and never correct it because I don't go back to fix it. Editing is especially hard with TG fiction, since as I said before, it's a sexual release so I don't get too much done.


5) What's your opinion of the current state of the transformation community?

I don't really have a past to compare it to. As I said in a previous section, avoided tg communities. I can say that a huge majority of it seems almost like family to each other, and that's something that I would like to be a part of.

It really depends on where you go to. Maturity level is a pretty big step. I feel that the Process is better than most communities in that regard. Everyone talks and jokes around, and it's pretty focused on the material. Go to somewhere like the youtube comments on any tg video and barring the trolls and people talking about the "weird part of youtube," most of the tg fans there are kind of whiny and annoying. It's sort of a bitch fest, in text speak.


6) Do you find the Process to be a welcoming place for TG art? (This has been a complaint which has been registered a few times in the past, which is why I ask)

Welcoming? Yes. Common? Not as much as I had hoped.


7) What about the PROCESS of TG do you enjoy the most?

The entirety of the transformation. The act, the feel of it, the sounds and cries it can put in your head. All of it is extremely intoxicating. The way I picture them moving as they shift and the way it feels, painful or pleasuring, is also attractive. If it was the worst physical pain I would ever feel in my life, just the thought of it happening is more appealing than anything. A process is an easy way out of my reality. I can vicariously experience the joys that they have, regardless of the character's attitude in the end.

Most artists can keep my attention after a process for a little while, but only a few manage to keep it for long after. Daily life can't just resume as a woman to keep my attention, I need something fast paced and thrilling. Sex is a top one, but just going out in public and getting attention is another. I don't want to just go out in public as a woman, i want to be noticed and recognized as one, an attractive one at that.


8) Which TG artists do you like?

All of them that don't have animals involved, and even then I love their work that doesn't involve animal transformations.

Smooch is easily at the top of the list. The realism she can bring with a pencil is astounding. Robiotic was another favorite while he was around. InfinitySign is my favorite when it comes to 3D modeling, and Arania has a huge amount of material she pumps out. I wish it wasn't so animal focused, but she has enough pure gender tg to keep me interested. AkuOreo/Aakashi is along the same lines as Arania. Some good tg, but a lot of animals involved which I'm not a fan of.

Then SapphireFoxx and theTGArtist are in a league of their own. Flash animation? Hell yes. I understand why theTGArtist dropped out of the scene, and it's sad, but her material will remain. SapphireFoxx, however, is going as strong as ever.


9) What media of TG do you like, art, video, written?

All of it, but assuming top quality I like Video --> Art --> Written.

Video, when well done, gives a great visual to what is happening, and the reactions. This, however, can be easily botched and become really cringe worthy. Video intended for comedy, such as that mountain dew commercial, tend to not become cringe worthy. however, that stuff, tends to not be as involving as anything directly TG related.

Art is great since the gaps can be filled in our mind and we can more easily ignore certain parts we don't like. It's plentiful as well. There are a lot of talented artists out there and the amount of TG out there can even be overwhelming to someone new in the community.

Written really shouldn't have been listed in my order of preference. It's special in the fact that it can be very lengthy. You don't get too much art that's ongoing, and when it is it can be much slower to come out, and very easy to catch up on. Writing, however, is very time-consuming. To read a tg fiction can easily eat a few hours. To read a comic on the same thing can be a few minutes.

I also love writing because the boundaries are more broad. I feel that the minimum level of ability required to write is much lower than the minimum level ability required to draw. That means more people that want to contribute can. Now, there are plenty of people who should just stop and go home, but it's not as common in the written world as it is in the drawn one.


10) Have anything you'd like to add about yourself that people won't know, funny story or whatever?

Um, well, RavenRift is the screen name I use for anything TG related. Otherwise I have a different name that I use. I go by that other name in any other community. RavenRift is like my shame name in a way.

My wife also is aware of my gender identity issues. Her only stipulation with me getting a sex change is her family, our ability to have kids, and some of the stigma that comes with homosexuals raising children. It's possible I may be getting the surgery in the future, but if I had to choose between her and my gender, I'd easily choose her. It's interesting, because I never thought someone would make me second guess myself like that.