One of the most popular artists on our platform is Yggdrasil-Incar, or ‘Yggi’ for short. His colorful work continues to impress, and we got the chance to sit down with him for an interview, and learn more about his journey as an artist!

What is your trade name?

Yggdrasil-Incar or just Yggdrasil. It’s not relevant quite yet, but I also plan on starting a fursuit business called World Tree within the next year.

What does it mean and what lead you to choose it?

It comes from my fursona, a dragon based off a cherry tree. The three itself was my late grandmothers and means a lot to me. When I named him I had Norse mythology in mind and originally considered naming him after the dragon at the tree’s roots, but it’s lengthy, hard to pronounce, and has some weird characters when typed.

So I just embraced his plant aspects and named him after the World Tree itself~ The last name is entirely random though, from an old OC I made when I was in elementary school. It was essentially just a verbal keyslam.

When did you start creating, and what helped you keep going?

I’ve always been into art, but around high school was when I really got started. My mother bought my tablet for me when I was in freshman year, and I happened to have a wonderful art teacher that I consider a family member. We were neighbors as well, so I would often stay after school to work on projects and she’d drive me home.

She got me into doing proper non-school show work, I was able to make a few connections with Bethel Woods of all places, and she really got me set up for doing art as a career. She’s what really pushed me up and kept me running.

That’s incredible. What was Bethel Woods like?

I mostly did student programs, along with one or two out-of-school projects. For the former it was very music oriented, as one would expect, but they also promoted a lot of mixed media art. They mostly had us in this big wood cabin, I believe they host concerts there. They worked closely with the kids and were extremely inclusive, got to know us as people and such.

For the private things I did it was mostly community service stuff, like painting murals for local towns and businesses. They were focused mostly on opening horizons for people, metaphorically and literally. Loved presenting opportunities whenever they could. I lived nearby, so as a local art student I was able to be involved with it for about 3/4ths of my time in high school.

What are the biggest takeaways from that experience that you use today?

My communication skills, 100% If I hadn’t done all that group work with them I would probably be too anxious to talk to you!

What’s a lesson you’ve had to learn the hard way in your art career?

I’d say where to post and who to target to. I’ve tried using a lot of platforms and most are very ineffective as a ‘safe for work’ artist, especially as a younger one without much of a large following. I’ve only really gotten up and started in the last year, and that was after abandoning websites like Amino and Deviantart.

The places you hear of most aren’t where you actually wanna post. It’s better to find somewhere niche and not full of children or you’re not gonna get any business. It’s part of why I like Artconomy so much! You’ve got a platform that properly supports commissions without any sort of virtual currency involved, or a reliance on things like the artists managing a PayPal account.

It’s a place people can go and expect to actually be able to sell their art, instead of just having a lot of kids follow you and that being it.

Speaking of Artconomy, you’re one of the most popular artists on the platform. In what ways has Artconomy enabled you?

It’s become where I get most of my commissions, actually! Right now I’m getting ready to start my first full scene that was a proper comm and not just a trade or gift. It’s helped me get into contact with other professional artists on the Discord server, have a place to keep my portfolio, and to track my characters as well (Love that feature btw).

I’ve also found that I’m most comfortable linking my Artconomy profile to non-furry people interested in commissioning me. When a family member mentions a friend who wants something, I’m a lot more comfortable linking it than say my FA. The site is cleaner and overall more professional, and I think the ability to use a regular credit card is reassuring for more mature audiences. It helps me put myself out there for more people without risk of them clicking the browse button on FurAffinity and seeing something strange and perhaps off-putting.

The feature you added that shows the amount artists earn per hour has also really helped both my general pricing and overall time-management.

I noticed a number of your listings are fun pieces like Animal-Crossing style character portraits, and ‘slimeball’ renditions. These twists on people’s characters seem to be doing well– can you talk a bit about how you come up with these ideas and how they’ve worked into your artistic sales strategy?

They’re both based off of video games I like and a lot of others like! Animal Crossing is self explanatory, it’s based off the Nintendo franchise. I was lucky that I started doing them near the release of the newest title, but I originally started them just for fun with my own characters.

I know a friend experienced with modding Nintendo games and I was concepting ideas for putting our characters into one of the titles. It turned out to be something I thought others would like, so I started offering them. The slimes are from an indie game called Slime Rancher, and I’m particularly mimicking the icon art of all the game’s creatures. That was also something for fun I did that friends wanted to get in on, so I made it a YCH.

I count the latter as just a YCH and not a full commission type since it’s only in the one pose and very low-effort on my part. They each take about 30 minutes to draw. Doing them has made me think about other things people like a lot, and perhaps trying out making art based off of other franchises or video games in general. So far I haven’t got any solid ideas though.

Knowing you, I’m certain you will. Do you have a trajectory you’re working toward in your art career? What does that look like?

I’m aiming to go into fursuit making and costuming as my main profession, with art to the side. Eventually I’d like to reserve taking commissions on illustrations for events like cons, and on special occasions when I open for slots. Most of my time’s gonna be spent on the costumes and personal art once I properly get that started.

It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m very excited to make the jump from digital art to physical mixed-media. I’m going to be moving to Seattle soon, so one of the first things I’m aiming to do is get the certifications to do vendor work at Anthro Northwest for digital commissions.

What’s something you’re learning right now in your art career?

How to juggle time. I’ve got a lot to do between my pets, taking commissions, saving up for fursuit supplies, and moderating an art server all at once. I’m also about to start acting as the Dungon Master for a d&d group, so I’ve been having to schedule myself a lot more to make sure I get work done in a timely manner without burning out.

What’s a piece of advice you’d give to other artists, especially those just starting their career?

Don’t stop posting art. If you don’t upload nobody’s gonna follow you to see what you draw next, and you’re going to have a really hard time when no one knows who you are! Even if you think your content is strange or something nobody will like, there’s gonna be at least one person who loves it and tells all their friends they think will love your art too.

There are a lot of people I watch on FA that I get so happy when I see a new piece from them. Even if you don’t upload frequently, if it’s consistent you’re going to get followers who look forward to seeing what you make. That and effective tag use, and management of featured pieces on profiles. For doing commissions these are like life and death.

If you’re commission sheet or YCH advertisement is your featured post, people are gonna know you’re offering that. Proper tags can help people searching for, say, an icon artist, find your ads months after they were made, too.

Is there a piece you’re particularly proud of you’d like to share?

I drew a gift piece for a frequent commissioner, NickSkunkfox on FurAffinity. I have a hard time drawing water, and it was the first time I tried using depth blur, so it’s gonna stay my favorite picture I’ve done for a while~

All the wildlife in it are also native to a certain part of Canada, and I’m proud of that detail. It’s a bit older as a piece, and I know where I can improve, but looking at it makes me happy anyway.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell the readers?

Draw what you love drawing. Whether art’s a hobby or a full time career, the most important part is you’re happy with what you make. Don’t be scared to make big style changes if you’re unsatisfied, and don’t worry about stagnating if you’re comfortable in a set style either. Grow at your own pace and draw what you want to, and people are gonna love you for it!

Yggdrasil-Incar is Open for Commissions!