The Nomadic Japan Podcast | 10 Years on Twitch, 3D Art, Pokémon & Japan: Story of Vulpsie (Part 1)

What does it take to turn a love of art into a career spanning traditional sculpting, Twitch, 3D modeling, and even officially licensed Pokémon figures? In this episode of the Nomadic Japan Podcast, I’m joined by my longtime friend Vulpsie, a 3D artist and veteran Twitch streamer with a unique connection to both Japan and the United States. We go all the way back to how Vulpsie first discovered sculpting almost by accident in art school, how traditional clay became her preferred medium, and how she eventually made the jump into digital sculpting and professional 3D work. We also dive into her beginnings on Twitch during the early days of the platform’s Creative category and just how dramatically streaming has changed over the last 10 years. We talk about growing up between the U.S. and Japan, Japanese language struggles, our first chaotic meeting during Halloween in Shibuya, jet lag, art school, and the strange paths that can turn an unexpected hobby or class into a career. Later, we get into what Vulpsie is creating today, including original characters, Japanese-inspired creatures, 3D printing, world-building, and the challenge of moving from fan art into creating an original universe of your own. Vulpsie also shares stories from her professional work, including creating officially licensed Pokémon models that became physical figures sold in major U.S. stores. And somehow along the way we also end up discussing Shibuya Halloween, immortal clay, centipede assassination techniques, whether either of us could kill a cow, terrible pottery, phone privacy screens, and far too many other completely unrelated subjects. This is Part 1 of our conversation with Vulpsie. Part 2 coming soon! Check out Vulpsie and her work: Twitch:   / vulpsie   Discord:   / discord   Website: https://vulpsie.com I do Twitch live streams like this all the time:   / nomadicgaijin   Nomadic Gaijin in Japan: If you enjoyed this, my videos or live streams? Join the NGIJ discord community:   / discord   Social Media: Instagram:   / nomadic.gaijin   Facebook:   / nomadicgaijinjapan   Twitter:   / nomadic_gaijin   TikTok:   / nomadicgaijin   To support my channel/live streams, get behind the scenes access and more, check out my Patreon or Join YouTube membership direct through my channel (same content, choice of preferred method) Patreon:   / nomadicgaijin   YouTube:    / nomadicgaijin   (and hit the join button!) Other ways to support Paypal: https://paypal.me/NomadicGaijin Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/nomadicgaijin For access to all of these links in one place, check out my solo page: https://solo.to/nomadicgaijin Join this channel to get access to perks:    / @nomadicgaijin   For my portfolio and business inquiries, check out my website: https://www.nomadicgaijin.com #Vulpsie #3DArt #TwitchStreamer #JapanPodcast #NomadicJapan