TRAINER'S EYE #22 - "The Art of Casual Play" ft. Charlie

In this Pokemon interview, my guest Charlie shares her fascinating experience with Pokemon GO and how she has been able to use her artistic talent to enhance her community. Charlie is a passionate artist who has been using her creativity to create unique and exciting content related to Pokemon.

Charlie has been a Pokemon fan since childhood, and her love for the franchise has only grown stronger over the years. She has a keen interest in Pokemon GO and has been actively playing the game since its launch. Her love for the game inspired her to use her artistic talent to create unique prizes, including Pokemon-themed artwork, stickers, and other cool stuff, that she would give away for Community Day.

During the podcast, Charlie shares how her art has helped her connect with the Pokemon community and how she has been able to use her creativity to make a positive impact. She also talks about her thoughts on AI Art and the implications it has moving forward.

Trainer's Eye is a series where the stories are real and people still play this game. From PVP to Shiny Hunting, each person's Pokemon GO journey is unique and we dive into each journey here on As The Pokeball Turns!

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Connect with Charlie: Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

Transcript

David Hernandez: 0:00

My name is David Hernandez and you're listening to As The Pokeball Turns! Welcome to another episode of As the Pokeball Turns! Where we interview people around the community on how their Pokemon Go journey started, where it has been, and where it is currently going. Since the start of our world, both humankind and art have existed. In fact, it is actually a chicken or the egg, philosophical question on whether life imitates art or does art imitate life? Furthermore, it's difficult to define what art is because it's so diverse and the ways people have developed to express imaginative ideas are truly limitless. We see visual art like drawing sculptures and architecture. We watch performing arts, like theater, dance and acting. We listen to art like music, radio and podcast, and these only scratch the surface of art when you consider things like literature, photography, and cooking. Art can even transcend time by expressing ideas and values to future generations that may have not been appropriate or wasn't fully accepted during that period of history. My guest today expresses passion about art and shares how she has used it to contribute to her community, ranging from Community Day prizes to her quote unquote pouty, Pokemon emojis. Here is her origin story into the world of Pokemon Go. This is Charlie! Today I'm joined by an admin of the Richardson Rocket Server. Charlie, welcome to the show!

Charlie: 2:08

Thanks for having me.

David Hernandez: 2:10

Let's start with the first question I ask all my guests. How did you first start playing Pokemon Go?

Charlie: 2:15

I started playing day one when they were having like full server lag and you could barely get in to get a username made and make your account. Basically, the second I heard about it, I was like, oh, I'm down. I've always loved Pokemon, even when it was cringey and people Didn't really approve of it when you're like a teenager and stuff, so it just stuck with me my whole life. So the second I heard this app was out of like, I'm down, I'm playing. I'm one of the collector people. I've actually never finished a pex on any of the games I've owned, uh, on the Switch or the three Ds or my old Game Boy.

David Hernandez: 2:44

You're not alone. I haven't completed a Pokedex either, in spite of the many hours and years I've probably spent in the Pokemon. I've never completed a Pokedex either.

Charlie: 2:51

It's probably more common than we think, especially cuz back in the day you had to have the little trade cable and then you had to have a friend that played it as well and the other version. It definitely made it tricky. Pokemon Go, at least I could do it all myself, in theory, as long as, you know, we have trading available for the regionals and stuff.

David Hernandez: 3:07

Was there a particular spot that you went to to go play or did you just play around your neighborhood?

Charlie: 3:11

I just played around my neighborhood, which was absolutely terrible, honestly, spawn wise at the beginning. Just Pidgeys and Doduos and I think that was about it actually for a really long time. At the beginning there was just very little going on in the game, and so if you didn't have an area that was super popular nearby. I had a lot of, you know, spawn points and it was more of a grind at first.

David Hernandez: 3:32

You mentioned how you used to grow up playing Pokemon, like did you start from day one as well with that?

Charlie: 3:36

Mm-hmm, yeah, I've been playing since I was, I think it was seven when the first game came out and my mom had got me a Game Boy for Christmas and Pokemon Red that year, and she always tells the story of how she was, at a Christmas party all dressed up. And she left to go try to get a Game Boy and a game and back then you couldn't call and ask the store, you know, if they had it, cuz they didn't know. There was no digital inventory and so she was chasing down the trucks that were delivering them, basically going from store to store until she got a purple Game Boy and Pokemon Red for me.

David Hernandez: 4:09

Aw, that's so sweet. So it was very hard for her to get it, basically?

Charlie: 4:12

Yeah. Yeah. And I've been playing ever since I played Red, Yellow, Gold and then I, didn't play for a little bit and I picked up most of those games that I missed after college when I got a 3DS and then I've been playing ever since.

David Hernandez: 4:26

Did you just fall out of interest or you just couldn't keep playing it?

Charlie: 4:29

I don't really remember. Maybe lack of interest for a little bit or maybe a little discouraged from people around me saying like,"oh, you shouldn't be playing Pokemon that's for kids!" I just know I didn't have like a DS or a 3D s when it was popular, I bought one as kind of a treat to myself when I started my post-college, big girl, job.

David Hernandez: 4:47

Yeah, it's a different time when we grew up because it was kind of taboo if you were still playing Pokemon once you got to maybe middle school and even high school. I had to kind of keep it in the closet for a long time because people would make fun like, oh, you're still playing Pokemon, or, you know, all that stuff.

Charlie: 5:01

Yeah, exactly, so like, I kept my cards, but I kind of hid'em away and didn't talk about it, and I kept the games, I sold my old game boy in all the little games, didn't talk about it very long.

David Hernandez: 5:11

Do you have a particular region or set of games that you enjoyed playing?

Charlie: 5:15

Uh honestly, the original games were my favorite. I loved Pokemon Red, I still do. If I could go back and reget that original experience of just discovering all that when I was seven, I probably would. I honestly I, feel like the older games were harder, and I know I was seven at the time, but, I feel like they were a lot harder for me to beat, so it took a lot more effort and like concentration and I was really into it. Nowadays I can go the whole game without losing any battles because the newer games just tend to be easier.

David Hernandez: 5:43

Do you have a particular favorite Pokemon at all?

Charlie: 5:46

I have quite a few favorites. People are always surprised by this. Vaporeon was my first favorite because of one of the old cards that I still had an old Hollow card, and it was really pretty. The art was well done, I just always liked it. And then Growlithe and Houndoom, all the, fire puppies up there were really cute. And then Mudkip, can't really forget to mention Mudkip. My favorite legendary is Ho-oh obviously Pokemon Gold, that's the one I picked and I used to pick based on the cover art and this legendary looks cool, that's the one I want.

David Hernandez: 6:15

No, I can't blame you, that's why I chose Gold too, I always like the idea of a phoenix and plus it has all the colors of the rainbow on its tail.

Charlie: 6:21

Mm-hmm. Exactly. it was just such a cool Pokemon as a kid. It still is.

David Hernandez: 6:25

so when you decided to start playing Pokemon Go, what team did you choose?

Charlie: 6:28

Valor. As I say, it seems really obvious cuz they go like, oh, Pokemon Red Ball but now it was actually down to the, the description that they gave from the team leaders at the very beginning when you pick your team. I don't remember the exact wording or what it said. I just know it resonated with me better than the other two.

David Hernandez: 6:46

So I found the description online, and I'm not sure if this is the same one for when you started the game, but I'm gonna read it anyway.

Charlie: 6:53

Okay.

David Hernandez: 6:53

It goes, Pokemon are stronger than humans and they're warmhearted too. I'm researching ways to enhance Pokemon's natural power in the pursuit of true strength. There's no doubt that the Pokemon our team have trained are the strongest in battle.

Charlie: 7:08

Yeah and honestly, I kind of joke that like the Pokemon Go teams are like Pokemon horoscopes for people. It's like a personality thing. So it's kind of funny that I ended up with the more spicy one. It's like, oh, fight me all the time. It's, it just suits me, I think,

David Hernandez: 7:23

That's fair. Well, what's your approach when it comes to Pokemon Go? Like how do you approach the game? How do you play?

Charlie: 7:29

Usually whenever I leave the house, I'm playing at some point, but it's not like the first thing I think of, I guess. It's just kind of like a, oh, well I'm out. I should see if there's anything good. Unfortunately, that makes me miss events sometimes, cuz if I don't go anywhere, I forget what's going on. I think it's just a very casual play style.

David Hernandez: 7:47

Eventually raids got introduced, like how did you start getting involved into the raids for where you were or were you not able to do raids?

Charlie: 7:54

First one I went to, it was Foxborough gym at that, that corner gym. And I don't remember how I found the group, I think I'd already been on Discord because of a blog that I'm on and other people had invited me over and I believe I had joined a Richardson group, and that was the first one I went to was with them. I was super nervous, got outta my car, and there's like 20 guys standing around and I'm like, oh man, I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get murdered at the park. But everybody was super nice, I remember, uh, exactly who helped me, start the raid cause I was like, I've never done this. What am I supposed to do? And they walked me through and everybody was really welcoming and friendly, but like, it's just kind of coincidental that I found the group to begin with.

David Hernandez: 8:31

And it sounds like you stuck with them for a while. Is that correct?

Charlie: 8:34

Yeah, for a little bit. Obviously with big groups of people, sometimes people don't get along and so there's different communities that branch out in this one area and I found the people I like to play with and I still play with them.

David Hernandez: 8:45

Do you like to PVP at all?

Charlie: 8:47

Most of the time, no, but it kind of comes in waves. My interest comes in waves in PVP. I know one of the Level Up requirements requires you to get to rank 20 or something like that and I was like, I don't know if I can do that and shout out to, you know, Fussbomb. He was like, oh, I bet you can get to 2021. And I was like, oh, I don't know about that and I managed to do that a little while back just because he told me I could. And so I know I can do it, but I don't know. It just, sometimes it just seems like too much of a grind.

David Hernandez: 9:16

What could maybe be done that would make PVP more appealing for you since you're not heavy into pvp?

Charlie: 9:22

Honestly I'm not sure if anything could be done to change my opinions about it without ruining it for other people. So I'm fine with some features of the game not appealing to me. I think everybody has that for some parts of the game. I participate when it's fun and then if it's not, I don't

David Hernandez: 9:38

Right. Now, going back to when you first got introduced into the people and you were like the only female and there was 20 other guys. It sounds like you were very uncomfortable. Like were you just uncomfortable because there's new people or were you just uncomfortable because you were the only woman there?

Charlie: 9:51

A little bit of both. I mean, like I work with all guys. There's no ladies in my department that are in my office. So it's not really so much of that as like I was aware that I was the only woman and we're meeting outside in a park, but we were also like next to a major street and I'm like, okay, it's probably fine. Odds are I'm not gonna get, you know, murdered or kidnapped. There was a Pokemon on the street corner, but you, you know, you never know, you gotta be safe. If you're meeting up with a bunch of people you don't know.

David Hernandez: 10:18

So I know obviously the Raid's scene changed with the current state of the game, but eventually we'll go back to in person. Say there's a woman who's approaching same problem like you did, and we're on the other side as guys. What are things that guys can do to make sure that the woman doesn't feel apprehensive and that she feels welcomed into the group?

Charlie: 10:38

So my opinion might be more based on what I experienced as a woman, but I feel like this kind of goes for everybody, if you just give people their personal space, like as I walked up, people kind of stepped back and made room for me and didn't kind of stand on top of me or make me feel uncomfortable. That's always nice, and I'm sure everybody appreciates personal space. And then even just saying hi, like, Hey, how are you? If you recognize them, or just, Hey, how are you doing? Just anything that like acknowledges them and you're having eye contact and like a, just a little conversation. It usually makes people feel more comfortable when you're in a strange group of people like that. That being said, I do carry pepper spray most of the time, especially like when I would do the night raid or night gym battles. Just in case. When you have people who play with multiple accounts, you're walking around with four or five, six phones. Somebody might run up and try to grab'em, not, not even a Pokemon Go player, just somebody random, they might see a bunch of phones and go, wow, that's some quick cash. You gotta be careful with your surroundings. You just stay aware of what's going on around you. Be safe.

David Hernandez: 11:33

I think that's the craziest part about Pokemon Go on back in the day, you would not bring your phone out, but now with Pokemon Go, you bring it out so easily, and that's what my concern is sometimes too. I'm like, what if somebody sees me with an iPhone and they look at it? I'm like, I could sell that for a quick buck. Now when Pokemon Go, it's kind of normal, really.

Charlie: 11:50

Mm. I think most people are on their phone so much too, and we kind of lose that situational awareness. I actually took a self-defense class at work recently that they offered, which was really cool and that was one of the things he pointed out is just always have situational awareness. If you can't see somebody, they're outta your line of sight, move So they're in your line of sight. Just make sure you know what's going on around you, even if you're standing there tapping at a raid boss.

David Hernandez: 12:13

Definitely, well, let's keep moving forward then. You are a self-proclaimed casual player. What does it mean to be a casual player?

Charlie: 12:20

It basically just means you play when you feel like it and sometimes you miss, major game events or social events but you're focusing on,"yeah, I need to take a break from this stuff cuz it's, burning me out."

David Hernandez: 12:32

Have you ever felt burnt out before?

Charlie: 12:34

Yeah, when they do back to back to back to back events, sometimes it's just a lot and it's hard to get excited about something because it's like, oh, I get excited about this and I didn't get it, but they're releasing this next event and then the next one and it's just like, okay, I need, I need a minute to catch my breath.

David Hernandez: 12:49

How do you approach which events to participate in and which ones to like take a break?

Charlie: 12:53

I just look at what they're featuring for Pokemon a lot of times and then if it's you know, shiny I think is cool looking or something I'm really excited to have, then I'll participate. But sometimes I don't even do that if I know I'm tired or I know I have other stuff I have to do, other commitments, I'll skip it. My whole thing since the beginning when everyone was like hundo chasing and stuff is just like there'll, there'll be another one. It's fine. It's not a one time thing, they'll bring it back or they'll bring it around again or they'll, you'll have another chance. It's not like the be all and end all of things.

David Hernandez: 13:24

It sounds like you don't let the game control your life.

Charlie: 13:27

I try not to. I know it did a little more when I first started doing Raids and stuff. I like would skip lunches with my coworkers and stuff to go raiding, but now I'm like, ah, I'd rather eat but I do try to have a little bit of self-control with it.

David Hernandez: 13:41

Now there is obviously another side of the coin of your play style, there's people who play this game nonstop, play almost every event, 24/7. Do you view that kind of play style as healthy or unhealthy?

Charlie: 13:51

I think it can be either. I think it depends on the person and if they're letting it take away from other aspects of their lives. That being said, most of the hardcore players I know that played back in 17 and 18, a lot of'em aren't playing anymore, so it makes you think maybe they just overdid it, but to be fair, there are quite a few players that have been playing since the beginning, super hardcore, and they're still going. And I think it's just about having that balance. you're not taking away from the other things in your life.

David Hernandez: 14:17

Now, one thing we talked about before recording is that you actually met your husband through Pokemon Go, right?

Charlie: 14:23

Yes, yes, I did, I met him at a raid

David Hernandez: 14:25

Oh. Can you give us some details on how that all went down?

Charlie: 14:29

Yeah, so, it was out in Richardson and a friend that is no longer a friend invited, I think both me and him separately to meet up for, I believe it was Absol raid, because they couldn't do it by themselves and they wanted some extra hands and we were like, yeah, we'll help. And so we both showed up at the same time and I had seen him around but wasn't super familiar with him, we hadn't had a lot of conversations. And then I can't remember what the topic of conversation between the three of us was, but I know I said the word shit and he said,"Language!" To me and then his phone rang and he left. And I was like, did he really just say that to me? I'm a grown adult and he's telling me like language. So it was actually, it was pretty funny. I think I had sent him a message and I was like, I'm sorry if my language offended you. That's how I talk. And I think he was like, no, I had a work call. I had to run off this time.

David Hernandez: 15:20

Would y'all play Pokemon go together?

Charlie: 15:21

Yeah, definitely. Part of like getting to know him interestingly enough was going to like Community Day events and stuff where we'd both be there and, we'd end up talking like, I remember we did the Community Day up at Watters Creek and we, we went up there and there's a Panera up there and I was like, man, I got here early. I'm gonna go have soup really quick. Does anybody wanna meet me? And I posted this in that entire server and the only person who showed up was Clayton, so...

David Hernandez: 15:43

Aw,

Charlie: 15:43

Soup together and chatted cuz he was there early too.

David Hernandez: 15:47

And it just blossomed after that?

Charlie: 15:48

Yeah, we just, kept chatting and playing together and now we're married.

David Hernandez: 15:53

Well, congrats to the marriage, obviously, and I'm sure that you probably warmed some people's hearts listening to that.

Charlie: 15:58

I hope.

David Hernandez: 15:59

Speaking of Community day, one thing that you would do is I remember you used to host like art, prizes, I believe?

Charlie: 16:05

Yeah, so the first couple ones I did, uh, hand drawn art prizes that I would draw ahead of time and bring with me and then I had a bunch of categories for'em and then I had a couple prizes later where it was art prints. I think I did key chains once with Charizard that I had drawn on them. But yeah, there was a variety of prizes I did when people would show up in person and play together. I drew the little pouty gibble, and I had a bunch of merchandise prizes that we did pretty early on when shiny gibble was super rare and I love the Pities. I need to do more of those.

David Hernandez: 16:37

When did you first start drawing?

Charlie: 16:39

I dunno, how old are you when you can pick up a crayon? That would be it. That would be it. Yeah. Mom would sit me in front of the, the TV and put on a Disney movie and I had a, that printer paper that was all connected on the edges and I would just sit there and draw, and draw and draw. So I actually learned self-taught by drawing while watching like the old 2D Disney classics. And then later on I had more formal training when I've taken classes and stuff, but my start was pretty simple.

David Hernandez: 17:05

What was it about drawing that kept you interested?

Charlie: 17:08

I think it's a good way to like, express feelings and thoughts without really having to think about'em too much. It just kind of comes out. I guess it's like a therapy in a way. It's just really relaxing and even when I'm stressed out and I'm like, man, I've tried to draw this 47 times and I can't get it but I keep trying because I like the process of it.

David Hernandez: 17:26

As you were growing up, like what would you draw, who would you draw? Something you'd see in the movies or random things?

Charlie: 17:33

So it started with like the Disney movie. So I draw the characters from those and then it would be other media and I'd like, oh, I really like this character. I'm gonna draw them. Or, I really like this animal. I did a lot of animal stuff cause every kid loves animals. I've dropped a lot of animals. Just whatever I saw, really anything that interested me.

David Hernandez: 17:49

Now, it would befuddled if I didn't ask this question. What is your favorite Disney movie?

Charlie: 17:53

I have to actually think about this one. Uh, I think Moana might be my favorite right now of the newer ones For talking the old stuff, The Lion King never gets old for me, and that's the one I remember drawing the most.

David Hernandez: 18:06

Lion King definitely is a classic for sure. Do you have any like particular artists that you have inspiration from as you developed your arting skill?

Charlie: 18:13

With how everything is online now and you can see art constantly, like I have on my art Instagram, my feed is just artists I like, so it's just constant content, which is really cool. And you, didn't really have that when I was a kid. We didn't really have, you know, that kind of access to the internet. People weren't uploading their art like they do now. I definitely have a, like a curated feed that I look at all, all the time and it just constantly giving me inspiration on ideas.

David Hernandez: 18:37

So when you're going through your Instagram feed and you find something that you like, do you like try to replicate it or you just try to draw it in your own way?

Charlie: 18:43

It depends what it is. If it's stylistic, you can try to replicate it and like, give it your own spin and that's how you end up developing your own style. If it's something where like, oh, this pose looks really hard and looks cool and I'd like to try that, usually you just kind of keep that for a sketch or you do sketch studies of it cause you don't wanna like directly copy people's stuff but you can use it to help, like grow yourself, grow your skills. Which is why I absolutely hate AI art. Those AI art things where they're pulling from other artists work to make a new image because most of the time they're pulling from artist work that they don't have permission to use. So that's a current debate in the art community. I'm just gonna throw that in there.

David Hernandez: 19:20

They use existing images, they can't draw from their own mind.

Charlie: 19:23

Yeah, so they don't have the permission of the artist's art that they're pulling these images together from. I'm seeing a lot of the big artists that I do follow on my various social media are upset because you can very blatantly tell when their art is in it because it will have a certain look to it and, a lot of them are having their art pulled because they're pretty popular and they're having it pulled into AI art without their permission.

David Hernandez: 19:44

What's your biggest concern if AI art continues to develop?

Charlie: 19:49

Just from what I've seen recently, a lot of artists that do commissions for portraits are losing money right now because people are using those portrait generators and it's pulling from art that it shouldn't be. My biggest thing is like, you can't actually replace the human element of art. It makes me very uncomfortable that we are trying to do that in any way. That's the whole point of it, is that the humanity in art, that's what makes it have feeling. If you take that human element out, I don't think you have art. I think you just have something that's been copy, pasted, and photoshopped or whatever.

David Hernandez: 20:19

And I guess what the human element means is basically not only your own style, but also how the drawing comes out in the end because sometimes drawings can speak to you, if so, you will, is that kind of what you mean?

Charlie: 20:30

Yeah, so there's a lot more feeling than people think put into art and most people recognize that when you're talking about, traditional art, historic art, anything that's, you know, old famous art that you see in a museum, but they forget about that when it comes to any kind of new contemporary art, art you see online. But somebody's feelings went into that, somebody's, you know, effort and hard work went into that. It's not art. Why would you try to, I guess, why would you try to remove the art part of the art

David Hernandez: 20:55

We'll just think of the opening scene of the Pokemon Anime series, you know, the classic one back when we grew up. Everything's moving. There's never nothing very still showing that Pokemon's kind of a journey. Mm-hmm. Um, you got the world spinning, you got U2 zooming, you got Pikachu running like the entire scene of the Pokemon anime is constant movement. And that's intentional because whoever designed that from an artist's perspective, they wanted to have the idea of constantly moving, of starting a journey. And that's the stuff that you kind of start missing out on with AI art. Correct?

Charlie: 21:27

Yeah. So you don't get that attention to detail that speaks to your feelings or your emotions the same way. You get an image and it might look cool, but it's not going to connect with you the same way.

David Hernandez: 21:38

So if somebody was listening and they maybe were just an inspiring artist or they're learning to draw, what advice would you give them?

Charlie: 21:45

Just do it. Get a sketchbook, and draw. Carry it with you all the time, that's what I do. It's the only we get better is just keep doing it.

David Hernandez: 21:53

So we're almost done, and I gotta ask one last question. Do you have any goals with Pokemon Go moving forward? Like how far do you see yourself still playing this game?

Charlie: 22:04

It's funny you ask this, I'm in the middle of taking my architectural registration exams and I jokingly said the other day, am I gonna finish getting licensed first or am I gonna get to level 50 first?

David Hernandez: 22:17

How closer are you to level 50? Is it just XP or is it the Quest?

Charlie: 22:20

It's the xp. I just got to 47 And my goal for licensing is to be done by fall of next year, so I don't think I'm gonna hit level 50 by then, so that's probably good I get the licensing done first. I'm taking my time with it cause I hate rushing through things and then not having anything to do, so I'm enjoying the process.

David Hernandez: 22:36

Well thank you for coming on the show Charlie, do you have any last minute words you wanna leave, by all means, plug it away.

Charlie: 22:42

If you guys wanna follow me, for any art, there's Pokemon art and other art. I have Instagram and Tumblr, and I do have a Twitter that I just recently made. I don't have a ton of content on there, but I'm trying, even though Twitter is crashing and burning. All three of the handles for those are@charliesmudkips.

David Hernandez: 22:58

Awesome and I'll make sure to include links to what she said in the description of today's episode. Thank you for listening to another episode of As The Pokeball Turns! You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Remember to give the show a rating of five stars. If you wanna do four stars, sleep on it and come back tomorrow. If you're feeling eh with three stars, come back in about two days. If you think this podcast is like McDonald's with two stars, come back in about three days. And for some reason, if you feel like you can only give this show one star, come back next week because no matter what, each road should lead to five stars. Until then, I'll see you next time! Here's the sneak peek for the next episode of As The Pokeball Turns!