Temmie Chang loved all forms of art.
She was studying hard and learning all about fine art, creating paintings based on the
classics that dated back hundreds of years, in an effort to become a better artist.
At the same time, she had also fallen deeply in love with more modern forms of inspiration.
She was overwhelmed by the amazing, beautiful work on display in popular anime, cartoons,
and video games.
These newer art forms didn’t come with the same prestige and respectability of the fine
art paintings that Temmie was learning to create, but they were no less meaningful to
her.
One day, Temmie would prove just how influential a video game could be.
Her contributions to gaming and animation – most notably the indie smash hit Undertale
– would define her career as an artist and make her a source of inspiration for multitudes
of fans around the world.
It all started with Breath of Fire.
When Temmie Chang was very young, her cousin would sit with her, and the pair would play
the Super Nintendo’s fantasy roleplaying game together.
Temmie fell in love with the feel of the game, and the gorgeous sprite art that told such
a powerful story in spite of its simplicity.
She was only young, but already, she felt a desire to one day work on game herself,
creating artwork that lived up to what she saw when playing Breath of Fire.
Gaming was only one of her interests at the time - while she was still only eight or nine,
Temmie had her hands full drawing the coolest dragons she could possibly design.
She had a desire to immerse herself in fantasy worlds, and it seemed that the best way to
do this was to create her own monsters and heroes through artwork.
Her interest in pictures of huge, scaly beasts led her to explore the internet, where she
stumbled upon a website called DeviantArt.
Here, Temmie was blown away by the incredible works of art that other site users created,
and was all the more amazed to discover that some of these artists were only a little older
than she was herself.
Temmie realized that if she applied herself, and really pushed to learn as much about drawing
and painting as possible, she might be able to make artwork that looked as wonderful as
the things she saw on DeviantArt.
Temmie’s uncle bought her a cheap digital drawing tablet, and she began practicing every
day, trying to improve and develop her skills.
Her mother, very supportive of this hobby, enrolled Temmie in a series of fine art and
life drawing classes so that she could hone her abilities as much as possible.
Meanwhile, gaming continued to inspire Temmie as she developed as an artist.
As a teenager, she found other unique and interesting games, this desire grew within
her.
She played games like Yume Nikki and Cave Story, and marveled at just how much artistic
expression was possible in relatively simple pixel art games.
Temmie hoped that one day, she might get the chance to be involved with one of these relatively
small, indie projects that were making waves among gaming fans.
This all paid off, as Temmie earned a scholarship five years in a row that let her attend a
summer camp that focused entirely on learning about painting and drawing.
She often felt overwhelmed by just how talented other artists were, but she was pleased with
how her own abilities were developing.
At the same time, though, Temmie found a rift in the art world meant that some professionals
and teachers would look down on her hobbies.
Temmie wasn’t just drawing influence from traditional fine art sources, but from video
games, animation, and wider culture, and this didn’t sit too well with some of the more
established experts that she’d brush up against.
This made Temmie frustrated, as surely any influence had the potential to help her grow
if it was something she cared about.
She paid no heed to her dismissive art teachers, and embraced her love of fan culture, diving
into the internet to find likeminded peers.
She got involved with communities and forums online, offering to draw art requests, and
later embracing social media like Twitter and Tumblr as a way to share her art with
others.
When if came to professional employment, Temmie really wasn’t sure what she wanted to do
with her life.
He loved art, and knew that she wanted to do something that allowed her creative freedom,
but her specific direction was unclear.
Ultimately, Temmie followed the path of least resistance – she had a friend who was looking
to major in 2D animation, and who ultimately convinced Temmie that she might as well study
the same thing.
The pair were accepted to study at an art institute, where Temmie met plenty of other
likeminded aspiring artists.
Temmie’s time at art school was some of the best of her life.
She was naturally fairly shy and withdrawn, and wasn’t hugely interested in social situations,
so developing friendships with similarly artistically driven people really helped her to grow.
The only real drawback was the debt.
Temmie felt very uncomfortable about taking out student loans to pay for her time at art
school, and worried that she might end up burdening herself for life if she couldn’t
find a way to pay these off after she’d finished her studies.
Art degrees aren’t known for their stability, and had she gone down a different path, Temmie
might have preferred the practicality and employability that something like an engineering
degree might have afforded her.
Probably the best part of studying was getting the chance to associate with other creative
students.
Everyone in the digital arts department was eager to help each other, sharing ideas, resources,
and opportunities to learn and develop.
Temmie found herself learning and growing a lot as an artist from all the feedback and
encouragement that her peers offered her.
Then one day, something exciting happened.
A simple message from one of her fans – a game developer and musician named Toby Fox
– would make Temmie’s life a lot more interesting.
Things were about to get busy, complicated, and exciting, as she was about to embark on
one of the most enjoyable artistic projects of her life, as she joined Toby in making
a little game called Undertale.
As her online presence grew, Temmie would occasionally get messages from fans of her
work asking for help with different projects, or for art to attach to things they were working
on.
One day, though, she got a request for more work than anyone had asked for before.
Temmie was well aware of Homestuck, and so receiving a message from Toby Fox, who had
contributed significantly to that burgeoning multimedia experience, was very exciting indeed!
Toby was a fan of Temmie’s artwork, and as such, was hoping to get her help in completing
a video game he was working on called Undertale.
Toby loved Temmie’s artwork, and as he began making plans for his project, he wanted the
opportunity to work with her, using her artistic talents to make Undertale the best game that
it could possibly be.
For her part, Temmie was thrilled for the chance to work on the game.
At this point, the game was still very early in development, but from everything Toby had
already done, this seemed like Undertale was going to be wonderful – not only was the
existing gameplay really solid, but coupled with Toby’s own music, Temmie was sure he
was on to something special.
Temmie and Toby, along other artists including Kenj and Merrigo, worked on all of the character
designs and sprites that he had yet to figure out.
For the most part, Toby had an idea of characters that he wanted in the game, and simple sketches
that Temmie would elaborate on, find a finished style for, and create in adorable, pixelized
form.
There was a lot to do – Temmie helped with environment art, as well as the game’s sepia-tinted
opening cutscene.
She added little tweaks to some of Toby’s creations, such as adding finesse to Toriel’s
sprite art.
Temmie also came up with some wholly original designs, some of which Toby liked enough to
develop and add into the game – Lesser Dog, for example, came from one of Temmie’s ideas
before being expanded upon as the pair worked together.
Going back and forth on designs with Toby never really felt like work – Temmie had
a fantastic time chatting with him and discussing ideas.
If anything, this felt like an extension of the friendly art sharing and pro-bono drawings
she’d been doing for friends online for years, albeit on a much bigger scale.
Talking about Undertale was interwoven inside a genuine friendship.
Sometimes the pair would discuss designs, sometimes Toby would share reference materials
and descriptions, and sometimes, they’d just send each other cute photos and videos
of Pomeranians for hours at a time.
Temmie even ended up becoming the basis for an entire village of characters, as a kind
of Easter Egg.
At the time, Temmie’s avatar on social media was a cute drawing that had been done by a
friend, Betty Kwong, to represent her, before Betty actually knew what Temmie looked like.
Partially as a joke, Toby began turning this cartoon Temmie into a character in the game,
making it a parody of the real Temmie, and the way she used to talk when messaging people
online.
Somehow, this idea grew into an entire village of characters within the game, as a tribute
to the artist who’d contributed so much time and effort to making Undertale work.
Together, the pair worked to put together the game’s Kickstarter, to earn some funding
that would help them with their project.
Temmie made additional illustrations, comics, and other artwork to help their presentation
look as good as it possibly could – so, naturally, Undertale shot past all expected
funding goals, as fans fell in love with Temmie’s artwork.
As fun as this process was, though, Temmie began to feel pressure mounting up.
She hadn’t really expected Undertale’s development to stretch into her senior year
at art school, but now she found herself swamped with schoolwork and trying to balance her
art duties for Undertale on the side.
There really didn’t seem to be enough time for everything, as Temmie began struggling
to keep on top of all her different assignments and projects.
She felt guilty for not being able to help more with the latter half of Undertale’s
development, simply because she didn’t have enough time for everything that was on her
plate.
In the face of adversity, Temmie buckled down.
She pushed through her final assignments at school, and gave Toby all the support and
help that she could as Undertale drew near to completion.
Finally, both of these two enormous projects wrapped up.
Temmie felt triumphant – she’d made it through the gauntlet and achieved her goals.
At this point, though, while Temmie was vaguely aware of the popularity of Undertale, she
had no idea how much of a gaming superstar she’d become.
It wasn’t until Temmie attended a convention, Magfest, that she discovered the extent of
the new fandom that had sprung up around her work.
Countless people came up to her, expressing their love of Undertale and of her art in
general, and Temmie was left with the satisfying realizing that, along with Toby Fox, she’d
made something that people really cared about.
This was only the beginning.
As Temmie faced the wide world outside of college, she found herself working on other
games and projects within prestigious development teams.
She was able to lend her professional talents to a new game in the longrunning Shantae series,
as well as working at Studio Yotta on a lot of animation projects for their various clients,
including Cartoon Network.
She even managed, thanks to the overwhelming success of Undertale, to pay off her student
debts without any hassle at all.
This in and of itself felt like a phenomenal achievement.
Temmie had grown, she had learned, and she’d made things that she could be very, very proud
of.
A lifetime of creative work stretched out in front of her, and she was eager to see
where her career would take her next.
The moral of this story is that you should never ignore who you are at your core.
Temmie Chang has a love of fine art and of cute animation, and found the importance of
not ignoring either side of her inspirations.
While her teachers might have looked down on her interests when she was younger, it
was only by embracing her love of video games and pop culture that Temmie was able to make
things that resonated with others.
Don’t listen if someone tells you that the things you love are silly or juvenile – embrace
what makes you special, and you’ll find your place one day.
Learning to develop your talents isn’t always easy.
It takes daily work to truly become great at something, and it can be a long, stressful,
difficult process to achieve your dreams.
You may find yourself drowning in work as you try to balance work or school with more
creative pursuits.
You may, like Temmie Chang, find yourself sacrificing your free time to help ensure
that you have time for everything you’re trying to do.
Don’t underestimate yourself, and remember that you have many skills that can aid you
in your goals.
Temmie’s success has come not just from her own personal talents, but her friendly
ability to work and laugh with others, generating new and fun ideas to help make Undertale the
best that it can be.
Remember who you are, and where your talents and interests.
One day, if you keep working to improve yourself, you’ll find the perfect way to make your
mark on the world.