A Community That Impacted My Life
Hi my name is Allison but I'm better known as "uguubear" and I draw a lot of fanart for League. Probably most well known for the "DUNK" posters and champion chibi buttons. If you're unfamiliar with my work you can take a look here: www.uguubear.com
I've had a lot of great opportunities and met so many amazing people simply because I got involved in the League of Legends community. There's so many more people than just these three individuals, but I find it almost surreal to think that if I had not played this video game I may not have ever met them.
MORELLO I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan "Morello" Scott at my first time PAX East way back in 2011. I was encouraged by one of my roommates to go to the Riot booth and share the fanart that I had drawn for League but I was so nervous and shy that I nearly chickened out. I finally gathered the courage to approach one of the Rioters, who happened to be one of the senior artists. He directed me to Morello and we ended up speaking briefly. Morello expressed how much he loved the piece and invited me to the after party. At the party we ended up speaking more and exchanged Summoner's names. At every following PAX event I would see him, and he even invited me to my first tour of Riot. Ultimately, I credit Morello with my decision to move to California to establish a better working relationship with the gaming industry. He and his wife both have been extremely supportive of my endeavors and really inspired me in the early stages of my career.
https://i.imgur.com/QUfzCfC.png
LILY Lilypichu was always someone that I had admired from afar; a creative, talented individual who just seemed like a ball of adorableness. I was browsing Reddit, something I very rarely do, and I noticed someone had posted about my store. I thought that itself was pretty cool, but when I scrolled down I saw a comment that made my mouth drop. Lily had commented saying that she was a fan of my work. I nearly fell out of my chair. I responded, perhaps in the most embarrassing manner possible (and to this day she still makes fun of me for it) asking if I could draw her fanart and telling her that I was a fan of her work as well. We ended up sharing in some back and forth and when I found out she was going to AnimeExpo later that year I asked if she wanted to do a signing at my booth. That was the first time I met her. We hung out again at Otakon later that year, and we hung out a bit at other League events. She wanted to move to California, and I was moving out of my current place so I asked her if she'd be interested in being my roommate. After looking at apartments we found one we both liked and have been living together for a little over a year now! Although we are parting ways when our lease is up, I am very happy to have had the experience and time to get to know her better. After meeting on a thread on Reddit of all places, she became one of my closest friends. :)
https://i.imgur.com/qmYqzYq.png
CODY/PLAYERPOV Cody "PlayerPOV" Crawford was perhaps one of my very first Youtube inspirations (and crush). He's known for his game-play videos and parody songs and I was introduced to him by a mutual friend a long time ago. I had spoken with him and done some collaborative projects before, but I was too shy to even directly talk to him so we ended up working through the mutual friend. I had the opportunity to fly out to the Season 2 World Championships at the Galen Center and just when I thought I had caught my breath from the overwhelming experience, I saw him. There he was. I very rarely "fangirl" but this was one of those moments. I very shyly asked for a photo and immediately slunk off after. After getting close to Lily I got the opportunity to talk to Cody more. We spent a lot of time together online, at events and he even spent a decent amount of time living in the same apartment complex as Lily and I. We got closer and closer, and to this day I consider him my best friend. Soon we're going to be diving into business together and I'm so excited for what the two of us can tackle together.
https://i.imgur.com/3tOj9xo.png
I kept these as brief as I could, so I'm open to expanding upon them if you have questions! But I'm also interested if anyone else has met someone influential, inspirational or just plain awesome through this community! I'd love to hear your guys' stories. :)
This looks awesome
