Hooraaaay, artists! I got to know another one of you Dance Central artists recently. Her name is Rebecah (A.K.A Bek) and she is from… you’ll never guess it… Massachusetts! She’s our neighbor. Bek is local, but she’s really well connected with the rest of the Dance Central art world which I’m finding more and more extends all around the world. In fact, Bek knows every other artist I’ve spoken to for these blogs! I love how tight knit this community is.
It didn’t surprise me that she’d been in the art game her whole life. She told me a little about her history: “I've been a visual artist for as long as I can remember. I guess the first time I started drawing for real was in first grade when I would draw storybooks of my favorite characters from cartoons, anime, and games as different animals going on different adventures. I usually draw as a hobby, but I'm trying to get better and better at my art so I can use it for my career!”
Speaking of tight knit communities, Bek crochets for a living. “I make my own patterns, too! That Murder of Crows flag that I crocheted was all my own, and I've been planning on doing flags for each of the crews when I have the time. People have commissioned my dolls, and I'm working on one for my cousin's cosplay now! I also like testing the waters to see what I'm good at doing in different forms of media. Currently I'm trying 3D modeling with Blender. I really hope that one day I could create a cartoon show or a video game based off of the original characters I have created or work for a gaming or cartooning business. That and run a small business using my crochet. <3”
She told me a little about how she got started with Dance Central: “To be super, super honest: kind of embarrassing. I'm a very, very shy person by nature, and it took me a good few minutes to prepare myself to dance my first song, which was “Better Off Alone” [by Alice DeeJay]. After a few songs, I warmed up to the game and now I absolutely love playing it. One of the biggest things that draw me to the characters are their designs. As someone who is trying to get into 3D design and art, I love looking at the characters and the physics of their clothes and hair, as well as the different, unique facial expressions they make. Sometimes I wish I could just take the models of my favorite characters and just slap them on a 3D program and just study them. Drawing them, on the other hand, gives me a good challenge on different face shapes and clothing details and textures. Drawing ideas usually just come to me on a whim or watching different movies or shows that remind me of said characters. Most of the time the ideas are very silly and fun because that's what I believe drawing should be, professional or not. Fun. I would love to be friends with Oblio because of our love of creativity. We'd both share our own forms of art. I'd love to listen to him and his stories and then go out for ice cream afterward. However, the one character I believe I have the most in common with is Bodie. According to his Romance Central dialogue, he loves food and considers you a soulmate if you give him an extra side of blue cheese. That is exactly how I would react. I am Bodie, it is me.”
I asked what she’d be like if she was a Dance Central character: “I don't think I would have a special name, I think I would still be Bek (I know, I'm boring). As for the kind of songs I would have, probably “Everybody (Backstreet's Back)” by the Backstreet Boys because it's one of my favorite songs I used to listen to all the time as a little child. In fact, that's a thing for a lot of my fav Dance Central songs: They were all songs I used to listen to as a kid, at least the ones in the early '00s, so any song from that era would be my “default” song!”
She gave us a list of her top Dance Central songs, too!
• “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot • “Bass Down Low” by Dev ft. The Cataracts (What got me into the game!!!) • “Commander” by Kelly Rowland ft. David Guetta • “Everybody (Backstreet's Back)” by The Backstreet Boys • “Get Busy” by Sean Paul • “Hella Good” by No Doubt • “Hey Baby (Drop it to the Floor)” by Pitbull ft. T-Pain • “I Like It” by Enrique Iglesias ft. Pitbull • “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice • “In Da Club” by 50 Cent • “Like a G6” by Far East Movement • “Massive Attack” by Nicki Manaj ft. Sean Garett • “On the Floor” by Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull • “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa • “Scenario” by A Tribe Called Quest
Bek spoke a little about her Dance Central friends: “Most of my Dance Central fandom friends I found on Tumblr, but I personally met them and talked to them on Twitter. We talked the most during the release of Dance Central Spotlight, but after its release and the hype died down a little we started finding more things in common with one another, and it just went from there.”
She also left me with a message for the rest of the Dance Central community: “Always do what you want to enjoy, especially as a career. Each and every one of you are great people that are [cap]able of doing so many great things. I hope in the future you get ahead and are successful by doing the things you love most.”
I had such a good time getting to know Bek! Make sure to check out more of her stuff on Tumblr and feel free to send us any of your art through Twitter or Facebook. Catch you later, dancers!