World of Earpers – getting to know your fellow Earpers, one Earper at a time.
This Earper truly shares the love, not only with her art but also the Kat videograms for everybody to enjoy and various give aways, not to mention her designs. Meet Kid (aka @kid_earper)!
Who’s Kid?
First of all, just want to say thank you for letting me be a part of this amazing initiative on getting to know Earpers around the world.
Well, my name is Azza and you can call me either Azza or Kid, I don’t mind. And no, I am not a “kid” Kid. I’m already in my early 30s. I’m a Malaysian but currently living and working in Brunei. My pronoun is she/her. I can’t drink alcohols; I can’t have tattoos. So, if you ever need a sober buddy for your night out when we hang out, I’m it.
I want to say I earp for a living. Does that count? Haha. Anyhoo, I’m a back-end programmer developing mobile banking applications for one of the local banks here in Brunei. Yeap. IT nerd here. So, for those who are not familiar with the term back-end programmer, simply said that we are responsible of the “behind-the-scene” processes like checking if your registered username and password are correct during login, validate the inputs that you guys entered in a form, stuff like that. It’s nothing interesting but it’s fun for me.
How did you discover Wynonna Earp?
I was a fan of Lost Girl actually. I was watching one of the Lost Girl panels (I don’t remember which one though) and I knew Emily Andras from there. So, one day I was browsing YouTube for Lost Girl videos and surprise surprise, came across a WayHaught video (DUH) but at the time, I didn’t really look into it so I just went back to browsing Lost Girl videos. It was early 2018, if I recall correctly.
Fast forward to August the same year, I just got out of a bad relationship and yeah, browsing YouTube as usual one day to occupy my free time and came across the same WayHaught video. That day, I decided to watch it and then I learned that the couple is from this show called Wynonna Earp. The detective in me googled the show and found that the showrunner is Emily Andras! I watched the first episode on Netflix and let me be honest here, I am not a fan of supernatural or wild west genre TV show. Nope. Not a fan. BUT somehow Wynonna Earp got me hooked from the very first episode because I really love this Wynonna Earp character. She was being unapologetically herself and badass and just… Wynonna. Well, I guess I can say the rest is history and here I am now.
You’re in Brunei right? What’s it like, being an Earper there?
Yes, I am in Brunei. Well, there is a Bruniean Earper and I can say she’s the only Earper here. So, we try to go out whenever we can every Sunday for lunch or buy groceries together or anything. She’s like a big sister to me now.
I need to say THANK YOU TECHNOLOGY! Because of it, I can keep in touch with Earpers everywhere, literally. I mean like every Sunday night; I will have this Zoom or Skype call with a couple of Earpers and I can say that I always look forward for this call. Also, I do have this employee privilege of going back home to Malaysia once a month and when I’m there, I get to meet up with my Malaysian Earper family (LOVE YOU). All in all, I can say it’s not bad being an Earper here. I mean, it doesn’t matter where I am, Earpers are always with me, physically or virtually.
You’re quite creative, how do you come up with your designs? What’s your process? What tools do you use?
Most of the time the ideas just came to me. First, I visualize how the design would look like. Which pictures I want to use, what I want to do, how I want to manipulate and combine the pictures etc. Then I just open my Photoshop and get to work on it.
I also started to do a digital drawing early this year and I really love doing it ever since. I used Adobe Illustrator for that and my first digital drawing was Kat Barrell who plays Nicole Haught (in case some of you guys don’t know, but I doubt it. Right, Earpers? Hehe).
Recently I moved to using an iPad and ProCreate to draw. Although sometimes I do have creativity block, I mean who doesn’t right, but just want to share my experience here. If you do get your creativity blocked for some reasons, go out and take a walk. It’s okay to leave your arts or designs for a while. It’ll always be there when you get back. Just take a break, do something fun, clear your mind and then come back.
I have another Instagram account (@kid_artstuff) where I post my arts/designs. Well mostly drawings for now and you guys can give it a follow if you want.
I also have an online TeeSpring store https://teespring.com/stores/kidkchk with a few simple designs in it for those who are interested. I have a couple of new designs in the process that I will share with you guys when I can find the time to finalize them and will definitely let you guys know when they’re available.
I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who have followed my art Instagram and thank you in advance for those who will. Also, to those who have bought stuff from my store and to let you know that I really appreciate your support and so grateful for it.
You’ve been to a couple of (Wynonna Earp) conventions, on different continents. What was it like, meeting the cast and your fellow Earpers? Any special memories? Did you notice any differences between fans on the different continents?
I have never, ever been this invested with any TV show before. So, taking that first step of flying to the other side of the world (Canada), just to meet this amazing cast and Earpers was a really big step and a really big deal for me. And also, it was my first longest solo trip ever! Totally changed my life.
EHCon was my first convention and I only knew Earpers from online. So, it was scary at first but then, Earpers; they were so welcoming and so cool to hang out with.
As for the cast, oh my. I think most of the time I was awkward and so damn nervous. I was meeting Dom first and listen, I was a mess. I couldn’t get any words out and it was embarrassing! And I mean who doesn’t get nervous when Kat looks, like really looks into your eyes and listens to everything you have to say. And Mel, THE MELANIE SCROFANO, being so welcoming and warmth and just, I love her. I mean, come on. She’s WYNONNA FUDGING EARP.
But I was the most nervous to meet Emily, to be honest. THE QUEEN, who gave this amazing show to us, and I was stuttering and oh god just embarrassing myself there in front of her. And yes, she was so welcoming too and until this day, I am still nervous to interact with Emily Andras!
I have this Lora Innes limited edition poster from Earp Expo (I think?) and I guess, I was lucky and glad that I went to EHCon that year because most of the cast were there and the writers as well, except Tim. I got to talk to all of them except Kate Drummond because her autograph session overlapped with my photo op (I don’t remember which photo op, though). I had Nathalie (@Nathalie_fanart) to help me out and if you’re reading this; Thank you, Nathalie! I owe you one. And so, now I have all of their signatures on it except..well, Tim. I guess I have to chase Tim now for his signature before I can finally get the poster framed and hang it on my wall.
Ooof. Special memories? All of them! Every single moment from meeting the cast and Earpers. I have so many but I think I’m going to share a few.
One of the top memories was the moment I touched down in Canada, I was waiting for my luggage and I turned my phone on, there was this Twitter notification saying that I’ve won the Meet & Greet giveaway from one of the generous Earpers, Jo (@jojo2unicorn). I literally read the tweet so many times, you know, just to check if my eyes weren’t deceiving me. Haha. But yeah, I did win and I just can’t believe it. I mean, I was lucky enough to be able to attend the convention and then to get this Meet & Greet with the cast, whew. I was overwhelmed with this grateful feeling. I felt like I was dreaming (dramatic, I know but I don’t care! Haha). Anyway, Jo, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for that gift. It meant a lot to me since that was my first ever Earp convention.
I guess another memory that I want to share was that one impromptu last-minute tour with a couple of Earpers after EHCon! Okay so, due to my flight being cancelled and changed to the day after, I decided to join a one-day tour. The fun part was, the tour bus picked up tourists at 9:30am and I booked it at 7:30am the same day! And…I need to Uber myself from the convention hotel to Downtown Toronto. Crazy right? But then I’m glad I did it because that was one of the highlights of my first time in Canada and get to hang out with two of the most amazing hooman beings, Cris (@_CrisLaz) and Cat (@cat40772), I love you guys. So, to start my first Earp journey with that amazing gift from Jo and end it with that unforgettable tour, it was pretty awesome.
The thing about going to conventions, you also get the chance to explore around a little bit. So, while I was in London for EarperConUK, I went to the Harry Potter Studio Film Set and being a Potterhead (I watch the movies and have not read the books. Not really a book person in general. Ooopss), it was AH-MA-ZING! But of course, these can never top the memories of meeting the cast and the writers. That’s for sure. That’s like a whole new level of awesomeness.
There are a couple of familiar faces in all the cons that I’ve been to but for me, nothing much difference. Everyone that I’ve met, they’re all sweet and nice and amazing and awesome and kind. I mean, they’re Earpers!
P/S: I do have so many memories and please don’t hate me for not mentioning you. You know who you are and know that I remember you and I’m so grateful to have met you!
What did you think of the online conventions? BTW thank you so much for sharing the videograms of Kat!
I think the online conventions are great for everyone from all over the world to participate, especially con-cants. Although it’s not the same feeling as being at the conventions, but you know, you get the chance to interact with the cast. You really got to love technology on this one.
Oh yeah. It’s not a problem at all. I know how some of us are not able to go to any conventions for some reasons and not everyone gets the chance in the online conventions so, I just don’t want them to feel left out because they matter too. I’m just going to share the link of the videogram here for anyone who read this and for you guys to keep: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L-YtDrqHAWBLnG-4pi-hj7GpibDENunA
What does the future hold for you, Wynonna Earp wise? More cool designs? Planned cons?
#E4L here so yes of course more designs will come! As for the cons and as of now, I will be going to Earp Fest and EHCon in 2021. So, I guess I see you guys there! Take care, stay safe and always be kind!