Names/Aliases: Nick Sanders, Wolfy T. Twisted, Crash, Crownless, Quesadilla Wizard
Born: 1987
Star Sign: Virgo, Leo Rising
Home State: Mississippi
Occupation: Artist, Author, Personal Care Assistant
Hobbies: Making Websites, Caring For My Animals, Drawing, Writing, Mechanical Keyboards, Collecting Vaprowave Albums, Playing Neopets and Other Virtual Pet Games, Online Text-Based Roleplaying, Board Games, Card Games, Sim-like Computer Games, Making Youtube Videos, Building Terrariums, Learning New Software
Dislikes: Raw Celery, Cold Weather, Milk.
How long have you been drawing?
LITERALLY since I could hold a pencil. I don't know where they are any more, but I used to have dozens of little fat notebooks filled with drawings and "stories" that were just retellings of my favorite movies. I eventually started making up my own stories though. Almost always about animals or people who could turn into animals. I can't remember ever not drawing in some capacity. I got really serious about it when I got into highschool though and sold my first commissions around 2006.
Did you go to art school?
No. I took art class in highschool from about 8th grade to 12th. I learned a lot from books, studying comics, and watching the artists in the online community around me. I was lucky enough to find a close-knit group of friends who were all artists and we all learned from each other as we grew up.
When did you start writing?
I was in middleschool when I started seriously started typing up stories on the computer. I can't remember if Neopets or my Nightmare Before Christmas fanfic came first. It probably depends on what year I took typing class in school. That finally gave me the freedom to record my stories outside of drawings in my sketchbook. Handwriting was always hard for me to focus on and I made so many spelling mistakes that I'd often ruin the paper from erasing. Writing in a word processor and later, straight onto websites and fanfiction.net, I was able to write as quickly as I thought.
In college, I took several creative writing courses, sometimes just auditing them without officially being in the class. The critique circle was very important for me.
Another way I developed my writing skill was through online text roleplay. Forums, AIM, Yahoo, email, Furcadia, Dreamwidth/Livejournal, and Discord are all places I have written colaborativly with folks. It's a great time! I published my first novel in 2023.
You talk a lot about your mental health in your art. What's going on with that?
HAHA OH BOY. Well, I've been living with OCD my whole life but I didn't get a formal diagnosis or any form of help until 2016. It's kind of a nightmare. I deal a lot with obsessions and intrusive thoughts and phobias. Whenever somebody says 'haha I'm so OCD" when they simply like their house to be tidy, I wanna fight them.
A lot of your characters are gay or trans. Are you part of the LGBT community?
Yes. I remember the sense of relief and hope I felt when I first discovered that marrying a woman was even an option. I think this was around the end of middleschool. I was so scared, though. I live in a place where a woman's "job" is to please/take care of her man and also have babies on top of that. That scene is not for me. My state is also home to a high number of fundamentalist Christians who think I'm going to Hell. I am not going to Hell for being gay. I'm going to Hell for other stuff.
I am uninterested in sex. I don't think I'm more "pure" than anyone else. I'm not a nun. I just don't want to. I don't find that kind of thing appealing. At the time of this writing I'm 36 damn years old, I think I'd have changed my mind by now if that was going to be a thing.
If I were to label myself, I'd just choose "queer". I think it pretty well covers my experiencecs. I'm not a woman. I'm not a man. If I had a choice, I wouldn't even be human. I'm just me.
Nick Sanders, 2024