Fun With Fandom: Q & A with Artist Emmy Cicierega

Intro by Less Lee Moore
Harry Potter questions by Hanna
Art questions by Sandy

One day, while checking the Fatal Farm website, I saw some amazing Lasagna Cat fanart from someone named Emmy Cicierega. Intrigued, I looked her up on deviantART. I was impressed, amazed, and amused by her wicked talent and sense of humor. She graciously consented to answering some questions about her art and involvement with Harry Potter fandom (via her participation in her brother Neil’s Potter Puppet Pals creation).

About Harry Potter:

How did you get into Harry Potter fandom?
It was a natural progression since I loved the books and am active online. The fandom is kind of hard to escape!

Panel from A Trip to Hogwart’s Part One
© Emmy Cicierega

Do you read fanfic or do you just get into fanart? If so, are you still involved in either? If so, what do you like about the fandom? Has the fandom changed a lot since you first entered it?
I don’t read fanfics as I don’t like to spoil my image of how the characters behave, but I do love fanart because it’s fascinating how everyone else sees the characters.

I haven’t drawn fanart for Harry Potter in a while, but I’ve been meaning to reread the last book so I’ll probably remedy that soon. The fandom hasn’t changed much as far as I know; it still seems strong and crazy as ever.

What did you think of the impact of the last book?
It was a huge release for everyone. I knew a lot of people who would say, “I really hope I don’t die before the last Harry Potter book comes out!!” so I guess they are free to die now. Haha.

You are best known—in Harry Potter fandom—for the Potter Puppet Pals. How did that start?
It started with me and my brother [Neil] trying to make each other laugh! I drew some comics of the HP characters as puppets, and then he did an animation to follow that up and from there it really took off.

Centaur Rock © Emmy Cicierega

Why did you decide to take it to live action? How are the live performances going?
We went and saw the band Harry and the Potters live one night, and thought they were so awesome that we asked them if they would be interested in Potterpals joining them on stage for a crazy Harry Potter show of awesomeness. Naturally, they were interested so we took the time to construct the puppets and a collapsible stage.

The performances have always been fantastic! There are some videos of them on YouTube but they’re pretty bad quality. We do original skits for the live stuff, so if you want to see it eith good quality you gotta see us live.

Europe, unfortunately, we don’t have events like the Yule Ball at which you performed. Can you describe it for us? Is it similar to or different from a fan convention?
The Yule Ball is basically just an awesome concert with a bunch of Harry Potter themed comedy bands. It’s a total blast and Potterpals is always glad to be there. Potterpals hasn’t played any conventions yet—just mainly shows—but we’d like to do that in the future.

Why is Snape so especially hilarious?
Because he takes himself so seriously! And has a jiggly face.

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