From Gooming to Growth: An Interview with hololive Fan Artist Gurumie
We’ll say it a second time: artists are one of the biggest sources of creativity and influence within the VTuber scene, extending far beyond it into spaces like video games, film, anime, and manga.
Within the hololive community in particular, fan artists play a major role in shaping how talents are celebrated, whether through their broad support for hololive as a Daredemo Daisuki (DD for short), or through deeply personal expressions of passion for their oshis, or even a kamioshi.
For our second guest in this new Interview series, we’re excited to feature an amazing rat-and-bird artist, well known among fans of the spicier side of hololive fan art, the Goom himself, Gurumie (@gurumie1229)!
Gurumie has built a strong presence within the hololive art community over the years, amassing over 180,000 followers on X/Twitter as of early 2026, with thousands and sometimes millions of fans interacting with his work. In this interview, we explore his journey as an artist, dive into the meaning behind “gooming”, and discuss what motivates him on his path toward becoming a full-time artist.
hololive TODAY / hT:
Welcome, Gurumie! Thank you so much for taking the time to interview with us at hololive TODAY. You’re our second guest in this interview series, and we’re really happy to have you here!
Gurumie:
Hello! Thank you for having me on this interview.
hT:
To start things off with a few baseline questions: Could you tell us a bit about yourself? When did you first become involved with hololive and the hololive community, and what initially drew you in?
Gurumie:
Oooh, I think I first started getting into Hololive in late 2021 and have been drawing the fanarts of the talents since then. The Talent that drew me into Hololive is Takanashi Kiara! She's been incredibly kind and supportive to me when I first started drawing her. And has become a big motivation for me to keep chasing the dream of becoming a full-time artist!
image source: https://x.com/gurumie1229/status/2013309952543338870
hT:
Now we’re gonna throw a couple of curveballs your way.
In your X/Twitter bio, you describe yourself as "An artist ratberd". What exactly is a "ratberd"?
Gurumie:
Ah yes! The silly white rodent thing on my pfp! It's like a rat... but also a bird! He's the one who's keeping me hostage and making me type thi- He's my business partner. We have a... Ratatouille thing going on if you know what I mean! To give you a more serious answer, I like rats but thought it would be generic to just have a rat as a mascot, so I tried to add some twist in there by making it a rat & bird hybrid...
hT:
We love Ratatouille! And a rat + bird combination is quite the unique oddity. I’m curious to know about the terms of your business partnership. Interesting…
On another note, you are well known on social media to "goom". We might have a slight idea already, but what exactly is a "goom"?
Gurumie:
Yeah, so about that! It's really unfortunate that people are assuming that the word "goom" has a suspicious meaning to it because it sounds similar to a different word, which has regained popularity with a different... meaning in the past few years... But I swear it's not! It's just a simplified way of saying my name! Goomie! Gurumie! see? It shouldn't sound sus to you at all! Same goes for "Gooming" "Goomer" "Group Gooming session." "Goom Dungeon" and so on!
hT:
Thanks for making that crystal clear!
Reeling things back in a bit, who in hololive is your oshi, and why do you oshi them? If you could, tell us your favorite stream and song (or even album) of theirs!
Gurumie:
Takanashi Kiara! Without a doubt! I like her personality and love her ability to sing and dance! She's also very supportive of artists like me, as I've mentioned before!
My favorite stream from her is the Gartic Phone fan artists collab stream! Well, mainly because I was part of it... heh. It was really fun drawing alongside such talented artists! I was so happy that she invited me to the collab!
My favorite song from her is Retrospective! from her first album, Point of View. It's an awesome alt-rock song with awesome vocals, awesome composition, awesome everything! The album is also great.
hT:
A couple of years ago, you drew an illustration of Kiara in her (at the time) newly revealed "Fever Night" outfit. What amazed a lot of people was how quickly you posted the artwork after the reveal. So quickly, in fact, that even Kiara wondered if you had it pre-drawn. Could you tell us what you remember from that whole experience, and maybe even share the secret behind your incredible speed?
Gurumie:
Oh yeah, the Fever Night outfit! My favorite outfit of hers ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), I actually got to upload the fanart before the reveal stream ended! The stream was still rolling when I uploaded the art. So, to tell you how I did that, I could actually predraw most of the art because I noticed from the silhouette shown beforehand that the outfit is actually going to be the outfit shown in the Fever Night MV. I decided to draw her in the outfit as soon as I noticed that. I was almost done with it by the time she started the reveal stream, so what I had to do at that point was make some minor adjustments that I couldn't predict, like the lettering on her top. And that's how I did it! It really was an exciting experience for me! I also loved the confused reaction from Kiara herself, along with others :D
image source: https://x.com/gurumie1229/status/1799914667697188966
hT:
For viewers who may not be familiar with you yet, could you tell us about the kind of artwork you’ve created in the hololive community?
Gurumie:
Sure! I draw girls! Hot! but i also draw more sentimental pieces like these :D
hT:
In our humble opinion, the style in which you draw VTubers is both anatomically and aesthetically satisfying. How did you develop such a strong understanding of human anatomy, as well as the angles and different perspectives that stand out in your work?
Gurumie:
Do I? Thank you! I studied anatomy looking at tutorial videos on youtube. If you know ProkoPenko then you know ball. The best way to do anatomy is to use references. As many/often as you can! As for the perspectives, you can start with a silhouette (not just any silhouette, but a fun one) and fill it with a rough sketch on top of it. If you are having difficulties, go look for references.
hT:
We've followed a bit of your art journey over the years and noticed an amazing evolution in your art style; from works you've made in 2022 to what you're making now. Could you talk about how much you feel you’ve grown as an artist over time, and how you view your art today compared to back then?
Gurumie:
My art style has indeed changed a lot throughout the years. I think at this point I've completely moved on from the old artstyles, but I'm very content with my current artstyle! I used to wonder a lot about how my art should look, and I feel like I've finally found my comfort zone. That doesn't mean there's no room for improvement and changes, of course.
Gurumie’s older art (2022)
Gurumie’s more recent art (2024-present)
hT:
Since this is our second interview in the series, we're excited to finally introduce a special segment in the hololive TODAY Interview series, where we invite a previous interviewee to ask you, our current guest, a question of their own! From one fan artist to another, Nagi (@Nagi_nyaaa) wants to know the following:
"What kind of advice or tip would you give to other artists?"
Gurumie:
Never give up and don't feel down because your drawings didn't get enough views! You can always ride the algorithm if you cater to it, but it's more important to draw something that caters to your needs!
hT:
Have you attended any hololive-related conventions or events? We’d love to hear about any memorable moments you’ve had with the community, and we want to know what you think makes the hololive community unique compared to other fandoms you may have been a part of.
Gurumie:
I've never been to concerts but I've been to collab cafes and talent meet ups at cons! I've also met alot of fellow Hololive artists at these cons. They were all very cool people!
This is actually the first community that I've been part of! My online presence was non-existent before it. And I quite like it here! What I appreciate most about them is that they are very respectful to artists :D
hT:
What are your current interests, both inside and outside the hololive community?
Gurumie:
I've been playing Endfield nowadays... and the gacha on this game is sooo expensive... but the overall art direction is really good, which is the main thing that interests me in games.
hT:
And for our final question, do you have a message you'd like to share with your followers, fans, or the broader hololive community?
Gurumie:
Stay positive and focus on supporting the talents! Also, don't forget to buy a Kiara membership so she can pull more girls in Endfield.
hT:
That's all we have for you today, Gurumie. Thank you so much again for taking the time to speak with us and for sharing more about you and your experiences in the hololive community!
Gurumie:
And thank you again for having me and giving me the chance to introduce myself to the community!
And thank you, the reader, for checking out our second interview! We’d like to once again thank Gurumie for taking the time to share his experiences, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to learn more about his creative workflow and personal journey within the hololive community. We’re also glad to now know a bit more about rat & bird hybrids and, of course, “gooming”.
Be sure to check out and support his work on social media below.
X/Twitter page: https://x.com/gurumie1229
We’re excited to keep this Interview series going! So stay tuned as we continue to showcase more artists, fans, creators, and voices from across the hololive community.
