dA love for everyone! #128

Tell us what defines you as a person.
My personal paintings do. Commissions are commissions, but things that I produce right out of my own imagination are a part of me, cliché but true. They are as much illustrations to the stories I write as they are reflecting my dreams - or nightmares. Except that, well, my interests are too eclectic to list in one answer. That does say something, too, doesn't it?


How did you find out about deviantART and why did you join the community?
I accidentally fell off my dinosaur when I was participating in discussions at a fan forum of game Sacred, and one of the users recommended me dA as a good ointment. Despite that lady's username, everyone used to call her Mom, so how could I have denied?


When and how did you discover your passion for art?
That was when I was still sitting on that dinosaur. I was producing a lot of Sacred fan arts and other generic fantasy stuff. Before that, I drew a bit less frequently and I've always loved it, but I got more into it around 2004 or 2005. I should probably redo some piece from that year to show those 10 years of skill development.



What inspires you the most and when do you think your creativity is at its maximum?
There's that thing about this question. I've met a lot of people on dA and outside dA who draw, paint and write and I've listened hundreds of times about specific things that inspire them and how their creativity goes up and down, but I don't quite get how it works for them. I get inspired by everything I see around, I don't have any strict criteria on that - it could be clouds (I take photos of them, sometimes I end up with 50 photos taken a day), or something my friend said, or some noise I've heard when going home from uni, or a film. I've got a freaky memory and even though I tend to forget more business-related stuff, I don't forget anything that serves as an inspiration.

And as to my creativity, it's not a sinusoid, it's a horizontal constant. Or an ascending one, hard to say. It's somewhere quite up there. I don't get maximum points, since it'd have to go down after these, and it simply never goes down. It's problematic when I can make 4-5 complete big works a week (having the week off) and have 15-20 completely different concept sketches to choose from. A week.


What do you think you'd be doing if you hadn't chosen this path?
I would have studied either biology, astronomy, English, or history. I top scored all of them on my final high school exams on basic and extended levels (except astronomy, since we don't have HS exams for that). And like them all.


What do you think it's your most meaningful deviation and what makes it special? Does it have a story behind it?
Pretty much every personal work has the most meaning for me. I'll just go with the most recent one, There are no problems in here. While it shows a character from a story I have currently under construction, it was inspired by my love for gardening and the fact that spending my time on caring for plants somewhat helps me to get away from my daily problems, at least for a while.



Do you have any insecurities regarding your art?
I'd probably go on a killing rampage if I couldn't channel into my art. And it helps to deal with my bipolar disorder quite a lot. Keeps me from getting bored when I'm on the train, or waiting in some longer queue, too.


Did art ever helped you to deal with your life problems?
It does all the time. As I've said, my social skills aren't impressive. To be exact, they're the opposite of my drawing and writing skills. Interactions with humans use up a lot of my energy - excluding the few close friends I have, and creating is a good and efficient way to deal with that. I'd probably eat my hair out otherwise.


What is the one thing you always wanted to do but never got a chance to?
To be tall. On a separate note, visit Space.



A few words for our fellow artists?
Don't waste your time on pushing yourself to get a style. Instead, push yourself hard on polishing your technical skills. Sketch a lot, try whatever you feel like, sketch from life, from imagination. Style comes on its own. Don't waste your time on whining about it either.