Paranoid Park aka http://insanekaffeine.deviantart.com/ recieved one for this amazing piece

 Shadow aka http://sha-x-dow.deviantart.com/  recieved one for this amazing piece

 Tronix aka http://tronixgfx.deviantart.com recieved one for this amazing piece

Congratulations to you all there well deserved and make us proud you are part of the Whored Canvas Art Group!

1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050

1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050

1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050

1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050

1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050

1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050

Here is a little about the book:

“MY NEW BOOK of COLOURS is a follow up to ever so popular debut publication released last year. An ideal coffee table inspiration book will give you an insight into the magnificent world of Brand Nu illustration for music, editorial, fashion, advertising and all other industries in between.”

Explination of Gravatars at Wordpress.

http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Gravatars

Go here to register. Takes 2 minutes and easy to set up.

http://en.gravatar.com/

When you ask the “God of internet knowledge”, as I like to call Wikipedia, it states that Vector Graphics “is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based upon mathematical equations, to represent images in computer graphics.” (Wiki) 

So basically it’s a way to build up an image with tiny geometrical pieces to form a whole. This way of course you will get a lot less details compared to pixels (bitmap), but you will be able to zoom in without pixelation, so that your picture will not get blurred. Without going into anything to scientific, this is because the shapes are given with mathematical equations, meaning that the size and distance is always relative and not absolute. So no matter how close you are, it can calculate what it should look like.

After this little introduction, let’s get to the artistic part. There a lot of tools you can use to create a vector, I’ll mainly talk about Photoshop CS and Illustrator. What’s the difference? Well honestly for basic vectoring, there won’t be much difference, but still, I’d suggest using Illustrator, since it has more options, and the vector outcome will look „smoother”. Then again, if you are skilled with the pen tool it doesn’t matter which program you use. You have a nice tutorial explaining the basics made by Yajido on his deviantart. What you can see there is that basically you have an image you want to vector, and use small colored shapes to make something like a sketch out of it, the same image with a lot less details.

I’d like to point out an artist I have interviewed recently, VinshArt, who uses a special technique, called gradient mesh, for vectoring his images. Because of the gradients, the outcome could be easily mistaken for a photo if you weren’t zoomed in completely. This technique has a little more to it then shapes, cause the transitions are made with gradients, making the whole a lot more fluid, it seems as if it had more details then it actually does.

To read the whole interview, check out the ezine. 

When I first started vectoring I have to say it was damn hard. Getting used to the pen tool, accepting that your work would take a lot of time, and that you could only see the whole beauty once you were finished… I wasn’t used to that. But after a while I realized that once you finished your piece you really felt like you’ve built something from scratch, and that was pretty new for me. And it felt good; I usually used renders, stocks or photos, but this time it was my piece. And once you get better with the pen tool, you will have the skill to make it even more detailed, and you’ll get a vector that gets pretty close to the real thing. You just have to keep practicing! There is a common mistake made by a lot of people, but if you have read this far, I’m sure you know what I mean when I say using vector brushes is not vector art. Meaning that it gives you a result that looks like a vector, but the big difference can be deduced from the definition of vector, and brushing has nothing to do with it. I know that most of the time when someone says vector work he might mean that it looks like a vector, but keep in mind the difference in terminology, so you can avoid any misunderstandings.

There are basically 3 categories you can call “vector” in digital art:

Pure Vector: Meaning that the image contains no raster images whatsoever, no matter what you did with you rpiece before, in the end it is completely a vector-format.
Vector Dominant Hybrid: The name says it all, you can mixer raster and vector here, but it must be made of at least 70% vector images.
Vector Style: This is part of what I’ve pointed out before, this is not pure vector, it might be built up like one (or even brushed) but it is not saved as a vector format.

To read more about it: Source

Let’s make a little detour, because I feel that it might be interesting to say a few words about color theory. When you create your vector it needs to have fitting colors, meaning that the eyedrop tool might pick up a color that doesn’t really fit the color you should use on certain parts of your vector (especially if you use a big zoom like 20x). In this case you need to choose a color yourself, and that is not always as easy as it might sound. Here is the basic color wheel, self made so there are differences in hue. I’ll try to explain a little about the substractive color theory (not additive like what a computer screen does, more like real life).

As you can see you have a triangle made of the primary hues: red, yellow and blue, in their symmetrical middle you have the three secondary colors: Violet, green, orange (mix of two primary colors) and the rest are the tertiary colors (mix of a primary and a secondary color). If you want to find a fitting color, you pick out the color you want to make it fit to and look around it, the nearer the color the better it will fit, the better it will harmonize. This can change if you make an achromatic (black and white mixed with shades of gray) or monochromatic image (one color mixed with shades of grey), cause there you only have to diminish or augment the quantity of grey.
Triadic colors can also harmonize, meaning you draw a triangle with equal sides, put it in the wheel, and use the three colors on the edges.

So now we have seen quite a lot about Vector Art haven’t we? I’d like to share some comments about Vectors from some of my favorite and most respected artists:

“Generally i like the cleanness of vector art. But it takes alot of patience so i don’t do it myself.”

„Its a nice style and comes in handy when doing design work that requires alot of scaling… i dont really enjoy doing it myself tho”

„Its crisp n clean. Nuff said.”

So basically the closing thought should be that vector art is indeed good looking and has a clean feel to it, but it does require a certain amount of time to create one. Maybe that’s what makes it more valuable.

Article by Dante

First off, when you download any of these fonts make sure to read the details…some of them are completely free, some are for personal use only, some have common creative licenses so read the small print. Anyway, great fonts are hard to find. So when there are quality fonts for free! then it is definitely worth looking at since quality fonts usually go for $30+ bucks…and you’re lucky if you use it more then a hand-full of times.

Well, let’s get to it shall we. I got a long list of fonts to post here so no more talking.

Delicious

New Anivers

Fontin Sans

JustOldFashion

Scriptina

New Diavlo

GreyscaleBasic

Fertigo Pro

District Thin

Legendum

Cardo

078MKSD Medium Condensed

PetitLatin

ClassizismAntiqua

AMBROSIA

telegrafico

And then last but not lease, if you ever accidentally delete some system fonts or they get corrupt or whatever the case could be…here are the Microsoft System Fonts as well as free fonts from Apple.

Download Microsoft Core Fonts & free fonts from Apple

Then I came across these sites that make custom masks and accessories…and sites that make Halloween sculptures and props and all kinds of neat gruesome pieces of art.

I attempted to get some interviews with these artists but obviously they are busy selling and delivering all their art since it ‘tis the season to scare people.

So the first person I want to show you all is the gang at http://www.halloween-mask.com that is owned and operated by Genius Goods, Inc. based out of North Carolina, USA.

They have some AWESOME masks to purchase. Personally, many of them I wouldn’t be able to use because they are just too sweet. I would be scared of ruining them. Check this one out; it is an Aliens mask:

Or take a look at this one! This one is an awesome tree-man mask:

Now, these are a bit expensive when compared to your cheap masks at Wal-Mart but if you look at the quality, creativeness and artwork! Then it is not even a decision. These are some serious masks!

Now we have the site http://www.petemurph.com/ created by…you guessed it! Pete Murph. This is some serious artwork here. These are not masks but sculptures. Some Amazing sculptures at that! For example, take a look at this William Dafoe piece:

Or to be in more of the Halloween theme, take at look at these guys:

Then we have John Detrich from http://www.johndetrich.com that sketches monsters heads and then creates the masks. Some great creativity here.

For example:

Make sure to check out the rest of these artists work at their sites.

One last thing I would like to share with you all is some of my favorite Pumpkin Carvings I found on the net for 2008. Talk about some serious carving ROFL, these are just fricking great.

All these images were gathered from http://www.extremepumpkins.com so stop by and check out some of the other hilarious pumpkin carvings on their site.

Well gang, that is it. We hope you have a happy Halloween, eat lots of candy and throw up from too much candy and beer. Enjoy!

This is to everyone who has been doing graphics for a while…everyone who has owned at some point or currently owns a graphic site…be it a sig site, large art site, closed community site, etc.

Most of us started off from playing games online. We all saw that cool sig someone had and said “wow! I want to do that!” then found a way to get Photoshop CS and read tutorial after tutorial…downloaded thousands upon thousands of brush sets, fonts, patterns, renders, etc.

Then we began making sigs for everyone because we knew a tiny bit about Photoshop and how to render an image. Then we started using Cinema 4D…introduced sprites into our sigs…began learning about depth and lighting and composition…

Then some of us attempted to move on away from gaming and began doing more and more art work venturing into large art, templates, web-design, etc. Creating our own brushes, render packs, etc. We then started making our own portfolios and wondering off to other graphic sites, attempting to make our own site…successfully or not didn’t matter.

All the numerous graphic sites out there…and everyone knew who each other was because those of us really into this were members of them all. We all would battle each other and enter in Sigs of the Week at a handful of sites.

Everyone was helpful. Everyone would help the new guy and direct people where to find resources, show them where good tutorials were, even show them how to do things themselves. It was the hippy age of the gaming community turning into graphic design.

Then we had the career type graphic designers hating on us because we were all kids doing what they could do. They dedicated blogs to bad-mouthing the common gamer that moved into graphic design.

Then it all fell apart.

.

..

…

Sites popped up that were “too good” for anyone to join. They shut the doors to the people wanting to learn. Sites became rude and flaming each other all the time. Ratings were harsh and would just comment on a rating for a chance to flame the new kid. There began the age in graphic communities that I like to call the Graphic Rivalry (courtesy of Talis).

Nowadays, it is common to have friction between graphic sites. No one cares about affiliating. Everyone flames someone who advertises their site on another sites. The graphics world began to fade away. Seriously, the graphic sites are just not what they used to be and that is simply because of the fall of respect for each other. Instead of helping, we started flaming. Instead of “constructive criticism” we started seeing who could flame in the most creative way while applauding most creative comment.

Is this seriously where our respectful community has gone? I don’t say community as in whoredcanvas…I say it as in all of us. All the sites, all the designers…large art and sig alike because I can guarantee that many of the designers who are making money off this now started with sigs. Heck almost all of you know at least one person that has moved on to a higher level who used to be a sig designer…

So what can we do about this?

Well…for one: We can stop the non-sense. Stop flaming everyone. Stop the rivalry between graphic sites. Who gives a rip? We are all here to learn right? This is not some stupid Graphic Design Gang Fight.

Two: We should start all affiliating and visiting each others sites. I read something Talis said, “a few years ago every gfx site was seen as a sister site heading towards one common goal” (even though I had to fix his typos in the quote…lol).

Three: For those sites that do ratings…stop being jackasses about it. Stop the popularity contests. No need to be rude. Plain and Simple. Be helpful. If you point out something bad, then also give something that could make it better. We are here to learn. Isn’t that what ratings are about really? Yes they are used for battles…but the point is to find out where you’re at and work on improving. So help people improve.

Four: Forgive and Forget. I know crap happens. People get pissed at someone else for accusing them for something or for dropping the ball on a project…or w/e. Who cares? Get over it and move on. Let’s bring back the community we all used to know.

That’s all I really got to say. I really hope people read this and began to consider the words here. It’s no secret the graphics community as a whole has been diminishing the past 2 years. Let’s fix it and stop being stupid.

Disclaimer: I know I mentioned sites that are closed door sites to a group of designers. That is fine. I am not blasting them because I really enjoy the packs they put out. I am just typing this up as the thought flow out my head.

Hope this helps the community. Pass this on to all the graphic sites. Let everyone read it. Maybe we can all start working together again.

Cya gang,

DosEquis (ReBeL)

There are some very well constructed advertising images for this effort that is telling people to register to vote. They have taken well known celebrities (I love Jessica Alba…) and gone forth with the ads that show you that only you can silence yourself by not voting.

I love the images. They are effective, they look painful…and they make their point. Here are some of the images below. Make sure to check out the website and also make sure you are registered to vote…you can find details on where to find this information on their website. Only 28 days left…

Now this hurts me to see Jessica so sad and in pain but I have to show you these and the rest of the gang. Enjoy!

Sure, my name is Luuk Vermeyden Born (03-02-1990) and raised in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. I’m really fascinated by graphic design and illustrations, Since 2006 I started to study Graphic design at “Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam” which is a really good school. Since this summer I have a lovely girlfriend who is also on my school she’s been in my class for 2 years and she really inspires me, and she’s the love of my life.

In 2005 I opened a deviantart to publish some work and later that year I also bought myself a domain which was www.jaxe.nl, too bad some hosting took it. And they ask €250,- for it now, which is just crazy, so I bought myself www.jaxestudios.com which is my current portfolio.

I see. When was the first time you noticed, that you wanted to use the artistic channel, as expression of your creativity, and what tools did you start with?

My mom has done art academy when she was younger, she was always doing painting and drawing before I was born. Since I was able to hold a pencil I’ve been drawing. On school the teachers thought I was “So creative”.

After elementary school I went to Middle school, in the winter of the first year I started with Adobe Photoshop 6 because I had a friend online who made signatures. And I thought that was so cool what he was doing. I was making signatures for like 2½ years, then I finally realised I wanted to do something with graphic design.

Yeah that’s pretty often the case, friend showing someone sigs. Is this more of a hobby, or is it actually your work, or part of it?

It’s a hobby I made my work, I have never worked actually, not like a average guy does like working in a supermarket, or being a paperboy. I always had some connections who wanted a logo, website or flyers. Since 2006 I study graphic design and I do want to make this my work.

Very nice. After these few general questions, let’s dive in a little deeper. Looking at your gallery on Deviantart, I noticed that you mainly create illustrations and photo manipulations. What do you find the most interesting, the most attractive about these “types” of art?

Good question, the most attractive about these types of art is mainly the use of color, and I visualise the picture that I have in my head, with illustrations I can draw whatever I like and with photo manipulations I can create a picture by using different photos and illustrations I draw myself.

Oh so manipulate your own work, that’s a great idea actually. Where do you get your inspiration from in generally?

My girlfriend, music, movies, being outside, talking to people, my family, friends, teachers, school, walking through Rotterdam (which has some cool architecture).
I have a lot of inspiration and If I want to make something I know who to talk to or where to go.

Is there an artist/artwork that you would like to point out, someone you admire, or you’ve learned from a lot?

Im not sure who to say, but it mainly are the people I have on msn and who I talk to a lot, A great guy and friend of mine: Armen Mnatsakanjan (www.molorvac.com) and Mischa Loppies (www.aicatch.com), we help each other and I think that’s the most important thing, because there are also lot of designers who have a big ego.

That’s sadly true. There are a lot of advertising related work in your gallery (flyers, ads….). How do you choose the subject for them?

The most of the advertising work was commissioned work, For party’s, exhibitions, but I also made some just for practise and for school. 

A year back we had to make a magazine for school, but there also had to be some advertisement in it, so I made some stuff like the nokia ad I did. I also made 2 La Gear ads, but they are not used because they didn’t thought it’d fit their style.

Are there any techniques you could share with the readers, like special procedures you often use?

I draw a lot with my wacom (bamboo A5 medium), which is a great tool to work with in illustrator and photoshop. In overall I use techniques like light, stock-photos, liquify filter, smudge and pentool.

Okay, and what can you suggest to those who are just starting of in the world of art? What would be the most important thing to say?

Be yourself, don’t get arrogant, accept comments and critics, believe in yourself, be self confident.

Nice suggestions everyone should keep in mind. I’d like to ask about a very special piece of yours. The first time I’ve seen it, it actually took my breath away, and I’m sure I’m not alone. The collaboration with Msch called Poetry in Motion really caught my eye. What can you tell us about it? Who did you guys get the idea to do this, what was so special about it to get an outcome of this level?

Msch and me always wanted to a collab, we’ve tried it a few times but it never worked out, we both like R&B & hip-hop music, when we are on msn we always share music.
So we wanted to do something with dancing, movement, emotion since there is emotion in R&B music. Msch bought this amazing stock from www.stockxpert.com and asked me to start with it first.
I worked on the background/ environment, color, the white splashing stuff from his shirt, the dove, the illustrated hands&faces, the calligraphy, and the shining square inspired by a Michael Jackson video.
After that msch took it from there and started on his stuff.

I think the outcome of this is mainly the peaceful picture, it has a soft calm feeling on it. Even though it has a lot of details, the title is also a big role on the outcome, I think it fits the image perfectly.

I agree, you really did a nice job in capturing this feel. Thank you very much for this interview, I’ve learned quite a lot of stuff.

Jaxe’s Deviantart: http://jaxenl.deviantart.com/
Interview by Dante

I will show you the first one of the series but you have to go look at the reason on your own. Truly amazing work and I love the attention to detail in the letters.

While you are there looking at the series, take a look around at the other work done there. Very professional and inspiring works of art.

—————–

Another Portfolio I came across that had some outstanding typo work is from a guy named Craig Ward at http://www.wordsarepictures.co.uk/. Seriously, there is some amazing work there. Craig Ward takes the concept of words are pictures to a new level by creating pictures with letters. Think of it as a typology meets vector style. 

You will have to see it for yourself to understand. Make sure to check Craig Ward out. He has numerous works done all over the place that you probably have seen before.

http://silencio.art.br/

Hello Melvin, I’ll just ask you a few questions about your vector works, for everyone who was wondering, “Wow how can one draw that?”

So first of all I’m sure the readers would like to know a little bit about yourself, who is the designer behind the pictures?
I’m Melvin Caabay, alias VinshArt. I started doing things like vectoring when I was studying as a Computer Creative Graphic Design, but this is not our subject, I just really love doing vector.

How and when did you become interested in art?
I’ve discovered art at the very young age, because I really loved to draw using only a pencil without Ever being taught by anyone. Maybe it’s really my talent. But of course, I know I have lot of things to learn.

I guess we all do anyway. Where did you start, have you always been interested in vector art, or did you start of with something else?
I started doing vector art when I was practicing Illustrator, I started out by learning how to use the pentool, and then I realized how powerful it is, until I learned how to use the gradient mesh. I don’t know how I mastered this tool in the first place, but I’m proud of being able to make a realistic vector.

You can be, I mistook the outcome of the last one for a photograph before I zoomed in. Which tools do you like to use?
I like to use Illustrator to create vectors, and I also like to draw using the pen tablet in Photoshop, that’s what I’m doing for now.

What is the most inspiring subject for your art? Female portraits seem to have caught your attention.
Yes, Female portraits are the most inspiring form of art for me.

Is art your hobby or do you make a living out of it?
Art is just my hobby, and at the same time, it’s become my job. This is my only source of money for now.

Any tips or tricks you can share for those who would like to improve their skills?
I’m sorry, but for the tips and trick, I can’t specify what the important thing are or what I should say, but the best thing (and most important) in my opinion is that you must have a lot of patient while doing art.

Are there any projects you are working on right now?
Yes, until now, I preferred to be a freelancer, and most of my jobs are vector artwork or doing rasters to vector object.

Can’t wait to see your next work! Is there an artist/piece of art you would like to point out, someone who inspired you maybe?
No, I just really love doing things like this.

Thank you for your time, for those who might want to see more, check out VinshArt on Deviantart: http://vinshart.deviantart.com/

Interviewed by Dante.

Tell us a little about yourself?
Bernardo Medina, born in El Salvador, Central America,…..I have lived in Houston Texas most of my life.
Photography is a source of inspiration for my Architectural projects, it lets me play with the perception of the outside world, …it’s structures, forms, colors, ………illusions and clichés.

When did your interest in photography begin, and how did you learn your craft?
I have always been interested in Design and the process behind creativity, I’m devoted to innovation in design & construction. It all started when I studied Architecture.
Photography records the passing of my imagination,…..that in itself has been a life long project,……..I have a love affair with photography.

What inspires you and why do you love photography?
Art is a way of experiencing the artfulness of an object; the object is not important,
,…… photography these days is evolving into a new Art form that could only be compared to the painting techniques of the past.
I’ve become interested in the abstract feelings produced by colors and forms,…..Architectural spaces usually affect the way we feel and behave, I believe that colors and forms are a medium which can convey the most subtle and complex feelings, and can give the viewer a sense of a particular place and time that goes beyond the visual expression of that place.

What quick advice do you have for someone who simply wants to improve their photography skills?
Look for the ‘light’ and then take a picture,…… objects are nothing, light is everything, almost anything looks great under powerful light.

How do you publicize yourself and get work?
I’m an Architect,….not a photographer, I design and build Night clubs and Restaurants, I use photography as a design tool.
You can view my Architectural work here www.arcostudio.com

Do you have a favourite location?
The ocean,…..I find a lot of inspiration in the natural forms and colors.

What is going to be your next photographic project?
I have a couple of Photo Shows coming up later this year in the USA, as well as Austria and China, I’m finalizing negotiations for a photo-journal book of my traveling in China during the last 3 years.

What camera and lenses do you use? Would you recommend them, and if so why?
I use digital photographic equipment ( Canon, Nikon ),…..anything from professional SLR’s to very simple ‘point & shoot’ digital pocket cameras,…..technology is developing so fast, almost anything you get today will be much better next year.
I use the PC for post production editing.

What is it for you that makes a great picture – what is the extra something that makes you pick that frame?
, You can’t be in a hurry, You have to take the time to wait around for the perfect light.
Many great photographs are produced only after taking the time to study a subject, learning when it looks best, and returning to photograph it under fantastic light. This is how a unique photo is made,……..its all about imagination
I believe in the resonance and staying power of quiet photographs, Seeing simply is seeing significantly,…..in other words: ‘less is more’,………sometimes the simpler the image the stronger the message

What is your favourite image of yours or anyone else’s?
The painter ‘Carel Willink’ developed the style ‘het magisch realisme’ ( translation: magic realism). The way he used lighting did not follow the conventional rules, back in his day his work was unique.

Thankyou for agreeing to let us interview you and show your amazing work!

If you wish to see more of Bernardos work visit here http://foureyes.deviantart.com/

Since we all use paper…and us designers and computer geeks print a lot…this is something we need to keep in mind and be aware of.

There are lots of things we can do to help that does not make anywones life any harder. I am not your green thumb global warming environmentalist, but I understand that we are losing tons of trees and that has to screw something up some time.

Take a look at this video and the website to see what you can do to help.

http://www.secret-life.org/

What this is, is a collection of Business Cards. I don’t mean the owner goes around looking and collecting every business card found, but anyone has the ability to submit their well designed business card to show off. This site is not about advertising your business, but more about showing off your sweet business card you designed or had designed for you.

If you go take a look at their 5 page collection of cards users have submitted, you will find some very unique and interesting business card designs. Those of you who design cards should take a look at adding your own designs to the collection.

Here are a few in the collection of cards:

Here is an insert from the “What is onYongo?” page:

The Japanese have some of the most wonderful customs and traditions regarding business cards, what they stand for and how they should be treated. That is my inspiration for this site, it is a place where people who are proud of their business cards can showcase them.

A Meishi is a Japanese business card. Yongō is an ancient paper size used in Japan as the standard size for Meishi’s, it is 91 x 55 mm (about 3⅝” x 2¼”).

“On Yongō” is a site dedicated to the what people have on their business cards.

We are at very early days with onYongo, there is a lot to come, but we hope you find what we have so far of interest and use, please look around

I am sure there are a lot of people who have heard of websites like “SitePoint”, “99designs” and “eLance”. There seems to be a pretty big controversy with these sites. Something about how they ruin the whole design world and are putting people out of business. Just like anything on the internet, you can find lot’s of positive and negative information on a company or subject.

I will go into the pro’s and con’s of these sites in a minute but to sum my opinion up, I think the complainers that are voicing their complaints all over the internet are just old school designers that are sour that they did not foresee this coming and are not willing to change with the tide.

So what are some of the normal complaint’s you can hear about these types of websites?

Well there is a blog/portfolio called “graphicpush.com” that seems to have raised lots of hell about 99designs. The owner has also seemed to rally up the troops to have a giant free for all flame fest (ffaff – an acronym I created, feel free to use it lol). What I was able to decipher from the ffaff (there it is again) out of this site and other similar sites comes down to this:

• Designers, who make a living in design, are getting their throats cut because of young designers doing work much cheaper.
• “Pro” designers believe that to have a successful project, you have to have tons of communication, and invest hours upon hours into the project.
• It is assumed by the same people, that the final work done will be some “shitty” design, for close-to-nothing pay and everyone else involved gets screwed.

Well, before I go on let’s run through my opinion of the pro’s and con’s. But to help put this into perspective…how many “professional”, long-term career designers already established in their field do you think participate in these types of sites/contests? To me that is the biggest point that needs to be considered when looking at all the ffaff.

These sites allow a client to come and set up a “contest” where designers can bid on the project by creating a design and entering the contest. The client picks a winner; there is a transfer of money and product. Done. Keep in mind there is only one winner, so is everyone else losers? Depends how you look at it. Remember my point above. Designers who enter these types of sites are not established designers. They are young aspiring designers who are entering these contests for a few reasons that include: extra money, experience, portfolio building and practice.

In saying that, does that mean that the winning design will be some half-assed design not worth a dime? No. Anyone involved in the design community online can see the talent in young people today. With the internet came the opportunity to learn. How often do you look at some professionally designed website, product or advertisement and think to yourself “that is a piece of crap, I could have done better then that”? That is because the rate us young people are learning is amazing. We are more experienced with the online environment, more proficient with computers and probably the programs we use…then most career designers. So, I would bet money that a professional designer who comes in and wants to drink coffee and talk about the direction of a company, their aspirations, how they feel, etc. would not have a chance in these contests like 99designs holds. Us “kids” today have experience with hearing the basics of what the design needs to be and making it happen…because of instead of spending hours at Starbucks with the client talking about saving the ozone layer, we are on our computers with Photoshop open practicing almost non-stop. So does anyone really think that the winning work in these contests is garbage work? Especially with the amount of people who enter? And the people who did not win, now tried out a new design and have something to add to their portfolio.

What it really comes down to is marketing. You do not have to be the best designer ever to make money. You just have to get your name out there and market yourself. Doing little projects for people, winning contests, portfolios, blogs, graphic accounts like deviantArt and others, word of mouth, emails and cold calling…this is all part of marketing yourself. Make someone happy with the work you did for them and they will pass your name along and most likely consider you for their next project. So are these contest sites the source of all evil that many make them out to be? No way, no how. They are a tool to use for any motivated young designer.

Granted here are some of the downfalls I see in these types of sites. For one, there is always the possibility of a scam. Meaning you design the work and the client does not pay you. Now you did the work that you can add to your portfolio but you don’t get paid. Or, the client now sees all the entries for their project and instead they steal your ideas you came up with and do it themselves. (Though I do not see why someone would go through that trouble to get an idea when they can just surf the net or look at template sites like monstertemplates.com) The biggest thing I do not like about these contest is the copyright transfer. The only option a designer has is to give all rights to the customer. Meaning, if you did a design for a product or a logo and instead of receiving a percentage of the sales, you get a one-time payment.

There are some things these sites can do to fix these issues though. For instance, making the client pay the hosting site upfront, to make sure the winner gets paid. Or creating variations of how one is paid along with variations of copyright ownership.

So to end this article, I think these types of sites are a great opportunity for young designers to learn, build portfolios and earn some extra money while doing so. I also think this is the wave of the future. Everyone who is upset with these sites have two options; catch up with the pace, or fall out. Plain. And. Simple.

Now after reading all of this, do not get me wrong. This does not mean I 100% support spec work…because I do not. If you are a designer who has a list of clients and a steady workflow coming in, then obviously you do not need to participate in contests such as these. I see the beast for what it is, but I do not think it is entirely bad. I think it is a perfect tool for young designers to get in the playing field. It gives them the confidence and experience to move further into the design world. I do not think these types of sites are seriously hurting career designers because they already have a client list. They already have their name out there. Just because you took a specific route to get to where you are, does not make other routes wrong. So because I may be a tiny bit harsh on the pros in this article, I do understand their point of view. But the last thing I have to say in this article is that everyone has their place in the design world. Pro’s have there target customers, beginning designers have theirs. There is plenty to go around and in a digital and product driven world, there are plenty of designs that need to be created. Have fun all.

Oh, and I think I am going to participate in some contests to see how it goes. Should be fun and good practice.

Tell us a little about yourself?

“Since the very first years of my life I’ve always needed to draw, like it was
some sort of natural inspiration… I still remember my first images: monsters over and over again:
I was attracted to the “horror side” very soon in my life!

After the first schools and the Scientific Liceo and a degree in Economy attained at the University
of Bergamo, I decided to venture upon the illustration area. At the moment I’m attending the Art
School of Sforzesco Castle in Milan.

Horror movies and gothic literature are a great source of inspiration for my works, but nowadays
I don’t like the “splatter” side, but mostly the soft sad grey atmosphere full of melancholy and
dreams that you can find in some of Poe’s stories, for example.

My inspiration isn’t only darkness, however. Since the beginning I’ve tried to connect together
different sides of my own personality: the Christian side with the gothic one, just to make an example.
I’m always searching something new: fantasy, dark art… but I look with great attention at sci-fi too:
maybe my next steps will be made in that direction (commissions allowing!).

Why are you a traditional artist ?

“It’s very simple: I’ve always drawn during lessons till University (without losing attention to
professors and teachers!).

So, I’ve always used only pens or pencils until 3 years ago. Well, the natural step has been to
continue on that road, even because I’m very lazy!

Only with the beginning of a School of Art (Scuola d’Arte del Castello Sforzesco in Milan), I’ve
discovered Photoshop and painter. Before that school I looked at digital art like a sort of magic,
sham and lifeless. Now my point of view is radically changed and I think that the computer is a
great opportunity for an artist. In particular I’m very fond of digital paintings… I like a little less
photo manipulation, even if it could arouse really deep emotions.”

What artists have influenced you, and how?

“History has given us great expressions of art, if I should mention every painter I like it would
be a bit long and tedious! Essentially, I like classical art alot for its harmony and perfection,
Italian Renaissance for the genius of its artists, romantic art for the emotional impact of the
Sublime, 19th century paintings for their dramatic feeling.

Nowadays we have really great artists: Jay Anacleto, Grabriele dell’Otto, Greg Capullo, Enrique Breccia,
Juanjo Guarnido, Alan Lee, John Howe, Paul Bonner (probably my favourite painter at this moment),
Brom, Wendling, Sergio Toppi, Frank Frazetta, Civiello, Max Frezzato, Claudio Castellini, Corrado Roi, Royo,
Victoria Francès… Each of them has given something to me with his/her art, and everyday I discover
new incredible artists!

I remember that when I used black indian ink for the fist time instead of my usual pen, the artist I
inspired to has been Corrado Roi and his very atmospheric use of black and white. In any case, however,
all the influences are mixed and you hardly can point a finger to one of my works and say: “this is Capullo’s
style” or “this is like Toppi’s works”.

What other interests do you have besides (Art)?

“Videogames, literature, music and cinema are extremely precious sources of inspiration.
Games have in the last few years enormously increased the attention on every visual detail: the concept
art at the base is really stunning… one of my dreams is becoming able to do something like that.

Videogames like Gears of War, Unreal 3, War hammer Online, Age of Conan only to make some examples really
give strong importance to the work of giving personality and soul to objects, people, characters,
buildings and so on… That’s really amazing!

I like reading alot too… but time doesn’t allow me to devour books like I would do if I had more
free time. My favourite readings are novel based on fantasy or mystery. Books have the great power to
give you some elements that you can make yours to create an absolute personal view of the situation
written: that’s really wonderful!

Something similar must be said about music: it has a strong power to create feeling and often I use
it when I work on some image: I choose with accuracy what music mirrors the emotions I need to put on
the paper and than I let the melody lull my inspiration.”

What inspires you to Draw?

“Absolutely everything!

In a special way nature, but not only. I haven’t got a cell with photo camera and it’s a good thing, because if I had it Il take an enormous number of photos every time.

Inspiration is given by a flower, an animal, a session of role-play game with friends, a movie, a painting,
a book, a spot on TV, a musical video… Really everything.

We live completely surrounded by images… The difficulty is the creation of something personal!”

How do you keep motivated ?

“This is a good question… Probably the people who see my works and says: “wow, wonderful!”.
I’m the first to say I’m not a great illustrator and when I see artists with much better than me,
the admiration for them sometimes leave place of frustration for my works.

The fact that some people really believe in my “art” gives me alot of strength however… And the fact
that I can’t stay without a pen or pencil in my hand!!!

Even if I draw seriously from 2005, I still consider myself a beginner with many dreams to follow.”

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

“Believe in yourself and in what you do. “Always”. Don’t give up!
It’s a difficult sector, no doubt about it, but if you strongly believe in what you’re doing and,
on the other hand, you’re humble, someone will notice your skill one day.”

In your opinion, what is needed for the traditional art world ?

“Traditional Art is the base, no doubt. Even if the future seems to be Photoshop, we can’t lose the very
foundation of drawing!

The problem is that the time to create an image is becoming more and more narrow. Digital art can be very
quick, if you know how to use it. We live in a frenzied world and computers allow to do things faster.
Time is money… Sad but true.”

“Actually my sight is concentrated on Italy and I haven’t got a clear idea of what’s the situation abroad…
But something I see with sadness is that the greatest Italian artists publish especially outside their
country. In Italy there’s a sort of swamp for art of all kind, traditional and digital.”

What’s your process for creating a new piece? Do you plan it out ahead?

“Generally I do a very brutal sketch on some piece of paper. When I see a good idea, I choose the
technique, the kind of paper and start the drawing.

The ideas for the images come from many sides. In the last two years many works were committed, even if
in many cases only a generic subject were given to me and I was free to express it as I wanted.

In other cases the commitment is more defined and I do exactly what is decided with the boss who wants
to see every single step of the creation.

As you look ahead, can you see what direction your work is going?

“Difficult… I’ve started with illustration, but my gender of images probably will take me to comics
(actually I’m doing my first one for a fantasy writer).

My dream is to release even something for games. I’ve done several illustrations for a Role-play Game,
Methyrfall, last year and it has been wonderful! I’d be happy to do again something like that.

Have you done any digital drawing?

“Yes, some digital paintings, many traditional works colored digitally, and some character study
drawn directly with my wacom tablet… the experience is quite strange and request some time of
practice.”

I see alot of your work is fantasy based, is there a reason for this?

“In 2005 there was my first exhibition. I am member of the Sackville Cultural Association that promotes
events based on Tolkien’s writings and that was our first Meeting for Tolkien’s fans.

I had to prepare several images based on Professor’s books and I liked the idea so much that I continued
doing images inspired by the Middle Earth for more than an year (meanwhile I was preparing my last university
exams). I am a fantasy fan (even if I read few about the gender: the ideas are becoming more and more
trivials, according to me, with very few exception) and has been natural for me going on this road.

Actually the 95% of commitment are asking me for fantasy images, so I’m in sort of spiral that forces me to
go on in this direction… Not so bad, after all!!

With any kind of art, the material you work with is important. What kind of materials do you use? Do you use different kinds of pencils etc?

“I use several pencils from 2h to 9b (I hate strong pencils), a white rubber; the ink is black indian, used
with brushes of many sizes, nibs, film for masks, cutter. Paper240 g/m2 or cotton sheets smooth or rough.
This is the base materials, but sometimes I try something new. Experimentation is very important.”

Some artists use whatever they can to create their work. Is there anything unusual you do or use when creating your drawings?

“Yes, sometimes I use bricolage spray to create cloudy skies and something similar, but the most strange
material I’ve ever used was Betadine, a surgical spirit: I had used it to paint a pencil sketch of a bull.
The idea was to create something blood-like… Unfortunately in 3 years the disinfectant has completely
disappeared from the paper!!

Have you had any art classes or anything similar?

“I’ve done 2 years for the Illustration course on the Scuola d’Arte del Castello Sforzesco, in
September I’ll begin my last year.”

you can view more of Randolfo’s work here http://randolfo.deviantart.com/

Thank you for taking part in our Ezine here at WC, its been a pleasure.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer a few of my questions. I’m sure there are some shots waiting to happen.

Q - First of all, for those who don’t know you yet, could you tell us a little bit about yourself.. Married? Kids? What is it that you do in average day life?

I’m divorced, 58, and I live in Sunland, Ca. just North of Burbank. I’m a headshot photographer here in LA. (www.michaelhelms.com) I shoot artists, models, and some celebrities (although I generally avoid that) for promotional pieces and for their PR packages. I have a 23-year-old daughter who lives nearby.

Q - How did you first get started with photography?

I’ve been shooting since I was 15. Things like school annuals, scenery, family, friends, etc.
I got my start professionally by shooting fashion in LA. I was working in a photo lab here in the city and one of my clients owned a modelling agency. He was unhappy with his photographer, so I shot some stuff for him. He was so thrilled that, in less than a year, I had a business and had to quit the photo lab. I started shooting modelling portfolios and actors headshots. By word of mouth, my business grew and here I am!

Q - What does a normal (if there is such a thing) shooting day look like for you?

I normally do two shoots a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It’s almost ALL headshots for actors and models. I do very little fashion work anymore. There isn’t much money in fashion and the politics are insufferable. I’ll do 2 or 3 different outfits for an actor in a session. Typically a woman will have a shot where she looks like a “mom”, then one where she looks like a businesswoman, then one where she looks kind of sexy.
What most people don’t understand is that nudes are a VERY VERY small part of what I do. It’s just that my gallery on Deviant Art is a NUDE gallery - so that is where I post the nudes I shoot. I also shoot flowers, scenery, and other stuff… Whatever the mood strikes.

Q - The models in your photographs are all beautiful and very pleasing to look at to say the least. How do you come about these models?

In the beginning, I asked some of the fashion models I was shooting. I was VERY shy to ask in the beginning but finally worked up the nerve and got some truly wonderful girls to pose. Nowadays I get emails constantly from girls wanting me to shoot them. There are lots of good web sites now where a beginner photographer can find models. Here on DA, on [link], and [link]. and other web sites. My photographer friends sometimes refer me to models and I refer models to them also.

Q - How hard is it to survive in this world? Would you say that everyone could do (nude) photography for a living if they had the will to pursue it?

At this point even I couldn’t survive doing nude photography unless I shot porn and I just won’t do that. Of course, some will say what I am shooting is porn - but that’s another discussion. What I mean is - in order to make a living shooting nudes, one has to shoot a LOT of content and I’m just not going to be a factory. That bores me.
It is VERY competitive and VERY difficult to make a living in photography in general. Digital and the easy access to images have made the industry saturated with GWC’s. (Guys With Camera’s) In other words, there was a time when you HAD to know what the difference between an f Stop and a bus stop was… Not anymore. There are WORKING photographers now who don’t even OWN a light meter. The technical aspects of photography have changed from chemical to digital so along with that has come free access to almost anyone. It is the same thing that has happened to the recording industry and to desktop publishing.
I would go so far as to say it isn’t possible to make a living at shooting nudes UNLESS a person was subsidized in the beginning. I don’t know ANYONE who is doing it and I know a lot of photographers.

Q - What would you recommend to a photographer who is just getting started in the adventure of nude photography?

What I ALWAYS say. Shoot what you love and love what you shoot. But - on the more technical side… Copy the work of photographers whose work you admire. I get SO MANY notes from young photographers asking me how I do what I do and asking for advice. I always tell them to look at my gallery and other photographers galleries that they like and try to copy EXACTLY shots they are enamoured of. I used to try and copy Helmut Newton and a fashion photographer, Arthur Elgort. And more recently, I take great inspiration (OK…I occasionally rip him off… LOL) my dear friend, Perry Gallagher [link] and more recently, I have been very inspired by some of the images produced by Shy [link] am ALWAYS looking for inspiration. Inevitably, when you try to shoot a similar shot as another photographer, you will find yourself going a different direction.

Q - You use your own home as a studio to do shots. I can understand that some people rather keep work and private areas separated. What’s your reason to use your personal space as location to do shoots?

Convenience and expense. I have a 3 bedroom home with lots of LOVELY natural light and good “mini-locations”. Keep in mind that for my work, my headshots, I keep people in the studio. But for my play (shooting nudes) I shoot where ever I want. Of course, not living with anyone currently helps! Ah, it has been a problem in the past with relationships that my girlfriend’s or wife (don’t ask! LOL) were not happy with me shooting in and around the house. I sometimes shoot at my friend, Perry’s, house. And occasionally, I go on location, rent a room, or shoot at a models house or apartment.

Q - When it comes to lighting, which do you prefer working in and why? Natural sunlight, artificial lights or a combination of the two?

I would say 95% or more of my nudes are shot with natural light. I believe it is more flattering, softer, and also easier for people to “accept” since it is how we see things normally. It’s certainly challenging at times but I love it. I enjoy shooting with my Ring Flash occasionally, and sometimes I like combining natural light a hot lights to get a blue/yellow contrast.

Q - What kind of postproduction do you do, if any?

I do some photoshop work on my images. People who brag about “this hasn’t been photoshopped” are just simply idiots. We aren’t dealing in reality here and NO MODEL wants her cellulite or pimples shown to the world. I adore my models and I want the world to think they are perfect. Of course, many of them damn near ARE… But if I see a pimple or if their cat scratched them, no one needs or wants to know that.
People also say they want to show “TRUTHFULLY what was there”. And of course, that’s an uneducated and absurd thing to say. As soon as one commits what they see to film or digital capture, it is no longer what was there. It is now a two-dimensional image. AND depending on what lens they shot it with, there is a considerable distortion from what the human eye sees. There is NO SUCH THING as truth in photography. It isn’t possible…if for no other reason than the fact that we have 2 eyes.
Sorry for the rant but this is a sticky point for me.
Photoshop is as important to digital as knowing how to use and enlarger and understanding chemistry was in film.
When I create an image, I think about lighting, colour balance, white point, contrast, colour saturation, colour temperature settings, lens choice, depth of focus choices… ALL before I even point the camera at the model. Then I think about positions and poses, what I want to “say” in the image, lighting (again), location, foregrounds, backgrounds and line form and movement. Then in postproduction I look at ALL of it again and how I can improve it. I don’t see “post” work as an additional step but as part of the process… A VERY necessary part of the process.

Q - Have you set yourself restrictions when it comes to certain shots or ideas? Are there shots that you rather not do?

If I am being paid, I’ll shoot anything… Of course, as long as it is legal. EXCEPT that I am VERY protective of young people. I had a Mom come to me with her daughter who was 10. The Mom wanted some sort of sexy pictures of her… Kind of Jean Benet Ramsey looking stuff. I told her it wasn’t appropriate and to get someone else. Even though she wasn’t breaking any laws, it “felt icky” to me.
I’ll shoot a porn image if a girl wants it and pays me, but I’m not interested in shooting porn for my own art. Honestly, it isn’t a moral issue, it just bores me and to my eye, it isn’t pretty.
The only other thing I won’t shoot is very macabre crap. There is a TON of it here on DA and I just think it is gross. It isn’t pretty, it isn’t sexy, and it doesn’t elevate the human condition. It brings EVERYTHING down. It’s just Goth and Emo and all that other dark overly dramatic stuff that pimple faced teens love. I really love life and I want to be upbeat and enjoy my short time here.
And I love women. I want them shown in lovely light. I want them to love their own bodies as much as I do.

Q - Your parents have raised you pretty strict. I can understand if they weren’t jumping from joy when you did your first nude shoot.
How understanding were they when you had chosen the path of nude photography and how did you deal with the confrontation?

HA…looks like you’ve read some of my journals! Well…there is NO discussing it with my parents. At my age, I really can’t run my life according to THEIR belief system. I doubt seriously they have even been on DA. They choose to remain oblivious to the nudes I shoot so I honour their choice. They are hell fire and damnation, holy rolling, preachers… So there is pretty much nothing worse than what I am doing in their Book. And frankly, I think there isn’t much worse than what THEY are doing… Spreading fear, bigotry, and intolerance. Given how I was raised, I have REAL issue with just about any religion these days…so don’t get me started on THAT!! LOL
But I love them and I know they love me, so we just don’t talk about it. I have a few nudes hanging on my walls of my house, so they can’t avoid it when they come for a visit, but we never discuss it. And congruently, we never discuss religion. Although my Mom “hints” frequently and writes me occasional letters that are “concerned” and so I try to just say what I know she wants to hear to allay her fears.
They truly are wonderful people. Everyone who meets them loves them, but we just have some very different viewpoints. And in my family, you don’t discuss anything that might bring conflict. Of course, in MY house, and with my daughter, it’s a different story. We discuss pretty much everything when I see her.

Q - You have often been confronted with your photography in the terms of it being rude, vulgar or even pornographic.
When do you personally think that thin border between artistic nude and pornographic shots is being crossed?

There are two things at play here that kind of answer this question.

One…you have to decide whose point of view?
From MY perspective, there are no pornographic images in my gallery. From other people’s perspective (speaking of, even my parents) there are MANY pornographic images in there.
That being said, there is no way to decide if it is porn or not. It’s like trying to decide if Spinach is good food or not. It’s a matter of taste. And according to Deviant Art policy, there are no porn images in my gallery.
Some of the images that get the most “this is porn” comments are my close up KITTY shots.
I was shooting a model one time and she said, “I don’t want my KITTY to show in these shots because it’s ugly”. Well…that broke my heart. I told her it was beautiful and asked her if I could shoot it to show her. She consented and it changed how she felt about her private parts. Since then I have come across lots of women who think that particular part of their anatomy is unattractive. I’d like to be part of changing that perception. I love women and I want them to love themselves…. All of themselves.
Technically speaking…I control the depth of focus and the lighting in my images in a different way than is common in porn shots.
Also - I don’t do fucking shots, or open KITTY photos, or dildos being inserted. Not because I have any particular moral objection, but because they bore me.
One of my friends, Mary (not her real name) called another of my friends, Jim (his real name! LOL) and said, “Hey - I didn’t know Michael was shooting porn!!!”
Jim said, “Me either!!”
Mary said, “Well have you seen his gallery on Deviant Art?”
Jim responded, “Yea - I looked all through it. I didn’t see any porn!”

SO, here’s the deal… MY INTENT is NOT to shoot porn but to shoot beauty when and where I see it. Sometimes I get a kick out of peering out over the edge and I KNOW I’m going to tweak some noses. But I’m having fun. I’m shooting what I love and loving what I shoot.

This brings up point TWO… Which is the INTENT of the VIEWER. If I were to shoot an image of a sausage and some guy or girl got turned on by it and ran off to masturbate with it. Then - TO THEM it is porn and they are either happy with it or disgusted. A close up KITTY shot, like some that are in my gallery, turn on some people and turn off others. I am not responsible for how another person reacts to my images. THEY are CHOOSING to look at it. THEY are CHOOSING to not only LOOK at it but to react to it! It utterly FASCINATES me to get comments like “you’re a filthy perverted old man who makes people rape women” (yes - I HAVE gotten that comment). Or what I get frequently “this isn’t art, this is porn”. What is interesting about it is that these people don’t KNOW me. They have NO IDEA what MY motives and intentions are but they ASSUME things about me based on the images they see. Freud, of course, would have a field day with this because by their reactions they are revealing a LOT about themselves and how they feel about their OWN sexuality. Furthermore, if you go back and statistically look at who reacts with vitriolic tirades about some of my images, you can see a pattern emerge. VERY often it will be 15-25 year olds who are kind of anime lovers. Dunno exactly what this says but it IS a pattern. And many of them, as one might suspect, are religious.

Lastly…I really don’t care one whit what anyone thinks about my nude photography. I like it. I enjoy shooting it. I LOVE the girls I have had the honour to work with and I have made MANY wonderful friends. I only care about my headshot photography in the sense that I want people to like it because it is how I make my living. But my nudes pay me nothing other than a show, book, or print here and there. And I don’t care about getting attention, I just want to do my art. So, from that perspective, I don’t care. But I DO get defensive when idiots make rude comments about my models. THEN I want to crack some heads.

Point is…what is art and what is porn is an age-old question that can never be answered because it is totally subjective. I just wish there could be more tolerance.

Q - The female form is something praised by every man, but there’s a certain part that seems to get special attention from you at times.
The female genitalia is getting some up close and personal shots from you sometimes. What made you choose this part above all the rest?

Oooops… I just answered that question. I’ve had MANY emails and notes from women saying “thank you” because it changed how they felt about ALL of their body, and perhaps especially THAT part. Like I said, I want women to love themselves, ALL of themselves. That’s also why not all of my models are stick thin runway looking girls. I LOVE all types as long as they are healthy.

Q - Shy is a beautiful and talented woman that has become very close to you over time. She makes some great shots herself and you often include her in your photography as well.
How has the entrance of her in your life affected your work and how do you connect that professional and personal life with one another?

About a year and a half ago I opened a DA account for fun at the behest of my dear friend Perry Gallagher. I started looking around DA and saw some intriguing images by Shy. I didn’t know her but I commented on some of her work. She then commented on some of mine. Then we started sending notes, and then started emailing, and then talking on the phone.
She’s one of the most remarkable people I have ever met. She has an IQ of 159, she reads and writes 5 languages, she’s a talented artist, and AMAZING cook, a wonderful mother to her children, and ONE HELL of a…Well never mind. LOL
She comes to visit me here in LA every couple of months and we have an ABSURDLY fun and crazy time together. Two insane peas in a pod.
I think the bottom line is we PROFOUNDLY respect each other as artists and as people. Our viewpoints on life, love, sex, art, and SO MANY other topics run parallel.
I wish people on DA knew her life history… She’s nothing short of… Well…UNIQUE. This past year she’s dealt with a LOT of things and yet to see her lust for life keep growing is mind-boggling. She almost died TWICE this past year but she NEVER EVER gives up. The woman is nuts, I tell you.
We don’t hide ANYTHING from each other and are pretty public about our affection for each other and we have great fun making inside jokes to each other on DA. We are NOT monogamous (like I said - we have no secrets) and choose to live free in our lifestyle as well as in our work. This, of course, makes us the target of a lot of judgment and sometimes harassment but we generally ignore it. Of course, if she sees people make a rude comment to me, she’s GOING TO go after them. And if I see someone make a rude comment - like a guy who said, “You should be taken out back and shot for the slut you are!” (yes - that EXACT comment was made!)… I unleash a sh*t storm. I won’t tolerate rude comments being made to her… AT ALL.
Shy hasn’t been shooting as long as I have so it has been WONDERFUL for me to watch her work grow and to see her style develop. She has produced more images in the last six months that I said, “Damn, I wish I’d shot that!”…Than she did in the first year I knew her. She’s had influence on my work also… Teaching me to see a wider perspective. Many of my images are tight and personal and intimate… I’m learning from her to back up and look around.
And of course, last but not least… She’s a pain in the ass. Freakin redheads. LOL

Q - You have a close relationship with some other photographers as well. Do you share a lot of thoughts and views with each other? Do you think it helps each other grow in the field?

I have quite a few photographer friends. Perry Gallagher [link] Conan Serrano [link] Phil Warner [link] Christine Kessler [link] and of course, the ever present Shy [link]
We share ideas, email, have dinner, hang out, drink too much sometimes and party like rock stars, or not… Ah, we are ALL VERY supportive of each other, great fans of each other, and always open to suggestions and ideas from each other. We all realize that before we were shooting, all this had been done in painting. We aren’t doing anything new… Just here to put our spin on it. These are great people as well as great artists… I feel VERY fortunate to know them and call them friends.
I remember sitting at my kitchen table one night after teaching a workshop with Perry Gallagher. Kumi, Scar, and a couple other models were there and we were trying to murder a bottle of Jack when I heard some screaming. I looked around just in time to see Apnea come running through the house stark raving naked, around the table, and out my kitchen door… With Phil right behind her dying laughing and video taping it.
We just kept drinking and no one said a word. Later I thought… My world isn’t really that average!!! hmmmm…. LOL.
SO… Yea - I love my friends!

Q - Do you think that nude photography has changed a lot over time?

The TOOLS have changed but the subject matter has been the same since the VERY first recorded piece of art. The Venus of Willendorf [link] was a sculpture of a VERY busty naked woman with a swollen vulva. SO…art has been showing pussies LONG before I came along. It’s ridiculously vain to think we are breaking any ground here. What I shoot is original TO ME…but what I love and shoot has been loved and shot, painted, and carved since the dawn of man.

Q - If there is anybody you could choose from this world that you could have an hour of shooting with, who would it be and why?

Shy, because I don’t get enough time with her and I adore her. There are MANY models who I haven’t shot that I’d like to, many that I’ve shot and would LOVE to shoot again, but the bottom line for me is ALWAYS connection.

Q - And finally, after reading a lot and being Dutch myself, I have got to know what’s with your passion for the Heineken bottle?

Haha… Well that started as a by line in my journal and I liked it so I kept it as a thread to connect all my journals. Lately though, I’ve been throwing down Stella Arttois… Don’t tell! But I like Corona too… So if you’re sending over a twelve pack, any of those 3 will do nicely! Truth is, I’m a real lightweight anyway. 2 beers a NIGHT is pretty much my max!

Thank you for this interview Michael.
It was a nice pleasure coming up with some question for you.

Thank YOU!!! I wish you well in your work also.

http://www.mlhphoto.com
http://pelicanh.deviantart.com

Hey Jonathan, first of all thanks for doing this interview. Let’s start off by you saying hi to everyone and tell us a little about yourself.

Hey Everyone! My name is Jonathan Wong. I am eighteen years old graphic design student currently living in Limerick, Ireland. I like kissing in the rain, romance novels and long walks on the beach.

Lol! Don’t we all! So, before you got into digital art, did you ever play around with traditional art?

Oh yes very much so. I love traditional art. About 80% of my portfolio for my interview into art college contained traditional art. I really enjoy drawing and painting the most. Ever since I could remember I was drawing, be it in school or at home.

Sweet. How about living in Ireland? Any lucky charms? Does the environment there help you in anyway when it comes to designing?

Ireland’s environment is not a very inspiring one I’ll tell you that much. It’s not all green fields with pots of gold and leprechauns dancing around. It rains ALOT. It’s quite depressing. However, there been a bit of a boom recently in Limerick with a lot of nice architecture popping up so it isn’t all doom and gloom.

So where are you going to school? Besides having that piece of paper and checkmark that you went to school for it, do you feel you are learning more from school or from hanging around all these graphic communities and other designers?

Well, I am doing both at the moment. I’m learning lots of new things in my college, Limerick School of Art and Design. All my friends in there are amazing and we have such a chill time. I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’m not sure what I benefit more from really. I think if you go to design communities and attend a uni, than it is the best of both worlds. Obviously some of the designers I speak to online are more advanced than my fellow graphic design students in uni but also at the same time, I get quite a bit of insight and knowledge from my friends in Uni.

Makes sense. How important do you think design communities are when it comes to huge communities like deviantArt and other communities that focus on signatures and digital art packs?

They are very important. Design communities allow you get critique on your work from fellow designers which is crucial to development. They also provide you with a platform to showcase your work and get exposure. More specifically with digital art packs. It’s a great way to get yourself out there. They are also great environments to be in with the bundles of creativity that would be within the place.

So do work to put yourself through school? Are you doing any freelancing?

I’m doing some freelance work, I’ve had more of it throughout the Summer because I’ve had more free time. Some of this money goes to college but also I get a lot of help from my mom for which I am very fortunate.

That’s awesome. So when you are not creating a masterpiece, what kind of things do you do to relax and have fun?

I love to read. Talking to friends and socializing is quite important. I don’t like being alienated so anything that involves being with friends is generally awesome. Be it drinking, out on the town or even just a game of poker.

What do you plan to be doing in 5-10 years from now?

10 Years from now, I hope to be still doing what I am doing today. I want to be able to make a living and get by doing something I love and enjoy. That is all anyone can wish for really.

Very true. What is your favorite personal piece?

I’m not sure I really have a favourite piece of mine but if I was to choose, it would probably be the “This Modern Love” piece simply because of how I felt when I was creating and the great emotions I had. It was a nice time in my life.

You have a wide variety of work with vector, typography, photography and manips. Do you think it is better to know many different styles or specialize in a certain style? And which of these categories do you enjoy doing the most?

For me, I don’t regard typography and photography as “styles” but more so as disciplines. Vector and manipulation are styles but photography and typography are both vast areas. I think it is good to get into as many different areas as possible because obviously you are learning more and more but also because you begin to have a lot of new media available to you to express yourself through. It makes you more attractive to potential employers too. But in saying that, a speciality in a certain style is very rewarding too.

I really enjoy typography and photography. Typography can be so expressive. A piece of good typography is truly beautiful. It is such a big field that I’m hoping to delve into more. 

Great man. Thanks for taking the time to talk to everyone and we are looking forward to seeing more great things from you!

http://sick-osiris.deviantart.com/

Tell us a little bit about yourself?

Well, I’m Heiko Klug, 26 years old. I’m working as a digital media designer in a little advertising agency in Cologne, Germany. Were I also live.

What I’m enjoying most..it depends, really. Sometimes I love it to build the 3d shapes, sometimes I hate it. I can’t say whats the reason of this, mybe it just depends on my mood. But overall I can say I love to make the lightning…that’s one of the most important things in my opinion. I also like to make the final tweaking of colors.

I really really hate to texturate things, I can not say why but I really hate it. Sometimes it’s so much tweaking to get a texture of a 3d shape perfectly. Texturation is something I really hate. Maybe thats the reason why many of my pics dont have big texturated parts.

I’m often asked for advice and I don’t know what to tell them. I’m not good in giving advice I think hehe. Well okay, I think one of the most important thing is patience. Many of the people dont have any patience. They want kick out super artworks in one week. If you really mean it serious you need patience. It’s also good to learn something about the theory of illustration and design. Reading some books is not bad.

I get my inpiration from everywhere but mainly from music and motion pictures. I can hear a tune and got a shape or an idea for an illustration in my mind. But as I said, everything can be inspiring. You just need to look a bit closer.

Hm good question, never thought about it. I’m not the guy who is creative 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Nobody can be like this. I got times where I can’t do anything and I got times where I’m super creative and produce a lot of work. But I don’t think it depends on my current mood masively. Well sure, when I’m really pissed off it’s not a good idea to build something smooth and mellow.

Do you strive for those kind of things or do you not really care for the prizes etc?

I don’t need favs and dd and all that on deviant art. For sure it’s nice to get such a feedback but after a while you don’t notice it anymore.

1. Position Render

2. Colour and Texture The Background 

3. And Your Strong Main Effects

4. More Subtle And Sparkley Effects + Adjustment Layers

5. Text and Final Adjustments

And then the rest are to show how with different uses of adjustment layers you can get massivly differnt effects.

Thanks for the walkthrough!

Favourite movie: Star Wars,Gladiator,Tim Burton stuff, Leon,Goonies, LOTR, Irreversible, True Romance,Mad Max 2
Favourite band or musician: Foofs! Too many really…do you not agree?
Favourite genre of music: Anything that is good and not middle of the effin road
Favourite artist: Tony Hart, Giger, Rodney Matthews,
Favourite poet or writer: Apart from one off novels such as Geek Love,Choke-Tolkein,Herbert,King,Masterton,Lewis,H.C.Andersen

Favourite style of art: Anything original.Dark nightmarish with sexy women also
Shell of choice: LOOK! tumble weed rolling by in the whistling wind! No idea what you are on about!
Wallpaper of choice: the what with the where now?
Skin of choice: No idea what you are effin on about
Favourite game: Omikron:The Nomad Soul,Shadow Man,Resident Evil,Monkey Island,Tomb Raider
Favourite gaming platform: I used to have a spectrum!
Favourite cartoon character: Spiderman
Personal Quote: Bollocks
Tools of the Trade: Jelly! And finally after 3 years of drudgery…Wacom Intuos 3 A4

Be sure to check out his WitchFinder General series here: Wildlifehoodoo

Tell us a little about yourself?
Hello! My name is Charlene Chua and I am an illustrator. I was born and raised in Singapore but I live with my husband and our two cats in Toronto, Canada now. I juggle my time between work, trying to paint and do a comic, cooking and watching video games (yeah, I watch them).

I see your married is your hubby artistic too?
He’s a writer. He’s written three novels which are with his agent, and he writes articles for video game magazines and websites.

Were you busy with art alot when you were a small kid?
I remember painting and drawing a fair bit as a child. I didn’t have many friends and I was not very active so I stayed home a lot. I think I was kinda sickly too. So… I guess when I was not busy with going to kindergarten or watching TV, yeah I was busy with art.

How did you develop yourself to where you are now?
Hm. I don’t think I really planned it. I’ve tried to improve myself through my work; I try to pay attention to what I like, what my clients like, and I try to work that back into my work. I don’t think there’s really a trick to developing oneself, you just keep on doing what you do and pay attention and sorta just go with it.

Is there something you still wish to achieve?
Oh yeah, there are a lot of things I want to achieve! I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do everything. Some of the things I would like to do include more ‘art’ artwork, doing more conceptual or fun projects with subject matter I like (girls, goth, punk, music that sort of thing), haing gallery show, etc…

Sometimes it seems like the characters in your art have a catlike way of moving.
you have two cats yourself. are they an inspiration to you for form and movement etc?
That’s interesting, no one’s mentioned that before. I guess there is a link in that both have rather graceful, slinky movements. Cats are wonderful, though my cats aren’t particularly graceful. One’s pudgy and the other is scared of everything. So neither is the ‘graceful hunter’. But in general, cats are slinky.

In your traditional art, what kind of work methods do you have, tools etc?
I’ve only started painting again recently. I’m playing around the india ink and watercolors these days. I previously liked acrylics best, because they dried fast. I find I don’t work well if I spend a lot of time working a picture, especially traditionally - I spend too much time blending colors and they just get muddy and blur. I’m trying to get used to working with better quality paper and watercolor paper. I spent so many years drawing on cheap printer paper that I’ve gotten used to sketching on that. Paper with more bite gives lives a richer quality obviously, but I’m finding that I’m retraining myself to work on such surfaces. Oh and I just got some colored inks that I’m hoping to try out when I get more time.

Where did the traditional and digital arts meet each other?
For me? At the moment they are quite seperate, though I have done some pieces that integrate the two. Usually I draw out my pictures traditionally with pencils and paper, then I might use Photoshop to tighten the composition. I go back and forth between sketching and working out the sketch digitally until I’m happy with it, then I work the final artwork in Illustrator and Photoshop. That’s how it goes for my commercial work. For my own work it’s much looser, sometimes I’ll just scrawl things onto paper or canvas and throw paint on that.

Have you done payed work?
Sure, I make my living off my illustration work, so I’d better be getting paid!

What kind ( if yes) ?
I’ve done illustrations for a wide range of uses - editorial, packaging, advertising, books, events, websites… That’s not to say I’ve done a lot of each, but I’ve covered quite a few categories at least once. This year my work has been mainly for websites and education.

What kind of advice would you give a beginner to this kind of art?
For aspiring freelance illustrators, my advice is always to have money set aside for a rainy day. It takes on average a month or two to get paid, and there is no guarantee that you will always have jobs to do. A lot of illustrators that are starting out have day jobs doing something else, to pay the bills. It is not easy being a freelancer particularly when you are starting out. That said, if you manage to hang on long enough, I find it’s more rewarding working for yourself than it is for a company.

And finally if you were trapped on a desert island what 3 materialistic things could you not live without?
A satellite phone, a huge bag of food and a huge bottle of water, so that I could survive long enough to call for help and get the hell off. Who wants to be stranded on a desert island?

A great big Thank you to you Charlene for taking time out of your busy schedule to take part in this.

anyone wishing to contact Charlene can do so via these contacts

http://www.charlenechua.com/

http://sygnin.deviantart.com/

First of all i would like to thank you for your time and effort to have a little chat with us.
Time is a precious thing these days so its greatly appreciated you are willing to donate us some of yours.

Q - Your DA gallery is filled with eye candy. Of course not everybody is a professional straight from the begining.
How did you get started in the world of art and design and how did you develope yourself after that?

A - I wouldn’t say i’m very talented. My work is ‘work’. I never visited any schools for digital imaging or did painting classes. I developed my own tricks and cheats that help me to get the ideas, i have in mind, onto my digital canvas. I’m learning new things with almost every picture i’m creating. To keep learning is an essential thing. Especially in the beginning. You definitely can’t become a superb digital artist within 1 or 2 weeks. It takes time to become good. some people need less, others some more time. What counts in the end… is the result. Not necessarily how much time went into something. So i’m always checking work from other people who do things i would like to do some day. Gary Tonge, Dylan Cole or Classic Syd Mead are amazing artists. To see their work can be quite a motivation and inspiration. Something that can keep you going. As soon as you’re too happy with your work or yourself as an artist… it’s over. As an artist you need that feeling of being not there where you want to be. That can be quite frustrating…

Q - You have a wide range of interest for different art fields but your main aim at the moment is concept art and matte painting, whats your reason to go down that path?

A - Environmental concept art, matte painting is, what i think, something i’m good at. Or, at least, not bad in. I adore the master concept artists for their ability to produce amazing work within a very short time. At the moment i’m a mixture of both. Concept and matte artist.

Q - Do you think it is better to spread out your interest when it comes to learning the arts or is aiming for one subject a better goal?

A - Good question! I don’t know to be honest. I think to have one main goal is never wrong. And, depending on your interests, secondary things come from alone as you’re on your way to your primary goal. Generally i would say that new techniques are never a wrong thing in your arsenal. To combine fractal with a landscape piece can result in a quite interesting eyecatcher.

Q - The use of a tablet, especially in the field of digital painting, is almost considered a must these days. Could you state some pro’s and con’s of using a tablet in reference to a mouse and tell us what makes the pen such an effective tool?

A - There is no contra actually. As soon as you’re doing image editing work… a tablet will be the ultimate solution. There is some basic stuff you can do with mouse. But when it comes to things that require a bit more work than cutting out people or objects… get yourself a tablet. It takes time to get used to it and, to be honest, at first i was skeptical too. I read tons of reviews about tablets before i got me mine. At first i had to force myself using it and it paid off. Today when i open photoshop it feels totally wrong having a mouse in my hand.

Q - Do you have any tips or tricks for the starters amongst us concerning light and shadow and creating depth within a digital painting?

A - When you work with photos or 3d plates you can easily sample light and shadow colors off the material you already have. Color picker is your best friend. Things like that have something to do with talent and instinct too. Basically it’s keeping your eyes open studying how things look in our world. Use reference material.

Q - The little heart on your DA page indicates that you are a former DeviantArt staff member. Could you tell the readers a little bit about your position there and how you rolled into that staff job?

A - Oh dear. I must be careful what i’m saying now. lol That was a long time ago. It was a difficult time for DA too. It was when DA turned into a ‘money orientated’ company. No happy times. Back then i was a gallery director. I got invited to that position and i took it. It was interesting to see how everything got done in the background. It was a big family. Not like today. A lot of things have changed and DA got bigger and bigger.

Q - Good publicity is half the job. What would you recommend to starting designers and artists when it comes to getting their name and work out in the open?

A - You have to be good in what you’re doing to really get somewhere with your work. When you think you have reached a certain level of quality get your work onto picture sites like deviantart. Compare yourself to work from other artists and use them to grow with your own art.

Q - Your current interest lies with creating concepts for film and games and such. What kind of work have you done for large corporations so far and how did website galleries, such as DeviantArt, come into play in getting such job offers?

A - So far it were only smaller jobs. No big companies. It’s quite a war out there and to get your foot into the doorstep is as hard as becoming the artist you want to be. When it comes to concept art and painting then the primary community is cgtalk/cgsociety.org. Not really deviantart. At least for me 90% of my contacts found me via cgtalk. To have a strong portfolio on hq sites like cgtalk comes in quite handy these days. It’s important.

Q - And finally.. to quote a quote,

“We may feel that we have figured out a lot of great things with digital, but in reality we are just in the infancy of digital image creation.
Traditional painting took thousands of years to perfect. We have only been doing digital art for a couple of decades.
You are all pioneers!” ~ Dylan Cole (Digital Matte Painter)

Where do you think the development of the digital era is heading towards when it comes to art and design?

A - 3d will be the future. For film and games. The quality modern gfx boards deliver is breathtaking. Seeing crysis or mass effect. Smooth animations and photoreal models and textures. That will be the thing. I don’t think 3d will fully replace actors anytime soon… but actors have to become familiar with 3d and how it works. We saw it LOTR with gollum or king kong. Technically an amazing achievement in that area. Motion capturing will play a more and more important role. Pure matte painting, like we see it today, will move into the background a bit i think. It won’t vanish completely but will more be used for concept art or illustration instead of animation. SFX wise i’m excited to see where the road leads us in the coming years. There will be some eyecatchers!

regards

christian ‘tigaer’ hecker
www.tigaer-design.com

Where do you get your inspirations from?

The inspiration comes to me when it wants; sometimes it’s something that I see, a landscape, a night, people… sometimes it comes from the books I read or the movies I see… but most of the time it just comes when I’m working or when I’m walking around. In that instant I feel something and then I have an idea. That’s the reason why I always bring with me a pen and a notebook.

Do you have to be in a certain mood to be creative?

Not really, I’m usually creative in any mood. But of course, sometimes I have bad days and then I have an artist block.

What part do you draw first when beginning a piece?

First a sketch of the whole picture, to be sure how I want to do the paint. And then, I usually begin with the face, because is one of the most important parts of the image, and depending of this face I do changes to the artwork.

Have you ever done collaborations yes/no ?

Yes, mostly on comic art. Most of my collaborations were scripts for other comic artists.

Is there anyone in particular you would like to work with?

Never thought about that ^^. But I would love to work with the artists that I admire the most, Such as Luis Royo, Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton (well, I can dream :D).

Has art always been in your veins or did you develop it later on?

It has always been in me, but never thought about it as a career option. I took interest in art and literature since I was a child, spending most of my time reading, writing and painting, but of course as a hobby, as I wanted to study aeronautics and astronomy. But when I was 19 years old I decided to do a comic of one of the short stories that I wrote before, it was very fun and I decided to continue. Later on I began to publish and I dedicated all my time to these projects.

Are there any other family members who do art?

There are several members in my family with an artistic talent, between them my father and my uncle, but none of them has turned it into a profession.

Did you go to school for art?

Yes, I went to the School of Art of Valladolid (Spain), where I learned a lot of things about illustration and design from my teachers, that were great artists.

Where do you see yourself art wise in 10 years time?

I’m not sure really :). Ten years ago I didn’t see myself as I’m now, so who knows….
I hope to be able to continue working as illustrator as I’m doing now. I have a lot of projects for illustration, comic and writing that I would love to share and my purpose is to make them real. I also want to improve myself and learn everything I can. But only time will say ^^.

What would your advice be to a beginner in this kind of art?

First to work hard, when you work in this you need to have patience and practice all the time you can, because practice and experience is the most important thing in this profession.

Second, have a free mind, learn everything you can. Knowledge can help you to find new ways to express yourself. Also don’t be mad when someone critics your work, bad critiques can help you to find your mistakes and fix them.

And third, but not least important, don’t ever give up. If this is your passion, keep working on it.

Are there any other artforms you do or have an interest in?

I have an interest in a lot of art forms, and I also do some of them. What I love the most is to write. Sometimes I write short texts, and sometimes long stories, most of them focus on horror and fantasy themes. Photography is also one of my hobbies, I love to do photos of landscapes mostly from all the countries that I have visited in my travels. I also love to dance and the theatre, but as I don’t have enough time now, I can’t do these activities anymore. But I hope to be able to again in the future.

Do you use a tablet?

Yes, a Wacom Intuos 3. To paint it is far better to use a tablet, with a mouse it’s very hard (and I can tell you this from experience, because my first pictures were done with mouse ^^).

What programs do you use?

Mostly Photoshop, and a few times also Painter. I found Photoshop very comfortable to work with, as I get used to the brushes and layers and it’s very compatible to other software. Painter is better to imitate painting techniques, but I have difficulties with large amounts of data and big canvas, so I don’t use it as often.

I see you mainly draw females , whats the reason for this if any?

I found the female form as an image of beauty. If you check artworks from any culture and time, you will always find alot of females on them, since their representatives of our idea of beauty. When I paint I want to show a world that doesn’t exist in reality, a world made of fantasy and dreams, where you can escape from the real world. Women are far better to show this kind of feeling. But that doesn’t mean that I always paint women. I have a lot of male characters in my artworks and comics, and a lot more of themes and scenes in works that I can’t show in my galleries.

Can you share any tips/tricks for our members?

The best that you can know is that it doesn’t exist a miraculous trick that helps to paint as a professional artist. The key is the experience and the practice. So you have to be patient and work a lot to achieve a good quality in art, it’s not something that you can have in a few days.
Tutorials and tricks could help you to improve yourself a little, but it’s your own experience the best way to learn. So, if you want to be an artist, keep trying. It doesn’t matter how bad you are at the beginning, but how better you can do if you keep working.

Do you do commissions?

Yes, I do, but right now I only take commissions from my publisher. That’s because I have a lot of work to do, I’m working in several artbooks to be published soon and I also have a large amount of commissions waiting for me, so I can’t take any more.

And finally if you could be anyone else in the world , who and why?

I don’t want to be anyone else but myself. I’m satisfied with my life, with the good things that happened to me, and with the bad things too, because they help me to be better and keep on.

Thanks again for taking part and giving us an insight into your world of art and life .

http://dark-spider.deviantart.com/

Sade was the one of the greats always willing to help people and the whole Interface movement has much credit to give to Sade for her exciting and unique style and incredible tutorials.

You may be gone but you are not forgotten by any of us. We still don’t know what happened to you, just that you were really sick and in hospital. We still hold that secret hope that one day you will find us. We miss you. We hop the best for you where ever you are. And we all hope that some day we will cross paths again. thanks for being you Sade. Here is a tribute to you Sade.

Your Personal Quote:

“As long as I feel happy, I do it.”

Sade’s Tutorials:

Sades Gear Tut

Sades Ikat Tut

Sades Robotic Claw Tut

Your Works of Art:

Tell us a Little about yourself?

My name is Rogier de Boevé and I am all most 21 years old. I live in a small village called “Gelrode” in Belgium.
I currently study graphic design. I just finished my first year.

You were once into the whole tag scene, whats your views on this now?

Well the tag scene was a fun and good learning process for me. I really loved to make tags those days. Just experimenting with photoshop and illustrator and quickly learning those programs. The tag scene is a great starting point if you wanna get into digital art. I stopped making tags cause the canvas was just too small to express the things I wanted to do.

Alot of people admire your art; how does this make you feel?

It makes me happy to think that people enjoy watching and appreciate my works. I enjoy getting feedback from people and without it I probably would not continue making new work.

If you could let go one secret trick of yours to a beginner, what would it be?

eh I don’t think I have any secret tricks of my own. Of course by experimenting you will find some tricks that make things easier but I think if you really want to become good then don’t try to find tricks just work hard and you’ll find what you need. Don’t be afraid to spend hours and hours experimenting on your art cause you’ll see that the process will go smoother in time.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

Hopefully not fat and bold. I would like to have a nice and creative job in ten years from now not some brain killing occupation where I don’t feel like home

I heard along the way your working on a new style, how is this coming along?

Yea since I go to art school I’ve been more into traditional art. What I am trying to do now is mix traditional art with my digital knowledge. Not that it is not done before but I hope to give it my own twist. I can’t tell you what the result is gonna look like cause I’m only experimenting with it now.

I also saw you dabbled in some photography; Did you enjoy the change?

Yes, I absolutely love taking pictures. I know some of the people that visit my page are gonna be disappointed when they see new photography instead of new digital art but its something that I discovered this year and I certainly want explore it more in the future.

What are your goals in life when you have finished school?

Not sure I might go teach Photoshop,Illustrator and drawing and then on the side I want to become a successfully freelance designer/Illustrator but we’ll see.

Who is your hero and why?

I don’t have a hero to be honest. I do respect a lot of people cause they are so good in what they do like Johnny Depp or Alex Turner but hero’s nah. Perhaps Peter Griffin

If you could collab with anyone at all in the art world, who and why?

Matei Apostolescu (Beaucoupzero) cause Ive been a fan like forever and his style is original and like no other.

Jerico Santander (Ethernity) cause he is probably one of the best digital artists in the world

What programs do you use?

Photoshop cs3 , Illustrator cs3 and c4d

Where do you get your inspirations from?

I browse a lot on deviant art,depth core and many other sites. But mainly I’m just inspired by everything I see and ever saw.

What other things do you enjoy doing besides art?

I play guitar(not really talented) and I love to play football

One for the ladies , who is your ideal lady?

Of course my girlfriendor perhaps Hayden Panettiere (Claire from ‘Heroes’)

And finally If you could make yourself from two famous people in the world who would they be and why?

Euhm I would love to have the looks of Jared Leto and the talent of Alex turner

Thank you Rogier for taking time out and giving this interview.

I have been reading over your journals and it seems the biggest issue you have to put up with at deviant art deals with nudity and the line between art and pornography. What would be your next biggest headache you have to deal with?

In terms of problem issues, we have two broad categories which we deal with on a regular basis; inappropriate content and copyright infringement.

While our policies are written to allow the greatest artist freedom we do not allow the submission of works which we classify as pornographic. Unfortunately we have members who did not read the policies and rules which they agreed to follow who will submit this content and we have other members who classify a much, much broader range of material as pornography which does not meet the official definition so I often discuss the issue in public in the hopes that those who do not know the particulars will learn.

As far as copyright infringement, it is an unfortunate fact that many beginning artists and even some people who shouldknow better consider anything they can find to be “free for use” and fair game to do with as they please and the internet only tends to reinforce this attitude. We wage a constant educational battle to teach people that artists, photographers and other creative people all have rights which need to be respected and we constantly push out members towards producing more original creations rather than just using a search engine to find something to edit, manipulate or copy.

I know you can go into this stuff quite a bit and I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but in a brief summary, can you explain the copyright laws? In specific, if I created an art piece and stuck it on deviant art, what rights do I have regarding that art piece?

Essentially copyright laws were fashioned in order to encourage creative people to create and they do this by guaranteeing the original creator the right to determine who gets to use their work and how it is used. The very nature of the laws and international treaties involved guarantees that you have the same basic rights regardless of where you publish it, you control the right to reproduce the work, to display it, to distribute it, and to prepare adaptations of it.

All of these rights are yours regardless of what you do with it when you are finished with the creative process.

What about with photography? Is it important to have a model release form signed to protect your images?

Photography has the same basic rights granted by copyright as any other creative work. I personally consider a model release form to be a necessary document for any photographer who plans on working with models. By obtaining documentation before the first photograph is taken you’ve established that the model has consented to have their image published, their identity, and so on and you’ll have it all in writing and signed. Having this in your possession can head off many potential difficulties in the future.

Now talking about Photo Manipulations, there are many people who create outstanding works of art, but sometimes have things like a Coca Cola bottle or some other branded product in the image, could people who do this be in any type of copyright danger?

This is an area which is simply rife with misunderstanding. When you elect to include works by other artists or photographers in your manipulations without a license or permission to do so you most certainly open yourself up to a claim of copyright infringement. The use of company logos and products can also result in similar claims in addition to possible claims of trademark infringement. It is far more advisable to limit yourself to using works which you can get permission or licensing for rather than risking legal action.

How important is a Code of Ethics for designers or small community websites?

Recent events just this year shows that a code of ethics for creative people is absolutely essential. Within the last six months I have read about blatant copyright infringement occurring to artists who I routinely watch; there have been works blatantly stolen by designers and used for magazine advertisements, promotional posters and even video game packaging.
The fact that all of these cases involve supposed professionals working for companies shows that ethics are most definitely eroding in certain areas and it’s profoundly sad that this is happening with increasing frequency.

In a “world” where people are becoming more aware of ethics, but at the same time actual ethics themselves seem to be decreasing, where does graphic design fit in?

At one time you could make your work available online in a large resolution and without extensive watermarking and trust that your generosity in offering it to the public this way would not be abused and that people, particularly other artists, would respect your time and effort.
With the erosion of this common respect for artists I think we’ll see fewer large resolution works posted online and more extensive use of watermarking and other theft deterrents.

Hey man, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. How about you tell us a little about yourself and say hi to the readers?

No Problem. It’s 9 in the morning and I just had the first cup of coffee.
Let’s begin it like this: Hi, my name is Kai Isselhorst and I’m addicted to coffee. I’m 22 years old and currently live in Dinslaken, Germany. I’m a Designer and Illustrator since a couple of years now.

How did you start with graphic design?

I started my artistic career when I was around 10 years old. I was a graffiti writer for about 4 years and then turned into other artistic media. This got me into graphic design when I was 16. I heard about a special apprenticeship at a vocational school which gave me the chance to combine my high school grade with a strong subject in Graphic Design.
Before, I had to stay once or twice a month for a couple of hours cleaning my desk because I was more into doodling tags and throw-ups on it than listening to my math teacher.
That means, I didn’t have to think a long time about it. So I went there and started to make my first logos.

I know Germany has a huge graffiti scene; how much has this played into your style of graphic design now?

Yes. Germany has/had a huge graffiti scene. Along with other European countries we developed our own thing through the years. I remember DAIM and LOOMIT to be my biggest influence back then. If you take a closer look at them you will see that there’s a gap between those styles and my passion for abstract renders I started with in Cinema 4d at the age of 17. Of course every Designer develops on how to arrange graphical elements and get them into a specific flow. This “knowledge” still helps me when doing illustrations today. I’m very happy to be rooted in writing.

How about inspiration? Lot’s of people seem to be inspired by browsing the web or listening to music. What would be your biggest source of inspiration?

That’s a tough question. Of course I got my sources of inspiration as everyone, and some of them might have a bigger value than others, but I try not to concentrate on single sources. I’m in danger when just getting inspiration through weblogs for example. I’m sure my work would look like everyone else’s in the end.
A big inspiration is music. I can’t get enough from it. Currently I’m listening to a lot of Postrock and experimental bands like God is an Astronaut, This will destroy you, Sigur Ròs and a cool Band called “Seidenmatt” from Berlin.
I get myself into book stores from time to time searching for older ones that look interesting to me. Last time I got there and pulled out a newer publication about illustration, and I saw works from Drew Flaherty. A member of the depthcore collective just like me. Again, that was like a silent confirmation to leave these books where they are and concentrate on other things.

I read in your latest journal on deviant art, that you were giving up on school. Why did you decide to do this?

First, I decided to give up University. I have a degree in Graphic Design Assistance and made my way through 4 Semesters of Communication Design. So I don’t feel like I’m unskilled at all. University has been a strong plus on my path, but it seems like things are changing now. Of course I still don’t feel finished with learning at all. But I asked myself: “Wouldn’t it be the same even when I finish college? Wouldn’t I learn more when being employed at a studio or agency?”
Lots of people told me I made a bad decision but in the end its about how I feel as a individual. I feel like I have to go forward and everything else doesn’t make me happy at all.
Plus, I think that the ownership of money is way too overrated as an artist. I don’t get the point of studying a creative subject just for the matter of my salary. I could have made my way as a broker then…

When you design, do you create work to target a specific audience or do you tend to create art for yourself?

That depends on the project I’m working on. Some projects need to be designed for a specific audience. Most of my personal works don’t. A funny thing is that my personal works seem to fit perfectly into Spanish speaking areas. I know that because I get a lot of response from Spanish speaking corners around the globe. I even have a request for an interview from a Art, Design and Architecture mag located in Panama laying on my desk.
I don’t know why that is, but I like it that there is a specific audience that is not only from Design Communities like Deviantart or whatever.

Do you read a lot of blogs, websites or web/magazines on design topics like photo manipulation or typography?

I got some I read more often but I’m always searching for some new blogs, because everyone has different characteristics. I think I can get more input when I browse this way. And that’s what its all about right? Input Input Input. Sometimes I think that its possible for me to give workshops in consolidated knowledge of history in Design in about 30 years. Whatever…
usually I think its good to have a huge network to share information, but it starts to make me more sick from day to day. All this seems just to ensure personal success of individuals rather then share knowledge. Everything is about to see but more about to be seen nowadays. It’s depreciating as it could get.

What can we expect from you in the future?

I don’t know. Its as simple as that. Currently I’m into getting a job besides setting up a portfolio with my friend Heiko Klug known as Jesar-one.
The only thing I can assure you is that I will put even more effort in my creativity. I don’t think I will have a chance on a career as a singer. We just cant have it all haha.

Well, thanks a lot for taking the time to say hi to everyone. Good luck in the future and we will keep our eye on you.

So the piece I decided to show off is titled “X”. Amelia (freakydarlingx) always seems to impress me with her darker side of photomanipulations and always seems to produce some quality work. So take a look and and please check out her deviantart account.

Here is a little about here piece when asked to give a little blurb on it.

ameliajane: “First of all I’m always inspired by what happens in my life or what’s apart of my life, whether it’s bad or good. For this piece I put my fears into it I guess, I have a big fear of hospitals, medical stuff etc, so I thought I’d use that in this.
Also, I’m a horror movie fan, so watching lots of different horror movies helped with this haha.”

My personal favorite of hugo’s is the ‘07 Civic Type R piece that is posted below. Stop by and check out his other amazing car chops at his deviantArt account and see some before and after work.

Here are a few words from hugo on this specific piece:

“Well, I really enjoy the new shaped Honda Civic Type R, also I loved the reflections on the original image, so I thought I could design a cool bodykit with those reflections. All of the bodykit was brushed, with a copy/pasted rear difuser, then I made a new paintjob, brushed that to. The rims where copy/pasted from a smart, pretty much the normal things I do with cars. I do them for fun, in the end I was quite happy with the result, and never thought people would enjoy it so much, thanks everyone.” ~hugosilva

Well to start off this interview, tell us a little about yourself. Where you from? Age? What got you in to graphic design?

Well im from Sacramento, Ca and im 19 years old. I got into graphic design when i was in 9th grade. I started doing webdesign after I took the class in high school…but after my cpu crashed, deleting all my work…I started doing graphics instead.

I saw on your deviant art journal that you are in your second year of college. Are you planning on a career in graphic design?

Yes I am actually I knew I wanted to be in Digital Media for a long time I’m just happy that I’m finally going for my degree. Hopefully after I get my AA in Digital Media I can go to the art school in San Diego..Love it there lol.

So some people have a confusion on what “vexel” art is. Some say digital painting, some say vector and some say a combination of both. Being that you are a Vexel Artist, what is your definition of Vexel art?

My definition of a vexel is just an image made up of shapes to create an image. Well atleast thats the definition I learned lol

How long have you been refining your skills in vexel art?

Umm for about 3 years now. Its funny I just came across a disc with some backed-up info on it and it had my very first vexel. A picture of Angelina jolie and all I could do was laugh like woww..I guess everyone has to start somewhere hahaha.

My Personal favorite from your deviant art gallery is the piece “Declare Yourself”. How long do you think you spend on one piece such as this?

Well first off, thanks lol but that peice I actually started like a year ago but I stopped vexeling or doing art in general because I was busy with dance but when I sat down to finish it I think it took about 20 hours in total time.

Obviously you enjoy the female body since most of your work is of those crazy creatures. What draws you to using them as your focus point? And do you plan on moving on and experimenting with other subjects like landscapes, animals, objects, etc.?

I think I’m always faster to do female vexels because they’re more interesting and exciting to me. When I consider a picture I look at the focal point of the picture and the emotion behind it. I dont like just vexeling a picture just to do it. Its has to stimulate my interest before I’ll even save it to my cpu.

I’ve thought about going on to other subjects but I’m not in a rush just because people think I should. Landscapes don’t catch my interest neither do animals. If I were to do a vexel of one of them I would be doin it just to do it and I wouldn’t be happy with it.

Do you think you will ever create a tutorial on vexel art for us graphic design noobs?

Hahaha I’ve been asked for a long time to make a tutorial but I never did it’s so time consuming lol but we’ll see hopefully I’ll stop beign lazy hahahaha