June lives in Norway and considers herself to be a beginner artist. In this series of questions, I asked what her motivations, inspirations and thought processes when doing her artwork.

Q. When did you start drawing?

A. Can’t remember when, but as long as I can remember I have always drawn.

Q. Was there any one inspiration that got you into drawing (a particular artist, cartoon, ect) and why do you think that source had such a powerful impact on why you want to draw?

A. Inspiration that got me to draw was of course as [the same as] most people think - Cartoons - Lion King. Later my best friend, who has an awesome talent in drawing, made me feel like I would like to do more with my drawing.

Q. How important is it for you to improve your artistic skills? Is it something you constantly strive to do or are you content with your current abilities?

A. Well, I mostly just draw to get out [from being] bored, [to] get out fantasy, so it’s more for myself that I draw than anybody else (even thought I like to get comments on them =o)

Q. Would you consider making art more of a career or would you prefer to keep it as just a way to have fun or relax?

A. Just fun. I don’t have talent, time or a mind to do things on “command” (like commissions). I like to be free to choose what I want to draw [at] different times.

Q. If you strive to improve in your art, what is the best way you’ve found to do this? Do you think it’s simply just practising or a bit of something else like being constantly inspired by other artists or pushed by instructors?

A. Practice, play copycat for a while and slowly get my own style of [art].

Q. What do you think of your favourite artists and how do you think they got to where they are?

A. Well, mostly I think the artist I [like] now have, more or less, the skill in their blood, even though you always can be better with training, critics and such things.

Q. Do you ever compare your skill level to that of other artists? How does this make you feel?

A. Yeah, and it’s both the negative and the positive sometimes But I only tell myself what I think about it, and nothing more.

Q. When you start a drawing and it is not turning out as you’d hoped, what is your thought process and how does it make you feel?

A. It normally does, since my [imagination] is on a higher level than my drawing skill, but I seem to feel okay to [try] it. Even though I sometimes just lay the pen down and start doing something else.

Q. We all get frustrated or have “artist blocks” at times, what do you do to combat this? Do you take a break from art for a while or just try harder to get better? What technique do you feel is the best for defeating “artist’s block”?

A. I think [the previous question] is the answer for this one too!

Q. What advice would you give to people who are considering learning how to draw, but are afraid or are unsure as to where to start?

A. Just your imagination, trust your instinct and watch and learn ^^

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If you have any suggestions or tips on the format or would like to be interviewed yourself, just email me or leave a comment!

This is a tutorial from Cris Ortega, also know as dark-spider of deviantArt. Here she describes her process to create one of her digital pieces, Deep in the Underworld. This is an advanced tutorial, so a strong base knowledge of anatomy, lighting and colour are crucial. However there is a lot to be learned from anyone who takes the time out to explain how they approach an art piece.

Some of the basic ideas that can be taken away from this tutorial are to start a picture with a neutral base colour. Then move on to filling in values, new layers are always helpful if you would like to place aspects of your drawing to a different location. Work from large to small. Try to not to get too caught up in the details of a piece before you have the main values, light and shading in the piece. If you work on details right away, you will more than likely be disappointed when the piece does not look uniform.

This tutorial has a lot packed in it, so take what you can from it. It’s definitely worth reading again!

Click on the pictures for full size view.

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Hello!

I created this site to help fellow visual artists! I am an artist myself and my mission for this website and blog is to provide an expansive, interesting, constantly growing source of the latest tips, tricks and tools of the trade. I think that we can all learn from each other, so I will provide weekly technical tutorials on various artistic techniques and interview artists to get real insight as to the real “why” of what they are doing, not necessarily focusing on how they do what they do.

I find that knowing why you are doing something is more important than skill level. Skills can be learned, drive and passion is innate. Even the most determined unskilled beginning artist will go far if they have the passion for art that drives most of the professionals in the field. All throughout my childhood, other kids and people asked me, “How did you learn to draw?”, I chuckled and laughed at the question because I didn’t know how to answer it. I eventually formulated the answer: “I just never stopped”. From the time I picked up a pencil as a kid, I never put it down. Most kids stop drawing because they think they are no longer “good enough” and they quit from a lack of encouragement or self motivation.

Another of my goals is to enliven that spirit of creation that lives within all of us. I hope that people will be inspired by the content on this blog and will continue to come back multiple times a week to become inspired on their own artistic endeavours, no matter what skill level of artist you call yourself- beginners, intermediates and advanced artists all alike!

So come join me on this journey of motivation and creativity! You may never know what you will find out about yourself!