Introduction 

 “My parents are both artists. My mother was a graphic designer and my father was an abstract painter. Growing up I was always surrounded by art and encouraged to create. Funny enough as a little kid I rebelled and hated doing art seemingly because I felt pressured to do it by both of my folks. However, when I got a bit older I started doing fanart of my favorite character from my favorite video game, Samus from the Metroid series and that is when I started taking art a bit more seriously and liking the process of creating it. My childhood was good. I grew up in a little town inland from the coast of California. My parents were both very kind and patient with me which was great because I had a really hard time in school. I had ADHD and was constantly getting in trouble in school for disruptive behavior or for not paying attention in class.”

Question 1: When did you find inspiration in your art? And what do you think makes your art unique compared to other artists?

“That is a complicated question to answer because I think my art has evolved and had many different phases or levels. It wasn’t always focused on a style or theme or subject matter like it is now. Like I said before my first art that I was proud of was the drawings I used to do of Samus. Back then I was just a kid doodling what I thought was cool. I didn’t realize until recently that I was doing “fan art” at the age of around 10. I loved video games and Metroid was my favorite and I had a crush on Samus. I thought she was so cool being a badass girl saving the galaxy time and time again so my inspiration came from video games for sure. Throughout the years my art has changed a lot. Back then when I was a kid there was no digital art or drawing tablets like there are today. I used to just draw with pencils. Then as I got older I started experimenting with lots of different mediums.

I did everything from watercolor and charcoal to oil painting and even spray paint. There were a solid 4 or 5 years of my life where I considered myself to be a graffiti artist and did all sorts of shenanigans that go along with that lifestyle. 

I had to grow up eventually and when I turned around 22 I pretty much completely stopped doing art of any kind. Life takes a toll on you when you get older and I couldn’t find the time to fit art into my schedule. My time was with friends or work or my new girlfriend or gaming and I just couldn’t keep it all up at the same time

After a hiatus of almost 6 years, I one day had a feeling that I can’t describe to you where I just knew that I had to create again. I was turned off by how daunting the process of doing art was, the mess of it all, and the space it required. I wanted to do art again but I knew it would be hard for me to go back to how things used to be so I decided I was going to try digital art. I bought a cheap plastic drawing tablet for $40 on Amazon and after spending a few months with it I realized I wanted to be a digital artist.

I got a lot of my inspiration from other artists on social media. Trying to copy or emulate styles and techniques of people like Mark Brunet and Valentinainat1. These and many other people have helped me find my direction and art style.

Even now I’m still developing and changing my style. I feel almost as if every art piece I do is better in some way than the pieces that came before. As far as what makes my pieces or style unique I’d say that I still have a heavy street art or graffiti influence in my art and probably always will. That and also I tend to have a very messy line or style that is in direct contradiction with most art in the character art genre that I belong to.”

Question 2: What are your favorite kinds of Anime to watch? And what certain art designs do you love most about them?

 “Awesome, I love this question. I could go on and on with my answer to this one but I’ll try to keep it concise. My favorite anime tends to be older animation that was coming out in the 80’s and 90’s. Anime like Akira and Cowboy Bebop are huge influences to me. I love watching how the characters move across the screen. It’s crazy to think about how the Akira movie was 100% hand-drawn and the action and animation in that movie are still better than a lot of the animation in new anime coming out today. That being said I also love the quintessential anime like Naruto and FullMetal Alchemist. As a young teen, I was reading manga and had a monthly sub to Shonen Jump. I love Naruto and that was the first manga that I even fell in love with.”

Question 3: In the Future what do you want to accomplish?

“I love doing the work that I’m doing now but unless it’s on a very large scale it’s not sustainable. I take commissions here and there but the ultimate goal is to work for a video game production company or an animation studio. I want to do concept art and character design. It would be my dream to help create characters for games or anime and inspire others just the way I got inspired by the creators of Metroid as a young kid.”

Question 4: What are the purpose/goals behind your art? And what do you want it to mean and symbolize?

“I think I somewhat touched on this with my previous answer. At least for me what I want for the future of my art and my purpose in doing art are the same. I am striving for a career in the digital arts and I want to provide for my family and that is a means to an end for me. It’s more complex than just that though. I do feel that the ultimate accomplishment would be for someone to take inspiration from my art the same way I did from the Metroid games all those years ago. If what I do and create could spark an interest or give someone a reason to create things themselves then I’ve done my job. There is also a part of me that wants to highlight the humanity in art and the natural attraction that we as people have. I like to paint beautiful characters. Most of my work is of women. I know that some may find the subject matter of my art on the edge of risque. I like to push the envelope a little bit.”

If when someone views my art they feel either aroused in some way or even uncomfortable then I know that there is power in my art. If someone views what I create and they have an emotional response of any kind then I feel as if I’m achieving some level of success. After all, if you are not creating art to move people emotionally then what’s the point.”

Question 5: What makes art so important to you? And why is art so important as a whole?

“To me, art is important because it gives me a way to express myself. I’m able to convey my emotions to an audience through the characters I create. Not every character is displaying emotions I’m experiencing but I can get emotions out through my art in that way if I feel so inclined. I also get a certain feeling when looking at a piece that I’ve completed that is incomparable to anything else. It’s some type of combination of serotonin and surprise. It feels amazing to look at a work of art I’ve done and be able to say “Wow I can’t believe I was the one to make this”. It is such a good feeling and that alone would be enough to keep me creating for the rest of my life. Hopefully, I can continue to experience that feeling as I progress and settle into a career as an artist. As far as why art is important as a whole, that’s a topic that I could write an entire book on. I’m going to boil it down to one thing through experiences.

We make art to give people an experience when they look at it and it gives the artist another unique experience while creating it. Whether it’s a feeling, emotion, memory, some knowledge, or simply just wanting someone to take in what you have to offer, making art is a curation of it all presented to the viewer to give them an experience. Sometimes it’s to make you happy, sometimes it’s to make you sad, sometimes excited. All artists want to evoke an emotional response from the viewer. To have that is an amazing privilege and to be able to share that with others is equally a privilege. That is why art is important to the world. People are enriched from experiences like these. Experiencing art enriches one’s life.”

Last Question: What advice would you give to younger kids who want to pursue an art career? What type of work ethic do they need to do?

“That’s a great question, first I would say the absolute biggest tip I would have to give is don’t compare your work to the artwork of others. The only person you should ever compare yourself to is you, the day before. That is directly from the teachings of Marc Brunet who I consider to be my art teacher even though we have never directly spoken. It’s a lesson I learned far too late in life and I could have saved myself a lot of heartache if I had known this to be true as a young artist. As someone trying to create great works of art, you will automatically compare your work with the work of your peers or that of others you see. It’s ok to be aware of their work and the quality of it vs yours but only to have awareness of what you want regarding your work. Not to put it up against your work in comparison or competition.

People throw around the word “talent” so loosely when talking about the quality of one’s work. Most artists hate the word “talent” because it implies that one has some inborn ability of affinity to the creation of art and that it doesn’t take hard work to create the outcome of a good piece. It couldn’t be farther from the truth though. Good art and art skill comes with time. It takes a considerable amount of time and diligent practice to be able to create most art and without putting in the hours you can’t expect your art to look professional.

I have been drawing most of my life, I’m still nowhere near the level of artist that I strive to be but it took me more than 20 years of hard work to be at the level that I am. Basically what I’m trying to say is just work at it. Don’t give up, keep trying, and keep practicing. Every time you put a pen to paper (or screen) you are developing your skill and that’s all you could ask for. Go at your own pace. Don’t burn yourself out to produce more than your body, mind, and soul wants.

Do what feels right for you because ultimately the only person that can create that art you crave is yourself so take care of that person inside you. Nurture yourself and your creativity don’t ever give up. Your only competition is with yourself.”

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