Introduction to Art Profiling: Each month I will be profiling an artist. These profiles may include things like examples of their art (digital art, traditional art, photos of sculptures, etc), information on the artist, short interview questions, tips from the artist, my own personal critique on the art, etc. As readers you are welcome to suggest other aspects of the artist I should explore and you are also able to nominate yourself, or people you know to be profiled in future months. I prefer to have means of contact with the individual either through private messages on here, skype, through DeviantArt, etc, in order to seek their consent and to ask them any questions I may have. If you want to make suggestions or nominate yourself/someone else please send me a private message regarding this. The purpose of these profiles are to expose people to new art styles, to encourage discussion, to reward an artist for their hard work and for enjoyment purposes. If you have an art shop or gallery here you are more than welcome to ask to be profiled, and I just may contact you about it as well!
At the end of the article I will provide a few discussion questions. You are welcome to answer some or all of those , or can comment on any aspect of this thread. Feedback is welcome! As this is the first Art Profile I am completely open to suggestions and improvements that you would like to provide. Enjoy.
RacheLucario is a digital artist who mostly works with Paint Tool SAI, and occasionally Photoshop photography editing to finalize her images. She has placed first multiple times in art contests on another Pokemon related forum due to her fantastic art style and high creative abilities. Rache is known to focus on the details of her drawings, and has one of the highest levels of patience I have witnessed. Her drawings instantly peak interest in anyone viewing them and later reward further examination as fine details, shading, textures and lore can be discovered within her art. Her images always have more than originally meets the eye and her effort is clearly communicated in them.
Rache, although preferring the digital art medium, occasionally dabs in other areas. She has tested her hand at sculpting creatures from clay and will go back to the classic pencil and paper once in a while. When a satisfactory piece is created in the pencil and paper medium she will often transfer the image to her computer and go over it digitally to see what sort of results she can achieve. Yet another example of her artistic patience shows through in this. Although an artist myself I often have difficulties being patient with my work and hardly ever have the self discipline to leave a piece, come back to it later, and ensure it is getting the time it deserves. Her method is definitely one to be appreciated by anyone hoping to improve their artistic talents.
Although Rache enjoys drawing Pokemon, and all of the examples displayed here are of Pokemon, she does create other characters of her own imagination and if the results are of her standards she will often keep with a character for some time. In her own words she states that “[She has] a preference for fantasy over reality” and that, no doubt, matches her artistic choices. Her Pokemon art steps away from the Ken Sugimori art style and delves into a world of its own. The images are clearly representations of the Pokemon world but are given a bit more life, appear a bit more real and bring the Pokemon art world a little closer to our own. You’re no longer viewing a solid line with some colour in between, but some fur with depth, or some scales with life like textures. Any great artistic style has consistency and flow, and RacheLucario definitely accomplishes this.
When asked about what sort of atmosphere she create to aide her artistic process RacheLucario stated the following:
“I almost always listen to something that suits the mood of the piece I’m working on, and usually have the one track on repeat. Eventually I’ll forget that it’s playing, but will still subconsciously be influenced by it. It also helps to listen to instrumental music as words serve only as a distraction. Since night is the quietest time of all and as such is the least distracting, I often find myself staying up until absurd hours while working on a drawing. Due to the lack of everyday noises, it’s considerably easy to immerse myself in my work. Finally, [some coffee] (given the hour), and that’s all I need.”
I am no stranger to music as a tool for increasing productivity and creative focus but allowing a piece of music to aide the mood of a drawing is a new level that as an artist I would love to emulate. I often find myself having anime OSTs on repeat that have little to nothing to do with the images I am creating. Have I been working against the music or with it? I am interested to test these questions out myself the next time my creative juices are flowing.
I concluded my interview with RacheLucario by asking her to provide some advice for any inspiring digital artist. To that she had the following to say:
“A good graphics tablet is essential for a serious digital artist, and well worth the investment.
Immersion can really help you to get into what you’re creating – try to work in a quiet environment if possible and perhaps find some instrumental music that suits the final product that you’re aiming for.
Also, don’t be afraid to use a lot of layers if your program supports them – they can make mistakes really easy to fix, but be sure to keep them sorted or you might have trouble finding the one you want.
Last of all, Never give up, but don’t push yourself too hard if things aren’t working out. The last thing you want to do is become so frustrated that you want to quit, so don’t be afraid to take a short break. When you come back, try to think about what went wrong and look over your work so far for any glaring flaws that may be contributing to the problem. Take your time when working too – great art is rarely rushed~ Good luck, and try not to overwhelm yourself!”
Below are some images I have chosen from RacheLucario’s DeviantART Gallery, a link to her page can be found by clicking here.
Delivering a Smile
Suicune Gijinka
Shadow Reshiram
Discussion Questions:
1) As an artist do you listen to music when you create? Share a link to one or a few typical songs you will listen to!
2) If the answer to the above question is yes, does the music you listen to translate into your picture at all? If so, then in what way?
3) When you are creating your art of choice do you spread the process out over more than one day? Or do you feel the need to complete something in one sitting?
Check out the discussion on the forums
Stay tuned for the next Artist Profile to learn a bit about sprite and pixel art!
