1.Tell us something about yourself.
I’m a 30-year-old Indonesian male of Chinese-Japanese descent. Before you ask; no, I don’t speak either language. A lot of us here have lost the heritage, unfortunately I speak only English and Indonesian.
I consider myself a self-taught digital illustrator. My skills came from exploring online tutorials, and borrowing other people’s techniques. I never took any form of art classes when I was younger, which I regret to this day.
I currently reside in West Jakarta, Indonesia, working as a freelancer at home. In my spare time, I like to play video games, guitar, piano, and go to the gym. I’m also an apprentice tattoo artist, going on 4 months now, occasionally giving people simple tattoos at home
(I have a spare room that I converted into a tattoo studio).
2.How long have you been working in this field?
Professionally? Almost 5 years now. Before that, I did digital caricatures for family and friends for about a year.
3.Can you show us few artworks of yours which are close to your heart??
This one pretty much kick-started my career. I only did it for fun, one of a set of four elemental images (Water, Fire, Wind and Earth). They were well received by the art community, but this one is special because it was featured in ImagineFX magazine. These Eleven ladies are my heroes!
This one was commissioned by Paul Leone, a novelist, two years ago. It is special because arguably it was my most finely rendered artwork that year, and probably still is one of my best work, even now. I honestly don’t know how I was able to do coloring like that two years ago. It was an accident, I think. Ha ha.
It also defined my respect as an artist, especially towards female characters, who are wearing practical armor and garments while still looking fabulous.
4. This work is so lovely and beautiful! Can you share some techniques behind making it so amazing!
This was done before I went professional, so I consider this an older artwork. It was made 6 years ago, to be printed at the back of my very first business card. In terms of technique, I wasn’t much of a Photoshop savvy back then, so I did everything manually; every single leaf, including the dry ones on the ground, were done by hand, with a simple round brush, one at a time. Had I known about custom scatter brushes, I would have saved a lot of time. But maybe that’s what made this so special? A lot of love was poured into this one, as I recall.
5.How do you get the inspiration for your art?
Looking at the works of others, especially from veteran artists. Sometimes I stare at them for a long time (the paintings, not the artists), trying to figure out what makes them look so great. Not the healthiest of habits, though. Ha ha. I have an obsession with fantasy and sci-fi movies, and some video games can be inspiring as well.
6.This one has so much work! So many details! wow! How long did you work on it?
I remember it took one day to do one figure, another one day for the background, so maybe a total of one week, including revisions. It was commissioned by a good friend, to decorate his new office. The actual size is pretty huge; about 2 meters wide, I think.
7. Would you like to share some tips?
Sure. Or more like words of wisdom? To my experience, there is no such thing as a shortcut. Not from online tutorials, not from the masters, or any other types of sorcery. Everybody starts from the bottom, and work their way up. Slowly. There is no such thing as natural talents (for normal people like us, anyway). The skilled ones are the survivors, where others have simply given up. So NEVER give up, always pour your love to your works, and keep practicing. A lot. It will take years, but as long as you love doing it, it won’t feel like a long tedious journey.
whoaa :O