Yuku free message boards

1. Okay, first off, some
preliminaries. Age? Gender?

18, female

2. So what's your drive, what keeps
you going? Keeps you learning?

The constant feeling "I can do this better." When you see a rush of inspiration and the sudden urge to create, you often end up disappointed with the result (I´m sure you all have experienced this). And this failure makes me more motivated to study and to constantly practice and not to give up. My dream is to achieve the state when I´ll be able to draw exactly what I imagine in my mind. And until that happens, I´ll just have to keep myself kicking.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

3. I see from your userpage you
listen to mostly metal and rock, like
Korn, Rammstein, and White
Stripes (personal favorite, of
course), do you listen to music
regularly while you draw?

Music is my everyday background, I listen to it while reading, learning, playing videogames, drawing....so, yeah, I can´t imagine drawing without listening to music, but I´ve grown up from the "dark angels drawings" while listening to Nightwish and co. Nowadays music doesn´t inspire me directly, but more like helps me relax my senses and lets the inspiration flow better (if you know what I mean).

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

4. Do you have any little habitual
practices you do while drawing?
Any quirks? (Like laying out pens
and pencils a certain way, saying a
prayer, etc?)

Hm...I´m afraid not. I just pick a pen or a pencil and draw and see what it´ll turn into. It´s not as forceful as it used to be few years ago - back then I produced pictures like a machine, just because I was desperate to post them on the Internet. Now (and that´s why my art activity is so low) I just doodle, try out various styles and try to expand my horizons. Well...now that I think about it, I used to rest my head on my left hand (yeah, my head is that heavy) and I have to tidy up my table. I can´t concentrate on drawing with all that mess around (but I guess that´s just a woman´s quirk....and I like to clean stuff^^)

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

5. How long have you been
drawing for?

Let´s see....well, since my early childhood, but those were just scribbles and doodles just for the sake of it (and I focused more on colouring anyway). The day that I decided I´d focus solely on anime/manga style and the day I started my drawing career was 28th August 2003 (I still have the picture I drew that day....as a reminder.) So it´s more then 5 years.

6. I see also a lot of comic-book
styled movies (Kill Bill, Sin City,
etc.) are listed as movies you like,
did this have any influence on your
decision to become an artist? If
not, what was your major
inspiration to start up?

Actually no. I´ve always been keen on animated series (started way back with Cartoon Network, and that slowly evolved into anime). As much as I love comic-based movies, they weren´t much of an inspiration source...well yeah, to an extent. You see, I´ve always loved designing and creating characters. It´s my fave subject and my main focus in art (I´ve never been the hidden meaning and thoughtful idea in art type of person). I usually focus on the visual side (style, character design, etc...) and these two particular movies have plenty of those. The almost visual orgasm I had while watching it ( CG effects, crazy characters, cool quotes, absurd design) is usually what I highly appreciate in a movie, and therefore when I see something that meets that criteria and even when it blows me away with its awesomeness, of course, I am *highly* inspired.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

7. What's your favorite thing to
draw? What's your favorite
medium, both digitally and
traditionally?

I prefer pens and pencils. I usually just sketch, so these two are perfect for that. While back I also liked other media (watercolors, markers, colored pencils), but that was when I just made pictures for the sake of making. Now it´s more convenient to use a pen/pencil as it is always lying around and cheap as hell. And when I have to do something I´ll may eventually end up posting, I prefer digital media(my sweet tablet and Adobe Photoshop...but if I had a better computer, I´d also dig into other art programs)because of how many problems it can solve (from scanning to colouring, from easy erasing to manipulation).

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

8. Do you have any past or current
"formal" education in art? If so,
what kind of stuff did you learn that
has helped you out?

Formal as in 12 week-long (read- 12 hours) of an art-course which served as a walk-through through different styles in art since 18th century (it was the worst thing ever...seriously). And I attended primary art school (this was last year, and I was in a class with 13-14 year old kids.....so you can imagine the quality of that education too :/). Other than that, it´s been always me learning and studying and copying and practicing. I didn´t even learn that much....it was a good opportunity to try out something new, but nothing you could profit from after-wards.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

9. Give us a statement of wisdom, a
pro-tip, if you will, for all the
beginners here. (I know you're
going to be humble and say you're
a beginner still too, but come on,
cough up the knowledge.)

I could write a book about tips for beginners....but it would be boring and no one would read it anyway (me included). Yeah, well, there are other members on HTDM that are better in these kind of speeches, but one I can say for sure - there is no such thing as "I can´t draw". Everyone can learn to draw -- if trying and practising enough and correctly (someone said that half-assed practice will give you half-assed results). Sure, some of us learn quicker, some slower, some have the extra something special (that we like to call talent), some have less of it...but that should not discourage you from drawing. If you enjoy it, then just do it. If you wanna get better, then stop whining and start doing something for it. Hunt down the knowledge and push yourself forward. And if patient enough, you´ll eventually see the results.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

10. So why MU? Why did you
originally come to this place?