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Artist Questionnaire
12 years ago
Taken from the source, 
bluenire, trying to get my mind off of my mood.
1.) Name the one thing/element you think helped you "get better" the best?(This could be anything from a technique, to a teacher, to an epiphany etc!) Open model sessions, if we're talking about a direct effect, and going to art school helped me more indirectly. Not so much the teachers and such, but having those peers with similar talents to me with all sorts of levels of skill and different styles really helped to encourage me to do different and better things. It wasn't even competitive, it was more just the fact that I could go to my friends and say "What about this is bad" and get some real, helpful critique when I most wanted it, and they all knew not to give critique when not asked because as artists they had the same feelings.
2.) Do you feel that you're confident "drawing in the round"(Ex: Able to draw a character in a convinceable 180 degree turn-about-sorry this question is here because it's what I struggle with the most!) ? If you are comfortable(-even a little bit) what do you think helped you the most? What sort of exercises helped you the most? No I suck at consistency.
3.) What REALLY inspires you the absolute most/best? When I have very vivid and inspiring dreams. My best drawings are meant to be worship for my gods or are meant to show something that I think is very important. Feelings. Feelings are what makes me do my best. Spur-of-the-moment, 'I have to do this now at 2am before I go to bed and forget' feelings. They are almost always bittersweet sort of inspiration.
4.) Why DO you draw? To communicate things that I can't put in words. And sometimes to make myself feel better, or other people feel better.
5.) Do you believe that anatomical study is important or do you feel it is overrated or gets in the way of style? I feel it's an absolute necessity and that it actually lends itself to creating a style. And it helps you to know what you like in a style too. For example, almost all of my drawings, though people will say I have 'good anatomy', are completely stylized. It's not noticeable to most anyone, but I give my characters short chins, their arms or torso are too long, and never match up according to 'correct proportions', and they are more than 6 heads tall on average. It's part of how I like to draw it, and not because I don't know it's off, I DO know, I just visually prefer it, and it helps to lend itself to diversity when you know more about a human body and how diverse it CAN be. The only time anatomical study is hurtful is when you are literally studying just one body type and learning everything about just that one type, and then only use that one type of body.
Realism is a style to develop too.
6.) Is having a unique/recognizable style important to you? I think so, but i'm not overly worried about it. I'd rather have a bland style that is like anyone else's than force myself to do something that doesn't flow well for me.
7.) If you do have a style, can you look back in your learning process and think of the elements that influences it the most? I can. I can see some of my early influences in my art now. Revolutionary Girl: Utena, Trigun, and Angel Sanctuary were all really dear to me when I was growing up. I can see the style influences in my art now, but it's changed with my introduction to realism and the whole big non-anime art out there.
8.) How do YOU, personally break art blocks? (if you even have them!) I generally wait for them to pass. Not in a 'passive' "Oh I'll get better" type way, but... the brain produces art blocks when something stresses you, so if something is really bothering you in your personal life, your brain will shut off the 'having fun' portion of your brain, and art blocks will occur. I find that when art blocks happen, it's because I'm going through great change and upheaval, and I need to get my life sorted out before I can make art again.
9.) What do you think makes a successful artist? (Hard working? Productive? Skill level?) I don't find myself very successful at all. On a better day, I would say it was my passion that makes me successful, but I don't feel that right now so...
10.) If you were free to emulate an artists style here on FA without being judged, who would it be and what is their style that is so attractive to you? I love a lot of artists here on FA, but I don't think I'd ever want to emulate their style. I'd love to adopt things from certain artists, like
squeedgemonster's bold and daring use of color and line weight, 
neodokuro's amazing shading and ability to give real weight and volume with minimal visual complexities, and 
centradragon's amazing use of shape and composition. But I'll never be those people or be able to do things just like they do and that's fine too. I need to find a way of doing it myself.
11.) Look back at the artwork you've done over the years, is there a "phase" you went through that sticks out as being "weird" or interesting? There were a lot of phases. I had a phase obsessed with men in dark makeup which I attribute to manga/J-pop stuff that I hardly remember.
12.) Art college: Have you been to one and in your mind, was it worth the time and $$ in your opinion? I went to SCAD and I could not recommend it any less. I regret it every day. Not because I didn't learn anything, but because I spent about $60k(counting my scholarship/grant, true debt is about $35-40k) and got cheated out of my degree, and there is no more bitter feeling than having a dream snatched away.
13.) Do you feel artists should stick to one another and teach one another? or do you feel that artists are just in one big competition for customers? I feel like artists competing for commissioners are the vast minority and that art is For Art's Sake and we should help each other to improve. Money is secondary. If we were in it for the money, we'd be Graphic Designers, adept at creating packaging and advertisement.
14.) Do you feel the internet (and the possibility of digital art being stolen/reused/etc) more of a blessing (exposure) or a curse(competition)? It's a double-edged sword. Having your art out there can bring you anything. Literally anything. Just from people seeing and commenting on your art, you can feel a range of emotion, good and bad, and you can do anything from get discovered by a big-name company to getting your ideas stolen and having the thief profit. But it's better than not ever showing anyone anything and feeling lonesome, I suppose.
15.) If you suddenly woke up and had superman/woman's powers, (you wake up with the physique and everything) what would you do? idk. Probably wear cute clothes and be super cute. And save cats from trees and rob a bank. Rob a thousand banks.
16.) If you could tell/give an young aspiring artist (maybe yourself when you were young) a "tool" that would boost their skill significantly going forward, what would it be? I'd tell you to draw naked people. Not from photographs, in real life. It just isn't the same in photos, I'm sorry, it really isn't. You can feel out the weight of a person for yourself when drawing in person.
17.) This isn't "tagging people to make them do this" but if there was an artist here on FA that you'd REALLY love to hear their answers to these questions, who would it be? :) (Can be a few people if you like!) I dunno. I never read these anyway.
bluenire, trying to get my mind off of my mood.1.) Name the one thing/element you think helped you "get better" the best?(This could be anything from a technique, to a teacher, to an epiphany etc!) Open model sessions, if we're talking about a direct effect, and going to art school helped me more indirectly. Not so much the teachers and such, but having those peers with similar talents to me with all sorts of levels of skill and different styles really helped to encourage me to do different and better things. It wasn't even competitive, it was more just the fact that I could go to my friends and say "What about this is bad" and get some real, helpful critique when I most wanted it, and they all knew not to give critique when not asked because as artists they had the same feelings.
2.) Do you feel that you're confident "drawing in the round"(Ex: Able to draw a character in a convinceable 180 degree turn-about-sorry this question is here because it's what I struggle with the most!) ? If you are comfortable(-even a little bit) what do you think helped you the most? What sort of exercises helped you the most? No I suck at consistency.
3.) What REALLY inspires you the absolute most/best? When I have very vivid and inspiring dreams. My best drawings are meant to be worship for my gods or are meant to show something that I think is very important. Feelings. Feelings are what makes me do my best. Spur-of-the-moment, 'I have to do this now at 2am before I go to bed and forget' feelings. They are almost always bittersweet sort of inspiration.
4.) Why DO you draw? To communicate things that I can't put in words. And sometimes to make myself feel better, or other people feel better.
5.) Do you believe that anatomical study is important or do you feel it is overrated or gets in the way of style? I feel it's an absolute necessity and that it actually lends itself to creating a style. And it helps you to know what you like in a style too. For example, almost all of my drawings, though people will say I have 'good anatomy', are completely stylized. It's not noticeable to most anyone, but I give my characters short chins, their arms or torso are too long, and never match up according to 'correct proportions', and they are more than 6 heads tall on average. It's part of how I like to draw it, and not because I don't know it's off, I DO know, I just visually prefer it, and it helps to lend itself to diversity when you know more about a human body and how diverse it CAN be. The only time anatomical study is hurtful is when you are literally studying just one body type and learning everything about just that one type, and then only use that one type of body.
Realism is a style to develop too.
6.) Is having a unique/recognizable style important to you? I think so, but i'm not overly worried about it. I'd rather have a bland style that is like anyone else's than force myself to do something that doesn't flow well for me.
7.) If you do have a style, can you look back in your learning process and think of the elements that influences it the most? I can. I can see some of my early influences in my art now. Revolutionary Girl: Utena, Trigun, and Angel Sanctuary were all really dear to me when I was growing up. I can see the style influences in my art now, but it's changed with my introduction to realism and the whole big non-anime art out there.
8.) How do YOU, personally break art blocks? (if you even have them!) I generally wait for them to pass. Not in a 'passive' "Oh I'll get better" type way, but... the brain produces art blocks when something stresses you, so if something is really bothering you in your personal life, your brain will shut off the 'having fun' portion of your brain, and art blocks will occur. I find that when art blocks happen, it's because I'm going through great change and upheaval, and I need to get my life sorted out before I can make art again.
9.) What do you think makes a successful artist? (Hard working? Productive? Skill level?) I don't find myself very successful at all. On a better day, I would say it was my passion that makes me successful, but I don't feel that right now so...
10.) If you were free to emulate an artists style here on FA without being judged, who would it be and what is their style that is so attractive to you? I love a lot of artists here on FA, but I don't think I'd ever want to emulate their style. I'd love to adopt things from certain artists, like
squeedgemonster's bold and daring use of color and line weight, 
neodokuro's amazing shading and ability to give real weight and volume with minimal visual complexities, and 
centradragon's amazing use of shape and composition. But I'll never be those people or be able to do things just like they do and that's fine too. I need to find a way of doing it myself.11.) Look back at the artwork you've done over the years, is there a "phase" you went through that sticks out as being "weird" or interesting? There were a lot of phases. I had a phase obsessed with men in dark makeup which I attribute to manga/J-pop stuff that I hardly remember.
12.) Art college: Have you been to one and in your mind, was it worth the time and $$ in your opinion? I went to SCAD and I could not recommend it any less. I regret it every day. Not because I didn't learn anything, but because I spent about $60k(counting my scholarship/grant, true debt is about $35-40k) and got cheated out of my degree, and there is no more bitter feeling than having a dream snatched away.
13.) Do you feel artists should stick to one another and teach one another? or do you feel that artists are just in one big competition for customers? I feel like artists competing for commissioners are the vast minority and that art is For Art's Sake and we should help each other to improve. Money is secondary. If we were in it for the money, we'd be Graphic Designers, adept at creating packaging and advertisement.
14.) Do you feel the internet (and the possibility of digital art being stolen/reused/etc) more of a blessing (exposure) or a curse(competition)? It's a double-edged sword. Having your art out there can bring you anything. Literally anything. Just from people seeing and commenting on your art, you can feel a range of emotion, good and bad, and you can do anything from get discovered by a big-name company to getting your ideas stolen and having the thief profit. But it's better than not ever showing anyone anything and feeling lonesome, I suppose.
15.) If you suddenly woke up and had superman/woman's powers, (you wake up with the physique and everything) what would you do? idk. Probably wear cute clothes and be super cute. And save cats from trees and rob a bank. Rob a thousand banks.
16.) If you could tell/give an young aspiring artist (maybe yourself when you were young) a "tool" that would boost their skill significantly going forward, what would it be? I'd tell you to draw naked people. Not from photographs, in real life. It just isn't the same in photos, I'm sorry, it really isn't. You can feel out the weight of a person for yourself when drawing in person.
17.) This isn't "tagging people to make them do this" but if there was an artist here on FA that you'd REALLY love to hear their answers to these questions, who would it be? :) (Can be a few people if you like!) I dunno. I never read these anyway.
