What first got you started with art?

There have been several periods so it's a little strange. I see it as kind of a gradient from having it go from a hobby more and more to a profession. So besides the boring "Since i could hold a pencil" i had a "pick it up again after it got boring as a teen" period roughly around '07 i believe? Then around '09 is when i sorta had my head set on doing something in a creative direction, so my commitment grew a bit more, a few years later i started to actually get artbooks and study for real, , then another year later or so i opened this account here on the website because i got an internship as an artist, and then another 2 years later or so i made the jump to doing it fulltime as a freelancer.

I generally consider '09 as the point where i got started, since the time before that really was just more "classroom" drawing without any real goal.

(also the years might be +-1 here and there, particularly on the older ones, since my memory just is a bit fuzzy about those)

Are there any art styles you like and/or want to draw besides anthro?

I wouldn't really consider anthro a style but rather just characters in a picture. I mean do i get to draw a lot of stuff that's pretty fun, i get to draw landscapes, tribal scenes, medieval scenes, modern scenes. I got to draw Bioshock inspired stuff, Elder scrolls inspired stuff, dinosaurs, dragons ,cars, right now one commission involves a tank. So i do get to draw a whole lot of things, meaning i don't really hurt for subject matters.
Though i do draw just regular human stuff on the side, but ultimately that's just the same stuff i always draw with other characters for other audiences.

Hope this answers what you meant :)

1: Someone hands you a blank check for a car, covers fuel, insurance, maintenance, repairs, etc. Whaddyaget?

2: If you were to buy a tank as a playtoy, what would you get?

1: There are sooooo many cool cars. But a lot of them probably wouldn't really be practical. I think an Aston Martin DB9 would be my choice. It's my favourite car as far as the look is concerned, and while it's pretty old by now it's probably still fairly good in terms of what features it has included. Like, a Ferrari 288 GTO or a Lamborghini Miura might be really awesome, but they're probably not cars you want to drive every day, especially nowadays given how many quality of life things you'll miss. So the DB9 is probably the middleground i'd go with.

2: I'm not really invested into tanks i have to say. I mean i do enjoy them in a way, but not so that i build strong favourites. Being german i grew up with the Leopard 2, so that'd probably be the one i would choose then.

Mm, not bad. Though, those quality of life things...to me, optional. I'd go for a '34 Ford sedan with a flathead V8. Those things are pretty, the V8 makes an almost heavenly burble, and they're stone cold reliable *-*

That'd just be a bit too oldschool for me :P Though i'm not sure reliability would be much of a concern given that all repairs are paid for anyway. I mean would still be annoying to not have the car around for a day or two, but the most annoying thing about a repair is the cost i think.

I'm already driving something that lacks pretty much all of today's creature comforts and it isn't too bad. I have power brakes, power steering, and that's really about it. And of those two I can live fine without power brakes, in fact, did exactly that for a few years until somehow running out of gas revived the booster....still scratching my head on that one.


I work on vehicles for a living, though, so perhaps I'm an oddball there.


Oh, never buy German. One of two vehicles I work on professionally is MB Sprinter vans and ho-lee-fook are they needlessly complicated. And expensive. I 'spose if someone else is footin' the bill they're not bad rides, but whoever's footin' that bill is gonna have a bad time...

pretty bold to drive without the brake booster. :P I can only guess, but there is a valve included in the line from intake manifoild to the booster, to let the booster keep vacuum enough for three full brake moves at least before you loose the boosting. maybe a backfire from the engine running out of gas loosened the valve when it got stuck for whatever reason.

I hear you on modern rides beign too complicated. I'm a car mechanic here in germany and am strongly looking into a different career. modern vehicles make me feel inadequate and stupid. :P

if you can, go for the VW LT van. same body, same quality, but VW engine and a lot cheaper.

> pretty bold to drive without the brake booster. :P

Not really, I mean, vehicles are designed, mandated by US Law(And have been since the invention of power assisted brakes) to be stoppable without the booster in the event the booster fails while the vehicle is in motion. My booster failed in an odd manner...it was working when I bought my truck, but about 60,000 miles or so after that, the head gasket failed pretty hard. When I got done putting a new one in the booster had just....stopped. Like it wasn't hooked up. But it was hooked up. I test drove it, found I could still apply enough force to the pedal to lock all four tires up, shrugged, and carried on.


Then again, I've driven a pickup so old it was never equipped with a booster in the first place. And I'm not exactly a small fry, either.

> maybe a backfire from the engine running out of gas loosened the valve when it got stuck for whatever reason.

My best theory is some bit of schmoo got stuck in the vacuum line when I was changing the head gasket and running it out of gas drew such a strong vacuum on the system that it sucked that schmoo out of the line and into the engine...and presumably out the tailpipe somewhere.

> I hear you on modern rides beign too complicated. I'm a car mechanic here in germany and am strongly looking into a different career. modern vehicles make me feel inadequate and stupid. :P

It's job security. The more complicated a vehicle gets the more likely it ends up in our hands, the sooner it ends up in our hands, and the more often it ends up in our hands. My advice is to step up, wrap your head around the complexity, and enjoy having job security an order of magnitude better than most people have.


What's funny is that, if they built cars with the rugged simplicity my '85 F150 has, but with modern material science...we'd be having some serious issues in this department. Mine's sitting at somewhere around 330,000 miles on the clock, 31 years worth of time and elements, and still runs juuuuuuust fine. Itt'l hold an honest 80mph if I really want to poke it with a stick, still gets plenty good MPG(16-18 is hilariously good for an ancient, carburetted, half-ton truck and tickles what its 2017 descendants average in real world use), and I know it will start for me every time I turn the key.

> if you can, go for the VW LT van. same body, same quality, but VW engine and a lot cheaper.

If I were to buy a vehicle of that segment...likely to use for pulling a tow-behind RV or other fifth wheel towing I might need to do...it'd be an Isuzu NPR with a 6.0L GM V8 in the front.

Same quality isn't selling me on a VW van given the asinine bullshit I see on these Sprinters I work on every day. They're not built very well at all, and I almost never see NPRs in for the same issues.

As for why I'd go for the gas V8 instead of the 5.2L I4 Diesel...well, I've driven NPRs with both, and by far the V8 is the punchiest engine, plus, it's something I can service in my own driveway with parts I can buy literally anywhere that sells auto parts. Dunno where I'd go for filters for the 5.2 diesel....work I guess...I don't feel like paying dealer markup for filters though. Heh.

I don't plan on replacing my '85 F150, though. That thing is going to be mine until the day either it or myself die. Ideally, that'll be when it's over a hundred and I'm in my 80s.

job security is one thing. being frustrated because my giant glove size 10 hands can't reach into tiny gaps anymore, hurting joints and in ceasing feel of fail is another thing. good for you if you can wrap your mind around why that drive belt really needs to go through the engine support beam, and why it takes three times longer to replace than the timing belt(like Opel did some time during late 90's-early 00's until they got better) or why many servicable things need to be stuck into nooks and crannys not meant for mere mortals to reach at... I just can't anymore. I'm dissatisfied, my current boss is dissatisfied, why bother?
now I need to lift my sorry ass.

VW still seems to work their utilities better than Mercedes. funny considering that Mercedes thinks even their utilities are premium, and charges as such. what's worse is that the current SMART is actually a Renault, and part of the deal seemed to be that Mercedes buys Renault Kangoo and rebadge them, and charge extra for the fat tri-star in the front... and people buy them.

I have seen vehicles falling apart when you think they would fare better, and they weren't the cheapo things either. others just need oil, water, maintenance here or there, and after 15 years you'll have to take a closer look at suspension parts.

my own ride is a 1974 Ford Taunus with a puny 1.6 72HP OHC. still good enough to push the thing to 90miles a hour. or 150kph, if needed. going strong at 255 000 km, swallows like, 8-9 litres per 100km, and a swig of oil. also, it's spacy inside. many modern cars looking bigger outside make me hit knees and elbows at some useless furniture...

> also, it's spacy inside. many modern cars looking bigger outside make me hit knees and elbows at some useless furniture...

My god this is so true. It's hilarious how much more space is in my '85 F150's interior despite it being an order of magnitude smaller than a 2017 F150. Modern cars are so cramped it makes non-claustrophobic people claustrophobic. And it fucks with visiblity as well, especially out the back.

> my own ride is a 1974 Ford Taunus with a puny 1.6 72HP OHC.

My Ford has a 4.9L OHV I6 rated new 120HP @ 4100RPM And 275FT LBs @ 1600, with 80% of that torque on tap from 900 to 3500RPM. Redline is, oddly enough, also 4100RPM. Really doesn't sound like much, but they pull like oxen and last FOREVER. They can take an absolute thrashing and, owing to their rugged simplicity and their overbuilt nature, all they need in return is a change of oil/oil filter every few thousand miles, an air filter every 10-20k depending on how dusty the air it's breathing is, and some new plugs every 3-5 years. They don't even have timing chains to stretch, instead there's just two hardened steel gears in there with an oil jet aimed right at their mesh point ensuring they're well lubed. The gears are known to outlast the engine by a factor of 3 to 1 on an engine that itself is known to live to half a million miles on a regular basis.

Mine feels its age and I'd guesstimate the ol' butt dyno picks up 90HP or so out of it, but that torque has gone nowhere. And since I'm not wasting 20HP on the autotragic so many of my compatriots prefer, I can still haul ass/keep up with modern traffic despite it. But hey, 530,000 kilometers will do that to a motor.

No oil burning, though!....seeping gaskets, sure, but no oil burning.

in the beginning they built them machines tough because there was no experience with how long they'll last. also there was the need of repeated repair and refurbishing, so some extra material doesn't hurt. oils, fuels, streets were unrefined and sometimes inadequate. head gaskets were avoided for a time becauser they didn't trust the available materials.

nowadays computers replace experience and feeling for the material. also, cars were never built to last forever, and it shows. how can it be that a modern BMW seeps oil out of places you can't even see without removing the engine from it's hole until they think something is broken because of the underbody soaked in oil? or suspension parts looking like the thing rested in a meadow for a decade or two after 5 years? or dirt collecting behind the front fender's inliners enough top allow to found a farm? this goes on forever.

in germany, the profession of car mechanic has become mechatronic. the basics of vehicle technology is often skipped in favour of computer and electronics, which is complicated enough. but what use are these skills if they don't see that "catalyst not working" or "lambda out of range" often just means that the spark plugs are worn out, or oil or air filter are too old? so they replace these parts without fixing the problem.
the fact that especially VW, Mercedes, BMW can be full of errors memorized that are meaningless or can't be fixed (I have seen many literal "Unknown Error/Error not documented by Maker/Delete this shit" to be weary of the programmers' and Electronicians' skills) surely doesn't help. FIAT at least delivers a wall of text of info on the errors, Mercedes often just delivers a code. yeah, now work with that...

Do you have a practice regimen for keeping your techniques sharp and for learning new ones?

Unfortunately i don't really. Work takes up a lot of time, so sitting down at the end of it and essentially doing even more is a tough thing on most days. So generally i try to implement it into my work somehow, for example suggesting sketches that go in a direction where i'd learn something. A particular lighting setting for example and then use that as an opportunity to try and learn. Not ideal since it's linked to an environment where i have to produce quality work , so i can't go too far out there, but better than nothing i suppose.

what would you say is you strongest motivator?

Difficult to say since that can be a lot of things, but since it's an art website i assume it's mostly meant in terms of what motivates me to draw. In that case it's other artists being better! Of course it's not reeeeally something you can "measure" in that sense, since everyone's sorta doing their own thing. It's also a bit of a hate-love relationship in a sense, since at times it can really strike me down as well. But yes, there might as well be a rocky-type montage soundtrack playing when i find a really good picture in my inbox.

It's a bit silly in a way since  Caraid is one of the biggest offenders in that respect, so working with her on the recent collaboration was in a way teaming up with an "enemy" :D Though of course never any actual bad blood involved, it's just my own little competition in my head.

What are your favorite species and themes to draw?

Well my own character is an African Wild Dog, sooooo that should be a pretty straightforward answer there. Other than that i'd say Cheetahs are pretty high on the list, along with Jackals. And as for themes to draw....hmmm, difficult to really find one there but historical settings are generally my thing. It's a bit broad, but yes, if it's kept fairly believable then it's my thing!

*grins* :3

I'd like to play off of Thanris' question and ask what your most challenging species and themes are to draw.

As for species it's anything with feathers. They're like fur, just with the added headache of being ordered in a specific pattern, specifically in the wings.
And themes? I guess sex counts as a theme? Two characters touching is always a difficult thing i feel, add to that the fact that most often people of course want to see what's going on, so in many cases i gotta find some pose that shows everything off that is important to be shown off while still looking halfway natural. Don't get me wrong, i enjoy drawing sexual themes, they're just consistently some of the most difficult to get right!

I hear you on interactions being a challenge. While sexual themes are something I haven't touched, (lol pun) I can see how they can be difficult to get right, not even with posing but also emotion and dynamism.

Artist woes eh? :P

I'm drawing a blank here...

V.

That's fine! :D

What, pray tell, brought you into the furry community?

Can't really remember to be honest, it was a pretty gradual process of learning more and more that took a year or two so i don't think there was a specific thing i can point to.

I see.

What, pray tell, influenced you to change your character to an African Wild Dog?

Nothing specific, just really like them!

I thank you for answering my questions.

Is there a thing/subject you hope someone commissions you to make? Something you'd really like to do?

Hmmm, i don't think so. Not that there isn't anything i enjoy , but rather it changes over time. So there might be a few weeks where i really want to draw one thing, and then another one after that.
But they also rarely are like what people would probably expect , as in "Oh i really want to draw a character in knights armor" or something like that, it's more often than not a stylistic thing. For example here (NSFW) https://www.furaffinity.net/full/20731857/ at the time i really wanted to draw a scene set like that, with a tree providing shadow and some solid wall behind to have the light scatter through the leaves. And then with the picture i had the chance and it ended up being the sketch we enjoyed the most.

Besides an awesome artistic skill. What would be your secondary aptitude ? Writing ? Uh, cooking ?

Oh god no, certainly no cooking! xP Nah, i'm pretty average to be honest, so nothing really sticks above the rest like my drawing skills might. I mean i love stuff like history for example, but that's more about learning and less doing. So that doesn't quite fit the description.

I don't think you've ever made a comment on that, but...you're of German origin, right? And living currently in Ireland? Why?

Yes, correct. And it just was the best decision at the time so i figured why not. Felt a bit stuck in my job back then without much room for forward movement and i had the opportunity to live relatively cheaply with a friend i knew, which of course helps out when you don't exactly know how much you'll earn beforehand.