|
TWPT:
Was art something you always wanted to pursue, or was it something
that developed from another area of interest?
SL:
It was always art. One of my uncles is a fine artist, and when I was
young, he used to babysit me. To keep me occupied, he would just put
a paper and pencil in front of me, and that would keep me busy for
hours at a time. So...I've been drawing as long as I can remember.
TWPT:
Do you have any formal training?
SL:
I've gone through many teachers.... I think in elementary school, my
mother used to take me and my brother to this Chinese woman's house.
She taught private art classes for little kids. So after going
through all her books and thoroughly tiring of pencil, she started me
on watercolor, Chinese style. It's probably one of the hardest styles
I've tried -- you basically use minimal brush strokes, vary the paint
that you place on the tip, and use different brushstroke techniques
to create the images. Then I did oil painting at another private
studio, "Young at Art", classes of about 10-20 people.
It was mostly an open studio kind of thing, and
when she deemed you experienced enough, often invited you to
"teach" (which involved sitting around, mixing colors for
kids, and directing them what to do next on the current picture they
were copying). So I did end up teaching there for a while. Took art
classes all through high school. In college did a double major with
fine arts and computer science. Berkeley's fine art program was what
I call "conservatively modern". In that the professors were
so adament about what could qualify as "Art", that they
rejected anything that was remotely illustrative or realistic. I had
a tough time there, but eventually made it through. And I think it
helped me tremendously to really be pushed to try styles and
techniques that I would never think twice about otherwise.
TWPT:
Were there any teachers who had an influence or encouraged you that
you want to share?
SL:
I've had teachers praise my work (all the way up to college) and yawn
at my work (probably a large portion of those at college), but I
don't think any of them really motivated me that much. I mean, praise
is all good, but after a while, it makes you so sure of yourself that
you don't work as much as you could to really become better. Probably
my greatest influence would be that of my peers, and more recently
artists that I have met on the web.
TWPT:
I see you use charcoal sketches and computers to do your art. Is
this your preferred medium or do you prefer to work in other mediums?
SL:
It varies. I go through "phases" of being totally immersed
in one artistic interest or another (This happens not just with
visual arts -- but my dancing, music, writing, and painting....)
Anyway, when I first started finding my own style, I began with
acrylic. It was familiar to me because I had taken oil painting
classes for a couple years before that. Acrylic was less messy, less
smelly, and I could do it at home. Then in college someone introduced
me to Photoshop (because he saw a drawing I had done with Window's
Paint, pixel by agonizing pixel!), and for about 5 years I used
Photoshop as my preferred painting medium. I loved it because I could
get such brilliant colors.... Lately the new love seems to be
watercolor. So...in answer to your question, yes I work with many
mediums. Whatever the inspiration takes me with.
TWPT:
Many of the images on your site are from myths or fantasy. Is this
the material your inspiration comes from or do you derive inspiration
from other sources as well, which you would like to expand on? Have
you other preferences for subject matter?
SL:
Most of the inspiration for my personal art comes mythology, legends,
and folklore. Every once in a while, I'll read a story, and some
passage will really inspire me to paint something. I'm not quite sure
what it is I am chasing after with my art, but it is an elusive
feeling.... It is for the mystical, otherwordly...for the feeling
that you are confronted with something that underlies your existance,
but at the same time is otherworldly. Sacred. Mythology seems to be a
natural starting point for that. Folklore -- stories that have been
passed down for centuries because -something- in them has managed to
move men and women at a base level.
TWPT:
I see you have done allot of work for RPG companies and customer
work for RPG players. Could you tell us how you became involved
working on these various projects?
SL:
I used to be (still am, but not so much due to time restrictions) a
bookworm. From the first instant my father took me to the Science
Fiction and Fantasy section of the library one day, I was in love
with those imaginary worlds. I've played RPGs a bit myself. Did quite
a bit of free form RPG story-writing type of things as well. I used
to sketch my friends' and my own characters all the time. So going
from that to the characters of other people is not that hard to
imagine. Actually I noticed that when taking on thse types of
projects, I'm a bit different from other artists. I had a
conversation with a fellow artist at a fantasy convention recently,
and she was complaining, "WHY do people always tell me things
that I can't draw? I don't want to know what the personality is like,
or the history of a pendant!" While myself...I can't get enough
descriptions from people. I suppose the reason is that I want to
really feel with that character that I'm drawing. I want to be able
to draw their personality, their feeling, their motivations...to be
able to create a story with a single image.
TWPT:
In these days of Web Sites and Web Commerce, allot of artists, and
literary people, are taking their material to the web for exposure.
Do you find Web site building and the web in general gives you the
same feel and exposure as, say, having a Gallery viewing or magazine exposure?
SL:
Well, having never had my art displayed in a gallery or magazine, I
can't really say for sure. Currently I get -all- my exposure through
my website and various other galleries on line that host my art. I
think the web is wonderful, and that it would have taken me many
times longer to get this far were it not for the web. I don't think
it could really match a live exhibit or printed exposure. The web has
been wonderful for inspiration and finding communities of artists
with similar intersts though.
TWPT:
Do you think, as you have received so much exposure through the web,
that this is going to be "The" gallery of choice for future
new artists? Is this the way to go for exposure of new material, new
artists to the public?
SL:
It really depends on your subject matter, I think. Fantasy is such a
specific genre, and so many fantasy fans -are- on the web, it makes
it a much easier audience to target than say for an abstract artist.
For an illustrator, the web is wonderful. It's an inexpensive way to
start getting your name out. That's the hardest part of getting
started as an artist -- putting your foot in the door. I'm still
working at it, but I think the web has given me a chance. Even so, as
a replacement for a real gallery? I don't think so...digital
reproductions are nothing to the real thing. You lose so much of the
full sense of a painting when all you see is a 400x500 pixel image.
You lose a lot of the luminous quality oils, acrylics, and
watercolors have. So much of the subtle layers and colors just look
black in a scan.
TWPT:
I like your blackbirds story board, and the idea and graphics behind
> a children's book for this. Do you have interest in pursuing
children's books? Is this a branch off for you in the future?
SL:
Yes, I think it's something that has been interesting me for a while
now. I plan to sometime in the future submit samples to children's
book publishers; however at the present I don't have quite enough of
a portfolio for that type of material. So it's a side project that I
pick up every once in a while.
TWPT:
Where are you going to take your work next? What would you like to
pursue in regards to your art?
SL:
Hm...next? I guess about two years ago, just before I was about to
graduate, I started looking for jobs. My other degree is in Computer
Science...so I was looking to be a programmer. It had been pretty
much hammered into me that to even think of making a living as an
artist would be hopeless. So I was resigned to leaving it as a hobby.
But while walking around a career fair, handing out my resume to
dozens of computer companies, it really hit me that that was -not-
what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I made the choice that
day to really begin to put a full time effort into building up my
portfolio to create something that I could present to art directors.
The goal being to be able to do illustration and freelance art full
time. For fantasy, or perhaps childrens' books, magazines, rpg's....
Anything that would let me create the stuff I loved. 90 % of what you
see in my web galleries is from that decision onward. So, that is the
short term goal. I don't know what else aside that...beyond never
letting myself forget that this is something I love to do. |
