FAQ

Too many questions, too little time to answer! If you have a question that is not in this list, leave it below in the comments. If you have random questions, that you want for me to answer, I have my formspring.me account, go here, to ask.

⁞ ART ⁞ DRAWING ⁞ 

How do I choose the right colours to work with?
A little lecture first, okay? Take note! =D

Sometimes people don't pay a lot attention to colours at all, because what can it be? It's just colouring, ha. I actually kind of thought that way some time ago, I thought that as long as the drawing is pretty, the colouring will look good no matter what colours I use. Well, I was pretty wrong. Colours - that is almost the most important thing in a drawing, colours are essential and it takes some practice to understand them and use them correctly. It's a whole science.. thingy! No really! A whole theory. 

If a drawing is awesome, but the colours used in it are not working, then others won't even waste 4 seconds to observe the piece - if it's not appealing, no one cares, really. That goes for everything what has colour in our lives - rooms, walls, interior, make-up, fashion, supermarket, commercials, gardens, museums, photography, comics, blogs, websites.. ah, much more! The key is to observe. Notice things you haven't noticed before - look at that sophisticated magazine cover [which is not celeb gossip], car commercials, designer made room interior, book covers - most of these things that are done by professionals should be appealing, because these people know and understand colour theory and how it works. 

And now to start understand the basics. 

Knowledge doesn't come from no where, you should learn, you don't have to have a teacher, to teach you everything and point fingers at things. Read tutorials. They help a lot and a good place where to look for tutorials is deviantart.com, I learned most of everything I know from there. Here's a couple of the best colour tutorials I've ever read, they helped me A LOT! Read this and this. Observe artworks be some amazing artists out there, don't just look at the piece, but pay attention to colours! Let's examine an artwork be an amazing artist, this one, see how there are like 2 colours only, excluding white and how greatly they have been worked out? You don't need black for shading or white for lightning, you just work out the same colour, balance it and it will look better then a multicoloured crazy piece, of course, those work too, but that's a different story. Anyways - just knowing the colours and the way they work will open up a whole new world for you. Myself? I now look at things completely differently, I see more, I observe more and now I understand more. Of course I still have problems of choosing the right colors and tend to mix some together that do not work at all then end up frustrated and scrapping everything. Still learning by myself. A great help sometimes is this website for choosing nice colour palettes, getting inspiration and also you can visually see what colours work nicely together and what just don't.

What software do you use when you draw on the computer?

2012: As I upgraded my hardware in the end of the year 2011, I am partly back to using Photoshop CS5 for sketching, drawing and colouring. I also use Screeny to capture the screen while drawing, so I can later make a speedpaint video and post it on my YouTube channel.
2008-2012: For sketching, drawing, painting, coloring I use Easy PaintTool SAI, it is a ''light weight'' program and is not slowing down the computer too much, if a really big image size/resolution and a lot of layers are being used. 

For editing the drawings, photography, animating .gif icons/images, making banners, etc - I use Adobe Photoshop CS5.

For recording while I draw I used to use Camtasia Studio, but since I now have a Mac, I use QuickTime player or Screeny to record.

What kind of hardware do you use when you draw on the computer?

2012: This year I upgraded to Wacom Intous4 medium wireless graphics tablet.
2008-2012: I use a Wacom Bamboo Fun medium black graphics tablet in A5 size. I think they don't make exactly this kind any more, they've upgraded them. It is my first tablet, have had it for 2 or 3 years now and loving it. I suggest no other brand then Wacom! If you feel like getting one, go here, read infos on all of them and evaluate which one suits you best. The next one that I would by, would probably be the Intuos one, but as long as my old Bamboo is working, I'm not gonna go for a new one.
I also recently upgraded to a new and powerful iMac (27'', i5, 3.1 GHz) so my digital environment satisfies my needs. It's a beast and I regret all the years I spent using PCs. I probably wouldn't have gotten one if I wasn't an illustrator, but it sure increases efficiency while working!

How long does it take to finish one drawing? 

Depends on character count and backgrounds. I'll list times for one character from head to toes.

Sketch - up till an hour.

Sketch and then make lineart - hour and 30 minutes approximately. 

Shaded sketch+lineart - around 2 hours.

Fully coloured character - 3 - 4 hours. 

Also depends on the colouring style - if I use flat colours, don't shade, it goes faster. If I paint more semi-realistically, then it takes longer time and that's a bit harder.
As for painting on canvas with paints and brushes, it takes longer, because you don't have your environment prepared and colours mixed. As well no tools like copy+past can speed up the process. :D Of course the canvas size also affects the time spent while painting - smaller goes faster, bigger takes longer. It's funny how all of this has no impact on digital canvas size. =D

What inspires you? 

Well, I could say everything, but I'll try to note the things that really make me feel ''Gosh, I just SO wanna draw right now!!''. Main thing is other great artists artworks and sketches. When I see something that I love to look at, it makes me grab my tools and get it on! Haha. I made a folder on deviantart.com of  some artworks that inspire me instantly. When ever I want to draw but don't havethe right feeling to do it, I go to that folder and ideas hit me in an instant!

Another great inspiration is Asia. I love everything about it, it seems so inspiring and interesting, it's just ♥ . I look at pictures from places in Japan and Korea mostly and they help me get inspired as well. Also eastern cartoons - anime - and visual novels - manga/manhwa - inspire me and eastern music also, about that in the next question. 

Oh, and fashion photography and conceptual photography is inspiring me for fashion illustrations.

What kind of music are you listening while you're drawing?

90% of the songs I listen to are Japanese or Korean. 

A little story - I've always loved music, I mean listening to it. I remember that I got those little radio players as a prize when you bought two 2 l Coca-Cola bottles when I was a kiddo, I kept listening to it all day long. Then I got my first CD player and I listened to some CDs on repeat, again - all day long, at first they we're dads old discs and later I got The Offspring, gosh, non-stop I tell you. xD When I got older, which is 14-16, I kept listening to mainstrem rock music, indies, screamos and emos and what not, I still like those, but rarely and got my first iPod classic 30 gb and was in heaven, I just listened to too much music, haha, but somehow all that started to feel really blank, grey and blah. And then someone sent me this song Gackt - Lu:na and I was like ''What the hell just was that?!'' o.ō'' ''Wait, gotta listen to that again..'' all the weirdness seemed so awesome, I had never heard anything like that back then, it seemed so new and refreshing and inspiring, so different from what I had been listening all that time. Where was this before? And so the Asian music swallowed me entirely. You can see to what I listen here, at my last.fm page, that is the last 3 years, since I've really started drawing. 

How long have you been drawing?

I hate when people answer ''Ah, well, I've been drawing as long as I can remember, all my life!''... lol. We all have been drawing all our lives, douche. Who wants to hear that? The question should be formulated differently. Like - How long have you been drawing from when you understood that you really love drawing and tried to learn more about drawing <-- Yeah, that's better, haha, but too long. :D 

My story goes like this. Yes, I went to an artschool for 8 years, started when I was 5 when it was just like preschool creative thingy, then when I was 8 or so, at the same place I started to go to it as an art school, but I wasn't really supposed to continue it next years, but that first year when I finished, I was awarded because of good drawings and whatnot and got the next half year free from payments, so how could I not continue? So, I stayed and finished the school when I was 13 and got a diploma which might help me to get jobs or get in colleges/universities in the future, so that's cool. =D There I learned some basic things, but we drew only still life, plants, things, abstract stuff and like that. Never people. So after that, I didn't really draw anymore for  2 or 3 years, because I didn't really love to paint a bottle. o.ō 

 Then, when I was sixteen, I stumbled on the whole Asia phenomenon which begun my craziness with drawing - anime, manga, jrock, culture, visual kei and all the odd and weird fashions in japan awakened some kind of something in me and I just started to draw people. I had never drawn a human figure before so it was all new for me and gosh, I sucked so bad! Around that 16th age of my life I started to learn how to draw almost from scratch, because I just knew how to sketch some stuff and what kind of looks good and what does not. And up untill now I have learned all I know by myself, I studied pictures, read about drawing, purchased art books, drawing books, tools, paints and went for my dream and I'm still walking that path and I wonder if fulfilling my dream is a long way ahead? 

What tools do you use for drawing, can you show them? 

I promise to make a related blog post with pictures for this question only, but for now I'll simply list them.

Simple grey pencils, Copic multiliners, rapidographs, Copic markers, various watercolours, oil paints and of course brushes. 

What is your ultimate motivation in drawing? 

Feedback! Critiques, praise, complaints, questions~ Because, you know, how people say ''Oh, you don't have to listen to what others say, you draw for yourself!'' For me it's different, I draw for others, I like to know what others think about my drawings, even if they don't like something about them. Feedback motivates to draw more, prove those critics that I can do better/different; draw more to those who simply like what ever I draw.  Next would be  seeing so many great artworks, they motivate me to do the best I can to get to that level of awesomeness as I'm still an inexperienced noob in drawing. :D 

 ⁞ BLOG ⁞ BLOGGING ⁞ 

Can we exchange blog links?

Sure, mail me. My address can be found here. 

Any tips on blog look and blogging?

Mostly the first impact is really important, which is - nice colour scheme, easy readable font for the text and no clutters. 

Colour scheme - try avoiding too bright or neon colours, they are tiring to look at and make you simply close the page. Also be careful not to mix colours like bold green and red plus orange and whatever. x.x Pick one color that'd you want to dominate and adjust the other ones to make a nice look.

Blog fonts - I suggest Arial, Tahoma or Calibri for the main text, as they are not as boring as Times New Roman and are easy to read and look at. For title fonts you can go more creative, as you can see I did. But of course, it's your blog, do as you please! :D

As for the blog content - it's up to you. You can write about things, review things, show things - anyhting, really! :D  As long as you present it in a way that interests others, because no one pays attention to another blog about photography, where you put pictures of trees from your cell phone and add text like ''I was in the forest today. It was cool.'' We've all seen that. Of course, you can blog about your day and life in general, but making it interesting is essential. That is if you really aim for audience. But if you blog just for your friends and just for fun, then you don't have to stick to any norms or anything, I'm just mentioning this to people who asked me, how to increase traffic.

For me, I've had this blog since 2008. and only 2 weeks ago I suddenly got promoted on Blogs of Note which caused people to actually check out what I was doing and I'm glad so many enjoy, never knew it'd happen, actually and I wasn't really aiming at it, but it's really nice, when you have the audience. Especially in my occasion, where I kind of need to spread what I do, because it helps me to work for people - draw for them, to gain a bit of income in my tiny wallet. So, thanks to Blogs of Note!

Follow my blog, I follow yours! *link*

Why, hello there. I don't really do ''I follow you, you follow me'' stuff, so if you maybe are not satisfied with that, you are very welcomed to un-follow. I feel that it's rude to make people follow you, where ever that might be. Or beg for followers and crap. Yes, I check out every one of your links, but IF I like the blog, can relate to it and find it interesting, I might follow, Nothing really interests me besides fashion, art, music and good photography. Please don't leave plain links to your blogs in any comments here, I will remove them. 

  ⁞ MISCELLANEOUS ⁞ 

Hey! Could you draw this and that for me?

No. Sorry, but I don't have time to draw for anyone who simply asks to draw something. I draw in my free time what I'd like to draw. I do however take commissions, read further for infos.

 What nationality are you?

I am living in Europe - Latvia, which makes me a european and latvian! :D

Do you want to join this  *insert something related to drawing* project?
I love to join projects! Not everything, but if offered, I'll review my possibility to take part in it!

Do you take commissions and what are the prices?

Yes, I take commissions. I can draw your character or your idea for the character, maybe your portrait, design a logo, sketch concepts. Also fashion illustrations, garment ideas, so you can give the pictures to your tailor, who can make those clothes for you. There are certain things that I don't really do, but it  depends, can't tell unless I review it. 

Prices, examples and more info: clicky here

Ask quetions and ''make and order'' regarding commissions by mailing me, my mail can be found here.

Is your real name really Arta?

Yes, my name is Arta as odd as it may seem to a lot of foreign people. :D In my language the part ''art'' doesn't really mean anything related to art, as it's in English, for example. It's pronounced like Ahrtah but with non-english r. Germans and the Japanese pronounce r the same way my country does, if you're wondering about that r-thing. :D

Sheeesh, this took me quite some time. ^^ These are the questions I've gotten here in comments, on my formspring and where else, I hope you had fun reading, haha. :D If you have any more questions, leave them here, below in comments or on my formspring.