Tag Archives: Artist

* I received a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. No compensation has been given and I write this book review willingly. A big thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books! *

Introduction

“Art!”

Wait, hold on, did someone say art? I’m right here!

Yup, any time someone mentions the words art or writing, you’ll see me poppin’ up.

So, how about when I read that title, Make Your Art No Matter What, over on NetGalley? Instant request!

Thankfully I was approved!

And thus began a soul-digging yet rewarding and comforting adventure…

Blurb

The Artist's Way for the 21st century—from esteemed creative counselor Beth Pickens.

If you are an artist, you need to make your art. That's not an overstatement—it's a fact; if you stop doing your creative work, your quality of life is diminished. But what do you do when life gets in the way? In this down-to-earth handbook, experienced artist coach Beth Pickens offers practical advice for developing a lasting and meaningful artistic practice in the face of life's inevitable obstacles and distractions. This thoughtful volume suggests creative ways to address the challenges all artists must overcome—from making decisions about time, money, and education, to grappling with isolation, fear, and anxiety. No matter where you are in your art-making journey, this book will motivate and inspire you. Because not only do you need your art—the world needs it, too.

The Positive Sides

“It’s an exchange, so the agreement is this: I’ll keep helping artists and you keep making your work and putting it in the world. Deal?”

That sentence right there touched me deeply, made me feel warm inside and smile. And you know what? DEAL!

On a side-note, the graphics of each chapter title is really beautiful with calming waves and gently surfing letters. That, in itself, is art, and quite appreciated too. It’s pleasant to the eye.

I love how each chapter relates to a major issue experienced by most artists. It’s clear and easy to navigate to and understand. So the book not only becomes one to read through, but a companion to come back to about a specific topic in times of need! Furthermore, her writing is sometimes funny, yet she is professional and amiable. I liked her voice as an author, I felt safe, and as though she was a friend looking over me.

There’s something mind-blowing about the author’s pedigree of this artist’s self-help book: She is a psychologist specializing with artists! I never heard of this, but it’s AWESOME. And it gives weight to her tips and tricks and her words. She gives so many tips and tricks (proven ones from a psychologist’s point of view!). I’m now using at least four of her techniques, it’s amazing what it does to our art practice!

For example, I love the techniques and mindset of “Your birthday every month for life things” and the “aim to get 20 rejections, which means you’ll have tried and applied for many more opportunities and received approvals in several.”

Overall, there’s something uplifting and helpful for EVERY artist. Me, my bestie, and my mom are three very different artists BUT there are things I told them from this book that resonated with THEM and not me, while others did so with me! It’s amazing how helpful this book can be!

I recommend it to EVERY artist, crafter, writer…. even engineer! Anything that requires creativity!!!

The Negative Sides

Erm, it’s too short to my liking? I mean, it’s an admirable piece of work and I LOVE it! But that’s exactly the thing… I’d take easily a hundred pages more of it. It feels like a motivational, helpful, and true elixir for all types of art!

Come on, who wouldn’t want more?

In Conclusion

Taking into consideration all the advice, counsel, comfort, and techniques Make Your Art No Matter What offers us, I give Beth Pickens’ book a rating of 5 out of 5 stars, undeniably. But please, make the next one longer?

If you want to learn more about the author, you can visit her Web site, you can also follow him on Amazon author page and Goodreads. You can also add Make Your Art No Matter What to your bookshelves on Goodreads and LibraryThing.

A New Blog Post Series – Artists & Writing: Interview with Valentin Romero, Illustrator & Graphic Designer

Artists & Writing, Interviews, My Projects August 4, 2021 Leave a comment

Introduction

Hello, lovely folks!

So, today I bring you a new series of blog posts: Artists & Writing. I want to focus on the artists, to elevate the stunning and inspiring work they do, and to link all kinds of inspiration and art with writing. Because in my own view, writing is art, too.

As for the artists, I welcome all kinds, whether they're illustrators, home interior designers, fashion designers, animators, film producers… I want to expand people's view and understand of art. And to perceive its connection to writing and words and imagination overall.

I hope this series touches you in some way or perhaps inspires you.

My first guest?

Please welcome the amazing illustrator & graphic designer, Valentin Romero! He was kind enough to agree to this interview when I contacted him. I thought he would be a great person and artist to feature on my blog as he seemed to like my idea for this series and he is quite inspiring. His work is just jaw-dropping.

Enjoy the interview, loves!

Mighty Thor / Jane Foster by Valentin Romero, @valentinromeroart, 2021.

Interview with an Artist: Valentin Romero

1- What is your greatest achievement and why?

I remember that my greatest achievement was going to my 1st Convention, it was in 2019. It was in a big city that was about 100 km from my hometown. At the time I was on the other side of the country, due to university, but I was free at the time, so I took a plane there. It was great, I met a lot of my fans, talked to them and more. I had a nice time. Some of my friends came to congratulate me, and family members too. I had many other invitations to other conventions, but due to Covid they were canceled, so it's a shame, but safety comes first so we'll have to wait.

2- How did you come to work on Mortal Kombat, and what exactly was your main task?

It was an incredible opportunity, since I was a kid I played Mortal Kombat so it was a great moment to be able to officially collaborate. Mortal Kombat had collaborated with rapper Megan Thee Stallion, which I adore so it was a great opportunity. Megan was going to do a streaming video playing MK and she had also done a cosplay of the character of Mileena. My task was to design a poster of Megan as Mileena to transmit during streaming. Megan's reaction was so sweet so thanks to Megan and all the Mortal Kombat people who trusted me.

3- When did you start illustrating and graphic design as a hobby, and what attracted you to it?

I started illustrating digitally at the same time that I opened my Instagram account, about 2 years ago. All as a hobby since I recently graduated from high school. What brought me to this world was seeing that there were more possibilities to make art separate from the traditional. Being a cinematographer and artist, the movie posters, the concept art, the effects, the color palettes, etc., caught my attention. So I started using Photoshop from scratch and no one ever taught me anything, it was learning curiosity and investigating each function. Over time I got some digital tablets and that improved my techniques

4- What made you realize art was what you wanted to do as your career?

I was always an artist so more less I always knew that I was going to end up doing something related to art. I am currently studying Graphic Design, they do not teach me things related to programs or Morphology. The market is updating every day so I think the university should do it too. But if I'm honest with you, it would really be a dream come true to be able to play Wiccan in the MCU, I have studied acting apart from design, I am the right age and I am physically perished to the actor Julian who played him in his child version and also in the version adult from comics. Besides being gay, I would love to be able to give an excellent representation in this world of superheroes.

5- What is your professional journey?

My professional career was always based on commissions and these collaborations like Mortal Kombat. My followers ask me to transform them into a character and I love it, it is a good way to get out of the ordinary. I was also in a design studio for a few months learning about machines and it was a good experience.

6- As an illustrator and graphic designer working online as well, do you find it easier to find jobs online or in person, for example via conventions?

In my case, I live in a relatively small city so in person I don't see it as a viable option. The internet has given me more possibilities by having a greater exposure and I am always open to job proposals either in Argentina or abroad. One platform that has served me a lot was LinkedIn and obviously Instagram.

7- What made you choose digital art over traditional art?

I think that what led me to choose digital was the fact of realism. As I told you, I really like posters and photography and being able to combine it with a design software like Photoshop that gives you infinite possibilities is a great advantage. But in the same way I always sketch some ideas before starting a design in photoshop.

8- I watched your videos on your YouTube channel where you transform an actual picture into posters or other versions of the characters. Can you tell us what motivates you to do that and keep improving?

What always motivates me is to continue creating everything I imagine and to be able to give life to projects or ideas that I have in my mind and I would like to see them realized. Also give my followers constant content. But whenever I have a good idea and it motivates me, I put all my attention on making it as perfect as possible. I always practice new techniques "off camera" so I can apply them later. I have to buy better equipment, I always wanted to be a youtuber and have my content, but I don't have to have time to edit. Also as I mentioned I do a lot of practice outside the camera but I would also like to do something more of the lifestyle channel or something like that but I am locked up a lot so I do not know. There are days that I want to do everything and other days I just want to be with myself. But I would really like to do it, really.

9- What does a typical day look like for you as an artist?

Well, as we are in a pandemic there is not much to do, but I live in a relatively small city so we have a little more freedom. I am studying my first year in a virtual way at the university. I do not like it very much since I miss meeting new people or going to campus, so now I take classes 3 times a week via webcam but that alone so the process is quite boring and slow. But since I have most of my free time, I like to draw sketches all day. It is always good to practice. I also play Valorant online, it is a game that I discovered in this pandemic and I love it so I always play. I live 5 minutes away from the Atlantic ocean so I always go by bike for some long walks, on the other side of the city is full of mountains so it is also good to go for a walk. I also take my time every day to respond to comments or messages and check my networks a bit.

10- What advice would you give artists to break into the art world?

Artists who are just starting out in the networks always ask me what advice I could give them, or how I learned, etc. I think the best I can tell you is not to be ashamed to upload your art, out there they think that it is not so good to publish it but not all of us are born learning so there is no need to be ashamed of anything. After consistency is something important, always be practicing to improve and in the long run you will see the results .. And finally, publish what you want, do not pigeonhole into a single topic because otherwise you will get bored quickly.

11- Do you have specific study methods to improve your skills?

I think not, basically I am drawing all day, perfecting anatomy, postures, expressions etc. As for photoshop, I'm always trying new techniques or seeing how I combine my images and bringing my ideas to life. I always keep in mind details like lights, color palettes. The key for me is consistency and daily practice. That's it.

12- What are your favorite learning resources?

I love Pinterest, there are many ideas out there. I took some online courses at Domestika but they were mostly to perfect little things. YouTube always has some advice to implement but I don't like to copy the tutorials exactly as I like to develop my style. My last design class was one given by the designer Gina DeDomenico, she is a conceptual artist and did work for "Titans" "Stargirl" "The Boys" among others

13- Has any book inspired you, or is there any book you found helpful, whether fiction or non-fiction?

I have always read a lot since I was a kid. My dad was always giving me books, some were "Pride and Prejudice" "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" "Martin Fierro" "The Little Prince" "To Kill a Mockingbird" among others. These books always gave me a lot of imagination and opened my mind. Then I started reading the comics and one of the ones I read recently and I liked a lot was "young avengers by gillen & mckelvie" the truth is that I loved that style of illustration too much, along with the colors and the characters so it is one of my marvel favorites.

14- What are your thoughts on the different types of art? Do you feel inspired by movies, tv shows, books, crafting…?

Yes, of course. I find a lot of inspiration in movies, series, music videos, comics, etc. I really like to experiment with textures or colors that I see for example in music videos. Doja Cat is one of the artists who puts the most style in her videos in terms of art, so I really like talking about her videos, for example. I really like "Avengers Assemble" , the animation I liked a lot when I saw it. I also like the simple sketches, I think that not everything has to be complex to be beautiful. I love crafting, I used to make bracelets when I was 14 I remember with some rubber bands in school.

15- Do you think an art type can feed the other art types and vice versa? How does this affect you?

I think so. For example, I'm a lot of sketching poses, faces, costumes all day, and then I like to use markers to finish that drawing. I do this many times before starting a piece in digital. Since I don't like doing sketches in digital so much, I got used to pencil and paper. So I am always combining these techniques in my creative process. I also took painting classes for 3 years and I really like it, so it helped me a lot with environments and painting techniques, some of them I apply in digital with some digital brushes, maybe for environment, clothes, skin texture, etc.

Valentin Romero

As a final word, I really hope you enjoyed this exclusive interview with this incredible and friendly artist. He was a joy to work with! If you'd like to be featured on my blog as an artist, please do reach me at catherinegv.writertranslator@gmail.com with an example and description of what you do! If you're not an artist in a "traditionally known way" (such as architects, and so on) but think it might count as art, I highly encourage you to contact me as well so we can discuss your idea! I think the more art types are known, the better we'll be for it.

Let's spread art, woohoo!

Thank you for being with me on this adventure, darlings, and see you next post!

A Horror Comic Anthology: Texas Horror

Blog Tours, Book Reviews, chit-chatting with Cat May 13, 2021 Leave a comment

Now, finally, another great comic book arrived.

Now, let me just…

Comic Book GIFs | Tenor

Yes, let me just read it please.

So, I was fortunate enough to get an insider's look at Texas Horror by David Doub and Halo Toons (writers), and several artists such as Dominic Racho (art), Daniel Chan (letters), Terry Parr (art), Diego Garza (art), and Miguel Ángel Hernández (art).

This comic anthology has everything: diversity, LGBTQA+, horror, gore, humour… Name it! The drawing styles are different from story to story, which renews your attention, and there's one you'll like for sure.

As we all know, the pandemic makes it hard on everyone. However, conventions are an important part of making a comic book for creators; they help sell copies, spread the word about them, and generally get the connections and funds required–but where are the conventions now?

Exactly, none (or very few) is happening lately. So, ingenious creators turned to crowdfunding. After all, the public gets to read those comics, so a little contribution to the artists and writers can go a long way. If you want (and can) to help publish Texas Horror, please visit their Kickstarter page and make a contribution to receive benefits such as a copy of the comic book upon release: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/demonsinthedarkness/texas-horror

Read below for my review of the insider's look I was offered.

Thank you for reading and helping, loves! Please share and boost as any help will be useful. 😉

The first story I decided to read was Demons in the Dark, written by David Doub, art by Dominic Racho, and letters by Daniel Chan.

I really enjoyed this story. It was dark, gruesome, poignant, and emotional. I understand what these kids are going through; been there, suffered that. There's a lot of diversity, whether in regards to ethnicity and sexuality! Kudos for that, champs! Also, I rather enjoyed the moral of the story, it was touching. A bit too on the nose, maybe. But the characters are right: Anger hurts yourself, not the others. Plus, I thought the comic was too short. That’s a compliment.

On the negative side, sometimes the story felt rushed or cramped… again, I’d have preferred it to be longer. But it’s because it was good! Lastly, the drawings are detailed but the characters are supposed to be teenagers… Honestly, I thought for a few pages they were adults, or teachers, and then I debated the fact. Until it was made clear by their playing cards at the cafeteria they were teenagers…

The second story was Mask it or Casket, written by David Doub and art by Miguel Ángel Hernández:

That one was… hilarious, honestly. The names and the cynical & weirdo humour are perfect! I laughed a lot in the preview. But this comic can also be poignant as there’s a difficult family situation in the story, and the topic is about “masking”, something that is very current. Also, the drawings are both cute and pop with colours. They seem “light”, if drawings can have weight… it’s like you could cut them out and move them around like paper toys. That nice! They remind me of the latest Archie Comics, the newest issues. A different style, but that’s the vibe I get from this story. Finally, the horror looks to be ramped up… dangerous. Awesome!

The third story was Aerobicide Blockbuster, written by David Doub and art by Terry Parr:

The most beautiful and colourful of the stories! It’s so bright it pops, and I love the matte effect of the main character, blue-haired Sheri Ken (nice name there…, like a Shuriken!) This story was undoubtedly SO WEIRD, so upside down, with hints and allusions to old horror movies! So confusing, but so funny, and entertaining. I loved the nods to the classics, seriously! Honestly, I want to read the rest! Trust me, you’ll be surprised, too.

As for the other comics, the drawings look gorgeous to me, and they’re quite detailed (End World Escape, Luna Vino) and very cute (Kitchen Witches)! The stories sound very intriguing, and I wish the creators the best to publish Texas Horror Comic with YOUR help through their crowdfunding campaign.

Don’t forget to support them here to get a copy and bonuses: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/demonsinthedarkness/texas-horror

Please share this post, and talk about it on social media. Every bit helps!

Thank you, loves.

I hope this comic entertains you as much as it did me.

Love,

Catherine

Oblivion Song: A Book Review

Book Reviews February 23, 2020 Leave a comment

Image Comics Web Site

By Kirkman & De Felici, Volume 1

Genre: Science-fiction, Fantasy, Adventure

Pages: 144

ISBN: 9781534306424

Format: Paperback, Kindle

Publication date: September 18, 2018

Publisher: Image Comics

Type: Comics, Graphic Novel

Issue(s): 1-6

*I received a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. No compensation has been given and I write this book review willingly. A big thanks to dear Edelweiss+ and Image Comics!*

Introduction:

I’ve got to be honest here: the cover art drew me in with its darkness, beautiful colours, and mirror effect. Then, the blurb did it for me. I can never resist a story about parallel dimension, even less comics about that topic! I was thrilled when they granted my request to review this graphic novel. And I was even happier with how good this book is!

Let’s explore it together!

The Blurb:

Ten years ago, half of the city was crushed and has been lost in Oblivion, a parallel dimension invaded by monsters. There are those who can do the “transference” and travel to the parallel city. Nathan Cole, along with a small team, goes into the other dimension to rescue people stuck there since the tragedy occurred. They will have to fend their way through a city covered in slime and weird plants while fighting against a group of survivors.

Positive Sides:

Let’s jump right into what’s obvious to the eye: the colour palette used what with its beautiful colours with gradients is lovely. And even though the drawing style takes a while to get used to… it’s similar to the first comics in a few aspects. Yes, I’m talking about dear old Batman in the ’60s and such. With a modern spin, of course.

The characters are another thing that is definitely worth discussing. The realism of the relationships between the characters and how we’d all react may it be from a societal to personal POV is SO well depicted! But that’s not all: there is a lot of diversity in this book! Nathan’s girlfriend, Heather, is black and also looks Latina (it’s not clear, but she’s a POC), Duncan’s wife is Asian and Duncan himself is black! This is really cool and inclusive. Speaking of which, I found the book to be inclusive on another level: on body shapes. Now, hang on, there’s a squared and muscular woman dating a slender man. That is rarely seen in stories, and even less in comics. Love, love all this diversity and realism!

But what about the story itself? I must admit it is quite intriguing. And it starts right into the action! I’m a fan of such beginnings. We also encounter a few fun surprises along the way… before the mega ending of WHOA SURPRISE UPON SURPRISE! I adored it, really! Also, please note that the story and details we’re looking for during the reading, well, are NOT supposed to make sense… at all… Why? Because our questions are inherently linked to the plot ending. There’s a reason why if you stick with it and while a bit uncomfortable at first, it’s genius in the end! Moreover, EVERYTHING is linked! I mean it, when I look back and think about it, all the details matter. Amazing!

Negative Sides:

The only negative point is how the story is a bit too vague for a long while, which confuses us until we get about half into it or so.

In Conclusion:

I recommend this book whole-heartedly! It might have a slightly annoying negative side, but the whole story is engrossing, unique, and the drawings are beautiful. It offers us many positive points such as diversity, vibrant colours and surprises! For all these reasons, I give Oblivion Song a rating of 5 out of 5! This graphic novel is too good not to give it a perfect score.

If you want to learn more about the Robert Kirkman, you can visit his page on Image Comics, you can also follow him on Twitter and Goodreads. If you want to learn more about Lorenzo De Felici, you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. You can visit their publisher, Image Comics. You can also add Oblivion Song to your bookshelves on Goodreads and LibraryThing.