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Could you briefly explain your background in art and around 9-10 hours total. It was featured in AWHU design? #263 and since has been my favorite piece to-date. I was really into art ever since I was a child - I scribbled on anything and everything I could get my hands on. When it came time to pick a career path, I knew it was absolutely the calling for me. I graduated from my university’s animation program this past spring and am currently working freelance.
What is something you wish you knew when you started out as an artist?
Digital, definitely. Growing up, traditional mediums were always a hassle for me to set up and work with, especially since I was constantly moving around and being busy. Having just a computer and tablet, plus a plethora of programs and brushes that mimicked traditional mediums, was the way to go for me.
Favourite person/thing to draw?
It isn’t always going to be easy. There are going to be times where you just seem to burn out for no reason. There are going to be moments of frustration, moments where you ask yourself “why?” and Any websites you go to for inspiration? moments where you get scared about the future. But there are also moments where these feelings of Tumblr and Twitter. I find stuff on there every day doubt and insecurity pass, where opportunities rise that puts fire in my belly. and solutions are found. You have to hold out for these moments and never, ever give up, no matter Favourite art medium to use? Digital? Watercolour? how tempting giving up may be.
Talk us through the process of this piece. The Rise of Mad King Ryan started out as a solution to the “my dog ate my Extra Life Stream” poster problem I had. I knew I wanted to include every current member of Achievement Hunter on it as I possibly could - so I developed a rough thumbnail and got a layout I wanted. Then, i went back over that layer and added a bit more detail - shaping out faces, bodies, and expressions. It makes things easier for the next step, which is inking (exactly what it sounds like, and probably the most tedious step). After inking the whole thing, I make a new layer underneath the line layer and add flat colors to the picture - I figure out the mood of the piece and choose my colors from there. For Mad King Ryan, it was dark but still rather comic-book-like, so reds and faded greens did the job. Once the color was established, I went back in and created the highlights and shading, added in more detail, a little bit of special effects, and finally, the comic-book text overlay. It was done over 6 streams, at a total of
I love drawing cartoons - so caricatures of the AH guys, especially of shenanigans that happen during their videos - are definitely my favorite thing. Gavin’s elastic body language, Ryan’s expressions, Michael’s rage. I love it capturing it all. Favourite artist outside the RT community and why? Kienan Lafferty. If you play League of Legends or read the online comic Emma, you know him. And if not, you definitely should look out for him. His linework and textures are amazing, and he’s a huge inspiration to anyone who has been self-taught. Favourite artist inside the RT community and why? It’s nearly imposs i bl e for m e to pinpoint a specific artist who is my favorite inside the community since it is because of the community I’ve come to know and love so many. Is it fair to say all of them?
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Could you briefly explain your background in art and fire and explosions and gnarly zebra print trousers design? until I was left with what we have now. I also tweeted pretty much every stage of the development. Sorry, I don’t really have a cool origin story. Eleven year Twitter followers. (I’m not sorry at all). old Kel spent a lot of her time drawing Naruto and Pokémon fanart, so I probably have Bulbasaur and What’s your favourite show in the Rooster Teeth Kakashi Hatake to thank for a lot. network? How did the idea for this piece come about?
My “Rooster Teeth” phase calmed down back in the beginning of 2014, and now the only thing I really meddle with is Funhaus. I think my favourite show would have to be Demo Disk, because it’s what really sealed the deal and got me watching Funhaus videos as much and as often as I do currently. The infamous Scrobbes incident can take the brunt of the blame for that, I think.
The idea for the Sex Swing fanart came to mind because I’d just started watching Funhaus videos and I KNEW that, between commissions and school work, I had NO time to work on something personal. So, of course, I set everything aside to work on something personal. I think I probably missed a couple of deadlines because of that, but it was worth it, right? Favourite artist outside the RT community and why? ...Right?!
Favourite artist outside of the community would probably have to go to the aforementioned Garama, What artists do you take inspiration from? or tumblr user Mothle. Both use colours in ways that absolutely boggle me, and both make my day I’m massively (and probably rather obviously) with every update. inspired by tumblr user Garama, tumblr user Boaillustrationart, and tumblr user Epsee. Good Favourite artist inside the RT community and why? stuff!! Inside? I probably could only answer this by listing Talk us through the process of this piece. off a bunch of the new friends I’ve made in the community! Twitter users Forsakenvow and Sharkttails It started, as many of my endeavours do, now, with a are both endlessly wonderful and talented, and of Kovic. I’d drawn a very pretty Kovic, and from there course Spectremarvel never fails to impress, either. it just grew and grew and grew. I kind of let the piece It’s hard to pick a favourite because the community design itself, and what I got in the end looked noth- is so tight-knit, and everybody’s so damn lovely. It’s ing like the thumbnails I’d drafted beforehand. With awesome!! Warms my gay lil heart. the pretty Kovic as the centre piece, I grounded him with the other guys and just built upon it, adding
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Could you briefly explain your background in art and photo with a few tweaks and touches. But come on, design? his photos of Geoff are far superior than my own for obvious reasons. I’m a Product Designer by trade, my nine to five I spent 3D modelling and designing plastic com- I created a template sampling the colours from the ponents. Whilst I was at uni I learnt how to use ‘Obama Hope’ poster, I put the photo through a Photoshop and Illustrator and although they don’t number of filters and light adjustments, then I used really apply to what I do in my current job, I like to the resulting image to mask the respective layers. keep my skills up to scratch. I’ve worked on a pro- Thus giving me the base for the image. jects recently and found a good fit creating a few pages for BIGBITE magazine each month. I then very tediously went though and tidied all the edges up, and added the text to the bottom. The How did the idea for this piece come about? whole process probably took 10 hours on and off. I think we can agree that the ‘Obama Hope’ poster What websites do you visit for inspiration? is a good example of iconic graphic design for this generation. This piece as a parody of that design Google with an Achievement Hunter twist. It started, as with most of my projects, with me saying “Hey, that Favourite artist outside the RT community and why? doesn’t seem too hard, right?” Picasso is an artist right? What artists do you take inspiration from? Favourite artist inside the RT community and why? Umm... All of them... none of them... I don’t really follow specific artists. If I see something I like, I save This is a seriously hard question, I’ll be a hypocrite it or photograph it and when I’m looking for inspi- here, but I do follow a lot of artists in the RT comration I flick back through them. Otherwise I just munity. If I’m forced to choose between them I’d try and think about what i’d like to see in the piece have to say: LostInSweden or how best to display the information, then I make a choice as to what to do. Sofia makes really awesome images and GIF’s, her characters are always full of expression and emoTalk us through the process of this piece. tion, but mostly she makes me laugh. She can take a simple moment in a Let’s Play and add context to I’m a cheat and a fraud, but damn it I get results! make it truly entertaining!! (Also super nice, I meet I’m no illustrator, I see people with infinitely more her at RTX) talent than myself and wonder how they do it. The simple fact is if you are good with Photoshop then If you haven’t seen her work you should check out you don’t have to be. her page on the RT site, I highly recommend it! This piece is based on a photo by Jon Risinger (Credit where is is due), I say based on, it is that
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Could you briefly explain your background in art and the process since I almost always end up changing design? one thing, then another 10 things, then another 20 until it starts to look a bit more polished (I can get Probably the same story for any person who’s pretty indecisive). Colouring is my favourite part interested in art really-I’ve always loved drawing, by far, and basically involves filling everything with creating, making up stuff, all that jazz, and have block colours, then continually adding more and been doing it for as long as I can remember. In dig- more lower opacity colours to achieve the desired ital art, I’m essentially self taught and just figure it shading/lighting. Every time I work digitally, I try out as I go but I recently started going to art school different things but colouring is usually just layers for painting and am graduating with a visual arts and layers until I’m happy with the overall palette degree at the end of 2016! and “feel” of it all, as wishy washy as that sounds! How did the idea for this piece come about? I wanted to create something that celebrated Ray and some of the classic things he is connected to/ loves himself (from my knowledge anyway), as my own send off for him when he left RT. I wanted to make something that recognised the jokes, games, and characters from his time with AH, whilst still showing my excitement for his transition to a streaming career, and space is always a fun environment to illustrate so I decided to turn the whole thing into a kind of interplanetary journey. I think I just really wanted to draw Ray riding a giant xbox controller though, let’s be honest. What artists do you take inspiration from?
Any tips for artists just starting out? What do you wish you knew from the start? Don’t stress too much about your equipment/materials-seriously. If you’re committed to making art and creating things, you’re already on the right track. Getting all the fancy stuff that every “successful” artist seems to have is not a priority-getting comfortable with your own style and building your basic skills (anatomy, colour theory, program features if you’re working digital, etc) will be hugely more helpful. Also, I know everyone says to just keep making stuff/don’t break the chain and all that, but I wish I knew from the start that sometimes having a break and not making stuff can be really beneficial too. It’s absolutely possible to burn out, to lose track of what you actually want to be doing. It’s okay to take some time away from constantly making stuff, to focus on something else, or even just a different project, if you’re getting stressed. It can really help you and your work feel more focused and refreshed, which is never a bad thing.
Oh man, I find it really hard to narrow it down to specific artists because I feel like I’m constantly seeing new ones to add to my list. In general I think highly of any artists with their own really strong style/identity, who are clever with their colours. Those are the things I always notice first anyway. I really admire artists who can perservere and con- Favourite artist outside the RT community and why? tinue creating in spite of failures as well, that’s a truly invaluable asset. These kinds of questions are so difficult to answer! But I’ll try my best. At the moment I’m kind of Talk us through the process of this piece. infatuated with Ernst Haeckel, who was a biologist and illustrator. I love the way he fit everything into Pretty standard-whip up some small sketches/ a singular space and the clarity of the details in each thumbnail type concepts, choose one to run with, species he chose to represent. I would love to have a sketch that up with a bit more detail and finalise similar mastery of compositional balance one day. the composition (or try to, anyway). Then it’s onto the line work, which is usually the longest part of
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