Beginning Digital Art In School Days -- Interview With singajelly

How to begin your art tour when you are a student? How to balance the interest and study？What is the impact of this on future career？ Let's welcome @singajelly -- a young student and promising digital painter. Learn how she handles interest and achieves success.

1. Can you do a short introduction about yourself and your art journey?

I always loved to doodle as a kid. When I was 12/13, I discovered art communities on Tumblr and Tapastic, which led me to buy a small tablet. This is what really started my art journey as I practiced digital art and went through different phases in my art style.

2. What inspires you to draw at the beginning? Who has most influenced you?

A Tumblr user named @/ttoba was the reason I got a tablet and started drawing. I was a huge fan of her fanart and I wanted to make a fanart of characters I liked just like she did, which made me start digital art.

3. What factors contributed to your artistic style?

Definitely browsing through other artists’ artworks and observing how their style worked.

4. How long did you practice drawing every day? We have learned that you're still at school. How do you balance study and drawing in usual?

Usually, I use any free time I have to draw, which fluctuates from week to week. So, if I have very little free time for one week, I can’t make a very ambitious piece. I would say I balance it the best I can, by trying to do both schoolwork and artwork as efficiently as possible.

5. Will you consider to be a full-time artist in the future?

It’s certainly a dream, though I think I’ll most likely do art on the side and just see where it goes.

6. The color scheme of your work is amazing. Where did you get inspiration? Any suggestions to avoid color-matching mistakes?

Haha, thank you! I usually get color inspiration from either other people’s artwork or from aesthetic images I find on Pinterest or Instagram. I also fine-tune my color schemes by using overlay/multiply layers.

7. All your works come with fabulous detail and contrast. Anything we need to pay attention to when drawing details and lighting?

It’s always important to sketch the general idea first, then add in the details. If you try to sketch the general idea and the details in the first sketch, it’s going to take a lot longer and the details won’t look as fine. As for the lighting, I think it’s important to have a strong color contrast between the light color & shadow color.

8. Have you followed any art trends in 2020? Any plan for your creation in this year?

Not really; this year I plan on making bigger, more ambitious, and detailed pieces to push my abilities as an artist.

9. During the epidemic, many artists stay at home and do their own part to fight coronavirus. How do you keep creative during isolation?

I look through Pinterest and think about things that I really like. For example, right now I’m a bit obsessed with Cottagecore aesthetic and animal crossing, so that has been influencing my art lately.

10. Finally, can you give some advice to traditional artists who want to try the digital drawing?

Get a cheap tablet, whichever brand or the size won’t really matter since you have to practice and get used to drawing on a tablet first. Digital art isn’t easy and takes a lot of practice in the beginning, so don’t give up if you don’t make something perfect on the first try!