How did you become an artist?

During my teenage years I still didn't see a future in art because I had never met anyone who worked professionally as an artist around me, but I still greatly enjoyed art and wanted to keep improving, so I began coming across this almost-magical art-improving thing called ✨the fundamentals✨ (aka: sitting your butt down and STUDYING, and PRACTICING the basics), so that's what I decided to do on a daily basis. I'd scan my drawings with a photocopier and post them online here and there, but I wasn't too bothered with that, my focus was on getting better, and looking back at my old work as I kept practicing was very motivating.

I graduated from school, started a science career in university and around the same time I got myself a little screen-less drawing tablet. That's when I unlocked an entirely new realm of possibilities with my art, and began getting commissions here and there. I started being invited to local conventions and such, while I was balancing my university life, so art was still strictly a hobby. "Art is not a serious career, if I tried to be an artist I'd live under a bridge" I thought. However, a few years into my career, something changed: the pandemic happened, I slowly started to become disillusioned with my career choices, and my commissions and social media were doing so well that I could already completely sustain myself. I had to decline incredible job opportunities because I didn't have time, I was too busy studying things I didn't care for and preparing for a career I wasn't going to enjoy, let alone love as much as I loved drawing and painting. Art was where my heart was at, and I had started to see that I COULD actually live doing what I loved. The seed of doubt was deeply planted into my head, perhaps there was another way after all. 

The pandemic settled down, things went back to normality, but my spirit was still in turmoil about my future. I kept delaying the inevitable. One day (and many mental crises later) I made the difficult and very intimidating choice to drop out of university and pursue art as a full-time career, which has led me to work as an illustrator in books, comic books, card games and even Fortnite. The rest is history (still in the making!).

Where do you get inspiration?

I never focused on crafting a style for myself,  it just sort of happened very gradually as I picked up more and more little quirks I liked from my favorite artists and from my own experimentation, and whatever felt comfortable at the moment.

What’s your hardware setup?

Windows 11 desktop computer, a Huion Kamvas 16 (2021) and a comfort Totodile plushie.

Before my Huion, I also owned an XP-Pen Deco Pro M, and a Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch Small before that. I'm perfectly fine with all of the mentioned tablets, and I still use my Deco Pro whenever I travel to visit my family and can't carry my entire desktop setup and huge Huion tablet to work there.

What do you like best about Clip Studio Paint?

So many things! It's super customizable, which means that if you come from another software you can make CSP behave and even look almost exactly the same. But even above that, I think my favorite thing about it is the asset store. The community has worked magic on this software, and the amount of cool brushes, patterns, presets and tools in general is astounding (oh, Magic Fill my beloved!). It's also very useful to have an in-program storefront where you can find all those tools made by the community, instead of having to search online endlessly to hopefully find a brush that does what you're looking for.

I'd also like to mention the time lapse feature, I don't usually record speed paints, but the few times I have, that feature has been very useful to me.

How long does it take you to make a single illustration?

My biggest and most detailed commissions can take up an entire month of my life, sometimes even a bit more, especially if I'm working on other things in between. Anywhere from 45-50 hours to 80+ hours in total, according to some calculations I've made when making previous pieces.

As for smaller, messier artworks made for silly fun or for myself, I usually spend 1 or at most 2 days on them.

How has Clip Studio Paint improved your workflow?

Like I mentioned above, I don't have to Google endlessly for specific assets or textures anymore, the assets store lets me find them very easily. Here, I'll spoil you a little secret: if you see stars in the background of one of my paintings, 99% of the time they're from some star brushes I found on the assets store.

Would you like to promote some recent project?

I would like to promote my prints, if that's allowed! You can find my prints on my INPRNT store and I also have a Threadless store for shirts, mugs and other miscellaneous products. Sometimes, commissions aren't enough to get through a month's worth of bills, and print sales can end up being the extra little bump I need to survive until next month! It goes a long way to support my work and allows me to keep doing what I love the most <3

Where can we follow your work?