Tell us a little about yourself? (Where you're from, where you live, where you work, etc)
I'm a hobbyist graphic designer and editor from Romania, and currently live in Canada. I'm still a college student, but work part-time at an auto shop.
How and when did you start getting into Dragonball Z and Sonic art?
I've been drawing Sonic for as long as I could hold a pencil. Heck, there was a period of time when the only thing I drew was Sonic. That was around 2008 to 2011. After a while, I decided I wanted to draw more advanced things so I began practicing drawing anime, especially Dragon Ball, which was a favorite of mine since early childhood. After getting comfortable with the paper and pen, I decided to take it a step further and try doing things digitally. So for the past 6 years, I've been doing all kinds of digital art and designing, and just experimenting and learning as I go. And here we are now.
What inspires you?
Seeking a feeling. When it comes to my work, I always try to make it give the observer a feeling. Most of the time, it's a feeling of nostalgic comfort. It could be a feeling of joy or excitement. When it comes down to it, I just try to make myself feel something through what I create. The way I see it, if I will feel something, there's bound to be someone out there who will feel the same way. Most of the time, my inspiration comes from seeing the art of others and try to recreate it with my own spin, then doing that over and over again until it evolves into something completely different and original.
What is your process of creating your work?
I often have no ideas if I just want to make something. I'll sit at the computer and try a hundred ideas, and nothing will feel right. Then, while I'm browsing the internet aimlessly, I'll see something which gives me an idea. I try to create the idea I have, and then I'll have a new a better version of the idea until I get to the final product. That's how it goes most of the time, but I generally start with nothing and magically end up with something. Funny how that works.
How did you learn to do graphic design?
When I was a sophomore in high school, I took a "media arts" course. In it, we learned to mess around with a lot of Adobe programs like Illustrator, Photoshop and After Effects. I was a pretty quick learner when it came to Photoshop and was really impressed by its capabilities. When I got home, I bought a copy of Photoshop CS6 and began making abstract wallpapers and designs. After a while, I tried to incorporate that into my drawings and began making digital art. When I graduated high school, I took a 2 year graphical design program. I didn't learn much that I didn't know before when it came to using Photoshop, Illustrator and other such programs, but I learned a few techniques that have helped me a lot in the long run.
What artists do you follow?
On Instagram, there's a few artists I enjoy:
- @dragon.ball77 makes a lot of creative edits with Dragon Ball characters. Really, really aesthetically pleasing stuff. Always looking forward to his posts.
- @gxkuh also makes some fantastic Dragon Ball edits. There's a lot of creativity behind his work and he's always inspired me to try new things with my design.
- @itsbirdy does a ton of cool artworks, especially Pokemon and 90s anime. It's amazing what he's able to do with pencil crayons and how he takes it to the next level when he does things digitally. Always a blessing seeing his content on my feed.
- @jongoart is a freelance artist with a lot of love for 80s and 90s anime, and has a very distinct art style. Really love his coloring techniques as well.
On Tumblr, I follow @odioart, who has given me a ton of inspiration with my designs and edits when I was burned out. He has a ton of cool content.
Do you have any other hobbies you love?
I really like cars, and driving. I've wanted to be a race car driver since I was young. However, since that never came to be, I just enjoy night time cruises with my friends and listening to music. I of course also like playing video games and watching anime. As of recently, I've really been enjoying watching JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Yu-Gi-Oh. Every Friday night, I have some friends come over. We order pizza and just fire up the SNES and N64 and have a night of fun. It usually is the highlight of my week.
If you could live in any year, what year would you choose and why?
I would love to go back to 1998 and buy Ocarina of Time at launch and play it all over again.
