ART INTERVIEW
Got my friend to interview me as if I was a famous up-and-coming artist; this is less of a transcript and more of a dramatic retelling with musical number. Enjoy.
"So, Ms. Cnaaawd, can you begin by telling me where you first started your art journey?"
- Why, of course Mr. Interviewer! My art journey begun when I was pried from the fleshy cavern of my mothers womb, coated in gore and viscera, brought bleeding unto the world with screaming fanfare and heavy anaesthesia. Ever since I was little I've loved drawing, and the oldest piece of my own art I have is from 2013 (I think), a family portrait of me, my sister, my mother and father, and our two cats at the time. It's on a piece of A4 so creased it could pass as a treasure map, inked in felt-tip coloured markers. I was a mere eight-years-old, and even then I remember enjoying drawing thoroughly - it only got worse from thereon out.
"Haha, hilarious. What about when you first began to call yourself an artist?"
- I don't think there was actually a singular moment when I decided I was an artist, it just grew inside me until the descriptor became a part of me; as I've said before, you couldn't remove all of the artist from me without being left with naught but a puddle of blood on the floor. If I had to put a time frame on it, it would be when I started consistently posting what I drew online, on my first instagram account. The account is still up, it's under the username 'keroclownplushii' now, and if you scroll down far enough you'll see the first shit I deemed worthy enough to publicise.
"Wow! I'll be checking that out for sure. A good tool for embarassing you I assume!"
- Oh, definitely; there are still some pieces on there I'm proud of making, but it's all shite compared to the stuff I make nowadays.
"What's your creative process for making art nowadays? I hear you do it oddly."
- Kind of oddly, maybe? My creative process once I've got an idea in mind - for my digital art, anyways - is to slowly sketch/clean/line the subject, then I'll colour by eye. The way I do lineart is merged together with the sketching process by heavy aide of the eraser tool, I could have an entirely finished lined head and then I'm sketching a body to attach to it. I'll sketch a section, erase any stray lines and fill in any gaps, and that'll be my lineart. I'm very confident in my strokes - it's why I love using ballpoint pens! But digital art really allows me freedom with the colours I want to use, which are usually a mixture of muted greys and saturated highlight colours that you just can't achieve with other mediums I like, like watercolour or office stationery.
"Oh I could never, I gotta have my outline done before I can think of lineart. You said, 'once I've got an idea,' could you tell me where your ideas come from?"
- My ideas come from anywhere and everywhere. I like to keep an inspiring environment of my space, constantly adding junk to the walls or decorating or what have you. I keep a notebook on my person at most all times I leave the house so I have something to keep my mind busy and thoughts active. Not to mention I follow artists I like closely, and keep a pinterest account active on the daily without ever leaving a single comment or reaction - it's all inspo baby. I could win an award for viewing images.
"Do you have a favourite artist?"
- Other than myself?
"A favourite, actual artist."
- Harsh, ouch. I'd have to give two answers; as much as all art is equally relevant and valid as art, there's definitely a difference between the guy with a Wikipedia page and oomfie. My favourite Wikipedia artist is David Firth, even though he's most wellknown for his animations (I am the biggest Salad Fingers fan) I actually have a print of his painting 'Insex' framed on my wall. I feel like if I were born a cis male, he is what I'd have grown into instead of the transexual man I am today. My favourite oomfie artist, who is actually one-of-my-followers as well, is @Dogmageddon. Wolfie's unique approach to the furry fandom caught me locked in it's jaws and I've been a fan since halfway through college, where I actually did an interview with Wolfie for a project in class. I hope it was more flattering than creepy.
"Sounds very creepy. Following on from your response, what do you feel defines 'success' as an artist? Is it a Wikipedia page?"
- No, it's not a Wikipedia page. I think success in art can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people, and really only you yourself can say when you've 'made it,' so to speak. For me, success will be when I'm totally happy with everything I'm making, and I'm satisfied with how much recognition my art is getting. Maybe that's noncommital or too vague, but I won't really know until I feel it, you know? I felt successful when KnowYourMeme used my art as a thumbnail for one of their YouTube videos, I feel success whenever a post of mine gets a few more likes than usual. When I am truly happy with everything I'm making, for whatever reason it makes me happy, that's when I will be truly successful. Not when I hit a follower milestone or get a bunch of commissions. When I'm happy.
"Aww, what a gay response; concerned with your followers, what do you want them to feel when experiencing your art?"
- Contempt. Confusion. Disgust? I want people to wonder what goes on inside my head to create such weird pictures, to say such odd things. My visual art is full of houseflies and human fetuses and zombies and viscera and all that yucky stuff, and my literary art is similar with it's dark and depressing and taboo themes. Whenever I view art like this, like the art of David Firth or Lynch or John Waters or Augusten Burroughs or the variety of dead-dove artists I follow, I feel the opposite. I enjoy the art, I appreciate the statement it makes, the point it bares, the offence it causes. I hope that within the contempt and confusion occuring within the crowd that experiences my work, there is curiousity and appreciation blooming for the ugly and the mundane.
"Oh, your tag-line! 'Worshipper of the ugly and the mundane,' what does that mean, exactly?"
- Does it not make itself perfectly clear? I worship ugly things and mundane things; fetuses and zombies and houseflies and negative emotion. The first bits, 'esoteric and kafkaesque' are because I'm only enjoyed by a small number of people and sometimes I can't do my job because I'm a big fucking beetle.
"Okay, I'm finished now. What are your final words for the readers?"
- Make money, live scummy, and be happy!