1. Let's begin with telling a little about yourself.

I'm born on May 12, 1989, and living in Meerbusch (located at the Lower Rhine), Germany. Since from the very beginning I've drawn and doodled all the time, and I'm still doing it.
There are no artists in my family except for my grandfather who is a hobby watercolorist, and he was one of my first influences.
I remember wanting being able to paint like him.
Now, thanks to the Internet, I have found so many more artists and influences - it was a true eye-opener.
In 2003, I started painting digitally, but at the same time I'm also working to develop my skills in painting with traditional media, especially oils.
 
2. How do you go about creating your pieces; what is your general creative formula?

When painting digitally, I always start with a colored canvas.
The color of the canvas will be one that dominates the picture's color scheme or contrasts with it (both can yield nice results).
On that colored canvas, I make a sketch of everything - mostly a small concept sketch, no wider than 500 pixels.
In that concept sketch, I test my idea, I want to see if it actually works - composition, light, shadow, color, everything has to be there because this determinates the picture's final outcome.
Just very roughly sketched in, as soon as I feel it's working, I make a quite exact line drawing on a bigger canvas (about 2000-3000 pixels wide) of the same color.
The line drawing is done partly from reference photos and partly freehand; I try to get proportions and anatomy as correct as possible.
On a new layer, I block in all colors, light and shadow. Here in this very early sketchy stage I already determine all light and shadow and color composition.
Now everything is merely refining, correcting and detailing.
Folds in clothing, facial details, the background, clothes patterns... everything is worked out.
Gradients are made more smooth, harsh edges of sketched-in shadows are broken up and dissolved where necessary.
Touches of colors are added whereever they can enhance another color (especially when it comes to skintones).
Anatomy and proportion errors are corrected, I often repaint some parts, big or small, when I think they don't work the way they should.


3. Whom and/or what do you find inspiration from?

That is really a lot of things... I find a lot of my inspiration from poems and literature.
It can be everything, a modern song by a rock band, or an old medieval poem.
I love the sound and composition of words; I have books with poems that I read again and again.
Among my favorite poets are William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, the German expressionist poets, and Andreas Gryphius. Interesting stories inspire me to illustrate them, such as the ballad of Lenore , or the legend about how Salome died.
Numbers of years (such as 1862) have a strange sound to me that makes me want to "paint them".
I'm also inspired by the atmosphere of towns - I love being in the centers of big, old cities, they are breathing so much life and history.
And I'm also influenced by many other artists, mainly European baroque and renaissance painters.

4. On the subject of your artistic style, who influenced you to start and who influences you today?

When I was young, I copied from my favorite comics from time to time.
At age 12/13, I was a huge fan of Dragon Ball and Harry Potter, and drew a lot of fanart of both.
At that age, I even set up the goal to be an artist as good as my idol Akira Toriyama (mangaka of Dragon Ball) within a year... haha :) Of course that didn't work, but soon I had found other influences.
At 14, I started making drawings from reproductions and originals of old master paintings. Around that time, I also studied the work of Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Raphael to an extent that I can't stand it anymore now (even though I think they were great artists).
From 2003 onwards, I've read so many art history books and made so many drawings after old masters that I was getting tired of the same artists and artworks, but thanks to the Internet I discovered amazing painters I'd never heard of before - such as Leighton, Mucha, Bouguereau, Millais, and many others. I have so many favorites now that it'd be hard to name just a few, and here they are: J. M. William Turner for his use of color in his late works, Delacroix, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Corregio, Millais, Sargent, Poussin and Caravaggio. I also love contemporary artwork like the paintings of Kinuko Y. Craft and Hongnian Zhang.
Digital painters whose work I love, are Jean Tay, Camille Kuo, Linda Bergkvist, Henna Hassinen and so many more... Can't possibly name them all.

5. Besides creating this beautifal art, have you any other Interests/hobbies ?

My hobby is writing novels.
I want to make them as good and entertaining as possible, like what is being sold on the market today.
(I love reading books) I'm far away from  getting published, but so far I haven't even tried, because it's just a hobby, and I really enjoy it.
If art weren't my higher priority, I'd probably be a writer.
So far I've finished one novel set in Florence and Rome in 1494.
My current story is set in the Ottoman Empire in the 1480's; I'm fascinated by culture back then, and by the personality of Mehmet Sultan and the rivalry between his sons, and doing research about all of this is really interesting.
In short: I'm writing the novel I've always wanted to read.
I also enjoy learning languages like Japanese, just for the sheer fun of it. You could call me a language geek. Hm, and I'm an offical yaoi fantard for 5 years now.

6. What are your tools/programs of choice?

For digital paintings, I use mostly Photoshop 7 or Painter IX, with my Aiptek tablet. When working traditionally, I prefer oils on canvas, or colored inks on paper. Watercolors are nice too :)

7. What tips could you give to aspiring artists, traditional and digital alike?

Do whatever you have to do to become really good at what you do. Keep drawing and you will improve.
It sounds cliché, but be honest to yourself: paint what you love and want to paint. And sign up for a life drawing class, it works wonders :)

8. What websites do you frequently visit?


I frequently visit Animexx.de, Deviantart and Pixelbrush.net, but I also spend a lot of time reading on the forums of Conceptart, CGtalk and Wetcanvas, or looking at paintings at the Artrenewal website.

( Don't forget us ! )

9. What are your plans for the future?

I'm on my way to become a freelance illustrator (for fantasy/fairytale books maybe), but I'll start attending art academy in 2008. I want to learn traditional painting the traditional way, and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp seems like a good place for this... Anyways, I have a lot of plans, and the first is to become better at painting.

10. Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions Kristina, we wish you nothing but success in your future.

Take care,
Kristina