Featured Artist: Retkikosmos
1) Where are you from? I was born, raised, studied and now work as a full time graphic designer in sunny Southern California!
2) How would you best describe your art style? I'm still in the process of finding my true art style as I dabble in quite a few different mediums: Traditional marker art, watercolor painting, digital painting, digital vector art. All in all I would say my work is bright and bold, I like loud neon colors, lots of sparkles, sometimes cute and sometimes dark, I love contrasting themes too.
3) Where do you find your inspiration when creating your art? In general a lot of my inspiration comes from animation, fashion, poster art, graffiti art, tattoo art, history, legends/mythology, paranormal subjects, oddities and of course nature and wildlife.
4) When did you know you wanted to make a career in the art world? I sort of knew since I was very young, like many other artist, I never grew out of my passion for drawing. but I made a decision to commit myself to making art my career when I had an art teacher that inspired me my first year of high school. I made it a goal to go to a design college and the rest is history!
6) What does a day of creating artwork look like for you and how to you start your creative process? When I do my personal works, my work process is spontaneous and scattered, but I make a point to work on my own projects every day. I'll start with some coffee, play an anime or a podcast in the background, and get to drawing. Looking forward to the finished product motivates me to draw!
7) When you're not creating, what do you like to do with your time? When I'm not creating I like to spend time with my two wonderful dogs. Watch anime, a scary movie or crime documentary, and look through my collection of art books.
8) What artist (either current or past) do you most admire and why? Too many to list! if I had to pick one, it'd be tattoo artist Daryl Watson, I adore his vibrant colors and the way he draws animals and insects in beautiful compositions.
9) What's the best advice that's been given to you as an artist? To not be too hard on myself because anyone who does not have any artistic talent will be impressed by what you do!
You can check out all of Retkikosmos' designs here.
