^kuschelirmel


Full Name: Jasmin
Age:24
Residence: Karlsruhe/Germany
Art education:I read tons of tutorials online (always have, always will)
Current profession:student of process engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Website:kuschelirmel.de (German only, sorry)
Ever been interviewed before?No, this is the first
What do you admire in an artist's work/behaviour//What you dislike in an artist's work/behaviour? I like it when an artist is diverse in his work - but when someone changes his or her opinions like others change their underwear, I dislike it Also, I don't like it when I see someone's talent go to waste: for me this happens when one does what they do over and over and over again. If that's what makes the deviant happy, it's cool with me (I'd never tell anyone to stop what they like to do), but (s)he can be sure I'll stop watching his or her work pretty soon because to me it becomes boring.



1.When/where/how did you discover deviantART? Was this discovery important for your creative impulses? When and why did you start using Photoshop?

I started using Photoshop before I came to dA. Must've been more than 4 years now.
In mid-2004, someone at a forum told me about deviantArt, urging me to get an account there. Back then, all I basically did was to create wallpapers - mostly about my favourite tv shows - and I had never heard about stock. But I knew I would not be able to put my wallpapers online at dA (the ever-present copyright issues), so I lurked and tried to get a feel for the place. That included discovering the Stock and Resources Galleries and a whole new range of tutorials to choose from. So, realising I could make colorful things without celebrities, I signed up in October 2004.
The last two years here have been very inspirational ones: the fact alone that you can see so many different things (genres as well as ideas) browsing this site has been boosting my creativity. But for a photomanipulator, inspiration and creativity is only half of what you need. If you lack the technical skills to put your ideas on a canvas in the way you imagined it, it becomes frustrating easily. That's (again) where tutorials come in for me: they gave me the means to be creative. But in a place such as dA, it doesn't stop with tutorials: there's also so many other deviants who are willing to share their tips and tricks, give critique on a piece or just have a chat with you (on dAmn for example). That is the real dA experience if you ask me: the community.

2. Where do you find inspiration? Do you have a special story attached to the process of creation of any of your pieces? (question from =DreeamyEyes)

Most of my inspiration comes from the stock pictures I work with. I rarely have anything specific planned, but make it up as I go along. Therefore, the pictures themselves often dictate in what direction the piece is going. And my feelings at the time of creating a specific piece will determine its meaning more often than not. It's a highly intuitive process and very hard to describe. There are no special stories surrounding my pieces that I could think of. Many have a very deep meaning in the context of my every day life. They were created to deal with anxiety, sadness, loss and whatever feeling needed to get out at the time of creation.

3. "I would like to know what personal part of herself she puts into her art, what makes it amazing in her opinion. I would also like to know what is the neatest trick to making her art look the best it can?"(question from ~aristotleunbound)
As I said earlier, almost all my pieces were done with very strong feelings on my part. And I do believe people are able to see that and more importantly relate to it. Also, many of my pieces have a strong sense of looking at the positive things in life rather than concentrate on the not-so-great stuff. It reminds me of what life is worth and I hope people seeing my pieces will be reminded of the same thing.
Regarding the neatest trick... hmmm... that's a tough one. Because to me, there is no "one trick" that could be applied to any image and make it look great. Probably the neatest trick is to find the trick that suits the picture best in each case. For example, some pictures look fantastic when you adjust the colors a bit - others will only look fake. Some look great with a bit of texture - in others a texture destroys the harmony. And so on.

4. Tips and tricks of the trade! Can you give us a list of 5-7 quick photomanipulation/Photoshop etc tips that you picked up from your own experience and you find useful?

* never merge if you can help it
* when texturing, play with layer blend modes AND opacities: sometimes more textures at low opacities look neater than one at full force - try desaturating them
* use layer masks to get the transitions the way you want them, never use the eraser or you won't be able to go back if you screwed up
* try to choose pictures with matching perspectives - the transform tool will not work in most cases to adjust wrong perspectives (it'll make the image look 2D instead)
* look at the light - just because you don't paint doesn't mean you cannot learn something from the painters and every painter will tell you that your picture wont work if the light is screwed up
* try learning the basics of composition (the golden cut for example) and color harmony, your pictures will benefit greatly (ask the photographers about composition, they will be able to show you the ropes )

5. You are the founder of =photoshop-tutorials and co-founder of #pstutorials. How did the community react to this innitiative? Your latest project is =exceeds, could you tell us something about that, too?

When I started =photoshop-tutorials in April 05 I'd only been here for a few months, but I wanted to try and give something back to the community that had helped me so much (and still does). As with every new club/group/project, things went pretty slow at first. I started chatting on dAmn around that time though and bumped into ^nighty. She became a member soon and after a while we became friends, too. Some time in January 06 we launched #pstutorials as a means of helping people out with their every day Photoshop problems. It was very well received at first, with a bunch of regulars and some very sweet helpers, but since then, both ^nighty and myself have had to divert our attention to real life as well as other projects and chatting around the clock is no longer possible for us. The chat room does still exist, though it could use some reviving (perhaps I have a bit more time later this year). But =photoshop-tutorials is up and running smoothly.
^nighty's and my latest project is an ArtGroup called =exceeds. The aim of this group is to try to take the genre of photomanipulation further than what one normally sees. We publish an ArtPack roughly every two months, each with a specific theme. Each member can contribute one submission to each pack. Our first release was titled ARISE and it was pretty well received. The next pack will be released in early/mid December, the theme is decided (but I can't tell you, it's a secret) and I'm excited to see what interpretations the submissions will bring this time

6. Do you have any artistic goal that would make you say "now I have reached the top of my creativity"?

My creativity thrives on the changes in my life (online and offline), so if I should ever sit still and say "that's it", you'd better check my pulse, because most likely I'm dead when that happens
There's always room to improve and do something new and fresh - nothing could ever change that.

7. Recently, one of the stock photos featured as a DD received a lot of criticism that was also oriented towards the quality of the stock that can be found in DA. What is your opinion, especially as a Gallery Director for photomanipulations?

I wasn't around when that particular incident happened, but I read about it later on and must say it's a shame people are so intolerant sometimes. Now I don't know who said what or what the arguments were excactly, but for me, it comes down to people not liking it that other people get a DD for something "not deemed worthy enough". That in itself is against everything this community stands for: we are artists helping each other out and not competing against each other day and night!
Speaking as a manipulator who has only recently bought a camera: I would be nowhere without the stockers here! They cater to our needs and they do it for free. Who out there would shoot fairy stock just because on dA it's a trend?! Now, you can switch fairies for just about anything you like, the point is, it's a symbiotic relationship. Photomanipulators would not be able to get that kind of stock without people being selfless enough to get out their cameras and pose for us. And so far, I've only been talking about people stock...
Of course these stock pictures are usually not what a photographer would shoot for himself - they are meant to undergo massive post processing - and thus they look different from what the photographers community here might be wanting to see.
I think it should be up to the manipulators to decide whether they find stock useful or not by making them aware of what kind of stock can be found on dA - and this is what the DDs are for. Bashing someone who gets a DD for stock is just as despiseable as any other DD bashing. If people have a problem with the DD chosen, why do they have to start a flame war on the deviation? Why can't they react like normal people and write a note to the one who picked the DD?