This series of interviews will shed some light on some of the Mixed Media artists dA has to offer. This issue features =cypherx who combines painting and photomanipulation in her own unique way.



1) Please tell us a little about yourself first.
I’m Jennifer Thomas, the silly, reclusive, artistic autodidact. I stumbled upon deviantArt two months after I started to digitally paint, which was in April of 2003. dA has been extremely significant in my evolution as an artist. I've met so many profound artists on here, who were not only inspiration, but kind enough to give a piece of their time to me, to help me improve.

2) How did you start out with art? Which was the first (digital) medium you used and why this one?
My first form of art was digital, & I started with Jasc Paintshop Pro, using a mouse to paint. Basically it's all I had at the time, and I was very ignorant when it came to matters of digital art, and what all was out there.

3) What prompted you to venture beyond this medium?
I decided to go traditional as well, because I didn’t "just" want to be able to do digital. I felt (and still do) that there’s far too many methods of creation to just stick to one.

4) What does “Mixed Media” mean to you?
Well, before you contacted me, I thought the only sort of "mixed Media" was done with traditional works; I had no idea it carried over into the digital world. In regards to what I do (incorporating photos into my digital paintings), I felt that art should have no boundaries. There shouldn't be any "art taboo" as far as methods go. I really feel that if more people were accepting this, their own work would improve, and their perspectives would broaden and they'd be able to enjoy so many more styles of art, as opposed to being so stuck on one genre with one method, be it traditional, digital, or otherwise.

There is something very freeing about knowing that no matter what method I use, it's mine, and no one can tell me I'm talent-less or skill-less because it doesn't fall into some predefined box that digital artists, and all artists alike have been told they have to fall into.

5) Which media did you use for your deviation Damien’s Kiss? Why did you choose these specifically and which part of the deviation is what?



"Damien’s Kiss" was the first painting I really spent time incorporating photos into (not my first time doing it). I had been reading so many arguments (as well as involving myself in them) on the debate of paintovers, and really the debate over dishonesty when it came to paintovers & photomanipulations. I figured if it's done right, and if people know how I’m doing it, "no harm no foul", and perhaps it'll open up some eyes, and mayhaps even allow other artists who are ashamed of their methods to come forward and say "yeah, this is how I do it, and I'm fine with it, sorry if you're not".

The photos in this were all ones I shot myself, over a period of time long before the idea came into my head. Basically I had stock photos like you wouldn't believe from all my nature hikes, and nothing to do with them. The characters were my own creation, I sketched them out and painted them, then started adding photo overlays to texturize parts of their skin, and clothes. I used real jean textures/photos for the boy’s pants, flowers for texturizing the girl’s dress (at the top), and then added photo bits around the painting, like the skull, butterfly, and background. All of this was done in Photoshop 7.0 and then taken over to Painter to add brushwork to the bg.

6) Do you have any tips regarding the use of several media in ones art – is there something one should keep in mind when combining the art forms?
I think blending the two together is pretty important, but I also think that you can allow for it to be obvious that there were two separate methods (or more) used for doing the piece. I don’t mind so much when my photoparts are obvious, but I never want them to be TOO obvious, where it’s completely distracting to the viewer or myself. Though some people, no matter what will say it's distracting, because the very idea of incorporating photos into a painting is just a big no-no in their book.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions.

Previous Issues:

• #1 saiaii
• #2 Odessa11
• #3 cosmosue
• #4 fensterer
• #5 memod
• #6 Aegis-Strife