Contest

This time around there's a little more to Tychtastic than "only" features. I hope you enjoy these additions.

To start with there's The Tychtastic Time Contest. Challenge yourself to make a tych over the theme "Time". All media is allowed and great prices are on stake.

The contest has its own contest article. So to learn more about the theme, the rules and prizes follow the link ---> The Tychtastic Time Contest

Interview

As you can see everywhere on dA a lot of deviants give the tych a try and the variations are endless. It's a great type of work for telling a story, playing with contrasts, parallels, colours, compositions and illustrating concepts and feelings and the big challenge here is to get the pieces to work together and communicate as a whole.

One of the artists here who does a fantastic job with her tychs are and I've invited her to talk a little about her work, especially those tychs, what inspires her and to show us some of her own favourite examples of good tych pieces.

But without further ado I will give the word to :

Hello everyone,
Firstly, I’d like to thank dear Tina a lot for asking me to give an interview. It is a great honor to me since I am not a professional, but an amateur photographer and a digital artist. I have been dealing with digital art for almost seven years, but unfortunately in limited times when I don’t work. Therefore, I feel sorry that I have not been able to reach the level I wish in using photo-processing programs, but I still keep trying and exploring new things everyday. I am using a couple of programs, but mainly Photoshop CS2.

Q: Generally speaking what inspires your work?

A: For someone who is eager to create, everything might be a source of inspiration. The facial expression of a child, the skirt of a walking woman, the reflection on the shop windows, the spot on the wall, the shadow of a person or an object, a story, a smile, anything… This is a personal characteristic I think. Me, for example, not only in photography or digital art, every object I see in daily life is a reason and material to create. Particularly, things what other people call trash, can be the basic material to create a new thing for me. I like creating, therefore, anything can inspire me as long as I wish to create. I must not ignore the affect of literature and music on me. Poems, stories and songs are my sources in the first place.

Another point I observed in myself is that pain and melancholy are two of the most effective sources to me. The times I have been most prolific are the times in which I feel deep pain and/or melancholy. And I must add nature, of course. Mother Nature itself is enough to give inspiration to anyone who has an artistic point of view.


Q: When you do tych pieces what do you want to achieve and why are they interesting to do? Do you approach them differently or get inspired by other things than with your other works?

A: Although people think that having a style is something good and it means that you have refined your art, I want to be brave enough to try new styles, new approaches. I know that it is not easy, because your point of view in life and personality form your style. And because it is impossible to wipe off your personality, it will be difficult to deviate from your usual style. But sometimes even myself can be tired of seeing the same style, therefore I am trying not to be inspired from the previous works of mine. Besides, each photograph has its own personality, its own nature. You cannot apply the same style on all the photographs because of this difference. Each photo tells a story. Before doing anything with anyone of the photographs, you should listen very well first. Listen carefully what they say, what they cry, what they sing… They will tell you what to do with them.

While making tych pieces, the most important point to me is that the photographs should be complementary to each other. Sometimes, surfing on DA, I come across tychs whose parts are completely unrelated with each other. I am trying to understand. This can be understandable if the photographer is trying to emphasize the difference between the parts. But I make tychs generally when I want to tell a story. Therefore, in my opinion, the parts must be in harmony and consistent with each other in terms of theme and style, just like in a good story.


Q: One of my personal favourites from your gallery is "Love story" Can you tell us a little bit about this piece?

A: The story behind this one is quite simple actually. It was a scorching hot afternoon, I was not doing anything to do with photography, I was reading as far as I remember. Then felt hungry and went to the kitchen; took the cherry bowl out of the fridge; started to eat them at the counter by standing up. I looked at them and thought how beautiful they were, but there were also some rotten ones. I took them out of the bowl; put them on the counter; and thought of the possible reasons why they must have been rotten. Smiling by myself, I thought, it was maybe because their spouse had left them. It was the exact time the light appeared in my mind. I ran to my room, grabbed the camera and photographed the story.

When I was working on it with Photoshop, I thought, actually it was not an original idea; I was sure that everyone was thinking the same while they are eating cherries, however, I went on playing with those cherry images and textures. After I submitted it, I realized that not everyone was thinking in the same weird way I did.


Q: Which of your own tychs are your favourite and why?

A: It is quite difficult to choose among them, because I never submit if I am not totally satisfied with any piece I make. But if I should choose, I would say
"bilmiyorum"
"et si tu n'existais pas"
and "broken hearts everywhere II"

I like "bilmiyorum" because of its mood. The color, the blurry view, the facial expression of the girl…

And I like "et si tu n'existais pas" firstly because it has got a special meaning to me. The other reasons are the innocent look of the sleeping girl, a view from my own room, and the harmony in the colors. And because of the stories in them, of course.

As for "broken hearts everywhere II", the extremely simple and natural poses of those lovely birds are enough to say everything about a universal fact. I think it tells about something very deep and complicated in the simplest way.

Q: Could you choose a couple of your favourite tych deviations by other artists and tell us a little about why you like them?

A: There are many, of course, but I’ll try to choose the ones I like best. Actually they are the works of the artist of whom I am a fan. Not only their tychs do I like, I like almost all of their works. I’d like to give two examples by *laflaneuse

"une vie"

and "leurs mots d'amour"

I like the romantic mood in them a lot. Also the texture, the colors, the relation among the components, the proportion of the squares, the old feeling they have… these are the main reasons for making them favorites of mine.

The next two are by *omni-nominis

"la sequnce"
and "Delenda - Pered zerkalom"

In my opinion *omni-nominis is one of the most successful artists who make tyches. In "la sequence", for example, I feel that I creep into the tych and become a part of it. It gives the feeling in such a strong way that it captivates you as soon as you see it.

There is only one word to say for the latter one, that is: beautiful! Everything in this triptych is so delicate, so fragile, full of emotion. Simply beautiful!

And lastly I want to give an example of a different style by
~DoYouWantSomeTea

"You and I"

What attracts me most in this one is that it is so simple yet so expressive. The natural color, the shape of the cups, their perspectives, their being asymmetric to each other, the texture behind, the feeling it gives… All these are the basic reasons to want to hang it on my wall and look at it again and again.


Q: Any tips for other artists who want to put together their first diptych, triptych or polyptych?

A: As I mentioned before, the parts should be the components of a story or a message, not only for the sake of putting two or three images together. Making any piece, not only tychs, requires patience. It takes me a lot of time to decide on the scenes to put together. It is the basic and the most important step of making a tych, I think. The photos or pictures must be in consistent with each other in terms of theme and/or style. If it is not so, what is the use of making a tych?

And also patience while working on them, no need to haste. I try tens of textures one by one to decide which one is the most suitable one, for example. And hundreds of trials with brushes. You know, perfection is hidden in the details. Therefore, I would say that they should deal with each detail one by one. I know that it is tiring, painful and requires patience. But the result is worth being so.

Another tip is that I recommend them not to submit their works as soon as they finish them. Because when you look at a picture so long while you are working on it, you may not see the problems with it. It is just like repeating the same word again and again. After some time it becomes meaningless. So, when you think that you are finished with a piece, save it and forget it at least two days. When you see it two days later, if you really believe that you are finished with it and you still like it, then you can submit it.

Lastly, I’d like to thank each and everyone who has supported me through their precious comments, or by faving my works, or featuring them on their journals or news. I really appreciate them and I am very glad to be a part of this community. May art never be absent in our lives.

I couldn't agree more with the last sentence. And a huge thanks to *aglayan-agac for doing this great and very inspiring interview.

Features

And last but not least, let's browse through some of the amazing tychs here on dA.

Diptych






















Triptych















Polyptych






:





Missed the previous issues? Don't worry the help is near --->

Tychtastic vol. 3

Tychtastic vol. 2

Tychtastic vol. 1