Hi.

In this second interview of *Critique-Central we interview =alexiuss. He tells us about his art, dA and critique.


Hi! Could you tell us something about yourself?

I was born in the year 1984, in the industrial city of Novokuznetsk, located on the Tom River in south central Siberian Russia.
For the first four years of my life, I lived amidst coal mining and aluminum/steel production factories; in a city of European architecture covered with columns and arches, surrounded by Russian Taiga.
Since I was four years old, I have been drawing tiny starships and celestial life fascinated me. At four, I moved to the city of Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia, with my parents. There, in a remote, forest covered, 'science community' district of Akademgorodok, at 11 years of age, I studied traditional drawing, watercolor/gauche/oil painting, anatomy, model building, design, art history and illustration at a great high-arts institution for two years, expecting a move to Moscow to further my studies.

On April 11/1998 fate has given me an unexpected twist and by means of aerial transportation I was thrown about 5555 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to Toronto, Canada, where I am currently residing, in my own lovely apartment east of Chinatown. After completing my OAC's at R. H. King Academy, I went on to the Ontario College of Art and Design, where I've finished 2 years of “Environmental Design” program studying: architecture, interior design, AutoCAD rendering, and 3d modeling. This year at OCAD I'm taking: Illustration, anatomy and photography.

Since 2000, I’ve been tutoring on the subject of drawing and painting. In 2002, I've learned that magical program called Photoshop and have been using it ever since, to develop an innovative, digital-art style , which I gave a name - "Dreaminism".

Currently I'm working as a photographer and an illustrator, painting various: book covers, graphic novels, posters, magic cards and cd covers.

How were you first introduced to the style(s) of art you create?

The genre found me when I started using Photoshop and discovered that I could draw on pure black background- adding rays of light into the pitch-black darkness, bringing fire into the picture- a fantastic feeling equivalent to lighting a match in a dark room.
This was the foundation for my high-contrast style- paintings in which I tried to make the sun truly bright. Eventually my paintings broke free of simple landscapes, still life and portraits and converged with fantasy and sci-fi stories, inspired by Romantic and Surrealistic artists and defined itself as “Dreaminism”- a realistic, often “romantically-apocalyptic”, easily recognized style- “a sense of shifted reality realized in the split second before the waking, when the mind cannot define what's real and what's not.” Dreaminism proved itself to be a great success as my paintings spread over the net and I gained world recognition, working on a vide variety of music covers, books and games.


What made you come to dA? (and why did you stay?)

My good friend from high-school (=Nocturnal-Devil) made me register here, telling me of the wonders of this place. He also introduced me to photoshop. Now I can’t escape either.

Do you often receive critique? Has it always been like that?

Yes. I get random crits on da and daily crits in university in classes. As long as I produce art there will be someone to criticize it.

How do you handle the critique you get?

That depends entirely on my mood:
I break down and cry, like a ninny.
I ignore it and pretend it never happened.
I make up winding and long excuses as to why things occurred the way they did.
I yell at them.
I tell them to go draw stuff themselves.
I accept criticism and strive to become better.
I break their kneecaps, like any good crime lord.

Are you part of any community here on dA? Why (not)?

Used to be in this or that grop, but now I’ve wholeheartedly dedicated myself to creating art, leaving little time for eating, sleeping or joining groups.

Do you have any advice you could offer to those starting out?

It takes the following to become a famous and well-paid artist:
1)Talent
2)Dedication
3)Imagination
If you have some drawing talent, and wish to become a successful artist, then dedicate all your free time to drawing, sketching, learning about art, and advertising your work by showing it in online and offline galleries. If you put a thousand hours of hard work into anything- it’s automatically bound to be a success, just because of the dedication.
Never forget about the power of imagination, practice imagining things, write intricate stories with your art, and constantly create unique worlds. Often a piece of art with a unique, better idea/concept is the winner.

Is the cake a lie?

The cake exists, but there is NO SPOON to eat the cake with, resulting in a paradox that unravels the fabric of time and space itself, bringing certain doom to our universe.

=alexiuss