*Endling

*Endling was kind enough to answer a few questions for me to share with you. I hope you all enjoy this read as I have. I have placed some of *Endling's favorites through out this interview for your viewing pleasure

1.) Alighty, lets start off with the basics, what tools do you use when you create your art?
I use a mechanical pencil, usually a .3mm and a .5mm. The lead is typically HB, or whatever I can find. (I don't pay enough attention to lead weights and such, when I know I probably should.) I use straight up printer paper to draw on. Another not so great decision, pff. I'm a cheap bastard. And when I try to draw on bristol I tend to lock up thinking I'm going to waste some expensive paper on lousy sketches. Haha. Then it's off to my cheap scanner which works.. fairly well. Into Photoshop CS. And colored with the help of an Intuos tablet, 6x8, my preferred size.


2.) How did you discover Deviant Art?
I remember hearing about Deviantart here and there, but whenever I stopped by I found myself very easily lost and confused. ( This was years ago, naturally, there have been quite a few progressive aesthetic choices made to the layout since then I rather like. ;o ) It wasn't until a major occurrence came about in my life that I decided to actively start uploading my work to the internet for others to see, as a sort of a 'new beginning' for myself. Sure turned out to be a lucrative choice, too. :3


3.) What inspired you to start doing art?
Saturday morning cartoons, video games, and my dad. I loved what I saw on TV every Saturday morning, I knew how drawn into the stories I got, and I wanted to be able to do that for other people. Video games just furthered the notion, especially when I could get my hands on the game manuals and pray they had illustrations in them. And finally, my dad, because he once showed me a drawing he made at work, a doodle of a man on a boat looking up at a dragon coming out of the water. And it struck some kind of competitive spirit in me, because I suddenly decided I had to become as good as my dad. Haha. Thanks dad.


4.) How did you learn your techniques? Are you self taught or did you have a teacher and/or schooling?
For the most part I'm self taught. Which isn't saying much because until two or three years ago my work has been utter crap. Kids today grow up with Photoshop, they learn fantastic techniques and abilities straight out of their diapers, it's unbelievable. Keeping up with that trend is immensely difficult, but a challenge can be good for the old creative drive. I had brief teaching at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and if life permits, I'd like to go back, or perhaps to a more specialized school. (I have two rather prestigious ones in mind right now but I'll keep that under my hat.)


5.) About how long have you been drawing?
Since I could hold a pencil. Haha. But I don't thing I started doing anything seriously of note until a few years ago, sadly enough.


6.) About how long do you spend on each piece (on average)?
Gosh. That varies pretty wildly. Although it's safe to say I prefer doing most of my work in a single sitting. The longest a piece can take is like a day and a half because I take small breaks very frequently, and lately I've been finding that getting away from my work for a good expanse of time actually helps me spot all the problems I didn't notice in the original sitting.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the shortest a piece takes me is about 2-3 hours, generally. Or ten minute sketches, haha.


7.) About how long do you spend on each comic page (on average)?
I've done up to six comic pages in a day when I'm on a roll. And that'd be about eight or nine hours of work. I can't do the math right now, haha. Suffice to say, being "into" a page makes a drastic difference in the time it takes to complete.


8.) What made you decide to start drawing in the Manga/Anime style?
I first read "Ranma 1/2" in seventh grade. From then on I was pretty much hooked.


9.) Do you watch a lot of anime? What is your favorite anime show?
No, I don't. I'm disenchanted with most anime produced nowadays. The last I saw was Tekkon Kinkreet, and I enjoyed it immensely. I think I like well produced movies in favor of series based on manga. Currently I've just started watching the first box set of Avatar, and I know a whole debate could probably be fought on whether or not it's "real" anime since it didn't come out of Japan 100%, but I could care less. It's an expertly crafted kids show, I'm finding. I'd watch it over Death Note any day, blech.


10.) Who would you say are your favorite artists and idols?
Hiroaki Samura, the creator of Blade of the Immortal, and a fellow Deviant named *tracyjb. I could not hold any two people in higher esteem.


11.) What are your major influences in your art?
The disparity between light and what is 'good', dark and what is 'evil', and our perceptions of what both those things really are. I have to say anything I make comes from somewhere in that spectrum, in a manner intending on making people look at something differently. And also, following the golden rule of never taking anything too seriously, haha. Especially with such heavy subject matter.


12.) How would you describe your own style?
Comedically macabre without spooning out easy LOLs by going down the "HAHAHA THAT'S FUNNY BECAUSE CANCER AND DYING AND EVIL KIDS AND CYANIDE AND MUFFINS AND DOOM IS FUNNY WHEN IT SHOULDN'T BE LAWL". Liiiiittle too much of that I see around here, and naturally it's wildly popular. Not so much a fan of that.
Or I could just go the cop-out route and say I describe my own style as "Endlingy".


13.) What are you favorite themes to draw and why?
As previously stated, I tend to always go the darker route with my work, without falling into the deep end. Or trying not to anyway. I prefer dark themes that don't cater to the overly serious and grave, but also not to the preposterously ridiculous for the sake of being anti-.. normal. Or something. I'm sure people have a word for it. It probably involves "Hottopic" as a prefix.


14.) Do you have any tips for the newbies just getting into drawing?
Never lose sight of doing precisely what you want to do, because once you start doing it for any other reason, you lose. Also. Do not underestimate your foundations. The people out there who make it big are the ones who paid attention when it was time to draw stupid boxes in perspective, bowls of fruit, and mounds of naked people. (Sometimes all at once.) Don't shirk your responsibility to your creative foundation, and do your damndest. You skip out on that and you end up like me. 8|


15.) Of your pieces, which are your 5 favorites?
Ermmmmm. I guess my reference sheets for the cast of Ree. That's three. Then there is "Red Skies". I always considered that to be the epitome of that particular characters' (Little Red) 'essence'. It captures her spirit in a way I've yet to repeat, and in a facial expression I've been dying to be able to do again. The last one.. ummm.. hell I don't know. I don't even consider the stuff in my gallery ' pieces '. They don't look like pieces. They look like scrabbled together sketchery with color slopped on top. XD I like 'em all, some more than others, but it's still my stuff, and I feel it's all there for a reason. Even if that reason is to remind me "Hooooly crap. That sucked. You can do better." ;D


I hope that you have enjoyed this interview with *Endling and I will have more for you in the future

Enjoy,
^Damaged927
One of your Manga and Anime gallery directors