Interview with Digital Artist Natalia: The Vampire Princess

Posted on 31. Jul, 2010 by DAS Team in Articles, Inspirations

1) What is your name? Where are you from?

My name is Natalia Ponce, and I’m from Valencia, Spain.

2) Could you please give us a background about how you were first interested in art?

I’ve been interested in art since I could remember, but movies have taken an important role in my interest. I remember, for example, seeing “Titanic” as a child. There was a scene in which Jack, one of the main characters, was drawing a girl on the ship’s deck. I was very young, probably 5 or 6, but since that moment I knew that was what I wanted to do.

3) Since when have you been drawing (traditional art)?

I’ve been drawing traditionally since I could hold a pencil.

4) When have you started Digital Art? What was your motivation?

I started drawing digitally about four years ago. I had many different motivations, but the main one was my desire to improve and create fantastic worlds and creatures. I was very inspired by an artist whose picture collection I saw on the net. His nickname was “Tyranx”. I thought the pictures were absolutely incredible, and I wished I could someday be able to create something as amazing as that. By then, I was young and didn’t know anything about digital art, but I eventually found out information about the programs I had to use.

5) It seems that many of your digital art contains dragons, is there a reason for that?

Since always, dragons have been my favourite fantasy creature. They’re epic and can be depicted in many ways. But I guess it all started when I was a child. I was risen with movies like “Jurassic park”, so I early started to develop an interest in giant reptiles, and became a dinosaur fanatic. I knew everything about them, and everyone in my class knew I was a dinosaur freak. I had a lot of dinosaur books, the majority of them scientific and definitely not for my age, but I enjoyed reading them and staring at the beautiful illustrations. I also loved dragons, dinosaurs that could fly and breathe fire, what made them cooler for me. I was also very
inspired and influenced by books and movies like “The hobbit”, or “The lord of the rings”. I started depicting fantasy worlds inhabited by dragons and haven’t stopped since then. I think that they can bring an epic feel to any picture.

6) Have you taken any formal education in Art or Graphic Design?

No, I’m self-taught, although I may be attending an art academy next October.

7) What kind of Graphic Tablet do you use? Do you use any other tools?

I currently use a recently bought wacom large intuos4 tablet, but have been using a wacom bamboo for years. To make digital art, I use my tablet and photoshop.

8 ) What is your favorite art piece that you made so far? Why?

“Sea lord”, I think. It’s an important piece for me because it depicts my love for the sea. I’ve spent all my summers on the beach since I was a baby, on my parent’s beach apartment, so the sea is very important for me. Every year I move to the city in September, and aren’t able to see the sea until next June. With that piece, I tried to depict the sea as I see and feel it.

9) Do you have a Digital Art Secret?

No, not really. There aren’t any secrets in art, it’s all about practice.

10) What advices would give for digital artists out there?

Practice makes perfect. The more you practice, the better you will become. Sometimes we don’t feel very optimistic about our art, but if you love what you do and and practice, I’m sure you’ll improve, as I did. I think inspiration is also very important. Music, nature, a movie, a videogame, our feelings, or even other artists whose art we admire. It also helps to watch some tutorials if you don’t know how to start or want to develop a certain style. You can find really good video tutorials, which show the different digital painting processes quite clearly, on YouTube, for example. Experimenting helps too. If you’re not familiar with the digital painting programms, don’t be afraid to mess around until you learn the basics.