Post by $Visigoth on May 14, 2006 15:09:09 GMT
SolidSnakeDesigns: Hey, Nexxia. Lets start by having you tell us a bit about yourself, just to acquaint the readers with their subject.
Nexxia: Alright, well my name is Christian.. I'm 14 and reside in New York. I started with digital art around September 2004, so I've been at it for about a year and a half. Not too much else to know about me.
SSD: Looking through your dA gallery, it seems dominated with 3D work. what made you choose 3D over, say photography (some of which you also have posted in more recent times)
N: Seeing as I don't have a decent camera (I've used my dad's for most of my photography), I have the resources at my side to do digital art. 3D art has always sparked my interest over vector, or most other types of digital art, so I went with it, got skilled with the style and developed my own over time. I have always wanted to learn digital painting.. but I can't draw all too well, don't normally have that much time, and don't have a tablet. So I'm pretty content overall with sticking mostly to 3D art.
SSD: You say you don't have that much time, so I'm curious: how long do you usually spend on a piece, either for setup or rendering, or both?
N: Well my renders can take anywhere from a few minutes to 3-5 hours, depending on how complicated it is. That takes most of my time when making a piece, since it takes basically my whole computer to render it. Postwork normally takes an hour or two. So you're looking at several hours for each piece. I don't spend all my free time just on art either, so I'm not spewing art out every day.
SSD: Your computer....yes....tell us about it!
N: It's actually a pretty fancy one, money wise anyway. It's a Dell XPS I got for my birthday last year, set us back a couple grand.. For today's standards it's high end, of course.
SSD: POP QUIZ #1: Pirates or Ninjas?
N: Ninjas. Stealth owns.
SSD: Who needs stealth with a cannon?
N: Well you know, they're fast too, they can dodge. All pirates have going for them is negotiating and big ships. Boring.
SSD: We have parrots too! But moving on... What exactly is art to you?
N: Art to me is expressing yourself, your emotions, thoughts, whatever you got going on inside your head. You need a good way to express it, so you need some skill at art to let it out and catch people's eyes. Art can be a good way to get out emotions as well as expressing them, just one of the many ways you can do that.
SSD: Let's circle back somewhat for a moment. Music is also often regarded as a sort of gateway to the emotions. What do you listen to when you work? (Or you could describe any other oddities during your work, like sacrificial rights involving young chickens)
N: Ah, I listen to all sorts of stuff. Basically I just leave iTunes open on random and listen to whatever comes on, which includes Alternative (Cake, Motion City Soundtrack, Modest Mouse), Rock (311, Dave Matthews Band), and Electronic (Sasha, The Chemical Brothers, Orbital). It can be inspiring most of the time, so it's important for me to have music on all the time. As for oddities... nothing really. I just concentrate on what I'm doing, I get an occasional IM and shoo them off. The chickens are left to my dog.
SSD: Hmm....must just be me then... When you're spending all that time not making art, what are you doing?
N: I'm basically always on my computer, so I may be just talking to people or on websites, like reading webcomics, on DeviantART, SSD, etc.. otherwise I'm out with friends or family or playing video games. When inspiration strikes you can find me working on some new art.
SSD: Any particular webcomics you'd like to recommend to our readers?
N: Cyanide and Happiness, applegeeks, and vgcats are my top three favorite webcomics. It's not a webcomic, but you can't forget homestarrunner either.
SSD: POP QUIZ #2: What is the secret to life?
N: Snapple? I dunno XD. Just be happy with what you're doing. If you find yourself bored or your life is grey, make some changes, cause it shouldn't stay that way.
SSD: They should market it like that: "Snapple, the secret to life! Endorsed by Christian"
N: Haha, just make sure it's lemon snapple. I haven't tried any other ones.
SSD: Which of your pieces is a personal favorite and why? And, if its different, which means the most to you?
N: My personal favorite.. would be Broken Heart, because it is the one that has best expressed what I felt at the time I made it out of all of mine, and I just love how it looks. The one that means the most to me would probably be Ambience, since it got me a Daily Deviation (at 14!) and is the reason I got noticed by most of deviantART, and support is always nice.
SSD: What one piece of advice has helped you most as an artist?
N: I'm not really sure if I ever got any advice, but I've always remembered not to give up on anything. That won't help you get anywhere. Critiques also help you find where your mistakes are so you can make the most out of your art and your experience.
SSD: Well fine, if you don't get direct advice, how about indirect advice? Who do you look to most for inspiration in your down days of art?
N: Well my friends, online and off, help support me (most of the time) and give me some ideas and tips...for inspiration I look to all those recognized as the best in digital art and take a look at what they're doing, and see what they have to say about how to improve...I look up to them and get new ideas based on what they can come up with, I guess.
SSD: No names?
N: If I say any names I'm going to leave people out and feel bad about it later.
SSD: Fair enough...FINAL POP QUIZ! When, in the course of human events, is it necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another?
N: Hopefully never, but I suppose whenever you're not getting anywhere by staying there, like if you're being held back because of it. I think.
SSD: Close enough. For bonus points: where is that from?
N: Dunno
SSD: United States Declaration of Independence
N: Well... uh... I'm not a history buff >_>
SSD: Haha....so, in closing, Mr. Daily Deviation, do you have any parting words for those who made it this far in the interview?
N: Well I'm glad you are interested to learn about who I am, and hopefully you gained some respect for me in the process. As long as you can forget about the declaration quote, me being American and all. Stay cool.
SSD: Thanks for your time, Christian
N: No problem.
Christian's work can be found at nexxia.deviantart.com
Nexxia: Alright, well my name is Christian.. I'm 14 and reside in New York. I started with digital art around September 2004, so I've been at it for about a year and a half. Not too much else to know about me.
SSD: Looking through your dA gallery, it seems dominated with 3D work. what made you choose 3D over, say photography (some of which you also have posted in more recent times)
N: Seeing as I don't have a decent camera (I've used my dad's for most of my photography), I have the resources at my side to do digital art. 3D art has always sparked my interest over vector, or most other types of digital art, so I went with it, got skilled with the style and developed my own over time. I have always wanted to learn digital painting.. but I can't draw all too well, don't normally have that much time, and don't have a tablet. So I'm pretty content overall with sticking mostly to 3D art.
SSD: You say you don't have that much time, so I'm curious: how long do you usually spend on a piece, either for setup or rendering, or both?
N: Well my renders can take anywhere from a few minutes to 3-5 hours, depending on how complicated it is. That takes most of my time when making a piece, since it takes basically my whole computer to render it. Postwork normally takes an hour or two. So you're looking at several hours for each piece. I don't spend all my free time just on art either, so I'm not spewing art out every day.
SSD: Your computer....yes....tell us about it!
N: It's actually a pretty fancy one, money wise anyway. It's a Dell XPS I got for my birthday last year, set us back a couple grand.. For today's standards it's high end, of course.
SSD: POP QUIZ #1: Pirates or Ninjas?
N: Ninjas. Stealth owns.
SSD: Who needs stealth with a cannon?
N: Well you know, they're fast too, they can dodge. All pirates have going for them is negotiating and big ships. Boring.
SSD: We have parrots too! But moving on... What exactly is art to you?
N: Art to me is expressing yourself, your emotions, thoughts, whatever you got going on inside your head. You need a good way to express it, so you need some skill at art to let it out and catch people's eyes. Art can be a good way to get out emotions as well as expressing them, just one of the many ways you can do that.
SSD: Let's circle back somewhat for a moment. Music is also often regarded as a sort of gateway to the emotions. What do you listen to when you work? (Or you could describe any other oddities during your work, like sacrificial rights involving young chickens)
N: Ah, I listen to all sorts of stuff. Basically I just leave iTunes open on random and listen to whatever comes on, which includes Alternative (Cake, Motion City Soundtrack, Modest Mouse), Rock (311, Dave Matthews Band), and Electronic (Sasha, The Chemical Brothers, Orbital). It can be inspiring most of the time, so it's important for me to have music on all the time. As for oddities... nothing really. I just concentrate on what I'm doing, I get an occasional IM and shoo them off. The chickens are left to my dog.
SSD: Hmm....must just be me then... When you're spending all that time not making art, what are you doing?
N: I'm basically always on my computer, so I may be just talking to people or on websites, like reading webcomics, on DeviantART, SSD, etc.. otherwise I'm out with friends or family or playing video games. When inspiration strikes you can find me working on some new art.
SSD: Any particular webcomics you'd like to recommend to our readers?
N: Cyanide and Happiness, applegeeks, and vgcats are my top three favorite webcomics. It's not a webcomic, but you can't forget homestarrunner either.
SSD: POP QUIZ #2: What is the secret to life?
N: Snapple? I dunno XD. Just be happy with what you're doing. If you find yourself bored or your life is grey, make some changes, cause it shouldn't stay that way.
SSD: They should market it like that: "Snapple, the secret to life! Endorsed by Christian"
N: Haha, just make sure it's lemon snapple. I haven't tried any other ones.
SSD: Which of your pieces is a personal favorite and why? And, if its different, which means the most to you?
N: My personal favorite.. would be Broken Heart, because it is the one that has best expressed what I felt at the time I made it out of all of mine, and I just love how it looks. The one that means the most to me would probably be Ambience, since it got me a Daily Deviation (at 14!) and is the reason I got noticed by most of deviantART, and support is always nice.
SSD: What one piece of advice has helped you most as an artist?
N: I'm not really sure if I ever got any advice, but I've always remembered not to give up on anything. That won't help you get anywhere. Critiques also help you find where your mistakes are so you can make the most out of your art and your experience.
SSD: Well fine, if you don't get direct advice, how about indirect advice? Who do you look to most for inspiration in your down days of art?
N: Well my friends, online and off, help support me (most of the time) and give me some ideas and tips...for inspiration I look to all those recognized as the best in digital art and take a look at what they're doing, and see what they have to say about how to improve...I look up to them and get new ideas based on what they can come up with, I guess.
SSD: No names?
N: If I say any names I'm going to leave people out and feel bad about it later.
SSD: Fair enough...FINAL POP QUIZ! When, in the course of human events, is it necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another?
N: Hopefully never, but I suppose whenever you're not getting anywhere by staying there, like if you're being held back because of it. I think.
SSD: Close enough. For bonus points: where is that from?
N: Dunno
SSD: United States Declaration of Independence
N: Well... uh... I'm not a history buff >_>
SSD: Haha....so, in closing, Mr. Daily Deviation, do you have any parting words for those who made it this far in the interview?
N: Well I'm glad you are interested to learn about who I am, and hopefully you gained some respect for me in the process. As long as you can forget about the declaration quote, me being American and all. Stay cool.
SSD: Thanks for your time, Christian
N: No problem.
Christian's work can be found at nexxia.deviantart.com
