Post by urbancinderella on Jun 2, 2007 9:36:28 GMT
Interview with *ShinyBinarydeviantART - Web Design
Administered by firetemptress & urbancinderella
Name: Nik Ainley
Age: 23
Sex: M
Occupation: Web designer
My website: www.shinybinary.com
What I enjoy doing:
Drinking with friends, eating out, movies, books, etc etc oh.. and designing
Favourite website:
Probably deviantart actually, great place to see so much different type of art... apart from that I visit 100s of random websites
Guilty pleasure:
Err not sure about this one, relying on my over active metabolism to process the huge amount of fatty food I eat and keep me slim I guess
Any juicy details of your life that we can taunt you for:
Hmmm Im keeping quiet on this one, I doubt anyone came here to read about the boring things I get up to
So you're a web designer? Must be fun. How'd you get into designing in the first place?
Im a web designer for a large company, and am just one of 3 designers (and another 30 or so people) who keep it running. I've always been interested in art and designing things but didnt really get into until I was at university. I had access to a copy of Photoshop and just started playing around in my spare time. I loved the power it gave me to produce images I had in my mind but no way of getting on to paper... Ive just kept playing with it and teaching myself new techniques and 3/4 years later, here I am!
What company do you work for, and how long have you worked for them?
I work for a computer security company (viruses, spam, firewalls that sort of stuff, pretty dull really) and Ive worked there for just 10 months or so. As far as graphics go it isnt much of a stretch for me, but the team is so up on design and usability that I have learnt more than I ever thought I would. I now critique every site I visit without even realising it. And I can tell you... there are a lot of bad websites out there (mine doesnt count because its for a very special type of user
)Alrightie, now on to your digital art stuff. What programs do you normally use to create such beauty?
I stick almost entirely to Photoshop when Im designing. I think it has so much power and potential that for a lot of things you dont need other programs... if you really push it you can produce some incredible effects. Apart from that I have dabbled in a couple of other programs such as Illustrator and 3ds Max but 95% of my stuff is pure PS.
How long, on average, does it usually take you to make something?
Very difficult question, it depends what Im doing... some pictures have seemed to just fall straight from my brain to my computer in an evening. Others can sit take months of fiddling and tweaking before I think theyre done (this is quite rare though). My website was the biggest and took me 6 months just to be happy with the graphics!
Are you usually inspired to make something? If so, where do you normally draw your inspiration from?
Where the ideas for my pictures come from I'm not sure really, they just appear . Often Ill have many ideas at once and either have to pick the one I like the most of combine them. I do get inspired by other artists, but mostly for techniques they use rather than the style or their pictures.
Ahh, and what artists normally inspire you?
well lots of people I watch over at DA, my fellow art group members are always great for inspiration, and a lot of the professional websites like cubadust or vault49... too many to name really
Out of all of your creations (web designing and digital images), what would you say you're most proud of?
well I guess it would have to be my website just because of the time and effort I put into it. Having said that, the graphics are almost 2 years old now and I know I could do better now... I am planning on a complete overhaul at some point, I just dont have the time at the moment.
Any future goals you have for yourself? (doesn't -have- to be digital art/web design related - can be anything.)
Lots of travelling. Im not sure where yet but I would like to see as many places as possible. I have a million goals for my art, learning a 3d program to a high standard (Im not interested in learning one just for abstract) and getting loads of visitors to my website are just 2 .
Any words of advice to beginning web designers and artists?
I think you really have to love designing to get started. I spent hours at Photoshop even though I was doing a university course at the same time and had lots of work to do in the evenings. I also think you should try and be as original as possible, take inspiration from other artists but dont try and copy their work or style.
Also decide whether you want to do it as a hobby or a job, I do web design as a job and graphics in my spare time. Im happy not having a full time graphics job as I would probably end up being too bored of it to want to make my own pictures outside of work.
And any last words to the people who will be reading this interview?
Keep watching my website and my DA account for new stuff in the next couple of months, as well as the art group Im in: www.depthcore.com (a great bunch of people). Hope you enjoy my graphics, and if you ever fancy dropping me a line with a question or comment or anything, Im always happy to read and reply to fellow design enthusiasts. Ta ta for now.