Post by urbancinderella on Aug 22, 2007 3:45:20 GMT
Interview with `spiritsighsdeviantART - Digital
Administered by Whitney.
Name? Tracie Carman
Age? 30
Location? Kentucky, U.S.A.
Website/gallery? spiritsighs.deviantart.com
Let's learn a bit about you before we learn about your art- what sort of art is it that you're interested in? How long have you been doing this?
I'm interested in many types of art, but I enjoy creating Fairytale or Fantasy scenes with photomanipulation the most. I've been practicing this off and on for three years now.
How did you first become interested in doing what you do? Were there any specific people or things that inspired you?
In 2003, shortly after purchasing my computer & accessing the internet, I immediately fell in love with web graphics (particularly fairies) and web design. Next thing you know, I'm reading tutorials online, dabbling in Photoshop, and opening my own personal website (drenched-in-wine.net), which is now closed. Through that experience, I found the website of Angelique Brunas (also known as Liek at deviantART) who became a huge inspiration to me. I followed her to deviantART. She is still one of my biggest inspirations.
In all of your pieces at deviantART, you use a female human subject. Why is this? Have you ever considered using a male? How about using something more nature-inclined, such as animals?
My mother has asked me that same question so many times. I've used male subjects a few times in my older deviations, which are no longer in my gallery, but I've used female subjects a whole lot more. I've always been inspired by Classical paintings, Mystical paintings of Goddesses, Fairies or Mermaids where the subjects are usually women, so I think the biggest reason stems from that.
It's funny you should ask these questions because I've honestly been wanting to break out of the box that I've been stuck in a little more lately and try new things. I particularly hope to use my own children as my subjects when I save up enough money for a digital camera.
And I do have a BIG love for animals (and men, haha), so you definitely might be seeing more variation in my work to come.
What one thing do you feel inspires you the most? Do your ideas ever randomly pop up?
Definitely my own emotions & experiences, or a poem or song that I've deeply related to inspires me to create the most. I do have ideas pop up randomly, but not as randomly as I'd like.
I must admit there have been so many times when I've gone through creative blocks, and I just decided to create an empty "pretty picture" with no real concept or meaning behind it. I've learned when times like that come around, it's best for me to take a break and not create anything at all until my need of self-expression comes back. I feel disappointed in the results nine times out of ten if I don't, but I'm very critical about my own work anyway.
What programs do you use when manipulating? What sort of tablet do you use?
I use Photoshop CS2 and a Wacom Graphire4 6x8 tablet.
How do you generally go about beginning a photomanipulation? How long does it take for a piece to be completed? How do you know for sure that a piece is completely finished?
When I have a certain concept in mind, I'll browse different stock images until I find what I think could fit my ideas. A lot of times that can be like finding a needle in a haystack and the ending result hardly ever turns out exactly how I imagine. Sometimes I decide right in the middle of working to go in a completely different direction. It always depends. There have been many times where the stock image itself inspires me by taking me back to a scene from a movie I loved or a piece of art I admired and decide to build around that.
I honestly never keep up with how much time it takes me to complete a piece. There's so much chaos that goes on around here with three rowdy boys, I just try to work off and on whenever I get the chance. I can tell you that it takes a LOT of hours. If I were to guess, I'd say around 12-20 hours altogether, depending on my patience, attention span or how dedicated I am to the piece.
I usually feel like the piece is finished when I feel pretty satisfied with it, merely by eyeballing it. Sometimes I just get blocked or tired of working on it and decide to go back and edit later.
Do you have any top picks for your stock photos? Do you or have you ever used a photograph of your own taking? Have you ever used a real human subject? If not, would you like to?
Some of my favorite stock artists are probably the most obvious around deviantART: lockstock, Lisajen-stock, and faestock. They put so much hard work & quality into every single image and I really admire their wide range of creativity. They (along with so many other stock artists) really make a photomanipulator's work so much easier to dream.
A very long time ago I used my own image with one piece, but it was when I was still learning and it didn't stay in my gallery for very long. Later my digital camera got broken and I never invested in another one, so I mostly depend on the free stocks of others. I really want to buy a new camera sometime in the near future and take a lot of my own images. I personally think those who do really tend to stand out more creatively among the rest.
I've never used a real human subject since most of my work has been based on dreams or fantasy. I'm not sure if that's something I'd be inspired to do at this point, but you never know.
Do you provide any resources for other artists?
I've made Photoshop brushes free for artists to use available on my other account: spiritsighs-stock.
With your work, I can't help but notice the slight variance but overall use of the same color. Don't get me wrong- you obviously know how to set the mood, but why not use a large range of colors?
I don't really know why I don't use more variation of colors. I've always been way too color coordinated with everything from web designing to interior design. I guess it's my way of thinking inside that box I was speaking of earlier. That's probably something I should work on as well.
You sometimes add a piece of poetry to your work as a description. Why is this? Do you write the poetry for the piece, or do you make the piece for the poetry?
I've always been a big fan of poetry and music. Poetry of my own or written by others have many times been the inspiration behind my creating. There have been times when I have created a piece first, then found a poem that fit just right, but most of the time I created the piece around how I personally related to the words.
On the occasion, I've read through debates about how much brushing a person should use. Some people have even been called brush-whores. How much brushing do you generally use? Do you feel that there is a limit as to how much one should use?
Ironically, even though I love making brushes, I really am not the best at using them. It's hard for me to get brushes to look realistic, so I only use them for small elements like butterflies, sparkles, fog, etc.
I have seen some artists use brushes with amazing realistic results and wonder how they did it. I've also seen some artists use way too many in their image, which resulted in making everything look really sloppy and cluttered, taking over the subject itself. I really think balance is the key.
Have you ever considered trying your hand at the more traditional side of art (painting, drawing, etc.)? Why or why not?
Unlike a lot of the artists I've learned about on deviantART, I really don't have a very artistic background. I was never the girl you would find doodling during her spare time growing up, and I've never picked up a paintbrush unless it was during a class in grade school or something.
Everything I've learned about art has been through my online experience through reading tutorials. Even though I am completely intrigued by the skill of a traditional artist, I've always felt like I lack the "eye" or "vision" for detail and even the patience that most artists have in order to paint. I've considered giving painting a try on canvas, but the thought of not having the "go back" option (like in Photoshop) for every time I make a mistake kind of scares me, haha.
What do you love most about what you do?
Feeling a certain level of accomplishment toward a goal that, in the beginning, I never thought I'd be able to achieve is pretty self gratifying. But even more than that, I love to know that I've inspired people! I can't tell you how much it warms my heart for someone to tell me that something I created made them smile, or moved them in some way. It makes all the hours put into it worth while.
Where do you hope to find yourself in the future? Do you currently make any money from your artwork? If not, would you like to?
I have had ideas about opening up my own business in my area, doing photomanipulations for those who may want a picture of their own worked on. However, making the idea into a reality would be completely out of my league. I've been doing this purely for a hobby for so long, doing it in business mode would be something I'd have to do a lot of looking into, but something I definitely would like to consider.
Lastly, the question that must always be asked, what tips do you have for those looking to better themselves in the area of photomanipulation?
Not just reading briefly through tutorials, but actually following them. Like everything else in life, the more time you spend actually doing it, the more mistakes you make, the more you will learn.