Artist Spotlite – Interview With Harmony Steel

“I really enjoy drawing and painting lots of different things. I love the process of sketching or swooshing watercolor paint about, or the peaceful tap-tap noise my reed pen makes when I draw with ink. I also love to experiment with new types of paper and ways of painting; I have waaay too many once-used art supplies ”

THE INTERVIEW

Q – What medium or mediums do you work with?

A – I love to experiment with different mediums and have worked with acrylics, watercolors, color pencil, watercolor pencil, ink, and digital painting software (Painter). My favourite would have to be digital painting because it’s so versatile and fun, I find it less “stressful” than traditional mediums because if you make a mistake you can just undo it, unlike a watercolor painting or ink drawing where one fatal slip of the brush can ruin hours of work

Q – How long have you been an artist? How did you get started?

A – I’ve always loved to draw since I was a little girl and when I was 10 years old a lady came to live with my family who could draw the most amazing horses. Like most little girls I was mad about horses and she was very kind and helped me learn how to draw them, and in the process taught me the basics of constructing a drawing. I’ve been drawing ever since and became interested in painting when I was older, I’ve been a hobby artist for about 20 years now.

Q – Do you have any formal training or are you self taught?

A – Apart from studying art through school and a class here and there I am self taught. My favourite ways to learn have been books, online resources, and experimenting with different mediums. I keep a list of the best free resources I find online for new artists here – http://www.treelightstudios.com/links.htm#tutorials

Q – Do you have any favorite art supplies that you would like to recommend?

A – For Acrylics I would recommend Atelier acrylics, they’re just so much nicer to paint with and more responsive than any other brand I’ve used.

For watercolors definately Winsor & Newton Artists’ Watercolors, they cost more but they’re worth it; they’re beautiful to paint with and produce great results. For watercolor paper I like Arches Smooth 300gsm and Cotmans, depending on how much water I want to splash about – Cotmans is great for drawing over with pencil and ink and then painting if you don’t use too much water, while the Arches Smooth paper is a bit harder to draw on but will handle a lot more water.

For digital painting I recommend Corel Painter IX and a Wacom tablet – I’d love a Cintiq but my trusty old Intuos 2 does the job for now

Q – Do you work with any specific styles or subject matter?

A – Portraits, animals and fantasy art. My style is colorful and whimsical, similar to children’s book illustrations.

Q – Can you recommend any books, videos or other resources that will help new artists?

A – For a solid base in drawing – which is the basis of all good art – I highly recommend the books by illustrator Andrew Loomis. These are old books so they’re freely available in the public domain, and they’re fantastic, particularly if you want to learn to draw faces and people. You can download the books for free here – http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis/

For an introduction to digital painting and character design the best book I’ve found is Don Seegmiller’s “Digital Character Design and Painting”

I also keep a list of the best free learning resources I find online for new artists here – http://www.treelightstudios.com/links.htm#tutorials

Q – How do you get ideas to create a piece? What inspires you?

A – I’m inspired by new material, particularly faces and figures. Most of the time I’ll sit down to look through my reference library and begin to draw from something that strikes me as interesting or fun to render, and I’ll build it from there. I love fantasy art so fantasy characters and creatures feature strongly in my work. I also like to design interesting animals, like my winged rabbit and Hedgedragon (not to mention the balloon sheep!) – http://www.treelightstudios.com/gallery_fantasy.htm

Q – Are there any artists that have influenced you and why?

A – Children’s illustrator and portrait artist James Browne has always been my greatest influence, I just love his happy, whimsical work and hope one day to be even a freckle as good as he is – http://www.jamesbrowne.net/

I’m also a huge fan of Don Seegmiller’s work, particularly his character designs and his lively and textured painting technique – http://www.seegmillerart.com/

Q – Do you have a website you would like to share?

A – Yes my online gallery is www.treelightstudios.com . I’ve also been writing ambient and chillout music for 10 years which you can download for free from my music site www.alarinmusic.com . A lot of people tell me this music is very relaxing to paint and draw to so I hope you might like it too

Q – Finally, do you have any last words of advice for beginner artists?

A- All art is based on good drawing skills, and drawing is a fine-motor skill so it takes a while to develop. This seems to be the main thing that discourages new artists from continuing to practice, so my advice is… don’t ever give up! Keep drawing, even if it’s only once a week for a few hours, just keep drawing. The more you draw, the better you will become, and the more you will want to draw.

It takes time – if you draw for an hour a day for a year you would improve pretty rapidly, but for most people (myself included!) those first few years are a lot of looking at your work and thinking “ugh, that’s awful!” but then picking up the pencil and trying again. It’s important not to become discouraged, just keep practicing and give it time – you will get past that frustrating stage every artist has to go through at the start.

Also remember to keep things fun! Draw subjects that interest you, experiment, do tutorials, become a part of the online art community where you can get feedback on your work (http://www.treelightstudios.com/links.htm#artGroups) and join in fun challenges like speedpainting (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=0a83493dc88d998a3794c2dfdfa776fa&forumid=39).