About Charles

My name is Charles Ott and I am a self-taught architectural illustrator from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the creator of Steel City Artist Illustrations. I specialize in creating very detailed hand-drawn pen & ink illustrations of prominent architectural landmarks. My work is featured worldwide in art galleries, business, colleges, gift shops, restaurants and even the White House.

The Interview

Q: What medium or mediums do you work with?

A: Pen & ink

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

A: I began drawing around the age of seven years of age and have a massive portfolio of artwork, mainly illustrations. I was inspired by another Pittsburgh illustrator who had his work displayed nearby to where my father’s business was located during the early 80′s in Pittsburgh. His name is Nevin Robinson.

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

A: I am a self-taught artist and consider it a blessing. There is nothing more I love to do than to draw and it is the passion for doing what I love that continues to be both my identity and driving force.

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

A: My tools of trade are simple and they include pencils, pens, a metal ruler and t-square and a steady hand. I would highly recommend Sakura of America’s Pigma micron pens for anyone involved with illustration. These pens leave the fine, smooth, crisp lines and do not smear or bleed like other pens. The company was kind enough to feature my work on their website for marketing their products on Facebook & Twitter.

Copyright 2008 Charles R. Ott Jr.

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

A: Most of my illustration work centers upon architectural illustration and I consider myself a realist. The illustrations I create allow people to reminisce and to remember the places that have had meaning to them in their lives. My illustrations of personal homes, college old mains, churches, stadiums, steel mills and national landmarks are often the subjects I am commissioned for.

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

A: Pittsburgh is a great city to draw inspiration from as an artist. The city possesses an urban landscape combining both old world and modern architecture covering every style conceivable.

Q: Are there any artists that have influenced you ?

A: Nevin Robinson

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

A: My website is Steel City Artist Illustrations, http://www.steelcityartist.com/ Last year, I also co-created a charity art foundation with three other Pittsburgh artists. We auction off our original artwork for charitable events & organizations. The name of our art foundation is the Humanitarian Artists of Pittsburgh.

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

A: As with anything in life if you have a passion for what you love to do than you have already won. Be willing to put all of your energy, time and fortitude into realizing your dream. It is possible to be successful as an artist, but it often does take time, patience, right connections. Don’t ever give up regardless of what anyone might say to prevent you from becoming the success you dream of. We each have our own path we have to follow. Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’!

Q: Anything else you would like to share about yourself?

A: Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share some insight into my profession as an illustrator.

About Sharon

Q: What medium or mediums do you work with?

A: My paintings now are all digital. I use a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet to paint digitally in Photoshop. I still enjoy traditional painting however I find the digital process so much more appealing because of the various features that are available with today’s technology.

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

A: I have always had an interest in art however it took me a long time to find the exact path that I wanted to follow.

In 2000 I enlisted in the Army and while stationed in South Korea, I was introduced to online gaming. I loved it so much that I decided as soon as I finished my contract, that I would pursue creating artwork for computer games.

During college I started looking for freelance artistic work on Craig’s List. I replied to hundreds of ads and from that had a few offers. Doing this taught me a lot of lessons; good and bad.

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

A: I have had both. I am formally trained as an artist from the University of California, Berkeley however my digital painting skills, including Photoshop are self taught.

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

A: A digital tablet! I use a Wacom Intuos 4 Medium, it is absolutely worth the investment as it comes with several free programs and I no longer have to buy paint, brushes or canvases.

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

A: I am most interested in the fantasy genre, especially characters.

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

A: Become active on an active artist community website so that you can interact with your peers. Find one that has artists that are doing your dream job. There is no reason that you can’t have your dream job once you know how to realistically get there. You can find out that information from such a site. The community that I became involved with is ConceptArt.org.

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

A: I suppose I get inspired by the people around me. When I get honest feedback on my artwork, then I can really focus on the areas that need more work. I often can’t see the same flaws that someone else sees, so being open to hearing what you don’t want to hear is so beneficial.

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

A: All of the artists on ConceptArt.org, being apart of the community has been so rewarding. They have challenged me and it has shown in the quality of my artwork.

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

A: http://amberalexander.foliosnap.com/

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

A: Never give up on your dream. Every amazing artist you look at started as a beginner. Art is like a language, it comes with practice. Just keep at it and you will get better and you can make a living doing what you love!

Q: Anything else you would like to share about yourself?

A: Anyone is welcome to contact me with questions or offers through my website.

Sample of Amber’s Work

(Click Image For Larger View)

Your Name: k. Madison Moore

Location: Mount Pocono Pennsylvania

Title of Artwork: Romancing Picasso

Dimensions of Artwork: 16″ x 20″

Medium: Oils

Support: Custom Canvas Panel

Describe this Piece Painting with The Masters – Romancing Picasso – Art within Art Series

Blog: http://kmadisonmoore.blogspot.com

I recently started using a new brand of Oil Paints called Chroma Archival Oils. I like these paints so much that I thought I would do a short review post.  I started using these oils after hearing about them in a home study course called Mastering Color by Richard Robinson.

Chroma Archival Oils are a fairly new addition to the oil painting industry. They first gained popularity in Australia and were later introduced to the United States in the early 1990′s. Since that time, they are becoming more and more popular so I just had to see what this craze was all about.

As much as I love oil paints, they do have a big flaw. They tend to become rather brittle and crack over time. This is because oil paints become less flexible as they dry. To overcome this flaw, Archival Oils introduced a new kind of oil that has been modified with a synthetic material making the paint more flexible.

When I read about these paints, I automatically thought they couldn’t possibly have the same look and feel as ordinary oil paints, but honestly, they really do. They dry slowly and handle just like any other oil paint.

If you do decide to give these paints a try be sure to only use Archival Brand Mediums. According to their website, you cannot use other brands with Archival oils as the Archival Mediums are specially made to work with their oils.

As far as mixing Archival oils with other brands of oil paint, I could not find any information on this unfortunately. I did mix some of mine with another brand and they appear to work just fine, but I have no idea of the long term effects of this mixture.

If anyone has any further information about this, please leave your comment in the box below. Thanks!

Click Here for more information about Chroma Archival Oils and for pricing and purchasing details