Behind The Screens: Interview With StarsColdNight by DMD-CT on DeviantArt (original) (raw)
Hello, and welcome to another edition of Digitalists new interview series:
Behind the Screens: Digital Art Masters
Through these interviews, we will get an in-depth look into the minds
and careers of DeviantART's most influential digital artists.
Today's featured artist is StarsColdNight
Jessica Nicoll Dueck Dualrte is a 24 year old artist born in Paraguay. She speaks Spanish as a native language but also knows English and German. Her father is Mennonita/canadien and her mother is Paraguayan. She has been married since 2009 and is a full time house wife with time enough to do Photography Editions as a job/hobby, which she does from home. Her personal company is Starscoldnight and she is also a photographer for small events.
She loves to read novels by Christine Feehan. She says "They are the best in romance, passion and have information about myths and legends which I use for inspiration." She started with digital art when she was 15, but as she points out, "only started to get better in skills and quality a few years ago." She joined DA in 2005, but she changed her profile in 2010 when she started to post what she feels are her "real" works here.
When did you first discover your passion for art?
I was a fan of the anime tv shows and when I discovered I could watch them online, I dedicated my hours to do so, then tried to find the images of the main characters I loved from them. Thats when i found DeviantArt in 2005 and then when I figured how to use the site, i started to see these amazing realistic works that just WOW me in every way! I learned they where called Photomanipulations, art with real people, then i was exited to get my photos inside these worlds they where creating. My first Love was AF-studios with her dream like art. It took some time and effort to understand all the rules and get my skills working as i could barely understand english back then. After a few years of trial and error I managed to get the courage to post my works here, the feedback was overwhelming, impressive. I found a community i wanted to be part of without taking anything in exchange from me, for free and 24hs online. I dedicated my time to watch tutorials and read learn about photoshop and became who I am today.
Was your family supportive of your decision to pursue art as a career?
In my side of the world, Art is not a career, it is more like a waste of time while you study and work for the real world. When i started, i was still in school so i finished and then got married and things where still the same. As for me, now, i do this 24/7 and get support from my husband who purchased me my first wacom a few years ago. It is still a hobby for the rest, not a source of money or career.
What is your favorite piece from your gallery and why?
Oh thats a hard one! I love all of them, each represents something for me in a very personal way. But I think Soul Collectors is the one i love most, because of the dark relationship i tried to visualize, and then The Traveler for the sweet part of love. I adore couples artworks. Making true/impossible/forbidden/dark/ love last forever is not usually very real in our world, but they are in my works. Imagining a whole different side of creatures and worlds is just a inspiring thing for me. I can do whatever i want and create any kind of character and make it real, in the Art.
Where do you find the inspiration for your art?
Music lyrics give me the final feeling in my works. And for the visual part I usually get them in dreams I have, I get up in the middle of the night to write down when it's a dream or I forget it. Sometimes I'm reading a book and then a short flash with the exact image appears. I never have the result the way I want it but it's very close. A few times I browsed trough the stock sections and see a specific photo with another and another and another and the image is complete in my head, then I go ahead and do it in photoshop.
On a site as large as DeviantART, it can be very difficult for artists to reach a broad audience. What advice can you give to those who want to get their art noticed online?
The most important thing of all is to respect copyright rules, no matter how amazing your work is, if you dont follow them, any magazine, publisher or writer will pass right to the next artist so they can avoid future problems if they publish yours with these infringements.
I suggest joining as many groups and websites as possible, sharing everywhere is the best way, BUT dont be a spammer or ask people to follow you or fav your works, like follow for follow, if we like your work, we will fave/share/like, if you insist on us going to your gallery and watching you, it will only make you look desperate instead of artistic...and, as always, try to improve, learn and practice more, dont copy other artists, create your own world, and outside the box.
Name three influential artists on DeviantART whose works
inspire you and tell us why you look up to them.
AF-studios was my first maniper here in DA. The way she manipulates the backgrounds to fit the model and the colors and details used were my inspirations back then.
neverdying has the dark wicked mind i wish i had when creating something.
Skills just flow in him and he can represent scenes and moments i adore...wicked and
creative!
Vasylina Creates amazing characters from scratch and my jaw just drops every time
i see something there, so fantastic and full of colors. All the mystical feeling and magical
characters blow my mind! Going from a normal model photo to a mermaid or a see a creature
I have never seeing before is so inspiring and amazing for me!
Thank you StarsColdNight for sharing your wisdom and experience with the community!
Join us next week for another installment where we will be interviewing