Manga/Anime Spotlight is a weekly feature that highlights the different artists across the deviantART's Manga/Anime community, and is a portal to get to know a bit more about them and their works. 

This week's feature is DestinieKirby

My favorite medium has definitely become digital over the years. I love all the different tricks and textures to create so many different effects. You can even mimic traditional art, which is pretty amazing when done right. As for tools I love, definitely my Intuos 3 Wacom Tablet. I had my fair share of doing art with a mouse and this little contraption has made a world of a difference. My first tablet was a Graphire and I've been addicted to them ever since. I also do most of sketching and coloring in Photoshop CS5, but I've recently started doing my line work and clean up in SAI. The vector tool for lines is amazing.

This changes from drawing to drawing, but most of the time I do start with a general idea and start drawing from there. I'm currently working on five new pieces. I'll use the "Cat Fishing" piece as my example, though. I wanted to do something for Halloween with my character Cassidy and a cat. He's a mischievous character, so I then thought of what he might be doing as an activity with the cat. That's when I came up with the idea of him being dressed kind of like a witchy warlock look and fishing for the cat with a mouse. The rest of the sketch has kind of just spurred from cute Halloween themes. It's not finished yet, but I hope to see it completed before next week.

If I work on a picture from start to finish with very little pause in between, I can finish a picture with background and full color in about 7 to 10 hours. Of course, I don't usually get that much time in one sitting which causes the time to be extended over about a week or more.

I started drawing when I was very young, probably around 2-ish when I could first pick up a crayon and go. I have artists in my family, so it was only natural that I would pick up the hobby. I didn't start taking drawing seriously until I was about 15/16 years old, though. I started off with a more realistic style and didn't start drawing in the manga/anime style until I was about 20 years old right before I joined deviantART. The reason? I started wanting to draw my favorite video game characters and found myself mimicking the style because I found it to be lovely. Of course being I was huge into Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts at the time I can blame Square Enix for the artistic interest. It's stuck with me ever since. I've had a bit of a reverse experience than most when it comes to manga/anime style.

I find a lot of inspiration from movies, comics/manga, and music. Lately music has been the heaviest influence in what I do, though. Nightwish and Within Temptation have fantastic song lyrics that tell very inspiring stories. I can't help but be motivated by them.

This has changed a lot for me over the years I've been a member of deviantART. Off site, I'm a huge Luis Royo fan. Amongst my fellow deviants I find a lot of inspiration from deviants like Majime, poncy-rogue, Horus-Goddess, Endling, Qinni, erebun, Neolucky, Gasara..... and these are just handful. I love so many, but this list would get ridiculous if I kept on.

Oh man, that's a hard decision, but I believe these five are my favorites:

Well for one, never ever give up. Like I've always said: Practice makes perfect and no one is perfect, so we should always keep practicing. Also, real life references are a must. Don't use "style" as an excuse. Style comes from studying real life and how it works. Style comes later and will develop on it's own. Don't try to force it. You'll be happier with the results.

I have a soft spot for traditional works and photography as well. If you ever take a gander at my Favorites you'll see I love quite a selection of styles and mediums.

No matter how difficult it is, stay positive and never lose hope. It will make life much easier than if you slouch in misery and negativity. And I talk from experience at both ends of the spectrum.

 

Miss-It-Girl | SenjoVal | aoi-hoshi | wbd | DiMoo | Tajii-Chan | GoddessOfCake | veroro | AmythestViolet | Gigicom | Barbicaty | izka197 | Awsumz | Russian-Lullaby | azarath | Lyricanna |

Until next week when we feature: Jyinxe