There is no doubt that Lorraine has a deep love of animals, and of art! With colourful illustrations and expressive character designs, we sent a barrage of Artspot! questions her way, and this is what she said!
We love your art! Who or what are your primary inspirations, and what keeps you drawing?
This is always a tough question. I love to travel and explore places and find that drawing people and animals from life really inspire me. Even if I’m not in some exotic destination a walk down my street can sometimes reveal the most unique characters. I’ve been lucky to have been raised in Africa where, growing up, I could spend a Sunday drawing cheetah or crocodiles from life. Great photography, old school artists like Al Hirschfeld, Mary Blair, Charley Harper, Alice and Martin Provensen to name a few. There’s so many modern artists out there that are amazing, for that you just have to look at all the Artsketch interviews :) [Ed: We like you!]
I started off at a Traditional Animation School in Canada. Over there the importance of life drawing and anatomy were really hammered into me. In terms of actual visual development art and illustration, I bought a wacom tablet and I taught myself over the years.
Unfortunately there really is no shortcut to being skilled at your craft. You really do have to draw more than the next person. Chuck Jones has a saying which I love. ‘Every Artist has thousands of bad drawings in them and the only way to get rid of them is to draw them out.’
Life drawing, traditional art training, anatomy, learning perspective, color and light are all really important as it gives you a strong foundation as an artist and these studies can follow you throughout your career.
Its hard to design when you are not inspired so surround yourself with inspiration. Interact with other artists, browse books/websites, take a sketchbook and observe the world around you.
Remember to also stay humble, hit your deadlines and be easy to work with because this industry is really small and as a friend once said ‘ you only get one shot at a first impression.’
Actually I was a 80% digital artist for the longest time :) And I really respect the wonderful techniques you can create digitally…Personally I decided to do a bit of a ‘digital detox’ with my art and get back to sketching, refining line work on paper, using gouache. Aside from looking for Ctrl+Z and face palming a couple times, I really loved getting back into it. I love how traditional media forces you to slow down and and really ‘think’. Textures and line are unpredictable and never ‘perfect’ which is the beauty of it. There’s also just a different, more raw feeling to the art which I think digital can never replace.
What’s your average workflow like when creating a piece? What thoughts go through your mind?
The process can be a little different depending on what I am designing. I love shapes!. A lot of the time I will scribble a bunch of them down, give myself a theme and then design creatures into the shape, trying to carve out their personalities in the process – it forces you to really think! Strong silhouettes are important to me and quality of line. When it comes to designing specific characters, I start with lots of research and thumbnails exploring the characters personality and costume before moving onto more finished poses, where I continually try to exaggerate things.
Thanks for the ArtSpot! Lorraine!
You are most welcome. Thanks so much for the chat!
Connect!
Website/Blog: www.lorrainealvarezposen.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/