The Arterview: Andrew

I'm just a guy who draws a lot. Like, all my free time is drawing or watching Doctor Who. I recently re-watched all seven seasons and it was glorious.

I'd say I really like David Tennant, though Matt Smith started to grow on me more as the seasons went on.

Chistopher Eccleston is underrated, imo.

Nope; I was born in the US, Virginia. However, I lived in England from age 0.5 to 4. My dad was in the Air Force, so he got assigned there, and it was great. One time, I tried to bring a snowman inside, but yeah, you know what happens.

I have mostly vague memories, but then we moved to Texas and it's been my permanent home ever since. I don't want to toot my own horn, but after flunking out of college, I lived in Nevada, Colorado, Louisiana, and Florida for short periods of times. But I eventually came back to Texas, so yeah, Texas is great imo. Nice and warm right now in the wintertime, haha.

Right now I've been working temporary jobs, just doing random stuff, not doing the same thing for very often. I consider drawing to be my first responsibility lately. If I'm not drawing, I'm thinking about drawing. I have a project I'm working on that I'm not going to reveal yet, lol. Hope I don't build it up just for it to flop ;-;

Other than that, I enjoy playing Skyrim. I played Fire Emblem: Awakening for a while, and I just bought Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, but I haven't got around to it yet.

No, not really. I just try to draw how I'm feeling? I just try to find the easiest way to do whatever it is I want to do, and then try to do it. After looking through all 20 whatever pages of Smeargle's Studio, I've found a lot of inspiration. Rocket Grunt, NJ, Cartoons, the old Zracknel thread, and I've still got to look through Shinxe. And then Yilx, currently Sephirona, chameleonskyes...

They're all great.

Some of the underrated threads are the best too, like that thread where the guy draws every day trying to improve for however many weeks. Just reading the old stuff is really great. It was before "likes" were a thing, so everybody would just comment with tons of one-liners and requests.

I'd like to get better but I know I need to keep drawing every day. NJ has posted an amazing comment in an old thread, and it's just really great advice that got me thinking. About how I wanted to approach drawing, and what I need to do to be able to accurately represent what I want to draw.

I honestly don't know... I just want to keep making things. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia last year, and I know that probably doesn't mean anything in this day and age, and I'm definitely not the most creative person out there. Mostly, I just copy stuff. Not trace, just try to get references right. A lot of my drawings are just based on feeling, I just want the lines to feel good to me... like if I'm in a weird mood, I make it kind of scribbly or whatever. I want them to be real, don't know what else to say about that.

If there's a particular style I'm comfortable with? Well, right now I've been using an urgent, sketchy style for most of my stuff, I really like seeing what comes out because it feels natural. Sometimes I do the whole tedious thing where you go in and spend hours erasing and editing. One of my favorite pieces is the OU Speed Tiers article with Venusaur, Jolteon, and Ferrothorn, it was done in a slow, loose style. As for colors, idk. I'm not good with colors. Mostly I color sample the original art, although sometimes I like to choose my own colors but I'm not very comfortable with it yet. I like doing an overlay of colors and often I'll do multiple layers, blah blahblah. Basically copying NJ, or trying to, lol. I can never be like NJ and that's fine.

Sometimes, I'll just get fixated on something and do it over and over. Really, that's part of the trick I think. If I've improved at all, it's from doing stuff over and over. Like drawing contour lines is really fun, and then when you zoom out, it looks like it has depth and different angles and accents you couldn't have planned. I like being surprised, but not being scared, haha. I don't have any big ideas to save the world or whatever; I just try to concentrate on what's in front of me, if that's any kind of philosophy. I don't really feel like any style is the most comfortable now; I'm still experimenting and developing and learning. I don't know whats going to come out before anyone else does.

Unrelated, but watching other people draw is fun; I really need to do more of that.

Well, I started playing with RBY; I got Red first and then played Yellow later. I also played Gold. I was never competitive because I was a small child and had no idea that there could be a competitive aspect, but I was ecstatic about Pokémon and I collected as many Trading Cards as I could buy. There was this little shop where we kids would gather and buy/trade Pokémon cards. I tried playing the actual game a few times, but I really really really liked the cards and the characters most of all, and getting holos, lol

I think it's part of the gambling experience and the game of chance when you're opening up a new pack. "Are you going to get the same ones you already got? Are you gonna get a holo Charizard?" It was just very addicting to me and I always got so excited whenever I would get Pokémon Cards as a gift or something.

I skipped out on Gen III-IV, sad to say I think it was because it fell out of style. We got into yo-yos again, then that weird braiding stuff with plastic string. Then, I got seriously into reading; I would read everything, everywhere, anytime. Lord of the Rings, Art of War, War and Peace, Hardy Brothers, newspapers, etc. About in my third year of college, I started having a lot of free time, so I downloaded Fire Red and Emerald ROMs. That kept me happy for a while; it's just so awesome exploring a new world like that. Finally, I saved up enough money to buy a 3DS in late 2011, I believe, and was sooooooooo excited to play BW and BW2. Eventually I got Heart Gold as well, have restarted that several times, and lastly, XY.

So as for the question, I guess my friends introduced me. Maybe that's not a good answer... it just happened, ok?! ;-;

I got both BW and BW2 at the same time. I rushed through BW, and then BW2 I spent a lot of time on, and eventually I started working up the nerve to play Wi-Fi battles. I loved Ferrothorn, Drapion, Scolipede, Klinklang, and Liepard, and I mostly lost, but I started searching for movesets and all the searches lead to Smogon. Sooo I would just read the analyses. I didn't rightly understand them at first, but then I read all about EVs and IVs and started breeding. Didn't get many outstanding mons, but I learned the basics, and fought some more Wi-Fi battles. So FINALLY I was looking at Smogon's main page, and there was like this glowing aura telling me something, and I was like, "What are you trying to tell me, Smogon? WHAT?!" And then I located the simulator link and was introduced to Pokémon Showdown!.

I probably stared at the chat for a while, and then I tried making my first team of Scolipede, Gliscor, Liepard, Drapion, and so on. At first, I just entered in two Pokémon with their movesets, waited a couple days, and needless to say, I sucked at competitive battling. I only play RandBats now—shoutout to #yoloswag—it's fun and its a great way to unwind after drawing for a while, although lately I've been getting really mad when I get haxed to death. Then I saw Smeargle's Studio, and my first post was in the Battle Thread #2, I believe, which featured a Cincinno drawn in MS Paint. At that time I hadn't drawn in... well a while I guess, so I just recently started drawing on a normal basis. The Battle Thread #2 really inspired me, because there were so many witty and creative posts. I'm sad it's dead now. Vabolo contributed a lot; I miss that guy.

It feels pretty good, although undeserved in some aspects as I'm not the best as I want to be, but I am pretty happy that people have appreciated what I've done for different aspects of the site. Just trying to make it pretty, lol. Also, I kind of feel an extra boost, maybe, like an extra kick in the butt to get stuff done and experiment and do whatever.

I feel a *little* more responsible, but yeah, I feel a little more welcomed, like I've been marked on the map, and that makes me want to help other people do the same.

My current username is something I hate, but the funny thing is I still don't know what I would change it to. Andrew339 is my email address since I was 14, and iirc it was taken on Smogon, so I added a one. Simple. And yes, Andrew is my real name. I don't care who knows!!!!

As for my past lives, they have all been very successful; I can only hope to live up to them.

Not really. Just do what you gotta do to make a living, and then do whatever else you like to do. As for art, just experiment a lot. If you're stuck in a rut, just be crazy and let loose your inner angel/demon. Also, practice. And by practice, I mean just draw a lot a lot of whatever you would like to draw. You don't have to draw what other people say. Eventually, you will start to learn about other things, and the process will come naturally. But you have to keep doing it. The more you do, the more you get interested in other things. You can't be afraid to experiment!

To an aspiring artist, I would say think of the first thing that pops into your head, and draw it. If you don't feel like drawing it, draw the second thing. If you don't feel like drawing that, then wait a while, you may need some more time to experience other things first. You may need to get a smoke, have a meal, go to the market, talk to your mom/gf/significant other/cat. Just draw stupid stuff, there's no pressure, and try to emulate a style. If you want to do art, then you will. If you kind of want to do art but don't know what to do then you need to watch more movies, go to more parties, get a girlfriend, or just start scribbling. Literally. It's a great way to get it out, and it will most likely look like CRAP, but NO ONE CARES.

You're gonna die anyway, but that's no excuse not to do stuff.

Drapion.

He's cool. He has big claws and a stinger and he's purple. His body is made out of segments and he has blue, ovally, sharp pointed eyes, and kind of hard to draw, but fun. Skorupi too. Lately, I've been really liking Wooper, though, so I'd say Wooper is close second.

You're welcome, Bummer :)

I hope I haven't been too weird.