Ask the Artist: longerthenwedo

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Ask the Artist: longerthenwedo
Interviewer:
Interviewee:	longerthenwedo
Date(s):	June 5, 2012
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	Fan Art, Supernatural
External Links:	interview is here, Archived version
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longerthenwedo was interviewed in 2012 for Supernatural Roundtable.

Some Excerpts

I do lots of things, but what I spend most of my time (art time, computer time, free time) on is graphics, the majority of which are probably icons, but I also do larger graphics (sized for tumblr, or sometimes even larger as wallpapers). I also do traditional art (drawing, painting, digital painting), but I'm a pretty boring fanartist, since I generally just draw caps and images as they appear. I rarely ever draw manipulations; I prefer to get my ship feelings (Sam/Dean generally, as they are my OTP of all OTPs) out in photoshop, where I manipulate images in little ways, and where I can incorporate lyrics and quotes into my work, which I feel weird about doing with traditional art.

The most inspiring thing to me is looking at the work of other people. I have a folder on my computer where I put icons by other makers that I love, and as of right now that folder contains almost 6,000 icons. Comparison is a good thing for me: seeing what others are doing gives me ideas to move forward with, and the motivation to create something I would save if I hadn't made it, if that makes sense. On tumblr it's similar: I look through my own blog often, because that's where I reblog the things I find pretty, and I ask myself if I would reblog my own graphics to determine if I like them or if they're finished.

Screencaps in and of themselves are inspiring to me as well. I'm in the process of going through every single episode of Supernatural and saving the caps I like, and I have thousands of caps saved already, even though I'm not even halfway through the episodes. When I'm lacking inspiration or don't have specific ideas, I'll scroll thorugh my screencap folder with my eyes closed, click on a random cap, and no matter what or who it is, I'll use it in an icon or a graphic. It's a great way to keep myself going when I'm not sure what I want to make.

If we're talking concepts or graphics with a "purpose" or meaning, I tend to turn to lyrics. I have a text file where I put all the lyrics that strike my fancy in relation to a particular section. There are other fandoms in there, but Supernatural is by far the biggest section. I have a Supernatural playlist on my iPod. I listen to music and sometimes I can visualize what I want the text to look like, or what caps/scenes would fit perfectly with the words of the song.

To get inspired for traditional art, I just browse deviantART, or look through screencaps for images with great light and shadows.