Fan Artist UpTheHill on Dramione, Erotic Art, and the Magic of Portraits
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Fan Artist UpTheHill on Dramione, Erotic Art, and the Magic of Portraits |
| Interviewer: | Malory Beazley |
| Interviewee: | UpTheHill |
| Date(s): | September 26, 2016 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Harry Potter |
| External Links: | Fan Artist UpTheHill on Dramione, Erotic Art, and the Magic of Portraits – FAN/FIC Magazine, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Fan Artist UpTheHill on Dramione, Erotic Art, and the Magic of Portraits is a 2016 interview with UpTheHill. It was conducted by Malory Beazley at FAN/FIC Magazine.
Excerpts
MB: Your art is incredible and conveys such intense emotions. When did you start making digital art? And at what point did art and fandom converge?
UTH: I’ve enjoyed drawing since I was a kid. Art has always been my favorite hobby. However, I never took it seriously. I did consider it as a potential career path when I was figuring out what I wanted to become, but I decided against it because I realized I only enjoyed art as a hobby and nothing else. So I’ve always doodled, but I’ve never drawn as much as I’m drawing now. After reading the Harry Potter series, I discovered fan art. This was the thing that inspired me to go to a store on December 2015, buy a graphic tablet, and begin drawing! So there never really was a point when art and fandom converged. I draw because of Harry Potter. As I like to say, I’m not an artist who happens to like Harry Potter. I’m a Potterhead who happens to like drawing!
MB: I love how Harry Potter inspired you to take your hobby to the next level and buy a graphic tablet. Can you describe your creative process? How long does it usually take to finish a piece, from the moment of inspiration to publishing?
UTH: My inspiration for what to draw comes from all kinds of sources, such as things I see on the internet, discussions with fellow fans, suggestions from my followers, and just things that pop in my head. I rarely draw art that depicts specific situations or scenarios. I tend to focus on emotion and aesthetic value, especially when I illustrate “out of context” moments from my imagination.
On average, it takes me 3 hours to finish a piece, although overall it can vary from 1 to 6 hours, if not more. I never publish art straight away. I like coming back to my drawings after a while to see if there are things that need fixing or if I can improve it a little. So it can take weeks for me to get a piece finished and ready for publishing.
MB: It’s safe to say your blog, UpTheHillArt, houses one of the most gorgeous collections of Harry Potter art in the fandom. How do you feel about all the positive attention your art has received?
UTH: It’s unbelievable. I cannot lie, it genuinely blows my mind. I’ve never even dreamed of the amount of attention I’m receiving now, so I would never allow myself to take it for granted. I couldn’t be more grateful for the support I’ve been getting! It also warms my heart when my followers come to me saying how my art has inspired them to draw or to write or merely to dream. Or that my personal representation of the Harry Potter universe matches the world they’ve created in their own imaginations. It’s nothing but magical!
MB: Your HP Portraits series is incredible. And (moving) portraits play such a major role in the Harry Potter series. What is it about portraits that inspires you?
UTH: I admire the human face. I admire how a still image of a face can tell a viewer something about the individual—who they are, what they’re like, what their story is. It’s fun taking characters that exist, figuring out how I personally envision them in my head, and recreating them. I try to capture and represent the essence of the character while still heavily relying on my own unique perspective of them.
You know, I believe that the person in the portrait doesn’t have to actually move like in the Harry Potter series in order to feel more real, more palpable, and to tell you something. I hope that by looking at the characters in my portraits, viewers can recognize them as coming from J. K. Rowling, while also learning something new about them from my own imagination. It’s the perfect balance!