Covers only personal and traditional art related Q&A, mostly adapted from my old Deviantart FAQ. Will be happy to update this page if/when more questions start coming in again.
1. What’s the meaning of your username “wickedillusion”/How did you choose your artist name? / Why don’t you use your real name?
WickedIllusion is not exactly my chosen artist name, it just ended up as one because I didn’t have much choice after a while and now I’m kinda stuck with it. I don’t mind it much, but I would never have chosen such common words for my artist name, would have went for something more unique, less common.
A lot has changed since I first started using it. If I knew years in the future some random online nickname you chose for whatever site could become this important part of your online creator “brand” and that you’d have to use it, or some variation of it, across different social media sites…
Since I never used my real name (with one exception using my first name) for my art related accounts online, recognizable online handle/username/nickname is my entire artist identity built over many years. Suddenly changing it to my real name almost no one’s familiar with, or changing it to an entirely new artist name…you can imagine why that wouldn’t be such a great idea. I don’t think I’ll be using my real name anytime soon, mostly for privacy but other reasons too. Maybe one day when things are better.
The history of this name. For years I shared my traditional art on DeviantArt under a really terrible, throw-away username (or so I thought), chosen when I was 14. I was finally able to change my dA username, first to “Wicked-Illusion“(“WickedIlluson” was taken, abandoned account), then to “WickedIllusionArt” some years ago once it became possible. As years went by, and with rise of social media, I started opening tons of different kind of accounts related to my art. I believe I first started using “wickedillusion” around 2010 on just couple of sites. Due to various changes on the internet in the following years and me getting more serious about my art, I was compelled to keep using the same name when opening new, art related, accounts online. For example, you can’t post and sell your art/prints under a bunch of different names, how are people supposed to know it’s all one and the same artist? That would be asking for trouble. And that’s how “just a username” from back in the day ended up being my artist name. Too late for new artist name, so now I can only slowly introduce my real name and wait until people are familiar with it enough before changing any account names, including this website’s URL.
2. Where did you learn to draw?
In my bedroom/”studio”.
3. Have you ever attended an art school or taken art classes?
No.
4. How long have you been drawing?
I could go for the old cliché and say I been drawing since I could hold a pencil, but most of us drew as kids, so I’ll say I’ve been drawing seriously for about 16 years now. Unfortunately, I’m years behind in expected improvement due to dramatic drop of quantity of artwork completed per year. Sadly, that number has often been below 5 in recent years which is really bad. Leaves so little space for any kind of practice etc., especially considering I dabble in mediums other than just graphite now. So, 16 years, but some of the more recent years barely count. Especially 2019 with zero artwork completed.
5. You don’t blend?!
This is an old question I used to get often (for my graphite work), including it only for some commentary on the topic and as a fun fact which is that the great majority of my old work shared online uses zero blending.
For many years I made it part of my drawing style, only sometimes making exceptions for some solid grey background or some other bit. I used to stick to no blending “rule”, avoided it even at times when I really could have used some, could have achieved a better looking result. Nowadays, as my style and technique is changing and evolving, I’m no longer avoiding blending, well, trying not to, when I think it would be really beneficial for the look I want to achieve and to decrease smudging on textured papers I use.
Some people are of the opinion the blending tools are used out of laziness and are a crutch for many artists who are too impatient to learn to render using the correct pencil grade. There is some truth in that, over-blending is a thing and some may rely on it too much, but I guess it’s also just another example of gatekeeping in art: ” you’re not a real artist if you do this, use that, can’t do x thing, are just doing y thing” blah blah.
6. What art supplies do you use for your drawings?
Check out my Artist Corner for all the info about my art supplies.
7. Can you teach me to draw?
I’m not really the right person to be teaching drawing. There are way too many issues in my drawing process, how I go about dealing with drawing challenges in less than ideal and very slow ways, drawing techniques I use to get to that final result – it’s not a good idea to be teaching that to anyone, especially beginner artists. There are far better, easier and especially faster drawing techniques out there that can teach you realistic drawing.
8. Do you have any tips for me?
Yes, “don’t eat yellow snow”, to quote my dear Crimefish‘s reply on the same question. It’s unbelievable how many people ask such a vague question and then expect…Please. Be. Specific. For art related tips & tricks, art supplies reviews and other random useful bits of info, check out my Artist Corner (art supplies section) and my Blog (might take a while for any/new posts to appear there due to other priories and time constraints).
9. Can I post your art to ___?
DeviantArt – features of my art on dA are always welcome, using the usual dA tools for this kind of thing.
Instagram – you may repost my work with credit in the first 2 lines of the description and tag on the picture. Do not edit or crop my work.
Tumblr / Twitter / Facebook – please do not repost my work on those sites. You’re welcome to reblog/retweet/share my art from my accounts on those sites.
Other websites – features with proper link credit back are fine. Do not edit or crop my work. I prefer you credit my Instagram for this.
10. Can I use your art for ___?
For any use of my art that is not a feature on whatever website with proper credit, contact me.
11. Do you sell originals?
Yes, some, in my Etsy shop. Occasionally on eBay.
12. Do you take commissions?
No.
13. Do you take requests?
No.