Thursday, August 28, 2014

Artist Profile-Nataliya "Shadar" Kostenko

I’ve worked in almost every basic medium because the magnet arts high school I attended required us to branch out and experiment with all kinds of ways of making art. My favorite medium is digital video/film but I also like drawing, painting and photography a lot.
Have you had any formal art training?
Yeah, as mentioned I went to an arts high school and “majored” in visual arts there.
Where do you find inspiration?
For drawings and painting so far I’ve done mostly only extremely realistic stuff (or at least as realistic as I have the ability to make it), so I look for unusual angles for portraits and interesting set-ups for still-lifes. For films (I’ve only made short films and animations so far—under 15 minutes) I look for inspiration everywhere from books I read to people I meet and even reality TV sometimes.
 
Has your art been influenced by Realms? If so, how?
My art has not been influenced by Realms, but I believe this is only because I just recently started playing Realms. My art usually reflects many aspects of my life and since Realms is becoming a big part of that life I believe it will start to strongly influence it soon. Realms makes me really want to try drawing, painting or animating fantasy-type stuff, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Where do you share your work?
I’m pretty bad about sharing my work, I’ve even been told that in the past actually. I haven’t been organized enough to make a website or youtube channel for my art which is definitely something I should do in the future. When I was in high school my work used to be shared, through the school, at a few galleries in New Haven but since I came to college I guess it’s really been shared nowhere at all. I should really get to work on that website.

 What project/projects that you've created have you been particularly proud of?
Probably my two longest short films, “Chase” and “The Other Door”. I applied and was accepted to a few college film programs (which I didn’t end up going to) with them and got some other recognition in high school. I’m also pretty proud of the self-portrait and still-lifes I did for my senior portfolio.

What projects do you hope to complete in the future?
I would really like to make another film, but for now I only have ideas on paper. It’s hard to find time, actors and equipment while at college. And like I said before, I’d also like to try some potentially Realms-inspired fantasy stuff.


What other Realms artists work do you enjoy?
I frequently see Carol Eddy’s work all over facebook and it’s pretty amazing; she’s very talented.