Have you had any formal art training?
I have taken the classes you expect to take in standard education, but I haven’t had any further art education. Most of the stuff I try is sort of trial and error. I would love to show some examples of my first attempts, but a lot of them are unpleasant to the eyes.
Where do you find inspiration?
This may sound counter-intuitive, but almost everything I create is fantasy based, but is rooted in reality. If I make something, I almost always want to look at it and think “This is the closest I can get this to look if this were real”. There are a lot of times that is impossible, but I think anyone who saw the baseball bat I made for Grimloch Questing 2013 was probably afraid I had lost it.
Has your art been influenced by Realms? If so, how?Yeah, of course. The obvious part in this is that a lot of the craft things I do are realms based. It is also clear that the work I create for Realms and outside of the realms is quite different. What is less obvious, I suppose, is the fact that it’s impossible to avoid drawing some influence from the Realms. There is a lot of creativity in the community, and this type of setting can drive that.
Where do you share your work?
If I am proud of something, I post it on Facebook and/or DeviantArt.com (Noctaire). I post very indiscriminately. If I think it looks somewhat cool, I post it. If I haven’t got familiar with a type of medium, I almost definitely post it, because I don’t know better.
What project/projects that you've created have you been particularly proud of?
The baseball bat I mentioned before was one of the best things I created in my opinion. It looked like one. It was weighted like one. The measurements were exact. Unfortunately... It melted the very next day when we left it in the car, and I didn’t get a great picture. The stop sign was my first attempt at a weapon that looks somewhat real, so I am pretty proud about that. Some of the guns I have made (dieselpunk / steampunk) might not have the most extraordinary modifications, but they have allowed me to try different textures, and I have learned quite a bit from them.
I really hope to make some great stuff for the final year Grimloch Questing. I obviously can’t say exactly what those things are. It’s been all crafting this year, though, so I hope to get some time doing some other things, like drawing.
What other Realms artists work do you enjoy?
Everyone that came before me has done such unbelievable work. I am not just saying this, when I state that every one of them is leagues above me in artistic talent. With just a submission or two of their work, it was clear how talented they were. As much as I wish I could single any of them out, I can’t. Instead I am going to reference someone most of you don’t know, as he hasn’t played the game much, but he is a good friend. He is also, incredibly talented for being self-taught. I tried so many different techniques, but also comes back to the ones that work well. I am going to try and cheat here, and post a link to just one piece of work. His name is Josh Sawyer.
