Exclusive Interview with Fan Artist MiRta
A couple of weeks ago an absolutely gorgeous picture of Sam Winchester turned up on my Twitter feed and I immediately knew I wanted to speak to the person who’d created the work for this column. I was able to locate Mila through her Tumblr account and she graciously agreed to be interviewed for our site.
Mila works and lives in a small town in Russia and used Google Translator to help with the email interview. She is a graduate of the College of Medicine and is working in a rehabilitation center as a nurse while she completes her psychology degree at university.
When did you start drawing? Do you remember your first drawings? Do you still have any of them?
As a child I loved to draw. I had a lot of colored crayons, pencils, markers and different watercolors. My drawings did not always turn out well, but I enjoyed the process itself. I remember that I loved to draw birds, trees and cartoon characters. “Winnie-the-Pooh”, “Tom and Jerry” and “The Little Mermaid” (Ariel) were my favorites. I was drawing like on everything that I can used for that (albums, notebooks, scraps of paper, margins of a books, asphalt sidewalks near home and etc.). Unfortunately, I don’t have my childhood drawings anymore. I’d happy to take a look at it now.
Which medium do you prefer? Pencil, ink, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, digital? Do you use a different medium based on what you are creating?
For my art works I always use Photoshop, a graphics tablet and computer mouse. Although as a child I loved to draw, it didn’t work out in adult life. There was so many other interests and I had forgotten about art for a long time. It was only thanks to the Supernatural fandom I’ve got the felt like I wanted to do some art again, but in a slightly different direction.
Photo manipulation as an art form has become my most favorite. I love to see how from the small pieces and parts of different images and graphic elements something new is born, with new meaning and purpose. It’s not always easy; and I’m not talking about manip(ulations) where you can easily put someone’s head on another body and get an image (when I was learning how to work in Photoshop, I made pictures like that). I’m talking about creating something harmonious with its own background, color, light and etc. This shouldn’t look like separate parts but appear as a full, solid picture. Depending on the complexity of the work, I use a number of different references. In some cases, it reaches up to 40 pieces per work! I can also draw in some parts (hair, eyes, clothing or other elements), light and shade, for more realistic look.
You do a great job! All of your images have cohesiveness and harmony. Have you attended any type of art school or did you teach yourself?
No, I never took any kind of classes, I’m self-taught. I learned to work in Photoshop through YouTube and many other websites with lessons devoted to stuff like that (collage, drawing, photo manipulation and etc.).
What are your favorite subjects (people, landscapes, still life, etc.)?
I’ve recently become interested in photography. I mean the genre of creative photography. I really like portrait shots and photos of nature. When you look at these photos, you feel a sense of inner peace and harmony fill your heart, you feel the mood that the photographer wanted to convey. This is no just ordinary commercial pic, where the posture, facial expression and perspective are most important. What’s important here is the atmosphere of the picture, it should be on the first place.
I know you love Supernatural – how long have you been watching the show? Who / what is your favorite subject?
I love ‘Supernatural’! I love Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles with all my heart and I am really grateful to them for their hard work on their characters – the Winchester brothers. This is the only show I’ve watched for such a long time, almost 10 years.
I started to watch the series because of my older brother. He always watched the channel where the show was aired, and didn’t let me to watch what I want, so I had to watch the show with him. And then I fell in love with Sam Winchester, this character was so sweet, kind and sympathetic, and after a while, he took all my attention. A little later thanks to Sam I fell in love with Dean too, because he’s the best older brother, who you could ever wish for. And I think, no matter how many seasons the show has left, as long as the brothers there, I will continue to love this show.
What other fandoms (even music or movies), you are interested in?
I think there’re no such thing. The SPN-fandom is the one and only! 🙂 I watch a lot of different shows and movies, and I listen some music, and all of this gives me a good mood, nice emotions and feelings, but there’s no such a thing that hooked me up like Supernatural.
Do you accept commissions or proposals for new works?
No, I’m sorry, I don’t take requests or commissions. I don’t have the time because of my job and studies.
Totally understandable. Where people can find your work on line? I know they’ll want to see more!
I have my own page on Tumblr as well as a page on deviantart.
We call ourselves Talk Nerdy With Us – nerdy means that we like things that other people might find strange, like comic books – so is there anything that you would call yourself ‘nerdy’ for?
I’m a total nerd of cooking. I love to cook and pamper my family with something new and delicious. And I like of improvisation and creative experiments with new dishes.