Artist of the Month for April is
Jollyself
I'm delighted to announce that the Renderosity Artist of the Month for April, 2016 is JollySelf. Jollyself received the highest amount of votes (by far) from Renderosity members. Jollyself, whose nickname is "Jazzie", lives in Florida where he creates "surreal and edgy works" in Photoshop, Mixed Media, Poser and other applications. He was selected Artist of the Month back in September, 2009, and is long overdue for another AOM win. After spending some time in his remarkable gallery, I think you'll agree: this is one imaginative and skilled digital artist!
Artist of the Month Interview
Renderosity: I love your Rendo name (jollyelf) and avatar. How did you come to choose this name and what has it been like being a member of Renderosity?
Jollyself: I've been a happy member since 2006 when I began my wonderful journey in digital art. My name jollyself was the original email name I used when I had a website promoting my clay sculptures of Situational Santas (sculpts of him in real life situations ex: in a tub, on the toilet etc). So when I found Renderosity and began the membership, I used the jollyself email. I have loved Betty Boop as a kid and used to draw her alot so I proudly where her avatar online in my galleries and Facebook.
Your most recent art work, Fire Starter, is wonderful. Can you tell me a bit about how this image was created? What tools did you use and what was the process?
Fire Starter was fun to do. She was rendered in Daz and then taken into Photoshop to create the cyborg effects and add the hoses, fire and background. The Pen tool in Photoshop is the greatest toy in the box and the filters are so fun.
I see that you use mixed medium, Poser and a variety of tools to create your art works; what's in your tool box and why do you prefer these tools to work with?
I primarily use Poser and Photoshop for most of the work I do. I have incorporated more use of Daz Studio given that I am part of the Artistic License Promotion team and alot of our Vendors create Daz products that we promote for them. Of all the software tools that I use, my favorite is Photoshop. That program brings out the best of my surreal creativity, so I make sure I practice with all the tools in Photoshop at least once a week to upgrade my skills in the program.
Who are some of the artists that have influenced/inspired you and why?
Artists that influence me are Tim Burton, Steven Kenny, Michael Cheval, Peter Gric and even some Renderosity artists here in the community. I found my "surreal self" through 3D digital art so I am first and foremost attracted to and seek out surreal artists and their work both old age surreal and new age. I love being able to take the mundane or the original thought or concept and twist it, bending it into a surreal extension of itself. That challenges both my creative mind and my technical talent with the tools I use.
What are you working on now?
I always have surreal ideas swirling in the head ready to jump into an image but right now I apparently am obsessed with cyborg stuff and digital realism. A few pieces on the drawing board currently cover those on the personal side and then of course I have the promo work that I do for the ALP team and those pieces usually showcase vendor characters or wardrobe products coming to market or on sale in the market. Those always have deadlines so they get done first and my personal and surreal stuff comes after.
Do you have any words of advice for artists who are just starting out?
Hmm words of advice. First I will say, know your tools well. You can have all the creative ideas in the world but to realize them to image, you have to be proficient in the tools you use. Whether its a pencil, a paint brush or a render software. Learn the "real world" principles of light, perspective, composition etc. because even in a render software or a paint program, knowing this will take your render/image from just a digital image into a "piece of art". The other thing I would stress is Practice. In order to get really good at what you are doing, you need practice and lots of it. There are a ton of tutorials out there. Each week, pick one and for that week practice doing that tutorial over and over until you can do an original image of your own using that tutorial skill or tool without using the tutorial to do it. That is how you get to know the power of your digital software and that is how your skill level increases which in turn gives you confidence and motivates you to greater digital art.
A personal note of thanks to Renderosity and to all those artists who voted for my work in AOM April. I am honored. Thank you to all of you who have continued to follow my gallery here all these years and for your supportive comments on each image. I do appreciate your time, effort and interest.
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