Interview with December Artist of the Month - Artienne

Dec 06, 2017 at 11:38 pm by gToon


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Artist of the Month for December, 2017 is

Artienne

Our artist of the month was chosen from the Fan Art Gallery at Renderosity.com. Artienne creates beautifully rendered fantasy art inspired by her interest in history (especially Dark Age history) and in fantasy writing.

She has a great talent for capturing just the right moment of a character in a scene. She also does excellent portraits of both male and female characters. All of her work is characterized by a attention to detail and a great imagination.

Artienne was kind enough to take time out of her schedule to chat with us about her work, her love of fantasy and history, teaching and participation in Viking re-enactments.

Interview with Artist of the Month - Artienne

Renderosity: I am very pleased and honored to hear that members of Renderosity have voted me at AOM for December. Do you have any time to answer a few questions? I'm a big fan of medieval history and fantasy literature, so we have a lot in common!

Artienne: I am very pleased and honored to hear that members of Renderosity have voted me at AOM for December. I would be happy to answer your questions to the interview. Yes I see we have a lots in common. I have studied Medieval History "Viking Age" and fantasy literature is a source of inspiration for me. The last time I have given an interview I think it was in 1998, when I was playing in a band and I had several music projects. Music has always been a huge part of my soul and I loved being in a band ... .. Playing my guitar or keyboard is something I love but making 3 d illustration, tradition, digital painting, talking with different kind of Artists and have with them photo-session make me very happy also :)

I have a blog Elestra where I talk to various artists. https://elestra.wordpress.com/

What would you like to talk about? How about writers you enjoy reading? And perhaps a bit more on your entry into digital art creation?

Artienne: No problem we can talk about writers and my entry intro digital art . Sounds very good! I have to mention that Fantasy literature is only just one field where I looking for inspiration. I like read book from : Tolkien, Steven Erikson, R.A. Salvatore, Terry Goodkind,Richard Kirk, Umberto Ecco, Lovecraft, Cleve Barker, Stephan King, Sapkowsky, S. Lem, Graham Masteron, Robert E Howard, Bernar Cornwell, William Morris, Andrew Lang, Francisco de Moraes, Johann Ludwig Tieck, John Ruskin, George Mac Donald, L Frank Baum, Robert E Horaed, Ursula L Le Guin. Necronomicon by Simmons, Socrates, Platon, Empadocles, Anaxagoras, Thales, Pitagoras... and more, more more... I live in Norway, by the way.

artienne gallery -aurona by Artienne

What got you interested in History/Fantasy as a subject for your art? Has living in Norway affected how you imagine nature and the supernatural? PS I love your list of authors. Many of them are my favs as well. :-)

Artienne: I have been interested in history, fantasy and music since childhood. Then for many years I studied History at university and after writing my Master's degree I moved to England, where I joined the Viking re-enactment group in Bristol, I learned to design medieval costumes and various apparel. I love reading historical novels, fantasy books, philosophical treatises and poetry. The paintings of various periods and fantasy illustrations have had a huge impact on my imagination.

Norway is a beautiful country, with amazing nature, interesting culture, history, language,customs and mythology. I love to walk around the fjord, sitting on the rocks, observe the nature that surrounds me, live and meditate. When I walk along the fjord some roe deer will run my way. I have never experienced such a thing in north-eastern England because I lived in a big city and I was focused on a job that was not related to the direction of my studies. In Norway, it's much quieter, we live near the sea. Certainly contact with nature affects my psyche. When it comes to metaphysical matters, everything is dependent on man and the perspective we have for the world around us.

artienne gallery -Russell portrait by Artienne

You have such an incredible skill in rendering portraits (among other things). What is your process for creating a portrait? And how do achieve that sense of realism in each one?

Artienne: For many years I learned to draw portraits, and I was involved in photography. Thanks to this experience, I gained basic knowledge in terms of filters and the use of various plugins for photoshop. I also have a good photogenic memory, thanks this factor I can remember a photo of an outstanding photographer and later I may attempt to achieve a similar effect with my renders. I typically choose a character that has a very good skin texture. As a second stage I consider the proper light and background color. Next I work with a variety of filters, layers, effects. I play around with many different types of software, from Filterforge, Topaz, Nik Collection, to Photomatix pro and Lightroom, depending on the situation. If I'm not happy with the result, I use different brushes and paint the background. I did that with my render Old Mage. Sometimes I like to blend images together in Photoshop. This is my way of working with renders. I prefer to have several versions that I can compare and choose from during the process.

viking reenactment -two photos from artienne's viking reenactment collection

Thanks, Artienne. That Viking reenactment group sounds fascinating! What kinds of things did the group do?

Artienne: The purpose of re-enactment is to recreate the style of life, a reminder of an important event that took place in the past. People can acquire knowledge about textiles, tools, building ships, medieval construction, the way of living in former times through experiencing history. The most talented people cooperate with museums and participate in building the construction of open-air museums, creating replicas of huts and ships. The others learn to build workshops for weaving, creating textiles, and making clothing. There are two varieties of viking re-enactment for example living history and combat. I tried both, but I decided to be active on the first one because of the material situation. Unfortunately, being a Viking re-enactor is a very expensive hobby, it requires the purchase of many materials, because you are not able to do production by yourself. In addition, participation in fighting requires frequent training and excellent body shape and I have had problems with rheumatism. So for me it was easy to focus on one kind of activity. Women learn to sew costumes, make ornaments, embroidery, scarfs, gloves, socks and cooks, while men in addition to fighting, build tents, make tools, art, chairs, toys for children, produce weapons. Artists besides playing, create their own instruments like gusli-lyra, pipes, etc.

Wonderful photos. thank you for sharing these. Is there anything you'd like to add before we close the interview?

Artienne: Thank you for very interesting questions and support. I am very impressed with the last Artwork of Ken Coleman and renders of Jim Bowers. That's why I think about designing covers for books, metal albums, making my own 3d viking clothing and composing music for computer games, building a bridge between digital painting, photo-manipulation and the 3d world. Mega thanks to all my friends for lovely comments, warm words about my renders.

Greetings From Norway. Artienne


Please visit Artienne's gallery to see more of her excellent work. We will be posting a short interview and a video of select works soon.


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