I’ve done covers for the “Nicky” series by A.
Nadudvari, the “Ingrid Redstone” series by S.P.
Traver and several books for J. Cross to mention
a few. Book and CD-covers are great to work on
in between doing game-art since the two are
very different kinds of art and also have a very
different kind of work-flow. It helps keeping
things varied and fresh.
DAL: Is there anyone you would like a Skype call
with, in relation to a creative venture? A movie
director, a comic or game writer, a band, a TV
director, an explorer or suchlike? Who would be
your “dream commission”, asking you to work
with them and offering oodles of cash?
CL: Cyan (Myst) is well up there amongst the
dream-studio to do work for, the work they do is
amazing. I’m also extremely fond of Studio
Ghibli and their animations, that would be
another dream-job. Some producers from
movies that would be high on my list would be
Luc Besson, Peter Jackson and Night M.
Shyamalan, since I have a deep fascination for
their movie styles. If you can dream, you might
as well dream big.
DAL: You’ve also done commercial work for
games and movies. And are you able to talk
about working in the videogame "The Last
Federation" by Arcen Games, for instance?
CL: I’ve worked on and off for several years at
Arcen Games and while working there I learnt a
lot about the game industry and how to develop
art that fits 2D-games in general. My most
prominent position at Arcen was environment
and game asset artist and that was the main art
I did for “The Last Federation” too. Set in space
and being a strategy / action story about a solar
system and its inhabitants eternal battle and
dealings with each other there was plenty of
environmental images needed. I did most of the
backdrops and scenic images in the game and I
also did the alien characters and most
starscapes.
DAL: What three things should newcomers to
DeviantArt (or new-returners) try to avoid
doing? In other word, what pitfalls should an
ambitious artist — one who wants to fully access
all that DeviantArt offers — not do?
CL: Don’t use any images you ‘find on the
Internet’ in your artwork that you don’t have
permission for, and think that will all be good
and fine! First thing would be to understand
basic copyright and how to use resource images
in a correct way. You can use any images you
find online in any way you want in your own
private home and for training purposes, but once
you start uploading images to the Internet and
public domains there will be certain rules that
apply. There has definitely been a surge in the
last few years of newcomers to DeviantArt who
have no idea that you can’t just use any image
you find on Google (including fellow artists
artworks) and make your own commercially
available artwork out of it! DeviantArt has a very
clear ‘terms of use’ and I think as a new artist
getting familiar with those rules is very
important. You will quite quickly get a bad name
and could get banned from the site if you don’t
credit and list your resources and have
permission to actually use those resources.
Second thing would be to not stay anonymous
and just lurk on the site. Get involved, join
groups, ask questions, request feedback, give
feedback, suggest Daily Deviations to the
moderators, become a moderator if that is your
cup of tea and never stop seeking out artists
that inspire you. You can be a lurker if you want
and not actively take part of anything and solely
browse art but to learn and grow as an artist I
believe you need some level of interaction with
the community of other artists. Because there’s
such a variety of artists on DeviantArt — with
skill levels from professionals with years of
experience to absolute newbies — there is a
huge potential for mentoring and learning from
each other. If you don’t feel confident enough to
contact an artist you look up to for feedback,
you can always join one of the many groups that
are dedicated to exactly those things.
Third thing is to not give up finding what you are
looking for and to find inspiration. There are so
many different fields of art, anything from the
classic traditional way to paint to digital 3D
designing, matte paintings, photography, fractal
work, cos-play costumes, artisan crafts, cooking
art etc and DeviantArt will have artists in all
these fields and more. This is definitely the site
to find new and interesting ways to create
something and if you have a specific interest you
will find others that have that same interest for
sure. That is how I found several groups
dedicated to Myst for example and how I found
fellow Myst lovers that I had no idea were
members of DeviantArt. DeviantArt is a huge site
with so much content it can be hard to find what
you are looking for. Browse a lot through the
galleries and you will find the images that speak