Interview: David Liu, digital art
About two months ago we highlighted the amazing artwork of David Liu. I have been talking with David quite a bit lately and he is certainly as kind as he is talented, he even did some commission work for me. Here is an interview we recently received from him:
1 ) Tell us about yourself:
My name is David Liu. I am 26 years old and in LOVE with drawing. I’ve been doing this since I was a child, and I think one of the first things I have ever drawn were Ninja Turtles and Transformers. I never had any formal training with an Art college or any courses in a university. I feel I am driven by the constant pursuit of art nirvana (which I probably will never ever feel I will reach) to motivate myself to study, learn, and develop techniques in illustration, animation, and drawing.
2 ) Tell us a bit about your artwork:
LOL, well if you take my artwork at face value, laid out on a table, and looked at from a few steps back: it looks like i just draw pretty women and robots. My style is a mixed bag. I easily get inspired by many different artists of many different styles. I can’t say that my anime style leans towards the cute big eyed cuties of Haruhi, or the buxom beauties of Magna Carta. I definitely can say, whichever style I do decide to draw, there is still a bit of MINE in there.
Most of my work on deviantart.com is more or less my journey into self study. I have noticed there are mostly character pages and designs as opposed to fully conceived pieces of art. With every new piece, I feel I learn a new technique or take an existing one a little bit further. LIFE IS STUDY! And I would say that sums up my artwork, at least from my perspective.
3 ) What are your tools of the trade, including hardware and software:
Well first of all, nothing beats drawing on a physical piece of paper with a mechanical pencil. The line quality and the integrity of the paper texture is something technology can not repeat (but I would not be surprised if some genius out there writes code that could mimic that). My favorite program to draw and paint in would have to be, hands down, PaintoolSAI. The line quality in that program does leaps and bounds over photoshop. The painting in that program is immaculant, the vibrant colors that have the capability of blending on the fly just astounds me.
When it comes to work digitally, I usually work on a Wacom tablet, but as of yet, I am currently working on a Toshiba M700 tablet pc. It’s great because I can see what I am drawing, but that is also its greatest flaw. My favorite part about MOST of the programs I like to draw/animate in utilize a large digital screen and keyboard shortcuts. Imagine not being able to color sample anything in photoshop simply because you do not have the “alt” button. I would have to click the color sampling tool and then switch back to the paintbrush tool just to sample ONE color. This is the reason why I loved paintool sai- I was able to set the color sampling tool to the click of the right button on the pen. It works wonders!
For animation, I like to do the actualy frames of animation in TVPAINT animation studio, and occasionally Toonboom Studio. But, since I work mostly from a small Tablet PC, it’s a pain to use those programs without the luxury of having a keyboard. For animation especially, the left and right keys let me go back and forth inbetween frames (like flipping pages on paper). This is an essential tool as an animator. This can still be achieved with screen buttons, but animation is so time consuming that any time we can save makes the process go much faster.
4 ) How long have you been an artist and what, if any, hurdles did you have to overcome in the process?
I have been an artist almost all my life, but it was only a few years ago that I started to pursue this more passionately. There are a few large hurdles that I am still trying to overcome. Probably the biggest one would be- the lack of formal education, and the fact that my artwork is mostly illustrations based from a love of anime. The lack of formal education is highly criticized by people (and sometimes family). They feel that I would have more job opportunities had I completed a bachelors degree. Well, that may be true- but my biggest argument to that was the time. I would spend 4+ years in college, balanced inbetween working full time to support living alone, and keeping up a relationship with my wife and friends. There would be NO time to draw. So I told myself this: take the time you would be spending studying for school or being in class- and apply it to STUDY and developing technique. I would have been “distracted” by other classes and the constant knowledge of all the money I was spending on school each and every semester that I would not have been able to devote enough time and energy into perfection techniques.
It was probably one of the better decisions I have made. I know its great to have a professor guiding you through techniques and being there when you have those awkward learning humps, but I have to say – I LOVE all the time I have had to study painting and drawing by MYSELF. I have learned so much (especially from some art friends on DA who have been a huge inspiration for becoming a better artist). I don’t think there is ever a day where I do not push myself as hard as I can. Believe me, self study is HARD! I kinda wish sometimes I had that professor making me draw.
The fact that I love to draw anime is hard for some people to take seriously. I share this bit of information with some people prior to seeing my artwork, and they ALL give me the same reaction of “Oh. That’s neat.” I had that same reaction from one of my regulars at work (I work at a restaurant btw), and everytime I see him, he would tell me “David, it’s a shame you aren’t in school. You are a smart kid and you should go back to school. Why don’t you go back? Is it the money? etc etc.” It took until I showed him some of my artwork months later for him to take me seriously. His reaction was more along the lines, “David, why are you working here still. Have you looked into getting a job?” HA! One day I will have one. *It did feel great to finally have him see how serious I am about this.
5 ) Where do you find your creativity and inspiration?
I find inspiration from lacking the ability and technique. Nothing drives me more than seeing some fantastic artwork (or just some artwork outside of my style) and then studying it, breaking it apart, and taking the technique and putting it on paper. It feels like I have to prove something to myself as an artist….like some sort of self proclaimed challenge.
6 ) Who are your favorite artists and why?
For animation, my favorite animation studio would have to be Gainax. They started in their basement and then became AWESOME because they brought all these excellent animation techniques, injected them with steroids, and shot it through the roof! I love how out of the box their style is. The diversity of their styles from anime to anime also is astounding.
For illustration (in the animation field), I would have to say Studio 4C. They paint the most beautiful backdrops in anime that I have ever seen- and at crrrrazy camera angles too!
For painting and illustration, Hyung Tae Kim is a huge influence. He doesn’t just paint the usual highly detailed anime characters, but his style is so distinct- the large exaggerated proportions and awkward poses. He took what he loved to draw (anime) and gave it his own twist *and people out there are more than happy to pay him lots of money to draw his own way. How cool is that?
7 ) Which piece of your art stands out as a favorite and why?
Hmmm geez, that is a hard question. Well I will probably have to say the one that stands out as my favorite (at least for the moment), would have to be the illustration with megan and the onigiri. Reason being, I used a painting style reminiscent of the old Haruhi illustrations. It has nice bright colors, simple lines, and a cute expression. It’s not something I usually find myself drawin, so it’s a cool feeling when you look at a piece of art that is yours but doesn’t look like yours.
8 ) Tell us about your artistic process from creation to completion:
Jeez- it’s just usually really long sometimes. I start with a preliminary sketch for composition, pose, movement etc. Then a next sketch is drawn on top with more of the essential details drawn in. When I feel I have a good understanding/vision for the piece, I draw in the line work. For paintings, I roughly draw in the line work without much thought to having it really clean because I plan on painting over them eventually. THEN after hours and hours of drawing, I usually go in and apply small filters to correct the color, and enhance parts that need to be enhanced. It is so important to get the vision correct in the beginning. I can’t tell you how many times I rush into something with an unfocused vision, spend hours and hours painting it, only to realize that the arm is too long, or the face is painted incorrectly etc. It’s really disheartening sometimes. But for everyone out there trying to get better at painting: it’s a long and painful process. I am not sure if its just me, but it feels like fail, fail, kinda got it, fail, fail, getting there, fail…..then YES! And when you hit that YES! moment, you just started a new “level,” so then its fail, fail, fail again until the next YES. I am constantly on this process and always learning something though. So all those time you feel you fail at a piece, you are taking away something good from it in the long run.
9 ) If you could have your art displayed anywhere, where would it be and why?
Oooh, well I would want it to be displayed in perhaps an anime magazine as a featured upcoming anime that I directed or worked on. SIGH~ that would be sooooooooooooo awesome. I would even love to be an invited artist to a convention to talk about techniques and such. That would also be excellent.
10 ) If you could escape into any one fantasy world what would it be an why?
I would most likely have to say in the world of Final Fantasy. I would love to be a dark night or ninja or something. Walk around with a sword all day, going on adventures, fighting monsters (*randomly lol).
And I wouldn’t also mind growing up in Konoha as a ninja student either. OMG, that would like answer all my childhood dreams and ambitions. I would love to be a ninja!! **day dreaming about it……
11 ) Tell us about any upcoming projects you have planned:
I am working on a manga that a friend and I came up with called Megane Moe. It is a story about a young girl who attends a new private school her sophomore year. The humor is inspired by Azumanga Daioh, School Rumble, and Ranma tossed in with American youth culture. The art style is hugely inspired by Haruhi Suzumiya. I love the way they draw. I have never been able to draw anime in that style and now, I am finally starting to understand it. It’s a good feeling. I have a lot of commissions projects as well- so if you think about it, I have a LOT of upcoming projects.
And currently as well, I also have some design work with the studio I am working for (part time right now) as a Concept Artist. The name of the development studio is Kill Space Entertainment (KEI). My art sempai is the lead art direction over there. He is also the lead inspiration for me being an artist as well. (THANKS EVAN!)
12 ) Where can people find you, website etc?
FIND ME ON THE DA! lol angryangryasian.deviantart.com
From there, you can see almost ALL of my works and studies, as well as links to the manga – Megane Moe.
13 ) Anything else you want people to know about you?
I love art. I love drawing. I can’t stop and won’t stop. Thanks Challis for the opportunity to be featured on Inspire76. It is a great honor and privilege. *o yeah, and I apologize for my poor grammar and scatterbraing typing. I get too excited about these things that my head is all over the place.
*o yeah I also LOOOOVE Boxing. It’s kind of a catch22 since if I really wanted to pursue boxing amateurly, it is a direct endangerment to my hand’s motor skills. Don’t worry, I mostly shadow box for cardio. lol
Thank you David!