Interview: Alvia Alcedo

An interview with one of the best self-taught Russian artist: AlviaAlcedo.

You can find AlviaAlcedo on: DeviantArt, Facebook and Pinterest.

Hello, let’s start with an introduction. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you began painting and crafting.

Hello, I’m a self-taught artist, prefer fantasy and fairy tales as a theme of my art.  And animals, I like them so much. Art isn’t my profession, it’s hobby, but it’s the biggest hobby of my life. Making dreams real is very inspiring!

I can draw on paper, feathers, stones, but I prefer paper and pencils. Also, I draw digital art, but traditional is better.  I didn’t remember the time when I started to draw – it was early childhood. Making figurines and pendants  I started in 2008. First of them are fragile, because I used air dry clay, so you can’t find any of them in my DeviantArt gallery.

Could you explain your workflow? How do you start your work?

First of all, I draw some small sketches, after that I pick the best one and I start drawing. For example, here are 5 stages of drawing on a brown paper:

1. pencil lines
2. black pen line art
3. white pencil (to show where the light is)
4. coloring
5. shading

What tools do you use on your design process and where you find your inspiration?

Imagination and beautiful photos of nature are my favorite tools. On spring I started my page on Pinterest to save most inspiring photos online, so now I can share my inspiration with you.

Do you have any specific plans for the future direction of your work?

I want to make a posable art doll, I’m working on it right now. I also want to go to a digital art school for a short time study, but I am not sure where to so is it very important to me to raise my skill in digital painting.

What makes a piece of art successful?

It must be an eye-catching thing, to have an interesting idea and a nice color combination.

Could you name a couple of your favorite works?

Digital: Close to a Heaven

Traditional: Water dragon

Stone painting: Tropical fairy dragon

What passions do you have besides digital painting and crafting?

I collect dragon pendants, I go biking, swimming and taking photos of nature around me.

Thanks for the interview. Would you like to give any pieces of advice or tips to aspiring artists?

Sometimes you will have an art block, it’s absolutely fine. But even if you don’t have any mood to draw, sketch something small, it will help. And join any art community, like DeviantArt, there are a lot of good tutorials and drawing tips, there absolutely for free.