Colors Gallery, meet Aaron Leonard
Aaron Leonard is here to blow us away with their amazing surrealism. They have one of the most amazingly realistic and imagitive galleries here on Colors Live and we feel especially privilleged to have the opportunity to interview them! Now let's get started!
What would you like the Colors Gallery to know about you? What should we know about Aaron Leonard?
"There's not much to say really, so I'll keep it short. I'm a parent first, and when I have free time, I like to do art. I don't really have all that much training, so if you find my work interesting, just know that you could probably do it too."
My Best Pal by Aaron Leonard
Your realism artworks here in the gallery are absolutely incredible! How did you get some good? What are your inspirations? What made you pick up the pen/brush( or stylus in this case)? How did you get your start?
"Well, I got started painting as a teenager, and I've had plenty of time to practice since then. What made me want to start is sort of difficult to explain, I was always fascinated by painting and drawing, and I pursued it as a matter of interest. I'd be willing to bet that it's the same for a good portion of the people using Colors, and who are artists in general. For people like us, there's an indescribable internal drive, sort of an itch that can only be satisfied by making art."
Best Idea Ever by Aaron Leonard
What's your process? What makes you paint what you're going to paint and how you paint it?
"I just paint what sounds interesting to me. I can't really explain what it is about a subject that I like, but it's really as simple as that. As far as process, that's a pretty basic thing. First of course, is coming up with a composition, and maybe do a quick sketch that I can adjust the cropping on. Then it's a matter of placing the objects onto the canvas. I start out with big blocky areas, just to locate everything. Once that's done it's time to start adjusting hues and values, and then onto finer details. At some point consideration also needs to be given to the piece as a whole, and usually some simple steps can be taken to unify it, like adjusting the intensity of certain details, or adding a few smudges of color. The goal of this is to tie together separate looking areas into a single unit. There are a few other tricks I might use, but that's the gist of it. It's a pretty basic methodical process, and it's adaptable to several different styles."
Fisheye Beach by Aaron Leonard
How did you discover Colors and what made you interested in the app? What separated Colors from other apps in your opinion?
"The selection for art based apps on 3DS was somewhat limited at the time, but there were a few others. I tried most of those too, but didn't use them to the extent that I did with Colors. The thing that separates Colors from other apps was the online gallery. That, in my opinion, made huge difference. We could interact with and get feedback from other users on the gallery. More than just getting feedback, there was a sense of community here, a sense that we all wanted to be together and share our interest in art. There's something priceless about that sort of group vibe, and it really motivated so many of us to work to improve our skill."
You aren't as active now but if you were is there any specific feature(s) that you would like to see?
"Hmm... That's a good question. There's not much I would change for fear of spoiling the dynamic of the gallery. There's one thing I've always wished we had on Colors 3D though, and that's the ability to see peoples work from other platforms, ios, android, and so on. I always felt like those guys got left out. Have you been able to work through that with Nintendo yet? I think it would be great if you guys could make that happen."
What Colors artworks were the most challenging for you? Which ones are you most proud of?
"There was a sunset cityscape I did, and that felt like an endurance test, with all those details and different colors. I think if I did that one today, I would go in a different direction with it, maybe not working so hard to capture every little detail. As for paintings I'm proud of, I think that would be the more impressionistic ones. I felt like I was making real progress with that. I especially liked the one with the mouse watching television, I really like how that one turned out."
Aspartame Sunset by Aaron Leonard
Favorite Colors and and non Colors artist?
"For favorite non Colors artists I suppose I'll go with the well known historical artists that influenced me. For realism, I'm inspired by the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck. He dates from the early renaissance, and his portrait work is still some of the most convincing realism today. Keep in mind that he was one of the pioneers or realism, coming right off the heels of the styled art of the middle ages. For impressionism, of course, me and everybody else love van Gogh. That style of obvious and apparent brushstrokes is so iconic, and I spent a good deal of effort in following that thread. Lastly, in regards to abstract art, Jackson Pollock is so well known for his paintings where he basically just drizzled paint onto the canvas. It doesn't sound really all that impressive, but there's something to be said for the idea of not overthinking things, and just letting what happens happen. That's another direction I wander in occasionally, but unfortunately, it doesn't really translate from a brush to a stylus very well. Well, I didn't quite answer the same question that was asked, and I'm going to go a step further by including my favorite Colors artists as part of the next question."
Top 3 favorite Colors artworks?
There was an overlap between who my favorite colors artists and my favorite artists, so I'll go ahead and do both at once. First I'll go with "Lion Couple" by Rich-Tea. This was an amazingly realistic and life like piece that made more than just a splash in the gallery. It blew everything else out of the water. The scene is very vivid and lifelike, and the details are spectacularly crisp. Rich-Tea is an insurmountably skilled artist, I've seen other pencil drawings he's done, and I have to say, he's one of the best.
Lion Couple by Rich-Tea
Next for me is "Desert Raiders" by Munin. This piece was used in the original promotional material for Colors3D, and for good reason. It manages to be both intimate and vast at the same time, with brilliantly worked rocky details. Munin is kind of a mysterious guy, kind of aloof, but always had great work, full of moody atmospheric settings. His work was what got a lot of us to check out Colors, including myself.
Desert Raiders by Munin
Finally, I'll mention "first run" by SENCO. This enigmatic piece was apparently just a quick test of the Colors app, but it really intrigued me, in a way that made be do a bit of re-thinking of how a painting could be done. It's another one that's a bit of a contradiction, being both dark and colorful, and it's just loaded with ambiance. I always looked up to SENCO, he just exudes cool. His work was dark and shadowy, and often mysterious. Like I said, his work really influenced my thinking.
first run by SENCO
You seem adept in many different types of art! For those who want to learn realism or a variety of other types of art, what advice can you give?
"Find styles of art that appeal to you. Don't try to imitate for the sake of approval of others, instead search for something that speaks to you. Seek firstly your own approval, and find what makes you tick. Your excitement and enthusiasm will have a direct impact on the quality of your work. From there you can start concerning yourself with technical details. There are so many resources out there these days. It can be overwhelming, so finding what triggers your artistic drive will be a big help in cutting through it all."
Meanwhile... by Aaron Leonard
Is art your profession? If so, how long have you been doing it professionally and what knowledge would you give to up and coming artist who want to become pros in the industry?
"No, I'm not an artist by profession. I did a short stint as a graphic artist, but that was years ago. My advice specifically as a professional artist is therefore quite limited, but I can offer some more general advice for up-and-comers. The most important thing you can do is to build and maintain a network of connections. Go to the effort of making friends and acquaintances within your profession, especially if you're still in school, and work to maintain those connections. Once you move on from school or a certain job, make a point of contacting those people maybe once a month. Keep it short if it seems appropriate, but maintain the level of personal concern you expect in return. This network will be how you find those jobs you want, the kind of opportunities not well advertised to the general public."
If you could tell your younger self something, what would it be?
"Well that's sort of a philosophical question now, isn't it? Perhaps it would be best answered with another question. Would my younger self have taken the advice? I don't know that he would have. And even if he did, would it carry the same weight that it does for me? I think that some lessons need to be learned first hand. If I could tell my younger self something, it would be to figure things out for yourself, and don't take anything people say for granted."
Logic vs Emotion by Aaron Leonard
Do you have any goals or plans for the future? Have you accomplished any and if you have what steps did you have to take to accomplish them?
"As far as art goes, my only real goal is to continue to improve, and hone my skills. I'm sure that most of you here know that feeling. I don't know that it ever goes away. Within that main goal, I may have other directions I might want to work towards. Things like adding more emotion, more movement, and including archetypal elements. These are all transient goals though, subject to change, and not all of those can be explored. As far as becoming rich and or famous, I'll leave that to someone else, I just want to make art."
Happy Mask by Aaron Leonard
Anyone you want to shout-out?
"Too many to name really, I'd hate to leave anyone out. I suppose if it's a recommendation based in nepotism you're looking for, then go check out birdy here in the gallery. He was probably my best friend here, Oh yeah, I should mention Jens too. Thanks for the gallery, Jens, that was good of you to do."
That wraps up our interview with Aaron Leonard ! The Colors Team would like to thank you for your time! If you're a fan of realism and surrealism then his gallery is second to none!
Check out the interview with our previous artist of the week @st5rb0und
http://colorslive.com/page/Meet-st5rb0und
For those who may need a reminder
The Artist of the week will be posted every Friday so be sure to tune in! Prior to that, the artist may be contacted via email or other means at least a week or more in advance so be sure to check your emails( and spam) so you don't miss out on a chance to be featured. If you don't reply within 48 hours another artist may be chosen to be featured for that week instead and you will be in a future artist of the week update.
The announcement of who is the upcoming featured artist will be announced at least 2-3 days in advance or eariler so look out for that too! If you would like for any of your questions or comments to be featured in an upcoming interview please check out colorslive.com/discord and visit the official artist of the week channel to submit questions/commentary for a chance for those to be answered before Friday.
Suggest a new artist for artist of the week on the forum post on my gallery or by posting with the #heyzyik tag.
Don't miss the opportunity to collect some smiles! Amass your smile collection in our current remix challenge "Collector of Smiles" for #wc561 !
Stay creative!
Zyik & The Colors Team
