Colors Gallery, meet BiniBean!
@BiniBean is awesome artist here on the Colors Live Gallery well known for their crisp lineart, vibrant coloring, consistent upload pace and their fantastic My Little Pony fanart. Since November of 2021 they have been spreading their love of the MLP franchise throughout the Colors gallery and I am very pleased to have them as our very first Artist of the week! Now onto the interview.
What’s your story? What made you the artist you are today? How do you see yourself changing in the future?
"I have been doing art since I was very little, I started off making a bunch of comics with some characters based on people/things from my life which mostly went unfinished. I started it as a way to pass time since I didn’t have much stuff to do when I was little and gradually came to depend on it more and more as something to improve on. Frankly, up until 2020, I wasn’t very good at it, but when everything shut down I managed to improve due to all the free time I had and wanting to draw as well as I could.
In the future, I hope to improve at least human figures. I really hope to improve on that aspect but unfortunately, I am not quite at the point, nor do I have the tools that I think would really help improve that aspect. But if I keep trying, hopefully, it will pay off one day."
When did you start using colors?
"I started using colors on November 3, 2021. The same day I posted my first picture!""
We see that you do a lot of fantastic MLP artwork. Which MLP generation is your favorite? Have any personal favorite pony/ponies. What makes you fond of that franchise?
"My favorite MLP generation is the g4 , the “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” I personally was never able to get into the generations before (I tried but it didn’t really work out. Maybe one day.) My favorite character is Princess Celestia, honestly, a overhated character but I also like Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight as well. The show has a lot of good characters.
There are a few things that make me fond of the franchise. First, I started watching the show as a sort of joke, I thought I would get one or two episodes in and then maybe just forget about it but next thing I know I am two seasons in, in two weeks and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Before that, I only liked the Star Trek Franchise that much so it was nice to have another franchise to like that much as well.
Second, it got me into Art again. Right around the time I started watching the show, I was also giving up on art at the time. I couldn’t draw at all, I had no motivation and drawing comics and having nothing to truly focus on to draw was hard so I was at a point where I felt art was not for me. But, thankfully, the show saved me from quitting.
Third, the show got me through some rough times. We all have very rough moments in our lives and thanks to the show and me drawing fanart, I was able to get through things better as art and that show was a good way for me to focus on something else and just chill."
How are you so fast and consistent at art? Do you finish artwork one piece at a time or do you have ten thousand wips waiting to be completed?( something I am and many other artist are guilty of)
"I have always been fast and consistent with my art, I think it is because it’s my main hobby, I do it more than even video games so I have developed sort of a rhythm for it.
Mostly, I do one picture at a time to avoid having 100 w.i.ps because I know that if I don’t do them now I probably won’t do them ever, or for months on end. But sometimes I do end up having two or three sketches made so I can draw them later when I have nothing else to draw because I run out of ideas a lot despite the want to draw.
Something I’ve noticed is that your lineart is incredibly crisp. What brushes do you use and how long does it take you to do lineart on average?
The brush I use for lineart is “sketch” on the lowest size (Mostly) and it worked best with my sonar pen working for the fading line and it changing size that way. When my pen is broken I usually have to start manually using an eraser to change the size, which drives me nuts. It works well with the hair lineart the most! But also zooming in all the way helps improve how to line is when you make it.
As for how long it takes, it depends on the complexity of the picture. For example, if I have a simple picture with just a pony and no background that requires line art, maybe a hour or a hour and 30 minutes for the lineart. But if it was a full background, it can go to two hours, three hours or four hours."
Which tool brushes are your favorite/ what’re your go-to brushes/tools in Colors?
"My favorite for lineart is the sketch tool, for coloring the picture, it is the “flood fill tool” and “select fill tool” because I don’t know what I would do without them anymore, manually coloring wings is a nightmare sometimes, and for shading, it would be the “select fill tool” since I can’t shade realistically but I find how I currently shade works well with my current style."
Would you say is your biggest struggle when making art? What is your biggest strength?
"My biggest struggle is usually shading. Shading take up a majority of the time and shading and lighting is what usually brings my picture together but it takes a very long time and sometimes I am just not up for it so I just don’t finish the picture until the next day. My biggest strength is probably, my lineart. Since that is what I think I am most known for in terms of my style, that, and how I do hair."
Who or what is your best source of inspiration? What do you do when artist's block hits and what helps you get out of it?
"Well MLP is my biggest inspiration right now, for six long years it was kept me going with art and I am very thankful for that since I love art. That, and also speedpaints. Watching a picture being drawn from start to finish is very fun to watch and I have found for me personally, it works better sometimes than watching a youtube video on how to draw something and someone goes through the process slowly and gives you 100 steps to follow.
Usually, when I get Artist’s block, I start drawing very slowly and for short bursts of time. So a drawing that usually takes one or two days goes to five or seven days. The most important part is not giving up on it and trying to work through it. Because one day the motivation will come back and it's important not to forget the skills you learned in that time."
Is there anything that you would recommend/advice to other aspiring artists?
"I would recommend not giving up on art, even if you think you are bad at it, with enough practice and research, you will get better as long as you want to. Yes, one day you will get to points where you find you aren’t improving but when you get past those hard areas and you are able to see the improvement, I find that feeling is worth it. It is one of the best feelings in the world."
What do you like best about Colors? Any updates or features that you would really like to see? Is there anything you would like to see done better?
"What I like best about Colors is the ability to share my art in a easy and fast way. I work hard on my art, and when I draw on paper I would usually just throw it out afterwards but now I can keep it without it taking up physical space and can share it to others.
I would love the ability to have some sort of shading tool for realistic shading, I don’t know how others are able to do it on this site but it looks awesome. I have seen people do realistic MLP drawings and they look awesome as well. One day I hope to draw like them and I think some sort of blending tool would work wonders for that. As well as folders in the main menu to sort them out of the final pictures since I am picky about my W.I.Ps. It’s a reason I don’t have many, if I see a incomplete picture and I am not sure I am going to be able to ever complete it, I delete it so that my menu looks finished despite me being the only one that is ever going to see it. So, a way to sort the w.i.ps out from the rest of my pics would be great!
Also, playback being fixed would be awesome, if possible!
Well, I think Colors as a art program is great. But the gallery, I have a little issue with. I have seen a recent trend, and its been bothering more and more people. It’s rant accounts where the whole account is dedicated to rants. I am not sure how this would be moderated but, sometimes people are focusing more on rants than the actual art and that does make me a little sad since Colors Live was built to be about art. If maybe someway this could be moderated, that would be good since there are some great art in the gallery but it being hidden by posts about something not related to art."
Is Colors your primary way to create art? If not, then what do you use? How does Colors compliment your workflow?
"Colors Live is my primary way to create art. I haven’t actually truly drawn on paper since I started Colors since I find it works better for my eyes. I am blind in one eye, and the strain my eye was going through having to squint at the paper in bad lighting hurt a lot so with colors live its just overall easier to draw with only one functioning eye."
What or who inspired your current art style? Do you stick to a specific art style, and why?
"My current artstyle is inspired by a MLP speedpainter on youtube called Blits Azalis Dash, she was a great inspiration for my art and especially for how I draw hair.
I do stick to my current artstyle since it’s the only one I truly know how to do well, especially on colors and I find that right now, it works the best for me and for the tools I have right now."
What is the earliest piece of art that you’ve made that you can remember?
"The earliest piece of art I can remember me making was a small comicbook in around grade 2, it wasn’t very good but I was proud of it since I made a whole story of 15 pages with a lot of panels since I used to draw comic panels very, very small."
Do you have any goals/plans as an artist for the future?
"My goals/plans for now are to improve on human figures and one day start practicing how to draw realistically using digital art, since it does look very cool to do."
Who are your top 5 favorite Colors Artists? Who are your top favorite outside of Colors?
Top Favorite Colors Artists:
(In no particular order:)
- @Acchan
- @TikkiFalls
- @Hailsss
- @The_Adjuicator
- @Artist_Cece
Top Five Favorite Outside Colors:
(In no particular order)
-Blits Azalis Dash (DeviantArt)
-Alumx (Deviantart/youtube)
-JowyB (Deviantart)
-Neytirix (Youtube/Deviantart)
-Ciborgen (Deviantart)
What are your top 5 favorite pieces of art on Colors?
“Shifting sands, Rolling thunder”: The_Adjudicator
“Wicked Mare of the Night.” -Lunarx
“God Arceus” -Acchan
“Red fern Peak” -Senco
“Ruin” -Danciao
What inspired you to begin to make art?
"It started as a way to pass time since I didn’t have much to do, but than it grew to wanting to express the stories I had and wanting to improve."
Favorite techniques/mediums/styles?
"My favorite techniques/mediums/styles is currently all in my own artwork at the moment. Techniques: Drawing. Mediums: It was using Colored Pencils or Acrylic paint before I started Colors. Style: At the moment, lineart!"
What is your favorite piece of art on Colors that you have made? Which piece are you the most proud of?
"My favorite piece of art I have made on Colors so far is “MLP Villians (Redraw)” because it was a very long 17 hours, at first I was going to give up completely on the project, it seemed like I bit off more than I could chew but after three days, I managed to get it done finally (Which some tech issues at the end) and the end result was better than I expected!"
"The picture I am most proud of so far is “The Gothic Architecture” picture for the wc464 challenge. That was one of the times I was testing to see if I could do gothic architecture and to test how well I could do backgrounds, it was very hard work but it paid off well and I am still proud of it to this day! It was the first picture to get 100 likes for me!"
What’s your favorite color?
"Green, I think."
Any art pet peeves or pet peeves in general you’d like to share?
"This might just be a me issue since I have one eye, but when I used to draw on paper I always had issues drawing on my blind side since it felt like I was looking at it from far away and it felt like trying to draw on Molasses, it drove me nuts. Frankly I have that issue still with writing."
Favorite artist on or outside of colors?
"I think my favorite artist is: Neytrix"
Do you have any warm-up methods before jumping straight to a drawing project?
"Usually I like finding a long youtube video, or some music to blast before I start drawing so that I can be fully in the zone while I am drawing. Paying attention to nothing but the art and whatever is blasting on my computer."
Favorite things to draw? MLP seems obvious but anything else ? What are your favorite franchises?
"When I was young I used to draw Star Trek, I still love start Star Trek (Especially Star Trek Voyager, Fun fact: Discord (MLP) was created because of Q from Star Trek and is voice by the actor of Q.) But I also love, Gravity falls, Star Wars, Murder She Wrote, Golden Girls, Columbo, Legend of Zelda, and Pokemon."
Sith by BiniBean
Patronus Doe by BiniBean
The Malice Consumes (W.I.P) by BiniBean
When did you start your art journey? What is your favorite thing about Colors Live? Why do you use it and what keeps you coming back to our humble gallery?
"I started my art journey in maybe grade 1, but I suppose it didn’t officially start until 2016, when I first watched MLP and it sort of grew more serious at that point."
What events or changes would you like to see to the Colors Gallery?
Perhaps more focus on the art parts of the Gallery, in new paintings and such but overall the gallery is good! Perhaps the results for the “Anniversary Remix” to come out since I don’t remember seeing the winners for that one.
Ketchup or mayo?
"I think the real question is, what would you rather eat without a sandwich or something to balance it out. I love both but if I had to eat one straight up, it would be ketchup. You can’t go wrong with tomatoes unless you hate them, which thankfully I don’t."
If you could take control of the MLP franchise, what changes would you make?
"Oh boy, I got a list and it all had to do with G5. First of all, I wouldn’t change the generations before MLP g4, they are what inspired G4 after all. Of course, g4 had it’s issues, especially towards the end but when it ended, it still ended on a good note. Then G5 started and they decided on CGI and start it in the far, far future of G4. Which, at first, I was ok with. The G5 movie came out, the concerns I had about it, died down a little and the mystery of what happened between G4 and G5 was brought up a lot and the movie didn’t answer anything.
Then the show and the specials came out, the animators tried their best but CGI does not work for MLP very well, they made just about the worst dragon in the history of dragons, and they just ran over G4 for reasons I don’t understand. They got things wrong, they said things that don’t make sense.
So, I would rewrite G5, making the main characters have maybe more interesting personalities, drop the CGI since it is doing nothing for them except making their lives harder, and even now, I would have it continue off G4, but I would have some of the G4 characters in it from the past, such as the alicorns in hiding or something and without a doubt in my mind, delete the dragon they added.
Also I would get the G4 writers to write G5 because at the rate G5 is going, it is not something I can watch."
Discord question from @Lilyofthe328Valley: What led you to get Colors?:
"What lead me to get Colors was a want to do digital art and find a way to provide less strain on my good eye. I used to draw on a program called “Comic Workshop 2” on my 2Ds/2DS XL when I still had one and I enjoyed it so I looked up to see if there were any programs for the Switch and thankfully, I found Colors Live!"
Any Colors artist you would like to shoutout? (it doesn’t have to be your favorite artist or a friend)
"I think @Artist_Cece deserves a shoutout, she has put a lot of work into her art and is always striving to improve. She has awesome art!""
Stary Canterlot Night by Artist_Cece
That wraps up our interview with @BiniBean! We at the The Colors Team would like to thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and for uploading so much awesome art as well! I'm personally excited to see what you make in the future and it was an honor to have you as our first Artist of the week! Colors Gallery goers, check out their awesome gallery when you have the time.
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.
Also another reminder! The current weekly challenge #wc495 "Takeover" is ongoing. Last day to show how you would "takeover"is sunday mar 26 2023.
Stay creative!
Zyik & The Colors Team
