Colors Gallery, meet Just_Flick
@Just_Flick gets a kick out of creating digital art in their stand out style! They're all about having fun with creativity while continuing to grow and improve at a pace they enjoy! Now let's all kick back and get to know @Just_Flick in this last interview before the new year!
@Just_Flick I hope you had a wonderful holiday! Now it's time to get to know you! What should we know?
"Howdy! I’m a digital artist and I’ve been drawing seriously since 2013! I spend my days with my friends online and looking after an all-male cat colony of 8! I have a hyper-respect for life, so I spend most of my time focussed on their safety and happiness. I’m moving to a proper house next month, where I’ll finally have the space to bring all of those boys inside - bringing my indoor cat friend total to 10!"
Flick/Theo MTA by Just_Flick
Yet another artist with a stand-out style! I really dig how you use the select & move brush to create so many cool concepts! What inspired those concepts? What are your biggest inspirations and what made you begin your art journey?
I only discovered this particular method of drawing thanks to a Colors artist by the username of @conspiracy_cadet.
"I saw one particular piece they did where they used the select tools pretty much exclusively, and thought it was super cool! It has such a unique look to it that I really dig. It was hard on my hands at first as I tried to keep perfect control over it, but it forces me to relax and just have a good time making new images, not overthink or become overly perfectionist about my lines. I draw for fun, so combating the urge to be overly critical is super important to me and I’m always working on new ways to override that."
"I originally began drawing because of Pokemon! I started drawing Pokemon themselves, and eventually swapped over to humans! My main character Flick’s hair design was my old attempt at creating a Pokemon inspired hairstyle. She’s evolved (hehe) over the years, but has become incredibly iconic, I think! I love the wacky, unrealistic, over-the-top designs. It’s incredibly fun!"
Gengar by Just_Flick
How did you discover the Colors Gallery? What's made you stick around all this time?
"I joined back in the day on the 3ds! If memory serves, I was impatiently waiting for Flipnote3d to release, and really needed to get that dual screen drawing fix, so I nabbed myself a download of Colors!3d. Eventually, I lost access to a computer and graphics tablet for other drawing software, and Colors!3d became my main! I’ve regained traditional digital tools, but I still go back to ColorsLive all the time since it’s portable and easy to do digital art with!"
Which artworks of yours are you the most proud of and why? Which ones were the most rewarding or challenging?
"Oh, man. Any of my DBZ art, honestly. I’m such a lover of DBZ, and it’s really pushed me into a good direction! But the image that really displays that best is actually my recent Pokemon drawing of Blaziken! "
Blaze Kick by Just_Flick
"I’ve never drawn Blaziken before, and I was super worried about it coming out looking silly. The pose is really dynamic, but I could feel the slim room for error in it while sketching.
On top of that, I was worried it wouldn’t LOOK like a Blaziken! I kept so many reference images up to ensure the shape really matched."
"The final challenge was making sure the flames looked right! I did about 3 different variations on flame shapes in sketches before I went with what was the most fun to draw!
Overall, I’m really happy with it! I pushed through those concerns and just kept telling myself to trust the process and have fun, not to back down when I normally would, and I am really glad it worked out!"
Top 3 favorite Colors artworks(3 that aren't your own)?
Easy! In no particular order:
Colors Live - Fallen Angel by silvy
"This is just so incredibly impressive! Shadow is easily one of my most favorite characters of all time, so seeing him so wonderfully rendered here made my brain so happy."
Colors Live - 。 by reini-
It’s such a simple drawing, but aw man if it’s not beautiful. I feel the happiness radiating from this artwork!
untitled by Merph_
Ohhhh the whimsy!!! It’s overflowing with whimsy!!! <3
Favorite artist on and off Colors?
"If I had to say only one artist, I’d have to pick Fransisco Goya. The Black Paintings are some I find incredibly captivating, and every so often I go back to analyse them further and admire the images he painted. In particular, El perro (The Dog) really sticks in my mind and I think of it often, as well as Dos viejos comiendo sopa (Two Old Ones Eating Soup). They can be incredibly haunting and even scary, but I find it so incredibly beautiful. I think of them so often, and I go on long talks about the paintings and Goya himself to my boyfriend pretty much annually at this point! (Oh, and he’s not a ColorsLive guy but my boyfriend is also an artist!)"
What would you say are the biggest strengths of your style? What is your usual process?
"This wasn’t always the case, but I have one thing I’d like to universally display in my work; Whimsy. My past was full of drawings lacking any sort of whimsy. Nowadays, even in the more horror-like drawings I create, I want things to feel somewhat whimsical in nature! I think the way I draw does a good job of keeping a sense of whimsy in every image. I believe my dedication to having fun while creating can really shine through my effort."
Pine Tree by Just_Flic
Do you use any other software or mediums? How do they compare to Colors Live and are there any new features you'd like to see in Colors Live at some point?
"Yes! I have oodles of traditional art tools, but I am a digital artist at heart. I currently use wacom and huion graphics tablets paired with Krita and sometimes Clip Studio, depending on the work I’m doing! Compared to Colors, they’re incredibly heavy and take some prep to get started. Albeit worthwhile, I like how quickly I can start drawings with Colors vs any of the software I’ve used on my computer. When I’m sick or just not feeling like getting out an entire graphics tablet and laptop, I’ll reach for my Switch and load up Colors!"
"The tool I yearn for most while drawing has to be a squash and stretch tool. Being able to grab a piece of a drawing and flip it around or squish it down, stretch it out, I find I’m using that a great deal in other digital software. It’s invaluable for times when maybe a limb is too short/long/skinny, or I’ll even use the software’s antialiasing for creating a janky blur effect that I really like for comedic pieces!"
Once again I have to highlight how well you use the select & move brush to create shapes that make cool concepts! With how good you are with shapes what advice can you give to others about shape language or using shapes to create interesting characters?
"I’ve been on a journey of training my shapes skill for the past couple of years! As a kid, I used my inspiration from Pokemon and Marvel to create really fun, unusual characters."
"Somewhere along the way I lost my whimsy and wanted “realistic characters,” but I’ve come back to my roots and decided that simply won’t do. While I’m designing characters, I find myself adding lots of triangles and squares to really buff out the outline, giving it some unique shapes. My attempts at training this habit started with designing a hairstyle that resembled each letter of the alphabet! It really helped me learn what makes a weird design that still looks good and most importantly; believable."
Earth Devil - Concept by Just_Flick
Tell us about your stories! I'd really like to know about #Flick_Core ! What can you tell us?
"Core was a story I created over 13 years ago as a wee boy and have only started to refine into something I really value. On its surface, it’s a simple story of a hero vs lots of bad guys, but our main character, Ossa, quickly starts to realize things aren’t as they seem - villains are actually fighting for the same thing that the “good guys” are, just in a different way that got lost in translation. The world is much bigger than she ever would’ve realized, and the only way forward is with friends. My favorite element being Ossa’s powerup, which only works when her friends are around to cheer her on and believe in her, giving her a massive power boost unlike anything ever seen before! I’ve even got a part 2 that I love to bits that starts to touch on Ossa’s journey in really being able to believe in not only herself, but the humanity in others, even her enemies."
"The overall story has a big focus on strength in unity, a warning on making quick judgements or jumping on the bandwagon, aiming to question what is “evil” and is “winning” really the right way to end this story?"
CORE: Afterlife by Just_Flick
What tips you can give about character design? What are the most key elements of character design to you? What makes a character stand out from others?
"The biggest design improvement tool I’ve discovered is having a good focus on silhouettes. Creating an interesting and unique character can be as simple as making sure they’re identifiable by their outline! Kind of like a whos-that-pokemon segment! Coloring in their figure in one solid color can be a good tool for identifying places you could make their shape more interesting and unique!"
"After you’ve got a solid and iconic outline, colors are incredibly important! Being able to identify a character based on their color pallet is also really valuable. Flick’s colors from the top of her head down are red, 2 shades of grey, blue, and black. When I see her colors out in the wild, my brain lights up “that’s like Flick!” and that’s exactly the goal!"
I'll Go Easy by Just_Flick
What's a random pro tip you can give aspiring artist?
"I teach art in my spare time, and the thing I always start with is being able to relax! Keeping a death-grip on my art always held me back, and that’s something so many artists struggle with! Not being able to admit defeat or let go and allow my work to breathe, I was on the verge of quitting art entirely every other month! Today, I will feel myself gripping my pen too hard, or redrawing a line too many times, sweating over a drawing, I feel so silly for it."
"Taking a step back, reminding myself it’s important to have fun and enjoy the process, it’s incredibly important. When I feel silly after a friend points out a flaw in a drawing, I make sure I’m not letting that feeling consume me, because I know it’s okay to have that flaw, and that I didn’t create that drawing to be perfect, and I had fun making it. I am more powerful than that silly feeling!"
"A plant cannot grow if you smother it - let your creativity flow freely and unhampered! It will do what it wants, and it will be beautiful for it. Have fun."
Goals and plans for the future?
"I started working on drawing up comic pages for Core recently here on Colors. I quickly learned my format and methods aren’t perfectly refined for what I want to create yet, so I want to keep training! Eventually, I’d love to create Core in a visual format that I can be proud of creating and finishing. It’s absolutely a long-term goal, but it means a lot to me, and I cherish it. I plan on creating a good portion in advance before releasing any of it, and putting it up on my website as soon as I get started!"
Core: Afterlife Teaser by Just_Flick
What do you do when you get burnt out? What's your solution?
"I always make sure to listen to my body and take breaks when I feel like I’m pushing myself to create. However, I find that talking to my friends about things is the fool-proof way to get me drawing passionately again in no time. We talk about Dragon Ball, or our own OCs, but most importantly I can’t turn down an op for a good character interaction doodle! Nothing gets my doodle brain firing like a good, silly interaction!"
Bharani by Just_Flick
How was your Christmas? Did you get or give any awesome gifts?
"I don’t celebrate holidays, actually! I find them too stressful, so when I was little I decided to flip that “opt-out” switch. I had a good, uneventfully relaxing day of staying up WAY too late with my friend. We watched some DBZ and then stayed up until 8am playing Valheim! I’m not good or bad at video games, but I beat a boss on my own after he kept dying in the game and I felt very powerful after, it was a really good time!"
Anyone you want to shoutout? Who deserves some much needed recognition in your eyes?
"I’d have to say @KatBon1 ! My attention was completely captured by their AWESOME Dragon Ball art! They draw the characters so well, it makes my heart happy! I can’t wait to see what they make next!" :D
Vegeta vs Goku by KatBon1
That wraps up our interview with @Just_Flick ! The Colors Team would like to thank you for your time! Stick around and give @Just_Flick some love!
Check out all of our previous interviews here:
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.
Christmas may have already passed but that doesn't mean you should stop being the best "Christmas Elf" you can be! Spread cheer well into the new year in #wc587 !
Stay creative!
Zyik & The Colors Team
