Colors Gallery, meet Steve_Brule
@Steve_Brule, perhaps the biggest Wizard101 fan on the Colors Gallery, rules at making fantastic paintings full of charm and fine details! They really give us the 101 on what it means to be a fan artist that can truly capture the feeling and style of franchises they are passionate about! Now it's time for them to give us the 101 on who they are!
@Steve_Brule you've got to tell us what makes you so cool! What should the Colors Gallery know about you?
"I’m just a self-taught hobbyist, not much more to me than that haha. I’m not an artist by profession, and I like it that way. I have a ton of respect for everyone who makes art professionally—I would feel too much pressure and get burned out too quickly!"
Dasein by Steve_Brule
Gives us the 101 on your style! I guess it's no surprise that you're a fan of Wizard101(something I have a lot of nostalgia for as well as it was my first MMORPG) based on your many fantastically painted fanarts! Are there any other big inspirations that lead to your style becoming what it was? What would you say are its most key elements? Also when did your art journey begin?
"Most of my inspiration comes from the current and former artists employed by the company that makes Wizard101, actually! Dave Greco, Mia Smith, Tony Gaddis, Kevin Chin, just to name a very small handful. I’m not sure what others perceive as the key elements of my style, but I have been told that I have a knack for making characters look soft and sometimes even cute, which is really fun! My art journey has been pretty much my whole life, though I started really dedicating myself to learning better techniques during covid when there wasn’t much else to do."
Wilma Deering by Steve_Brule
Your first painting was uploaded in early August 2024 so that means you've been with us for only about two months! Welcome to the gallery! How did you discover our humble community and and what made you join? How's it been so far?
"I’m always looking for unusual ways to create digital art. I tried out a few different art apps on the Nintendo switch, and Colors Live ended up being my favorite! I’ve loved it so far. It has everything I need, and it doesn’t overwhelm me with a ton of extra features. The website also really stands out to me as an exception to typical modern social media. The emphasis is on sharing art, with votes and comments being secondary. I hope that never changes, because art should always be about the joy of creating—not engagement! I also majorly appreciate having a space just for human artists, away from AI images."
Dasein by Steve_Brule
With how skillful you are with your digital painting I'm assuming you might have experience using other mediums or software? If that's correct, what other software or mediums do you like to use? How does Colors Live fit your process and do you see features in other apps that you'd like to see in Colors Live someday?
"I’ve used every traditional medium, from pencil and paper to Photoshop, and plenty of unusual media too, like Mario Paint for the SNES! If there’s a digital art program/app out there, I’ve probably tried it. Right now, I either use paper/pen or Procreate on my iPad if I want to experiment and create a few quick thumbnails before I start a piece on Colors Live. Most of the time though, I already have the composition in my head and I jump right into Colors Live! The only thing I might possibly want out of CL is a bucket fill tool to make some parts of flat coloring slightly quicker. But I do just fine without." :]
While your gallery is small it's really shaping up to be fantastic! Do you have any works of yours that you're most proud of? Do you have a top 3 favorite artworks on Colors Live? Which are they?
Thank you!! I think I’m proudest of my most recent piece, “Judge Veg.” I applied a lot of new things I learned, and I’m happy with the results!
Judge Veg by Steve_Brule
My top 3 favorite artworks on CL are “Bready to Sleep” by SaltineCracker, “K.K. Robot Synth!!” by Loaf-of-Bread and “0208” by Atarute. Basically anything that has an interesting composition and shows good understanding of colors will be my favorite haha!"
Bready to Sleep by SaltineCracker
⌒♪★ K.K. Robot Snyth !! by Loaf-of-Bread_
0208 by Atarute
Favorite artist on and off Colors Live?
"It’s an extremely difficult decision, but I think my favorite artist on Colors Live is @Sagota. Their colors are very beautiful—and who doesn’t like Pokémon?! Outside of Colors Live, I really love the art of Dave Greco. He worked with Wizard101 for a few years, and I’ve been following his work ever since. His control over form is mindblowing to me. I’d love to get to that point someday!"
、 by sagota
I've gotta say your art really nails the Wizard101 style! What's your favorite thing about Wizard101 and how did you discover it? What class of Wizard do you use and which worlds and characters are your favorite? Favorite story arc?
"I think I first saw an advertisement for Wizard101 on TV. Over summer break, I tried it out and it’s been my favorite game for many years now! I’ve played every class, but I always come back to Storm and Death. Storm is the glass cannon class, which is always exciting. Death can be played as support, solo, or hitter, which always keeps gameplay interesting. It’s tough to pick a favorite world, but I think my current favorite is the latest world, which is based on Australia: Wallaru. The dev team did a great job incorporating real Australian history into the story. I’ve learned a lot of real life history because of the fictional events in the game! My favorite character, and my current Colors Live profile picture, is Dasein. He starts out as an embodiment of the concept of nothing, summoned into reality by the player character by accident. Over the course of the fourth story arc (my favorite arc by far), he learns about morality, decides he wants to help people, and learns the important but painful lesson that you can’t make everyone happy. He feels rejected after trying and failing to please everyone, but he grows from it and becomes a better person for it. I see a lot of myself in him."
Do you play Wizard101 for the gameplay, for the story, or a bit of both? Do you have a strategy you like to use or a favorite class?
"I end up playing Wizard101 for both the story and the gameplay! I play solo most of the time, which is probably a bit unusual for a multiplayer game :] I stay a lot more immersed in the story when I’m playing by myself, but there’s nothing more satisfying than beating a difficult boss with other people. I really enjoy playing support when I’m with others: shielding them from attacks, powering up their moves, stuff like that. I actually have a few accounts, so when I’m playing by myself, I can be my own support haha. It’s fun to experiment with playing different combinations of schools at the same time."
woof by Steve_Brule
What goals and plans do you have for the future?
"I just hope to keep improving my art skills and filling my gallery! I’m always looking for new things to learn and improve upon. I try to incorporate at least one new concept or skill in each of my pieces."
Kane by Steve_Brule
What's your 101 advice you would give to artist who want to paint in a cartoony style? What skills should they focus on?
There’s so much I could say haha, but I’ll condense it to a couple things :D
1: It seems counterintuitive, but start with drawing realistic stuff! Study the people, objects and animals around you. It’s really important to understand how a face is constructed, how lighting works, etc. I remember learning the concept of “you have to know the rules before you can break them” in school, and I fully believe that to be true here too!
2: There’s a lot to be learned from other artists, too. It can be anyone whose art you really like. I’ve picked up techniques from so many different artists, I couldn’t even list them all. I’ve learned from artists online I’ve never met, my friends who are also artists, and even Bob Ross! I think we artists all have something to teach each other.
Stallion Quartermane by Steve_Brule
How do you overcome burnout? What's the fire that keeps you going no matter hard things get?
"I’ve sort of alluded to it above, but for me it’s about learning and trying new things! It’s taken a long time, but I’ve learned how to focus only on the joy of learning something new and honing my skills. It also helps to draw subject matter I really like. Maybe the reason I love drawing Wizard101 characters so much is because there’s so much variety. I get bored drawing the same thing over and over after a while, but with Wizard101 I can be drawing a kangaroo based on Judge Dredd one day, then drawing a Redwall-style mouse the next!"
Is there anyone you want to shout-out?
"She’s not on Colors Live, but Mia Smith is a current Wizard101 artist who posts a lot of her work online. She’s super friendly and has been a source of inspiration for me. I don’t have any plans to become an official Wizard101 artist, but it’s been really inspiring to see her journey from drawing Wizard101 fanart for fun, to making art for the game! I hope I can learn just as much on my own journey!" :]
That wraps up our interview with @Steve_Brule ! The Colors Team would like to thank you for your time! You rule! Everyone keep a close eye on them!
Check out all of our previous interviews here:
http://colorslive.com/page/Artist-of-the-week-interview-list
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.
It's time to give your art a more personal touch by joining the"Finger Painting Challenge!" #wc574 demands for you to be a bit more tactile!
Stay creative!
Zyik & The Colors Team
