Colors Gallery, meet faerieworks
@faerieworks brings lovely fae magic to the Colors Gallery with their lovely portraits filled with pastel and neon colors! Let's all learn about how they make their magic happen!
Who is the worker behind the fae? Tell us about your origins!
"Hahaha yes. Faerieworks is the username I created and chose for my artist self many years ago. I thought it sounded pretty and kinda sounded like fireworks which evoke wonder and excitement! That and I'm obsessed with fairies and fantasy, and "works" could apply to all manner of different art forms, be it photography, digital art, traditional art, and more. I mostly share my visual art pieces but I do dabble in other areas of the creative arts also!"
"As for my personal origins, I actually started my digital art journey with the Pictionary-esque game "Draw Something 2", the successor to the popular game "Draw Something". We sorta had a community going on there much like the Colors Gallery where you could post your own art and support other's. From there I discovered Colors 3d back in 2012 and have sorta grown alongside its development pretty much!"
Fairy by faerieworks
You have a really unique way of coloring with how you use pastels and neons! Who or what inspired the way you paint? When did you begin painting overall? I take it you're a fan of cute, small magical creatures?
"Thank you! I was actually inspired by the anime Anohana during... I wanna say 2013? In the opening and ending theme songs for that they utilise this beautiful purple lineart which inspired me to bring it to my own art. As for the other neons and bright colours, I just enjoy them."
"And yes to the small cute magical creatures. I'm an avid D&D player so recently all kinds of ideas for these games have been plaguing my mind!"
A lot of your art and characters seem to be DND inspired or original characters. When did you get into DND and what drove you to it? As for your original characters are they for a story or do you just come up with them spontaneously/as you think of them?
"Yes! So I got into D&D around 2016 with my friends. We didn't really know what we were doing but we loved playing nonetheless. I quickly grew obsessed with designing my own characters just as one often does with a game like the Sims, creating backstories for them and hoping one day I'll get to use them in a game. I just love the freedom this game brings you to do whatever you want, and since then I've been writing a few campaigns myself! My biggest work at the moment is a reinterpretation of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon with D&D inspired rules and mechanics. Wish me luck in finishing that!"
"As for my characters, sometimes I think of them to fit into a pre-established story, but most of the time they just come to me on a whim. Once they're in my brain it's like an itch I have to get rid of and the only way to do that is to bring them to life through art."
When did you discover Colors Live? How did you discover our humble community? What do you think of it and anything you would like to see gallery or feature-wise?
"I've been a gallery user since 2012! As soon as I saw there was a Switch version of this program I love in development, I jumped on that Kickstarter so fast. I've been loving every single update that comes out and can't wait to see where it goes in the future!"
"Looking at my own gallery though, it doesn't look like I've been on here all that long because all my paintings until recently have been posted on private. I reuploaded all of my more recent draws on public and now everything goes on public, as I do really love the kindness and welcoming of the community."
"However, if you do wanna see some of my older pieces they're aaall on my Instagram page @ faerieworks also!"
With how you use colors I'm assuming you have experience painting traditionally or studying color theory? What other programs or mediums do you use ? How does Colors Live compliment your workflow?
"Yes! I actually studied at an art school from when I was around 9 or 10 years old? Today I also do a lot of traditional art using copic markers, and have plans on using watercolour soon in the future. My copics and Colors are my main mediums though, usually opting for full body portraits when drawing traditionally and more detailed and colour-accurate pieces when drawing digitally."
Your Colors Gallery consists of mostly portraits. Do you like to try any other types of art are you planning to?
"I have tried other styles before but I just find the most fun when doing portraits and creating characters hahaha."
"I mentioned wanting to try watercolour though, and I'm very interested in using that for creating landscapes and flowers. Hopefully I can figure it out!"
Besides being a fae that works are there any interesting facts about you that hardly anyone else knows that you want to share?
"I'm also into cosplay and lolita fashion? I don't post any of my pictures online unfortunately, but I have a lot of lolita dresses and I cosplay a lot of characters from things like Percy Jackson, Invader Zim, Love Live, and more! My next cosplan I think I've settled on doing the newest Zelda in her Tears of the Kingdom outfit!"
Get well soon! by faerieworks
What are your secrets? What advice would you give to both beginners and artists of all skill levels?
"Observation. It's what I tell everyone that asks. Observe what other artists are doing and how they do it, think about why it works, and consider how you could apply it to your own artwork. It doesn't need to be a lot in one go either. It could be "I really like how they highlight their hair", or "the way they add blush is really cute". Just pick one thing that you like and focus on that."
Do you ever get artblock? How do you overcome it if you do?
"Yeah. Sometimes for months on end. I try to keep the mindset that I'm doing art for myself, not for followers or clout or algorithms, so if I have to take time away from art that's okay, I know I'll come back to it when I'm ready! More often than not, when I am ready I just go for waves of piece after piece after piece and practically binge-draw a myriad of ideas floating around in my mind. It's fun!"
Nature or nurture?
"Bit of both. I think anyone can draw with enough practise and learning, but some people naturally adapt faster and that's okay! I feel like my brain is wired for the arts, so maybe I can learn quicker than some, but I'm certainly no prodigy, so I've seen a lot of people learn quicker than me. At the end of the day though, just focusing on your own journey and not worrying about others so much is best. Do what works for you and what you find enjoyment in. At least that's how I feel."
Top 3 Favorite Colors artworks from other artists?
(In no particular order)
"Ben" by @sharp_eyed_detective immediately caught my eye when I saw it. It's a beautiful piece of someone lying in a meadow but their hair is also part of the meadow. Feels very peaceful.
"スイリュウ" (suiryuu) by @yuureisensei is also stunning with the way they were able to capture the magical nature and feel of water.
"ha" by @Rubber_Ducky is just incredible how they captured hyper-realism but also created a makeup look that I too want to try out now.
Do you have any art goals or future goals in general?
"I kinda wanna just keep getting better. I think one day I want to open commissions properly and work with others more. It's a bit of a daunting step for me but I'm also excited!"
A little fae told me that you live in Australia... Is it really the land where everything wants to kill you? If so how have you survived so long (seemingly) unscathed?
"Hahaha yes I am indeed in Australia. And no it's actually quite pleasant here! The things people are scared of I've never even seen in my life. I think most of that kind of stuff is out in the country, whereas I've mostly been situated close to cities (even small ones!)."
"Don't tell anyone I told you this, but dropbears are not real (but keep telling your gullible friends they are. It's our little inside joke)."
Colors art you are most proud of?
"I think the answer to this is almost always "my most recent piece". I get pretty proud looking how far I've come, and it always excites me thinking of how I can apply what I've learned to new pieces!"
Dhaunisstra by faerieworks
Who are your favorite artist both on and off Colors? How do they inspire you?
"For the longest time I've been following crowcourier and indigonite0 on Instagram and love the characters that they create, as well as the style they do it in. I'm also following a lot of artists on there that create their own original characters for things like D&D over there and every time I see someone else's characters my thoughts are always "I want to meet them!" and "oh that's so interesting how they did that! I wanna do this too" etc."
"It's the whole community that I get my inspiration from, both on how to evolve my own style and also try others (again with watercolour. I really can't wait to try it out!)."
Discord question from @Jikkermanccini:I love your consistent use of pastels and neons in all of your portraits! Is there anything in particular that inspired you to use such palettes?
"Actually yes! I watched the anime Anohana as a child and loved how they did purple lineart in the theme songs particularly, and tried to replicate that in my style. I ended up falling in love with it and haven't looked back, and am only coming up with more and more ideas for future since the new Colors update!"
Discord question from @erii:Who are your biggest artistic influences in and out of Colors Live?
"Oh man pretty much every artist I run into online. I looked up to indigonite0 and crowcourier on Instagram for the longest time (still do), but a lot of my inspiration comes from picking out a particular aspect of someone's art and thinking about how I could apply it to my own art, and that goes for any piece of artwork that I happen across be it Instagram or on the Colors gallery!"
Anyone you wish to shout-out? Friend, foe, fae etc.?
" @SaltineCracker here on Colors also has a lovely and cute gallery! I especially love their Pokémon arts!"
Mayonnaise by SaltineCracker
"SpookyKinzie, Ruyijingu, and Lovelinessstudio_ all on Instagram! First two are visual artist friends and Loveliness Studio is a local polymer clay jewellery artist I've been supporting for a while now."
Thatwraps up our interview with the magical @faerieworks ! We at The Colors Team thank you for being so amazing and spreading fae magic into the gallery with your awesome pastel colored artworks! Everyone keep the magic going and keep an eye on them!
You check out the interview with our previous artist of the week @sharp_eyed_detective here
http://colorslive.com/page/Meet-sharp_eyed_detective
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.
You can suggest a new artist for artist of the week on the forum post on my gallery or by posting with the #heyzyik tag.
Get ready for your debut as a "vtuber" in #wc507 ! Remember to launch your stream by Sunday June 18th, 2023
Stay creative!
Zyik & The Colors Team
