![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ihaveaface.png\")
<\/p>\n
Subsign: What was your childhood like? Do you think your experiences from childhood have influenced your present creative endeavors?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: I don\u2019t really have that many memories from before I was 5, even though I have a great memory, but I do know I\u2019ve seen the process of creation from an early age because my father was a caricaturist. I do remember having a big poster on my door with Cartoon Network’s characters drawn by him.<\/p>\n I grew up with a lot of classic cartoons like Tom & Jerry and the bidimensional hand-drawn Disney movies and I believe that played a huge role in my development as an illustrator, because I wasn\u2019t only watching cartoons, I was studying how they\u2019re made, and how a static background is different from a background where something is about to happen (Has anyone else ever played this game?). I still can\u2019t watch cartoons or movies if the way that they are drawn bothers me. The thing that shaped me the most, both as a person and an illustrator is the fact that while I was very outgoing as a child, at the age of 11 or 12 I kind of started isolating myself because I was bullied a lot, I couldn\u2019t make friends and I was in fact scared of human interaction. And because I didn\u2019t have friends to hang out with, I was spending a lot of time drawing.<\/p>\n I would get back from school, eat, start drawing, panic because I wasn\u2019t doing my homework and I knew my mom would get upset, ending up doing my homework\u2026 ish, and then drawing again. Lunch breaks in school were also for drawing because I was feeling safe staying hidden in my corner and just drawing instead of having to engage in human interaction.<\/p>\n Subsign: What did you want to be as a grown up?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: I can\u2019t recall the first thing I wanted to be as a grown-up, but funny enough at the age of 10 or something like that I was actually aspiring to be a math teacher, and my teacher at that time told me \u201cNo, you\u2019re far better than that, you can do anything you want! You\u2019ll see, time will fly by and you might wish for something else!\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n And then I started middle school, I was running behind on math, failing it somehow and ending up despising it for the next 8 years. I was only good at stereometry and three-dimensional geometry because let\u2019s face it, my pyramids were so much prettier than everyone else\u2019s in my class! C\u2019mon! (Only thing I can brag about when it comes to school).<\/span><\/p>\n I also recall dreaming of becoming a writer at around 12 years old because I was obsessed with Shakespeare’s Macbeth and I was writing plays in English hoping I would someday see them play in a theatre. And I was also fantasizing of casting Johnny Depp in basically all the movies that would ever be made based on my stories.<\/p>\n I still have a novel I started writing around 7 or 8 years ago. Now I just write in a blog that no one reads yet. And at 13 years old I started drawing and dreaming of becoming an artist. And it stuck to me like a tiny ring on a fat finger. And I can\u2019t get it off and I don\u2019t want to ever get it off. I\u2019m 24 and I still dream of becoming an artist.<\/p>\n Subsign: How does your workstation look like?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: My workstation\u2019s a mess. I keep telling myself I will invest into a huge minimalist white desk but I\u2019ve been saying that for over half a year already. As a designer, I\u2019m glued to my desk and I don\u2019t bother with it that much because I\u2019m the \u201corganized chaos\u201d type of person. When it comes to illustrating though, I don\u2019t really care where I\u2019m drawing as long as I\u2019m not getting too distracted and I know I have a few free hours.<\/span><\/p>\n The most extreme place I\u2019ve gone drawing so far was the \u201cPietrele Doamnei\u201d peak in Rarau Mountains, for my \u201cThe Travelling Sketchbook\u201d series, where I\u2019ve actually hiked and climbed around 1 km with an A3 sketchbook placed between my back and my backpack, because I couldn\u2019t fit the sketchbook inside the backpack. It\u2019s an amazing experience! I dream of being able to travel a lot and draw in different places around the world. Subsign: Do you have a work style? How would you describe it?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: I used to think that you have to work a lot on creating your own style and I did try to define a style for at least 5 years and I couldn\u2019t stick to one. The style I have now, which people actually recognize, is something that came to me naturally once I stopped trying to figure out what is my style.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m an overthinker and I used to struggle with neuroticism and my present style came naturally because I was turning to art as a way of helping myself to slow down everything that\u2019s in my head. My style is detailed, some might say extremely detailed (but that\u2019s not true), bidimensional, flat, and surrealist-ish. I rely heavily on ink, the black and white contrast, a dark or mysterious feeling in the final artwork and not drawing pupils, which I might have to turn into a personal meme soon.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve also heard a lot of people say that my illustrations seem to have an Asian vibe, so I guess I could it describe my style like that too.<\/p>\n Subsign: Can you share with us how your creative process works?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: I don\u2019t sketch a lot because I use the mind palace technique to store, in visual form, finished artworks, concepts, keywords and let\u2019s say leitmotifs inside my brain so I\u2019m somehow sketching everything in my head long before I actually start drawing. And then I just try to convince my hand to cooperate\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n I create the concept at the same time as the \u201cmental sketch\u201d, and this is the second most time-consuming part (sometimes it\u2019s the first most consuming part also). I don\u2019t know how people perceive my illustrations but the majority of them have a really complex concept behind. They\u2019re full of Easter Eggs.<\/p>\n Making the actual sketch on paper usually takes from 10 minutes to 30 minutes depending on difficulty, while the whole inking process that follows can take from 2-4 hours on a small piece or even 10-15 hours on a bigger piece. (I don\u2019t have the guts to try drawing bigger than an A3.) Occasionally I scan my works and clean them up in Photoshop and takes at least a few hours because I have to deal with a lot of lines.<\/p>\n Subsign: What is your favorite work you have done so far?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: My favorite work would be the \u201cGeoshapes\u201d set. I don\u2019t love it, because there\u2019s still some mistakes I see there, but it\u2019s one of my favorites because it means a lot to me. <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s a landmark in my career because I believe I\u2019ve managed to achieve incredible things in the past year and a half since I created it. It\u2019s about unity & diversity and it uses the 3 basic geometry shapes (circle, triangle, square) in order to create a rule for the set. Some people just see the illustrations drawn as a shape, others see the rule. That\u2019s the fun part of it.<\/span><\/p>\n My favorite-favorite work so far, which I haven\u2019t turned against yet is my illustration for an Inktober prompt, \u201cStar\u201d. It\u2019s a small A5 drawing but it\u2019s one of those drawings where you aim high, you\u2019re scared you\u2019re going to mess it up and have to redo it, but you still do it because comfort zone never helped anyone.<\/p>\n Subsign: Who do you follow for inspiration?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: This might sound weird, but I\u2019m not really following specific artists for inspiration because I\u2019ve done that in the beginning of my journey as an artist and I was ending up \u201cstoring\u201d their works and involuntarily \u201ccoming up with a concept\u201d extremely similar. I do follow some illustrators, like Loish, Kelsey Beckett or ArtGerm because I want to see their journey.<\/span><\/p>\n My inspiration comes from a lot of places, but I\u2019m heavily inspired by tattoos and graffiti art (not the colorful tags, but the stencils). I get my inspiration from there because it\u2019s sometimes similar to what I do: heavy lines, lots of black, and very graphic.<\/p>\n I also get some of my inspiration from art, especially block printing (notably the Japanese Ukiyo-E) and lithography, because some of them rely on just black and white so the variety of work comes from different concepts, of course, but also from different techniques which I\u2019m trying to constantly learn to avoid the \u201csame drawing\u201d issue, while still keeping my style in place.<\/p>\n Subsign: What advice would you give to someone starting out in the creative field of work?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: I can be a good motivational speaker but this time I\u2019ll be frank and harsh.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s tough! If you\u2019re just starting out, it\u2019s gonna be tough. The thing with talent is that it is bullshit. In my opinion, talent manifests itself just as a tendency (and in some cases obsession) towards the thing you\u2019re \u201ctalented\u201d at.<\/p>\n The rest of it is hard work; some say it\u2019s even 99% hard work. Ages of hard work, practicing and studying. Da Vinci did not come out of the womb with a canvas. What made him amazing was his obsession to learn and evolve, which actually made him turn to corpses. Da Vinci and Michelangelo were trafficking dead bodies in order to understand human anatomy.<\/p>\n In the creative field, you have to be persistent, you have to create a lot, you have to accept the fact that you will fail several times, you have to let go of fear (especially if your medium is digital), and I believe you need to really want it. As sad as it sounds, if you\u2019re not \u201cdesperate\u201d about it, chances are you might not have the patience for it.<\/p>\n I could talk about this for hours and if I had the guts to record myself I would\u2019ve already made a Youtube series out of it.<\/p>\n Subsign: If you would have a superpower, what would it be?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: Well that\u2019s a tough one\u2026 I did think about this question a few times in my life and I usually wanted invisibility, but man, that\u2019s kinda boring at useless at some point\u2026 No hard feelings to anyone who\u2019s invisible!<\/span><\/p>\n But right now, I\u2019d say the best superpower for me would me being able to manipulate time. Think about it: I would be able to save someone\u2019s life AND undo in real life while I draw! How cool is that? And I could also reverse time, and then forward it at higher speed and watch myself in a live speed painting video. I also wouldn\u2019t mind being the next Dr. Strange. That\u2019d be cool.<\/span><\/p>\n Subsign: Can you recommend for our readers a book, a song, and a movie?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: \u201c12 Rules for Life \u2013 An antidote to chaos\u201d by Jordan B. Peterson<\/span><\/p>\n One of the best books I\u2019ve ever encountered, especially when it comes to psychology and self-development. I would call it quite an in-your-face self-help manual. And even if you believe you don\u2019t need any help whatsoever, I still recommend the book because it will most likely take you on a little self-discovery trip.<\/p>\n \u201cHeat\u201d (1995)<\/p>\n This is by far the hardest thing to answer in the whole interview! I had narrowed it down to \u201cNo country for old men\u201d and \u201cHeat\u201d and I hope I made the right choice. This movie is by far one of the best crime & heist thrillers ever; you can\u2019t have a movie with Al Pacino, De Niro and Val Kilmer in it without turning it into a masterpiece.<\/p>\n \u201cPirates of the Caribbean \u2013 Medley\u201d by Hans Zimmer<\/p>\n When I was young I was in love with \u201cPirates of the Caribbean\u201d: the ships, the curses, the spells, the pirates, everything! And that\u2019s when I fell in love with Hans Zimmer. I still randomly turn up the speakers, play the whole medley and sink into this song. Goosebumps every time!<\/p>\n Subsign: If you could throw any kind of party, what would it be like and what would it be for?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: Oh oh a \u201csing-in-the-car\u201d\/carpool karaoke party! But like, in a van, or a tram, so you can have a lot of people in there. I\u2019m no singer, but if you\u2019re traveling with me, you\u2019ll have to listen to me singing at least 50% of the time. God, I would love this kind of party.<\/p>\n Subsign: What famous people would you invite to the party and why?<\/span><\/p>\n witskill<\/span>: Well, I would definitely NOT invite any singers, because\u2026 well, it\u2019s just a party for bad to average amateurs singers. I would probably invite Johnny Depp just to console him for not making it into my movies.<\/p>\n Thank you, witskill, for being a part of it!<\/p>\n If you know an artist that should be in the spotlight, contact us at\u00a0jojo@subsign.co<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n For more of\u00a0witskill’s work, you can follow her on the links: witskill on Instagram<\/a>, witskill’s portfolio<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The simple, yet detailed creations of witskill have gotten us amazed! witskill: Well, hello! My name\u2019s Lisa, I go by witskill and I\u2019m an illustrator and a graphic designer. Those two would actually be the official and indisputable titles I have, but I guess I could also call myself a youtuber wannabe, a social media […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2045"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2072,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions\/2072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subsign.co\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1-2.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Set.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ultimate-workplace.png\")
<\/span><\/p>\n
\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Travel_draw.png\")
\n<\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1-4.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1-1.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/geoshapes.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Star.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/11.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/2.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1-3.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/FULL.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/subsign.co\/public\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/1-4-1.png\")
<\/p>\n