Embracing Backgrounds · by Kina de Grasse

I started out making artwork like anyone does; with crayons and markers in primary school. I remember art being my favourite class in school, and thinking to myself that someday I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. I never actually thought that I would attend school for art and seriously consider a career in it, but here I am!

Starting out, my biggest inspirations were other artists my age, the cartoons that I watched, and Japanese culture. I have been greatly influenced by Japanese animation and comics, and to this day I find it very hard to kick that ‘look’ that labels me as someone drawing ‘big sailor moon eyes.’ Recently however, I’ve taken to embracing my past influences and making them my own through new techniques and skills that I acquire.

While developing my personal artistic practice, I began to have two very different styles. One was the animated, bubbly-shiny Japanese anime look that managed to sell very well and gave myself a name on the internet among other artists doing the same type of work. The other was a more serious style, which developed through my study of fine art and art theory, as well as pushing myself technically and conceptually. I do not think of one style as ‘better’ than the other, only different. My goal for my work in the future is to combine my different styles into something that I can call my own; that is unique to me and will show a mix of my influences and skills.

My work is predominantly illustration and painting. Later on I developed a sense for design and started doing web design and print design. This was when I started using computers to work on my illustrations as well. My work has almost always been character-driven; I am most interested in creating personalities and portraying emotion through the characters I create. I suppose I also use my characters as a way of projecting myself into my work, since I usually create work best based on my own experiences or concerns.

My more serious work tends to be based on developing a specific technical skill, such as inking, or achieving a level of detail that I could not have previously through inks or painting. These works also tend to be more realistic, and deal with issues concern me. Some of these issues are the environment and sustainability as well as themes of internal-personal conflicts.

Presently I have a mix of challenges when it comes to my practice. Having just completed my undergraduate degree, I find myself needing to do something to actually support myself financially. This has resulted in taking on many arts and graphics related jobs that do not necessarily reflect my practice. The kinds of jobs that I’ve had to do don’t have much of myself in them; rather they are simply jobs I’ve done for money. This creates a problem; I’m spending a lot of my time doing work for money and I usually end up having very little energy to create works for myself.

I know that this is a problem among many of my friends who are artists. Many enter jobs in which they have to use their artistic talents, and then when they come home they are drained and have little motivation to work on their own practice. Obviously the ideal situation would be to be paid to create works that are a part of one’s main practice, but many starting out don’t have the opportunity to do this. I find that many who enter into this pattern end up rejecting their practice and only using talents for empty commercial works. With so many opportunities for new media artists, there is often no shortage of work in the graphics, web, and illustration industries. It’s easy to sell out, and I’ve noticed a lot of artists giving up being true to themselves in order to make a quick buck, myself included.

I don’t have a solution for this problem; I can say that before you enter into any kind of commercial work, you have to know yourself in order not to lose yourself. I’m still learning this. I have always been too timid to put myself into my commercial works, worried that the client would not like the result. This usually results in work that I create that is stagnant and devoid of any character or life. I’ve learned that the reason these people actually have hired you is because of your past work; there was something they saw in it that made them want to hire you in the first place. I think people would be less artistically drained if they put all of their efforts into every piece they did, feeling that sense of accomplishment and learning in every work instead of just works they do for themselves. Embrace your backgrounds, no matter how embarrassing or insignificant they may seem. They are all a part of who you are as an artist, and every little bit makes a difference and contributes to your practice.

~Kina De Grasse
www.kina-ink.com