Hi Friends,
Sorry, no post yesterday. i had to go into work and help out on a few projects.
A few weeks back, i had the honor and the privilege to do an interview with the lovely Miss Louis AKA Miss Pandora.
She is now working for Paris based Dirty Glam Magazine
and the interview is in this issue of Dirty Glam.
Please (click here) to go and check it out. It's a great magazine. My interview is pages 191-196. For those who can't speak French, i posted the English version below.
i hope you like it. :)
1 Who are you, and what do you do ?
My name is Danny Roberts, I would say I am an artist/ illustrator and a thinker.
Not sure what came first, though, being a illustrator or a thinker... I guess it's like the age old question, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?"
2 How did you develop your art? What's your approach?
I think my art developed by a lot of practice. It was a few years back, I got determined to get better at drawing, so I would spend 16 hours a day practicing. Most of the time, I would draw till my hand was swollen closed. I was just practicing blind contours, and my style started to develop. My art is kind of like handwriting; whenever i draw, it always comes out looking like my style. It is nothing I try to do, it just is the way I draw. I guess that's the only way I can explain it.
3 How did your blog come about?
It's kind of funny how it came about, because I actually was always intimidated by blogs. I didn't know much about them. Back in April of this year, my brother was doing internet research for the company he worked for, and he ended up talking me into doing a blog so he could practice things he learned at work. Then I started having fun with it, and Voila, the rest is history. It's really been fun blogging and getting to know people all over the world.
4 Why use fashion as your subject?
Actually, I started school at the Academy of Art University, majoring in Fashion Design, and the first class I took was Fashion Illustration. I fell in love with doing fashion illustrations and decided then that I didn't want to be a designer, but an illustrator. I'm not sure why, but there is something about fashion that really inspires me. Fashion is kind of a door into a dream world for me, and I like entering that dream world, so it kinda works out. hah
5 What techniques do you use?
I love experimenting and developing new techniques, but at the core of my drawing, I mostly always use Blind Contour Cheating a little. Blind Contour Cheating basically means that you try to keep your eye on the subject matter that you are drawing and not the paper, and the only time you look down is when lifting the pen. I actually have a video Documentary up at igorandandre.blogspot.com (click on videos). In the Video, I show the full process of my main drawing technique.
6 What inspires you?
I'm inspired by almost everything for one reason or another. New experiences and people inspire me a lot. I would say women inspire me more than anything. That's why the majority of my art revolves around women. I also find genuine innocence very moving. Oh, also, anything from the 1920's.
7 Why have you chosen (style) bloggers as your models? How do you chose each one ?
When I first started my blog, I began exploring other blogger sites. It was like discovering a new world. I would just click from link to link and blog to blog. I started to find that there were so many blogs that inspire me. I then decided that I wanted to give back to those who have inspired me by drawing a picture of the blogger from their site. I guess there isn't any one reason or set rule on which blogger I draw, except that if it inspirers me, I end up drawing from it. For example, when I first stumbled on to your blog, I loved your style and the playful "dress up" tone to it. It was something that instantly inspired me, and I drew you that moment.
8 What other activities do you engage in parallel to your art?
I love writing music, and making short films, and I coach wrestling.
9 What projects do you have currently and in the works?
Wow... yeah, I've been working on a few long term projects and a few short term ones. For the last two years, I've been working on a book called "The Character Sketchbook". It is a book that journals my journey on learning how to draw. I made it to help encourage people that anyone can learn how to draw with enough practice. I have a lot of those drawings up on my blog. Right now, I am working on the last drawing, which is the 200th drawing, which I should finish this week. Also, I'm finish up illustrating Sophie Ward's children's book. It's my first book for Paper Castle Press. I'm really excited about it. I've also been working a little with doing some designs for a clothing company.
10 Who else would you like to work with?
Oh, my! There are so many people; I would love to work with Steve Miesel. He is one of my favorite photographers.
11 Are you dirrty or glam ?
Oooo. This is a tough one... hmm... Dirty, but secretly glam.
