Interview with

A very typical question first: Renu, tell us a bit about yourself please.

I was born & have lived my entire life in India. I love music, movies & lazing around at home. After leaving my job in October last year, art has been my source of income which is a dream come true for me.

How did you discover dA and what are your thoughts about this community?

I remember browsing through art about 6 years back and coming across this wonderful community. At that time, I had no clue about photomanipulations & barely knew anything about digital art. It was the time when I was developing my passion for drawing again. I decided to create an account & start sharing my drawings here and since then haven't looked back. I have grown so much as an artist, thanks to dA. People have been so nice & supportive & helpful over these years & this community has never failed to inspire me. This is a great platform for new as well as very experienced artists to share their work, inspire & be inspired.

What is your opinion about photomanipulation in general?

I think photomanipulation is a great way to create art, I could never have imagined that 4 years back. What I don't like about this at times are things like the limitations, it is totally dependent on stock photos which you have no control over unless you take them yourself. I am not sure if other people feel that way but after creating traditional art, digital paintings & photo-manipulations, I can safely say that it is the easiest way to creating art comparatively. I always try my best to not to use pre-mades as it lessens the personal feel even further.

If you look to other artist's works, wich parts have to catch your attention to find them good?

For me, even more than being technically perfect, the artwork has to have a story. A pretty girl slapped together with a pretty background might look good, but it won't make you feel unless there is some soul to it. It is great to see artists experimenting & trying to outdo themselves coming out of their little comfort zones.

Let’s talk about a few artworks of yours. First this one:

How did you give the girl's hair and eyes this beautiful purple color?

For hair, I painted purple on a new layer & set it to overlay. Then created a new layer & painted some highlights with a lighter color. Used pretty much the same method for the eyes too.

The next one is this:

You create a lot of depth in your artworks, as shown here. How do you do that? Any tips for us?

The things to keep in mind are majorly contrast between the background & the foreground. I lightened the area behind the model keeping the direction of light in mind. Also, blurring the background really helps bring the foreground out.

Last one:

How did you paint the hair so beautifully? You are so great at that!

It usually works as trial and error for me when it comes to hair. On the hair that was already in the picture, I painted highlights to it picking a shade from the lightest parts of the hair. Then painted hair strands flying around as I wanted them to look kind of messy & not very neat. Also, as there is light in the background, it is supposed to reflect on the hair so I added some white strands too.

Here are a few other of her artworks for you to enjoy:

Thank you so much for this great interview, Renu. We learned some very useful things!! <3