Alex Konstad

Congratulations to this month's Student Spotlight, Alex Konstad! Alex has begun his amazing work in Entertainment Design at our POD in Austin, TX.

WEBSITE | alexkonstad.blogspot.com

INTERVIEW WITH THE ARTIST:

1. What inspired you to be an artist?

So many things on so many different levels influence and inspire me on a daily basis, but if I were to really get down to it, its just the simple satisfaction gained from creating something with my own hands. It keeps things fresh and fun, every day is an adventure. Especially in a day and age where everything is increasingly manufactured, wrapped up and prepackaged, the satisfaction of creating something with your own hands is increasingly gratifying.As a kid any number of influences could have pushed me into a slue of creative paths, but years of comics, graffiti and video games wore me down. My dad has piles of monster drawings done by me at a very young age, he'd probably say its no surprise I am where I am today.

2. What are three things about art that you have learned in the past year at TAD which had the biggest impact on your work?

Oh man thats a tricky question, the wealth of information offered at TAD has been plentiful. I think I'd break it down like this though:

• Communication: Effectively communicating the thought or idea you wish to put fourth in a clear well established manor. Before TAD I always seamed to meander through images, trying to find things as they came along. I still do that to this day but learning how to effectively communicate your idea, establish the bare essentials of the picture or concept at step 1 has been very important.
• Hard Work: Its not necessarily directly about art but TAD keeps your nose to the grindstone and its truly shown me what it takes to get to where you want to go and how to get there. Nothing comes with out a little hard work and dedication.
• Approach: This is a very simple one, but going to TAD and being amidst such an established faculty and being able to witness how they approach art and what their mindsets are when sitting down to start a picture has been fascinating. You really can't just sit down and start in the top right corner and draw something, you have to have a particular mindset, a predetermined sense of what you are aiming to do. I think that mindset has been one of the most important things I've taken away from school so far.

3. Where do you want to be with your art and career after you finish TAD?

I'd like to delve more into illustration and some freelance gigs. I've been working with Massive Black Shanghai and have been enjoying that immensely. Further pursuance of Studio Jobs is definitely on my horizon as I build and establish a portfolio and many important connections here at school. As time allows I would like to delve into fine arts and traditional oil painting more, I have a fair amount of notes and rough sketches in a moleskine I would like to explore as free time opens up.

4. What is your most immediate goal you are trying to achieve with your artwork?

Right now, with all the concept art, effective communication. I would like to delve into painting more though, and be able to really communicate a deeper understanding of something to people through picture making.

5. How important is experimentation in your process?

Without experimentation, things become stale and stagnant for me. I enjoy the chaos of finding new ways of working through experimenting.These days it definitely rears its head a lot more in the traditional stuff I keep in my sketchbook, but as I find little ways of layering paint or graphite, fun ways of building lines up, its always interesting to see how that could translate to the digital medium.

6. What do you think the biggest hurdles are for you in your work in the next couple years?

I think really honing in on effective compositional skills in picture making is one of the toughest things I have to learn. Communicating a clear well composed illustration. I've been so concept oriented the past year or so I feel I've majorly neglected story telling.

7. What is it like studying at TAD with all the professional faculty?

Its been awesome, simply mind-blowing. After three years at a state school for fine arts, coming here has been crazy. Every single class, there is so much knowledge being dropped at times its almost overwhelming. I don't think I've ever enjoyed school this much.

8. What do you do when you are feeling creative blocks? How do you overcome them?

There are a few things I do when I get stumped or am not sure what to do. Sometimes if I get particularly stuck when drawing, I'll go back to drawing from life, all the answers are always right there in front of you. That helps to just get the juices flowing again, turn the gears, slowly inspiration comes back in. Other times its good to just stand up, walk out of the house, grab a beer, go for a bike ride, hang out with some friends and come back. More often than not, coming back to the drawing board with some fresh eyes can help a lot and bring in some new ideas.

9. What are some things you do, to allow time and energy to focus so much on art?

I've started recently, when work allows, to devote one day a week to just let loose, draw goofy characters in the sketchbook, lounge around, relax. It's helped a lot to just unwind and approach the week again fresh and revitalized. Fresh fruits, veggies and hop's helps too. Its very important to get out of the studio, gain some new experiences to draw from so you can look forward to drawing every day you come back and the extra hours don't seem to matter.

10. What advice would you have to other artists looking to grow in their work and skills?

Never stop, if there is anything I've learned from working alongside such an awesome group of students here at TAD its that diligence, perseverance and hard work will overcome anything you are looking to do in your immediate future.