@Urichov - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: How did you get interested in art?

My mum does art, so I guess that rubbed off on me. I think the first time I got really invested in drawing was during history class in primary school though. We were learning about the Celts, and as an exercise to keep us invested as seven-year-olds the teachers suggested we draw something in that interwoven style that's in a lot of Celtic symbols. I kept doing that well after we'd moved on.

Q: How is the different drawing on pen and paper?

I was drawing in Adobe Illustrator (and later Affinity Designer) with a mouse and the pen tool before going to pen and paper, so the motion of the hands is entirely different to begin with. There's a bit of a difference in philosophy too, since if I'm planning on colouring the thing later I have to be thinking about that while it's still in black and white and draw with it in mind, whereas in a digital program I can just as easily go the opposite order. Also it feels a lot less pressing to strive for perfection with no undo button.

Q: What makes a good style?

I don't really think there are good and bad styles; there's differences in technical ability certainly, but to me a 'good' visual style basically means getting an idea across well, and there's infinite ways to do that. Personally I dislike what people call the 'Artstation style,' for example, but I wouldn't say a work is inherently poor for using it.

Q: Do you think artists are too hard on themselves?

Yup. Not me though. I'm the best.

Q: What is a positive mindset for creating art, in your opinion?

I think I've been doing it for so long and have it so ingrained in me that the mindset is really just if I wanna draw then I do it because it's fun. Not a great answer, unfortunately. I guess I should try to explain why it's fun then, which comes down to two main things: Firstly, I like when I move my hand around and a pretty thing comes out. Secondly, I enjoy the bit of figuring out a drawing, say how to balance the colours right or how to position the characters or going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole to understand how to draw the hilt of a rapier. It being fun is fundamental to me, though, which is part of why I haven't really given much thought to doing it as a job.

Q: Your advice for people starting in art?

People often say 'work on fundamentals' in response to this question, which I think is kind of an easy way to get people starting out to bounce off of the idea. My advice is draw Goku using one of his famous beam attacks.

Q: The story of your username: Urichov

It's the last syllables, starting with the vowels, of my name, my middle name, and my surname.

Q: How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

My brother found it somehow and showed me it when we were sharing a computer, and I decided to make an account to share some of the art I'd been making. I don't know if I'd say I joined the community as such until some point in early 2020 when I didn't have anything to do and checked out the forums. Definitely when I joined back in 2012 there was this degree of veneration I had for most of the people on it since twelve-year-old me was like they're doing impossible shit on the other side of the computer screen, and I'd say that's gone away at this point; we're all just guys on the website. There is something to the median age going down too; I'll often find myself in a talk with someone else on or from the site and suddenly be like oh wait they're younger than me somehow, which is not something I was at risk of when I first made my account I can tell you that much.

Q: What do you like to read and write?

I like to read a lot of things; I've read almost all of Discworld (this will come up again later) and I'd say Terry Pratchett is probably my favourite author by sheer volume of books I like, which I think has certainly flavoured my reading taste. So I'd say I'm a fantasy guy and I like a degree of playfulness in the prose, but like I'll read anything that catches my eye. Doesn't even have to be fiction, could be Stephen Hawking for example. (This will also come up again later.) As for writing I like fantasy, and trying to really get inside the heads of all the characters involved. I also find the latter very difficult so I don't get much writing done I'm afraid.

Q: What music do you like to listen to?

I would say I've listened to more rock than anything else, but once again I'm open to a lot.

Q: What instruments do you play, and what do you play? 

I play guitar at the moment; used to play violin too but it's hard to find time in the day for both. And I play whatever occurs to me at the time; could be some classical or jazz or rock piece I remember or just noodling around until I find some series of notes I enjoy.

Q: You have a very old scar on your forehead that’s only visible when you raise your eyebrow. How did you get the scar?

There's conflicting accounts of this actually. According to my parents I tried to leap between desks in my primary school, fell short, and hit my head on the one I was aiming for. This did happen, but personally I'm pretty sure the one that left the scar was slipping on the tiles at a swimming pool.

Q: What was it like living in Finland for a year?

There was snow the whole time since we didn't exactly live there for the whole year, rather arriving in early autumn and leaving before summer; we were essentially taking care of a friend's house while he had to live elsewhere. The house was pretty remote, which has the advantage of being nice and quiet but the disadvantage of requiring a long trek to the shops. It was often quite dark and quite cold, and everything was considerably more expensive than anywhere else I've lived.

- Buses

A lot of running after buses, the time I rode one all the way to the end of the line by accident and walked back to my school in the snow for about an hour, and my travel plans getting disrupted last year when I got my bag stolen within an hour of getting to Bilbao.

Q: That sucks, what was in your bag?

The Shepherd's Crown, by Terry Pratchett, and A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking. Also my keys and several important documents. One of said documents was my passport, which rather derailed the trip to Spain since we had no plans to go to Madrid initially but the nearest British consulate was there and I needed an emergency travel document. Going to Madrid incidentally involved catching a bus that started from Bilbao at around midnight and arrived at six, which was the best possible option and still left us having to kill time for six hours before the consulate was open for the type of reservation I'd made. My regular passport did eventually turn up, but unfortunately after getting an emergency travel document it's no longer usable.

Q: What do you think about buses?

I find them very agreeable.

Q: Your advice for life

Wash your hands.