„99% of the pictures were inspired by my fantasy…“

Saint Estere
Artist from Berlin

Interview

Is there an artist you admire most, that you would consider a rolemodel?

I dont really have an rolemodel like that. there are a lot of creatives that i like but its more so.. for example when someone asks me for my favorite musician i dont have an answer. I have a playlist with 300 songs and theres maybe 2 songs from the same artistist at most. i dont rememeber the names. but i love the songs. so id apply that same idea to artists/ creatives from other genres. theres a lot of works that i love, but not just one single artist i look up to.

Do you prefer drawing real life situations or fantasy inspired pictures?

When I look at my work, I can say that 99% of the pictures were inspired by my fantasy, and by that i mean: i sat down, looked at a blank peace of paper, and just drew something without thinking about it. Its hard to say if i preffer real life or fantasy to get inspired though, because the line is sort of blurred for me. I mean to me, anything that is seen an tangible is real life even if its staged. I had to think about this for a minute, and my version of reality and fantasy is too mixed to say if its one or the other. I dont know why this question is so hard for me haha…

What goes into you choosing your motiv / what inspires you most?

I dont really choose a motiv, usually i create something because I really feel the urge to create something right away. But once im there, music is great in motivating the color scheme, shapes. I do get vrey inspired by photgraphy and all kinds of artists, but not in the sense of “i wanna recreate this” more like “i want to be in this”. Like if i see a painting i really like, I start wishing i was in it. but not like i want to be painted, i want to explore the universe of that painting. you know how in cartoons they sometimes do this bit were they walk into a painting? like that. does that make sense?

Would you say you work intuitively or planned?

I work very messy and intuitively. even if i try to plan something, i never end up doing what i planned. 

How far are you willing to change your ideas to reach abroader audience?

Im not willing to change at all for more appeal. i like what i do, and theres always going to be people who will either love it or hate it. so instead trying to please everyone, im just gonna keep doing me and hope that more people that would love it can find it. never try to be something youre not.

Would you say social media helps artists to reach / establish their fanbase?

Yea id say so, but its a double edged sword. see its easier to reach people from accross the world, they like your posts and your art. but then it gets lost in a sea full of millions of other posts. so people forget what they saw from you on their feed much quicker, and they appreciate it much less than if it were printed in a tangiable book, or a poster on their wall, or anything else thats tangiable and real. so while i think its a good tool for more people to learn about your art, the follower count should never be the end goal. much more important is to try to reach those people with your art offline as well.