100 Questions for Artists

Thank you to Stupied for creating this list of questions!

The Questions

1. Introduce yourself! What kind of art do you make?

I love drawing and painting animals. I am inspired by nature, tarot, and books. I don't know which "genre" I fit into but I resonate with the sort of narrative or illustrative contemporary art you'd see in places like Beautiful Bizarre.

Most of my work is painted with acrylic gouache but I also use oil sometimes. I like to sketch with ink. Every now and then I will do some color studies on my iPad in HEAVYPAINT.

2. How long have you been making art?

I liked drawing animals forever but I think I began taking art seriously around the 4th grade, when I had a drawing of a scarlet macaw published in National Geographic World and won "Most Humorous" in a cover contest for a magazine for U.S. music educators. At the time, I was also super into Neopets and Pokemon and drew those characters a lot (see question #46 for an example).

3. How many hours do you spend on each piece?

Depends on size. For tiny paintings (ACEO to 5x5"), I probably take 2-3 hours from sketch to finish. Anything that's like 8x8" and larger will take me multiple painting sessions to finish.

4. Do you prefer taking your time or do you like to quickly move on to the next thing?

omg, I cannot spend too long on any painting. If it takes longer than two days to finish, the chance of me actually finishing it quickly dimishes toward 0. I get too many ideas too quickly. This is why I tend to work small.

5. When do you decide a piece is finished?

Once I'm using my tiniest detail brush and adding whiskers, it's over. I can't paint around whiskers.

6. Which part of the creation process do you enjoy the most?

I love starting. The idea generation, figuring out elements and composition, the sketching shapes and form.

7. Which part of the creation process do you dislike the most?

Getting through the "ugly phase," which in my case is after I do an underpainting, when I'm laying down my darks and mid-tones.

8. Do you have a designated workstation or do you just work wherever?

I sketch wherever I happen to be. But 99% of my painting time is at my table easel on my art desk.

9. Do you monetize your work or is it purely a hobby?

It's a hobby business. My art sales pay for art supplies, my website, merchandise, etc. But I am grateful that I don't have to rely on art sales to live.

10. Where do you share your work? On social media or a personal websites? Do you keep to yourself and close friends?

Main focus is put into my website but I also post on Bluesky, Tumblr, and Cara. I'm just about done wasting my time and energy on Instagram but I post there too in the meantime.

11. What's an aspect of your art you enjoy?

My friend Mimi described my paintings as "velvety" and I love that so I'm gonna say that.

12. What are things you would like to improve on?

Currently trying to level up both composition and color.

13. Are you self-taught or had formal education?

I have a minor in art but I'm mostly self-taught, especially when it comes to painting.

I had a year-long subscription to Schoolism about 10 years ago and blasted through as much as I could. I liked Stephen Silver's character design course (no longer available), Dice Tsutsumi's "Painting with Light and Color," and Nathan Fowkes' "Pictorial Composition." But Alex Woo's "Gesture Drawing" was the most life-changing, I think.

14. Do you research about old techniques or stick to newer ones?

Both? I study "Old" art, mostly from the Golden Age (late 1800s-1930s), but I'm constantly looking for and observing what living contemporary artists are doing.

15. What do you value more, experimentation or mastery?

I firmly believe that experimentation leads to mastery. So, experimentation.

16. Do you practice drawing with your arm? What other art techniques to you practice?

Speaking solely of mechanical techniques: Yes, I practice drawing with my arm, especially for figure drawing sketches or gesture studies. I also practice hand-eye coordination through various drawing exercises. Brokendraw's video, "25 Essential Drawing Exercises: Unlock your Imagination" is the best I've seen on the topic.

17. How frequently do you do studies?

Nearly every day.

18. Do you understand color theory? How'd you learn or do you want to?

Yes but I am no master. I learned and am learning from James Gurney, the aforementioned Schoolism course on color and light, and many YouTube videos.

19. Favorite color(s)?

My favorite is probably Holbein's Lilac. But most-used paint is definitely Liquitex's Cadmium-Free Yellow Deep.

20. Are there colors you avoid? Do you think ugly colors exist?

I avoid cadmium paints, mostly because they're so expensive. No such thing as an ugly color.

21. Can you do perspective?

Yeah but I don't think I'm very good at it lol

22. Do you like doing lineart? How do you go about it?

When painting, my "lineart" is usually just carved out lines from my underpainting. For my ink drawings, I usually do the lineart last (I use gray ink to build the form and then black ink for details/outline). Example: My sharks from Shark Week Sketch Jam 2025.

23. Do you have multiple unfinished projects? Will you ever get to finishing them?

The only time I have more than one unfinished painting is when I'm batching, which is working on a series of paintings simultaneously. If I pause a painting to start another, it's almost guaranteed I won't touch it again.

24. How do you start a new piece? Do you have a plan or just figure it along the way?

I either 1. Have no plan at all, sketching with paint directly on the canvas, winging it or 2. Thoroughly plan out everything from subject matter, props, hidden meanings, composition, etc. etc. There is no in-between.

25. How do you handle art block?

If I'm drained and don't feel like thinking too much, I'll practice technical stuff, like drawing cubes or gesture drawings.

I also do a lot of studies, sketching from photos or life. I like picking someone on r/drawme or r/redditgetsdrawn.

If I'm completely blocked, I'll read a book, watch a movie, or play a game. Try again tomorrow.

26. Do you listen to music or watch something while working?

I prefer silence when sketching/planning and music or audiobooks while painting.

27. When are you most motivated to create? In the morning or evening? Rainy or sunny?

It is perpetual. Except for when I am sleepy.

28. Are your sketchbooks messy or aesthetically pleasing?

Both? I do thumbnailing, gesture drawing, scribbling. Sometimes sketching on top of other sketches.

29. Do you like showing sketchbooks to others?

Heck yeah

30. Do you have any art friends? IRL or online?

Yes, both!

31. Do you collaborate frequently with your friends? Is there something you'd like to work on together?

No but I'd like to make a zine with friends HINT HINT (if you're seeing this lmk when you wanna do something PLEASE)

32. Have you created art to gift to others? How do feel about parting away from your work?

I love my paintings dearly but I am rarely attached to them to the point where I cannot pack and ship them away. I have more art than wall space so I'd rather my work hang on someone else's wall than sit in a storage box.

I take high-resolution scans of all my art so I can look back on all my artwork whenever I want.

33. Have you drawn for someone else? Like commissions or requests? Did you enjoy it?

Listen, I tried doing the freelance thing and trying to do that full-time is not for me. If the project is REALLY fun though, I enjoy it.

34. How's your posture?

Bad.

35. Have you ever been injured making art?

No but I had severe tendinitis from my days as a clarinetist, so I'm extremely careful to not overdo it when drawing or painting.

36. What's a medium of art you've wanted to try / currently attempting?

I'm playing with water-soluable oil paints.

37. Do you prefer stylized or realistic art?

I like both. I can give you Rouge the Bat and also a more realistic bat.

38. Do you like hyper-realistic art?

If it's simply replicating a photograph? NO.

39. Do you like abstract art?

SOMETIMES

40. How do you feel about fine art?

John Berger is making me have a little existential crisis about it, but that's a good thing, I think.

There are lots of genres and eras of "fine art" from ancient times to today so I find this question pretty vague.

41. How do you feel about outsider art? Do you think you fall in that category?

I wouldn't consider myself in that category but I definitely love looking at it.

42. Do you follow art trends?

Only if those trends involve kitty cats =('w')=

Seriously though sometimes I join in on events like art challenge months/weeks, challenges like Draw This In Your Style... But I don't jump on style trends or anything like that.

43. Do you think your art is influenced by what's currently popular?

Okay, so, continuing my thoughts from question 42. There are definitely "trendy animals" in art that I've noticed over the years. Like in the 2000s, there were a lot of owls. A few years ago, capybaras were everywhere. More recently, I'm seeing a ton of great blue herons. And pigeons. Have I been thinking about pigeons lately? Yes. Will I end up painting a pigeon because of it? Probably. I almost did for Valentine's Day, actually. But I'm not like, "Oh, everyone is drawing pigeons. I better do it before that trend passes." Nah, no animal should ever be considered outdated or out of style.

That being said, I predict we're going to see more mola mola art in 2026 because of this Hank Green video.

44. Do you compare yourself with others? Does it affect you negatively?

Constantly. No.

45. Your controversial art take?

Oooo, this is hard.

Maybe: Art newsletters suck and everyone should make a blog instead.

46. Art related pet peeves?

Someone calling me gifted or talented... Like I get the sentiment but I put in thousands of hours of practice and am still practicing and will continue practicing until I die.

47. Who or what are your inspirations?

My friends heehee. I'm also inspired by professionals in the animation and illustration industries, probably because they are masters of visual storytelling. And Beautiful Bizarre and Juxtapoz magazines.

A few of my favorite artists off the top of my head, in no particular order: J.A.W. Cooper, Angela Sung, James Gurney, Terryl Whitlatch, Yashiro Nanaco, Teagan White...

48. What's an art piece / artist you wished got more attention?

I only recently learned about Norbertine von Bresslern-Roth, an Austrian painter and printmaker and I'm desperate to see more of her work. Look at them. Look at them now.

49. Have you touch grass recently? Do you go out frequently or do you spend most of your time indoors?

It's like -10F right now. No.

50. Do you create art daily?

I try to.

51. Do you take breaks from creating? How frequently?

No

52. Do you set deadline for your work?

Sometimes I set weekly/monthly quotas and/or goals.

53. Do you archive your work? Do you keep old pieces?

I have every sketchbook I've owned since middle school, and I have high-res scans of my drawings and paintings going back to about 2010? If you want to see my really old stuff, go to my Tumblr, it goes back to like 2012.

54. Are you embarrassed of your old work? Or are you indifferent by it?

Nooooo I love looking at my old drawings because they make me realize how much I've learned since then, and give me hope that I'll continue improving in the future haha

55. Do you seek out criticism? How do you handle feedback?

I only actively ask for critique from my siblings or from my friends on Discord.

But I crave critique, actually haha

56. Are you harsh on your own work? Or do you love your work despite all it's flaws?

Both?

I always reflect on my finished sketches/drawings/paintings critically and look for something to focus on next time.

My fear is becoming stagnant.

57. Do you get compliments frequently? How do feel about them?

I love receiving comments on my art. I like hearing what someone thinks and how they feel. It's why I love Cara because I feel like people actually write well-thought comments there.

58. How do you feel about the rise of generative AI? Do you use it for getting ideas or references?

I despise its negative impact on the environment and marginalized communities. I hold strong values in sustainability and thus refuse to touch genAI and encourage everyone to avoid it if they can help it. And I didn't even get to my rage about the unethical scraping of artists' work. I want the bubble to pop.

59. How do you feel about tracing? What about tracing 3d models to streamline art process?

I think it's a good idea to trace a photo or 3D model* if you've been trying to figure out a really difficult pose and it's simply not working out to eyeball it. Like some extreme foreshortening or something. But tracing can result in a very stiff drawing. I would personally never trace something that would go directly into a final piece.

*Any references being traced better be in the public domain if you're gonna share it online.

60. Drop your art resources!

Girl I got you.

Also check out my art book recommendations.

61. Do you prefer making fanart or original content?

I prefer making original content, I guess, but I love indulging in fan art sometimes.

62. Do you think original content are more creative than fanart?

What is the creative difference between Person 1 drawing their cat rolling around in flowers versus Person 2 drawing a warrior cat rolling around in flowers? Nothing

63. Do you strive for originality?

No? I don't know. I don't really think about it. I just do what I want.

64. Do you draw from imagination or heavily rely on references?

Both!!! Ok look back at my Emperor of Catdom painting from question 62. This is a scene from the book which I imagined in my head as I read it. I thumbnailed how I pictured it. Before painting it, I looked for photos of chrysanthemums, I looked for photos of cats laying on their backs, I looked for photos of fluffy black cats to get an idea of how their fur captures the light. And kinda mushed everything together.

65. Do you think using references is a crutch?

No way. Here's what you can do if you're too worried about it. Do a sketch purely from imagination, and then look for references as you work on the final sketch. Here's an example:

66. Do you like to make mood boards or scroll through Pinterest?

No

67. Does your work have a story behind them or do you just make things that you think look neat?

I'm either depicting a literal scene or I'm using *symbolism* to convey some sort of meaning.

68. Do you think art should have a purpose?

Art communicates and connects us, that is its purpose.

69. Favorite aesthetic?

Forests and mountains, I guess

70. Do you have a muse or a theme you fall back to?

I love drawing and painting foxes.

71. If you could eat you art, what would it taste like?

Cinnamon, maybe

72. If your work suddenly became sentient, would it adore or hate you?

I would like to think all those animals I draw will love me and that I'll become like Snow White

73. Based on previous question, can you win in a fist fight against it?

I'd probably manage to beat up the anime child from question 46.

74. Is your art style consistent? Do you prefer making a wide variety of art?

I dunno you tell me haha. I don't think I'm very consistent, especially between mediums.

75. Do you revisit old concepts or sketches? Do you touch em up or leave them as is?

Ohhh going through old sketchbooks is so fun. I love revisiting and revising old ideas.

76. Do you believe in talent or is it all skill?

Ugh see question 46

To expand, okay, SURE, maybe "talented" people might catch on and refine their skills faster. But that's the extent of my thoughts on the matter. Anyone can draw if they sit down and try but you have to work at it to see any improvement.

77. What's your favorite thing to draw / make? Do you prefer making living things or still life?

Natural things. I prefer animals but I'll do some flowers sometimes. I'll do still life/landscapes when doing color studies or plein air.

78. Do you create your art with a specific audience in mind? Who?

Fellow animal lovers. Witches, maybe.

79. How do you feel about people taking inspiration from work? Do you think art style theft is real?

I'd consider it theft if you only took inspiration from one singular person. Girl you gotta combine all your influences AND your own experiences or you're just gonna end up looking like a cheap knockoff

80. Do you participate in art conventions? Do you sell your work or support everyone else?

I've never tabled, but I'll probably start a little bit at some smaller shows. I sell art AND I buy art

81. Are your art materials expensive? Do you hoard any tools?

Yeah I guess... Paint isn't cheap but I make it last. Brushes aren't cheap. I do use cheap Talens Art Creation sketchbooks though. I try not to hoard supplies. A few years ago I donated a ton of my unused materials to an art department at a university.

82. Do you organize you supplies and tools systematically?

Kiiiiind of, I kinda throw all my things into organized piles. Paint pile. Pencil pile. Pen pile. Paper pile.

83. Do you clean up after a project? Or do you just leave everything lying around till you need the space?

I need a spotless desk before I start painting again or I can't focus. So yeah I clean up.

84. Do you have a ritual before you start creating? Do you have a drink or some snacks?

My ritual is 1. Scraping old paint off my palette 2. Filling my brush rinsing jar with water 3. Setting up my tripod for videos and photos and 4. realizing I forgot to charge the old iPhone I use for listening to audiobooks and then hunting for its charger

85. How do feel about censorship in art? Where do you draw the line for inappropriate art?

Let people draw and paint whatever they want. May or may not be my cup of tea but who am I to decide what's appropriate or not

86. Do you censor your own art? Do you feel like you leave out details for it be socially accepted?

I don't really draw nsfw art but if I'm drawing a nude figure drawing or whatever I'm not going to censor it.

87. Do you feel intimated with starting a new projects?

No, I get excited and dive right in. Sometimes I get overwhelmed though lol

88. Are you scared of your art regressing? Do you think it's even possible to get worse at art?

No; it's not possible. Might be a little rusty if you take a long break but your ability to perceive never goes away.

89. Do you frequently make compromises for your work? Does your art come out the way you envision them?

Sometimes I compromise my art by taking shortcuts to finish it faster and move on to something else lol

90. How well do you manage your mistakes? Do you stress about them?

I get frustrated if I mess up while painting, but I can just paint over it hehe. If I screw up in my sketchbook, I find it more amusing than stressful. One time I messed up someone's face so I just glued Isabelle Animal Crossing's head on top of it.

91. Do you make lists of things you'd like to make? Do you actually commit to them?

Ohhhhh I have a whole Notion for tracking all my ideas and projects.

I commit to most of them but some of the larger, daunting ones scare me (e.g., draw a whole tarot deck)

92. What is your ultimate goal of your work? Like, to tell a story, connect with others, or just to enjoy the process?

I obviously have goals of becoming more skilled. And I have goals of capturing and expressing my personal experiences. I think my ultimate goal is simply to connect with other people who like art and nature.

93. What's something you've recently worked on that you're really proud of?

Probably Bird Art Week 2026

94. Do you have any dream projects? Have you started on them?

A tarot deck!!! I have the whole thing planned out, and started a few years ago. But I might start over again.

95. Would you prefer unlimited money or unlimited time to make your projects?

TIME

96. Why do you create art?

I love capturing my thoughts and recording cool animals I learn about. I like the tactile feeling of smearing paint around on a panel and seeing a painting come to life. I create art because it's fun.

97. Are you happy with what you create?

Yeah

98. Do you think everyone should make art?

Yes. That might mean drawing/painting, photography, writing, sculpting, woodworking, knitting... Make something with your brain and eyeballs and bare hands

99. What's advice you'd give to newer artist?

Have fun. Carry a pencil and pocket sketchbook everywhere you go.

100. When did you finish this? How'd you feel?

Finished on March 7, 2026 after doing the first half sometime in February. That's a lot of questions. I can't believe I answered all of them and I can't believe you're here reading what I wrote.