We have another artist spotlight for you! This week we enjoyed interviewing Pauline Dussert aka @kurouba_ !
Hello! Please can you give us a brief little introduction?
Hello everyone! I’m Pauline. I’m a French artist, mother of two little dragons, living in the UK. Former nurse, I finally decided to follow my dreams and founded my own company to create video games with my husband.
What inspires you?
I love using pictures of my children as reference for cute illustrations. They always help me getting genuine poses or silly faces for my characters. I also like reading with them and see what kind of drawings they enjoy the most. When I started drawing, I used to get most of my inspiration from animes, comics and TV shows, especially those with magical girls. I still do and go back to it from time to time. But I’m aware that some of my art has a creepy/ weirdo vibe and I think the main reason is I’m strongly influenced by what I see in my nightmares. I like how it gives me fuel to mix concepts and mix them to create original ideas.
What is your favourite thing to draw?
I realized I really like drawing when I started drawing portraits of my family and friends from pictures or live. I love drawing kids with big cheeks, dressed up as fairy, angel or just being silly. I like using vivid colours and make my characters pop .
What art goals do you have for this year?
My main project for now is to finalize my first video game which I’m really excited about. It is a point and click with an interactive story full of riddles and suspense.
It is an amazing project full of challenges given we have no prior experience in the video game industry. The Covid crisis slowed us down and recently we had to put it on hold for economic reasons. Despite all that, I manage to focus on the art of our game and to improve myself a lot as an illustrator. I intend to create other game after this one but I would like to explore other aspect of illustration. Another dream of mine is to be an illustrator for children books.
What techniques/supplies do you use?
I use a Wacom Cintiq pro tablet with my iMac most of the time. I work on Pixelmator pro, which is a good compromise between procreate and Photoshop. But otherwise, I doodle on my notebook with a graphic pencil or ink pen for inktober. I also love painting with acrylics but it is quite complicated with two young kids around. I watch lots of artist's video on YouTube, especially for character drawing.
What advice would you give to another doodler/artist?
I would say this: if you have an opportunity to work as an artist professionally and this is what you always wanted, do it. I always had a huge impostor syndrome. I was told that Art should only ever be considered as a hobby, and that only a few people have what it takes to work professionally in the creativity business. Turns out, you need to work for it. Big project can be intimidating. Take your time. Surprisingly, working on a much smaller project with very simple goals can help you get the motivation you need to finish the bigger one.
Where can people go to learn more about you or see more of your work?
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kurouba_/
Deviant Art - https://www.deviantart.com/kurouba
