Continuing on with our series to showcase beautiful fanart in the Jrock community, today we will be talking to mizukimchi who specialises in realistic colored pencil drawings of visual musicians. Find out their self-inflicted rules to art on their journey to improve and more. Let’s get to it.
Please introduce yourself!
Well, my name is mizukimchi but others know me by the name Eri.
Please tell us about how you got into drawing.
I’ve started drawing when I was five years old. My godfather, who was an architect introduced me to drawing. He taught me the basics of drawing shapes, trees, butterflies, a house, and stick figures. At a young age, drawing has become my favorite activity to do at home and school. At age 6, I’ve learned how to draw princesses, cartoon characters, and other things that a kid could ever imagine. My parents couldn’t distinguish what the heck did I was drawing [laughs]. Growing up, it became my hobby.
I could see myself improving year by year. My parents knew from the start that drawing will be my passion as I get older. Years past and at age 13 I’ve learned how to draw anime characters. Naruto, Bleach, Fairytail and Kuroshitsuji were some of my favorite animes to draw from. I was an otaku before. During those days, I felt challenged. I’ve seen so many great artists on the internet. I thought to myself that I wanted to level up my skills too and learn more about art styles so I got interested in drawing in a realistic style which led me to draw Visual Kei members.
It’s lucky that you godfather showed you the world of art, he must be really proud of your progress as your art is amazing. Please now tell you about how you found out about Jrock?
It was way back in the year 2014, a Facebook friend shared a post of images of four people dressed in beautiful colorful costumes, they were wearing make-up, and their hairstyle was so cool. I got curious and thought they were “cosplayers”. On the post there was a word written, “MEJIBRAY” and I was like “Is that what they’re called?” “What are they?” “Why’re they so beautiful???”. So I decided to check them out on the internet and finally saw what they really are. I was shocked to find out that they are all males! I searched more and figured out that they’re members of a visual kei band. I was into rock bands so I kinda became a fan so easily. I looked up for their songs and started listening to it. After listening, they ended up being my favorite. DIV, Diaura, Call Me, and Pentagon also became my favorites but now, it’s just Kizu and Lezard. So that’s how I got into Jrock.
How do you get over artistic blocks or feeling demotivated?
This is a tough question because I experience this often.
Really? Though you say this, you’ve produced a lot of work.
Hmm… Let’s see… I somehow manage to get over it by having a day off. Like getting out of my workplace, trying different activities, watching movies, going out and other more things that I could do besides art. Sometimes, I take time to look at other people’s artworks. That helps me recover back my motivation. Listening to music also helps. Reading some nice comments about me motivates me too. There were times when I’m not really in the mood. It’s like a mixed feeling. A weird feeling that you want to draw so bad but you’re just too lazy to do it. Can anybody relate to that or is it just me?
Because of that, it took me months to get my motivation back. It was the worst. My other way of motivating myself is to look at the person who I’m actually drawing and think: THIS PERSON WILL BE LOOKING at the outcome of this drawing so IT HAS TO BE FINISHED (well as if) but it helps me [laugh].
That’s interesting as you’re not the first person to say this as well in our other artist interviews. Where do you find your inspiration to draw?
I have many inspirations actually, but here are the most important ones. First, my family. Because they support me 100% of the things that I love to do. They work so hard just to give everything I need to make me happy. Second, my supporters. Even if they are just messages and comments, by reading them, they make me so happy and feel motivated to create more artwork. Third, my dreams. Thinking about it makes me want to work harder and get better. Fourth, my haters. Yes. I was inspired by the harshest words. You threw bricks at me, now I’m building a castle [laugh] And lastly, When senpai notices me! Do I need to explain?
[laugh] Yes, please explain.
Being noticed by someone you really like is the best feeling ever. It’s like your hard work paid off. I feel more motivated to create again and again.
[laugh] Ah, I see. We can all relate to that. Well, now please show us your favourite piece.
My favorite piece is Kyonosuke from Kizu.
Where’s a good place for someone to start learning? How did you pick up drawing realistically?
Like any artist would say, I’ve started from the basics. Struggling with how to draw the correct proportions, proper coloring, cleanliness of the paper, avoiding erasures and many more. It wasn’t very easy at first. I made too many mistakes, so I tried again and again until I feel content with the result. But it still wasn’t good though. It really does takes a lot of time, practice, patience and passion if you want to create good art. Though saying that, I’ve studied more, watch tutorials, examining other’s works and everything I can to improve.
I also made some rules for myself: Avoid too much erasing, don’t get distracted by details, focus well, work neatly, create many layers when coloring and have fun. At this moment, I’m still practising. There’s still a lot of things that I need to learn.
Could you tell us your top three artists you look to for inspiration?
My idol, Heather Rooney who is an expert at photo-realistic drawings.
Christopher Lovell for his dark vibe gothic art style which I love.
Marcello Barenghi for his cool 3D hyper-realistic artworks.
Last to finish up, please show our readers your tools and your workspace!
Thank you for speaking to us mizukimchi! Readers can view more art by mizukimchi on DeviantArt, Twitter, or Instagram. Do go check it out if you like Pennywise as there are pretty good drawings of him there.
Do you know of any other talented Jrock illustrators? Make sure to send us a link in the comments or email info@jrocknews.com for us to check out!