It Begins! - An Introduction Post
Hello! My name is Rei Suzuki-Smith; I'm a born-and-raised Fairbanksian with an appreciation for all things creative, and this blog is intended to be a collection of my student work for the Spring 2025 Explorations in Art course at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I've taken classes on and off at UAF for several years now, though by credit count, I'm a sophomore. I'm also a proud employee of the University. I've worked at the Nanook Technology Services (NTS) Service Desk for about a year and a half now-- if you've needed assistance changing your University password, reported a spam email, or reached out for any other computer help in that time, we've very possibly spoken!
I'm an artistic hobby-jumper, so I dabble in a number of mediums, but illustration has been my one constant since I was young. I draw digitally for the most part, focusing on character design and illustration in a cartoon style, but have been branching out in style and subject in recent years. My start in art was married to my dependence upon the Internet, and as a result, I didn't really venture into the local art community until my adulthood. Now, I'm happy to go out to First Friday galleries and markets! I'd like to try my hand as a vendor at one of them sometime, but work keeps me busy. My art collection is pretty sparse-- I lived in a shared space for a long time and only recently have been able to start personalizing my home-- but on principal, I buy any art that features river otters or my favorite characters. Relevantly, I first saw and purchased the above works by John Burgoyne as a set of USPS stamps!
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ReplyDeleteGood to know somebody at NTS. I usually have to make a tech request each semester. I have a friend that makes a living doing digital art for UAF as part of a rural focused textbook series for school children. River otters - I love it!
ReplyDeleteWould you be willing to share that friend's name or work? I'd love to throw them a follow if they have any social media. We have some absolutely incredible artists here in town, so glad to hear about others able to make a living on it locally!
DeleteLuckily I haven't had to have any tech problems yet! I find it so cool that you like to buy river otter art and I have to admit I have a framed picture of an otter in my house as well. There is just something about them that is so cute. I really like how the art that you included was actually used as USPS stamps. I wish I had seen them and bought some but then I'd never use them on a letter.
ReplyDeleteYou can still get them! https://a.co/d/1Axtrev
DeleteI have the same issue though haha, I really love to buy up cute stamps (there's currently a set featuring Keith Haring's 'Love' at the post office!) and never use them since I don't send much mail, but if I *did*, I'd be doing so in style. 😎
I love creating art as well! I can never just stick with one medium I need to switch it once and a while. It's great to hear that you also started discovering art on the internet. I remember venturing into deviant art when I was younger but never looked back since. I like how you started exploring local art, I've been considering discovering more of that so maybe this is a sign. Great first blog, I'll make sure to let you know if I have any tech problems. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, do you still use Deviantart? I feel like I haven't looked at that site in so long, I remember a lot of drama over the whole UI changing, not to mention the flood of AI 'art' ever since that hit the mainstream. I've fallen back to tumblr, which has been really great for connecting with people that enjoy the same fandoms as me!
DeleteAs far as local art, we have a really rich scene here in Fairbanks! I make a point to go to all of the Vintage Faire events that are hosted at the Shopper's Forum mall-- they're really laid-back and feature a great variety of folks and mediums. There's also almost always some kind of exhibit in the Fine Arts Buidling's gallery here on campus!
Wow! We have so much in common! I really relate to the artistic hobby jumping, as well as the marriage to art via the internet- but my main medium is digital art as well! I love character design and a more cartoony style of illustration. It was probably the cartoons and art I saw growing up and online, but something about taking the time to do a character design and see it through, from the small details to the big ones is fulfilling!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree-- there's a certain satisfaction to the pieces of a design coming together! Do you tend to design characters of a similar theme or setting? I have phases that come and go, used to do a ton of anthro/animal characters, and now do a lot of sc-fi humanoids!
DeleteI also like to draw cartoons, but I do them in pencil. I recently got a digital drawing tablet and I'd like to learn how to draw cartoons in this digital format. I also love the paintings of the otters that you picked. I enjoy art that is about animals. I loved reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteI think there will always be a tactile superiority to doing traditional art (ie pencil and paper)! That said, wishing you the best of luck with digital! There's definitely a learning curve, and it might take a while to find exactly what program works best for you, but it's so worthwhile. Fortunately, there are tons of guides online!
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