Issue 058 is live!
Hello dear reader! Issue 058 is out now. It’s a chunk of a volume, which those of you who acquire the print edition will experience when you hold it. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together (which, is a lot, in case you were wondering).
But wait! Before you click those links and get immersed in the worlds crafted by our amazing authors, I bid you pause and enjoy some insights into the artist behind our outstanding cover for this issue, Bauxxi:
Tell us a bit about yourself and what got you on the path to being an illustrator. Was there a defining moment that made you decide to make art your career?
I’m a 34 year old self taught female artist. I started making art as a little kid, just like everyone else I suppose. I guess, unlike others, I just never stopped. In my early 20s I played a lot of World of Warcraft and Blizzard had this fanart section on their website. I was in total awe when I saw all those beautiful artworks so I started learning anatomy, focusing primarily on portraits, with the aim of creating fantasy characters. With corporate jobs later on in life I still only pursued art as a hobby, but started taking pencil portrait commissions for friends and family. In 2020, during the pandemic, I had to quit my job due to burnout. After some recovery I dove into digital art, partially as a therapy but also because I finally had time to pursue it fully. I watched tutorials and practiced a lot every single day. My primary goal was to work for game companies but I decided for myself that freelancing was more for me. In 2021 I was in a 3 months long course for unemployed women and they helped me make the decision of becoming a full time freelance illustrator. I got accepted into a self employment program which supported me for 6 months to build up my business. As of January 2022 I am now completely self employed. The dream of being an artist for a living always sat at the back of my head but “real life” never let me find the courage to actually pursue it. The cliche of the “starving artist” used to hold me back but now I feel more free and happier than ever, finally being able to be myself and making a living with what I love.
The cover image has got such a creepy vibe and I love that it shows that fighting the monster isn’t always brave heroics. What was the inspiration for it?
The inspiration was mainly the game “Detroit Become Human” where you play an Android, not unlike the one in the painting. My thought process was “what if nature would take over again”, robots (or androids as they call them) just standing around, maybe unable to move, maybe “dead” (if you can say that about robots), parts getting rusty and breaking off, plants growing inside of them and animals coming back. Humans would have died out by then and nature would come back in its full glory, the only thing left of the human period would be overgrown technology. I think there’s a strange beauty in that.
Who are your favorite women illustrators, past or present?
Some of them are:
- Chrissa Barton (Chrissabug on socials)
- Lois van Baarle (loish on socials)
- Laura H. Rubin (la__aura on socials)
- Hannah Flattinger (scompass.art on socials) Madeleine Shadia (shadias_art on socials)
- Hélène Lenoble (helenelenoble on socials) Josephine Kreischer (josephine_kreischer on socials) Raffaela Lerch (aronjaart on socials)
Those are just a few of many many female artists who are an inspiration and some I have the honor to call friends.
What is your dream project? If there were no restrictions on time or money what would you create?
I would love to simply just… create. I feel like with the pressure of making money there is always the need to work on commissions rather than just create what your heart desires. There’s so many inspirations for illustrations that just hit me out of nowhere and if it wouldn’t be for time or money I would just follow those and… draw what I want at all times.
Because LSQ is all about stories I have to ask, what are some of your favorite tales?
That’s a hard thing to answer but Lord of the Rings is probably my favorite story of the ones I’ve read. There’s also a book series called the “Magic” or “Kate Daniels” series by Ilona Andrews, which is my all time favorite book series.
Where can people learn more about you and your work?
I have a website, www.bauxxi.com but you can also find all of my other links like social media and live streams on my linktree: linktr.ee/bauxxi
There’s also a newsletter and my online shop in the linktree for people who are interested in staying up to date or maybe even like to purchase some of my artworks as prints.
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