So here is the story, during the process of researching about Cryptoart stuff, I came across some wonderful artworks of an artist I never met (I wish I could meet her one day) and immediately, I started searching the person behind those awesome masterpieces! I got the answer of my question when I checked her website and was amazed to see some real art that people like me can only imagine! I then emailed requesting her if she could answer some of my questions that I wanted to share here which she did!
Since Amazon doesn't operate in Pakistan, I have asked my cousin who is living in Australia to buy me "The Nutcracker" for my niece and if you are really an art lover, then you must check her website and order some of her masterpieces!
Okay, end of my story! Meet
Christina Hess
Tell us about your childhood. Where were you born, how many siblings do you have and whatever you would like to share with us?
I was born in Lancaster Pennsylvania, surrounded by woods and farmland. Our house had numerous pockets of natural areas where I would spend the majority of my time as a child. My brothers and I were fortunate enough to have numerous animals to play with or observe. Goats, horses, cats, dogs, chickens, geese, sheep and more! This was no doubt a big part of my inspiration as an artist. Every area on the property from the moss covered floor of the slanted woods to the gigantic pussy willow tree growing on the side of our bank barn was an inspiration to me.
I now live in Philadelphia, PA with my significant other, Dominick Saponaro, who is a follow illustrator and gigantic inspiration to me.
How and when did you feel that you should become an artist? What was the first thing you drew?
I remember drawing constantly as a child. I can’t remember the very first thing I drew but I do remember always drawing and painting. It’s the only thing that I felt was me and I decided to continue on with it throughout my education. Drawing and painting is the way I stay sane. If I’m away from my studio for too long I get really grumpy. All it takes is a few hours and I’m back in a good place!
How long have you been working in the art industry?
I have been a working illustrator since 1997. After I graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia PA I worked in book publishing mainly creating vector pieces. I then branched out into editorial and institutional, which encompasses everything from packaging illustration to illustration for conference manuals.
Using animals in your artwork to draw people like Napoleon, Jean Lafeet, Jizo Bodhisattva etc. is very unique and interesting idea in the art industry. What was the inspiration behind your “Animals From History” series?
It’s a pretty funny story. A family friend asked me to immortalize his white cat as Queen Elizabeth which I did not want to do at first. I didn’t want to be known as the illustrator who painted animals in cloths (ironic, I know). I eventually stopped dragging my feet and took the job. I decided that if I was going to do it I was going to make it special somehow, give it a narrative rather than just paint a portrait. Queen Elhissabeth was born and turned out to be a popular piece. I then was commissioned to create William Pawllace for a friend, immortalizing his cairn terrier as William Wallace but with the tartan of the Isle of Skye (the customer’s ancestry). From there I decided to crowd source an ebook (pdf) of Animals From History, allowing backers to hire me to create portraits of their pets as their choice of historical figures. Jizo, was a commission of a cat with his toy koala bear. Lafeet was a commission of a fun and wild dog as a pirate. And Napoleon was our own basset hound who truly had a Napoleon complex!
I made the funding goal and was able to complete numerous drawings and paintings of the characters. Out of all the animals about 85% are commissioned pets! I also was able to donate 25% of the proceeds to Big Cat Rescue in Florida. It was a great experience.
Now I continue the paintings, adding wild animals in the mix. I just finished a calendar (available on my etsy store) for 2018 that has cats, dogs, and wild animals. Mary Smelly (skunk), and Slothesphine Baker (sloth) were some of my favorites to work on last summer.
Same question about your 64 page children’s book“The Nutcracker”, I can see some superb and cute images on your website. What was the idea behind publishing this book full of illustrations?
At the time I worked with Cider Mill Press in the past for a VERY different project. It was a vector illustrated Kama Sutra with a holiday twist, which was voted one of the best holiday books of the year in Penthouse’s book section….I know! Penthouse has a book section!
The publisher kept my more elaborate work in mind for years and approached me with the Nutcracker opportunity. It was a chance to use my decorative style for a classical story involving people and animals. It was a really fun job and I highly enjoyed working in the children’s book format.
Just watched your time lapse video of “Bitcoin – The Halving” and it was really easy to sit down with a cup of coffee and watching your 10 minutes video but seriously, how do you do this? How much time it took to draw this wonderful art?
“Bitcoin - The Halving” took roughly 50 hours to create. I usually spend a good 10 hours on thumbnails, color comps and rough drawings to get an idea on where the image needs to go. Then I’ll send some choices to the client for them to direct me as to what the best solution is for the project. After approval I dive into the final creation which is what you saw in the video. Depending on the complexity of the project any piece can take 10-60 hours. Something like “M.L. Jobs.” took about 12 hours to complete because there was a super simplistic background and not much complexity to the composition. But pieces like my gatefold for the Nutcracker went well over 70 hours due to four pages of one image!
Also, I work in either digital or oils, depending on the project. The majority of my commercial work is digital. Most of my private commissions are in oils.
You’ve been working with Troy as well with his Cryptoart thing, tell us how did he find you and what do you think about combining crypto with art and technology?
I’m not quite sure how Troy found my work but when he contacted me and described the idea of art prints embedded with cryptocurrency it took me a while to wrap my head around it. Cryptocurrency was completely new to me so by the time I understood exactly what it was I was already immersed in the first image! Troy did a great job answering my questions and educating me on the cryptocurrency world. It’s been a great education which is always welcomed when I work on new projects.
What are your future plans? What projects are you currently working on? You mentioned in the email that you have just finished another piece of cryptoart, tell us something about that.
I have two crypto art projects to share with you! I’m attaching both the this email. One is called “Kitsune” which represents numerous cryptocurrencies.This was great to incorporate both my animal work and my Cryptoart work together.
Kitsune – Copyright Cryptoart – All Rights Reserved
The other is “Black Swan” which focuses on the discussion of cryptocurrency as a black swan event. (I’ll attach the images. If anyone is interested in the image they can contact troy at cryptoart.com. You can buy a print with cryptocurrency embedded in the print for safe keeping :)
Kitsune – Copyright Cryptoart – All Rights Reserved
In addition to the Cryptoart projects I just finished up a few editorial pieces, book covers and private commissions. I’m currently working on an oil painting for a sorority that will be coming out in April. Also, I have a few private commissions lined up….a possible elephant in the spirit of Ganesha is on the docket! Other than that, I’m continuing to create more animals for my IP. In addition to freelancing I am also instructing and running the Illustration department at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
What are your thoughts about the blockchain technology and this crypto currency era?
I find the crypto currency era absolutely fascinating. After I was able to grasp the idea of what it actually is in comparison to our standard currency and government centralized core is when I started really researching it more as something to jump in on vs educating myself for a project. Although I am a novice on cryptocurrency and the highs and lows of having cryptocurrency I am involved in a small way just to understand more about it for possible future actions. I believe it has the potential to become a life changing event and the more I know now the more I’ll be prepared for the possibilities ahead!
Have you ever heard about Steemit? ((If no, Steemit is a social media platform that works by having the crowd reward the crowd for their content. It does this thanks to the Steem blockchain and cryptocurrency; Steem is 'minted' daily and distributed to content producers according to the votes they get.
There are several projects and application you will find that are created on Steem Blockchain. @slothicorn is one of the art projects started by Stella Belle. You can read more about this project here: )
This is the first I have heard of Steemit and I’m hooked! I’m a BIG fan of crowdsourcing and tight communities so this speaks to me in many ways. I need to continue to explore before I jump in feet first but I’m loving the opportunities it has to offer. I have been reviewing your content as well as Stella Belle’s, so thanks for the introduction to them both! Stella has some really great ideas and I’m looking forward in taking part at some point. I’d love to post my Cryptoart projects but because of contractual obligations I need to keep them off a creative commons site. But that just means I can create more :)
Talking about the video I uploaded on DTube Yesterday!
On another note, thank you for the video on how people should do what they want. As an instructor and chair of illustration many students continue to be stuck in the K-12 “this is how you need to do things” tract. It’s tough to get some out of that head space and your video perfectly sums it up.
Thank you so much Christina for taking your time out and answering these questions! You are blessed with real talent and we hope to see some more beautiful artworks from you!
Love!
@ghulammujtaba
OMG This is so well-written and researched. I thank you for doing quality work, so that people can become educated on what cryptoart is, and how it can be done. Thanks to you.....:)
I am glad you liked it :)
Great job @ghulammujtaba.....thank you for this information...i very like it
Thank you :)
Great interview and her art is amazing!
Thank you :)
I can see mammoth research on this. Good job, Mujtaba!
Thank you bro :)
t This great art i appreciate your post thanks for sharingthis crytocurrency news best of luck my dear friends..