Vitaly S. Alexius: Interview with brilliant digital artist
Vitaly S. Alexius is a brilliant digital artist. "I am an Antagonist" he says and we say he is also a complete artist with lot of imagination and perfect digital painting techniques. Vitaly S. Alexius tries and succeeds in my opinion to create quality material in different art areas such as photography, digital art or writing. He writes poems inspired by most of his digital art works and even started his own sci-fi novel - Chronoscape. He also stared a bold project, his own comic book named Romantically Apocalyptic. If you are into comic books you should definitely check out my list of beautiful Photoshop comic effect tutorials.
But the main reason of this interview is because of his amazing digital art work. He defines a new concept in his art named - "Dreaminism, the sense of shifted reality realized in the split second before the waking." He describes visually the chaos: apocalyptic scenery, a world of war and terror, his sky is always dark and unpredictable. Terrific creatures, fallen angels of death and burned cities are all part of Vitaly S. Alexius dynamic world. Let's discover some interesting details about this talented artist!
Here at PSDDude we love doing interviews with talented graphic designers and famous Photoshop bloggers. For example in 2019 we had I had the pleasure of making an interview with PHLEARN's Aaron Nace - one of my favorite Photoshop bloggers. So, check that interview too after this one.
Let's see what Vitaly Alexius shared with us in this interview.
QHello, welcome to PSDDUDE! Please, introduce yourself, tell us briefly about yourself, where are you from, and how did you start in digital art?
AMy name is Vitaly S. Alexius and I was born in the year 1984, in Novokuznetsk, Siberian Russia.
This painting is inspired by the city I was born in - Novokuznetsk, Siberia.
This is how I often saw it as a child- engulfed in smog and dust from the coal mining and aluminum/steel production factories, the air so thick with metal that hail turned brown, and in cold winter smog covering the city in a gray veil from which you could only see 2 meters ahead.
Smog
On April 11/1997 fate has given me an unexpected twist and by means of aerial transportation I was thrown about 5555 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to Toronto, Canada. Since 2000, I've been tutoring on the subject of drawing and painting, as a traditional artist. In 2002, an artist friend of mine introduced me to Photoshop and I have been using it ever since, to develop an innovative, digital-art style , which I gave a name - "Dreaminism".
Seasonscape
Currently I'm working as a photographer and an illustrator, painting various: book covers, graphic novels, posters, cd covers, concept art, and etc.
Solaris Autumn
QI know that you are originally from Siberia but you live in Canada now. How did that happen?
AMy parents immigrated and took me along for the ride.
QAnyone can see that you are a master of Photoshop, tell us a bit about your learning process and your techniques. How long did it take you to learn photoshop and digital painting!
AIt took my friend a day to show me photoshop basics like brush tools and layers. The rest I learned on my own through online tutorials. You too can discover awesome online tutorials just go to the deviantart tutorials section or use google.
Insidious Discrepancy
QDo you use other software beside Photoshop? I am thinking about 3D software for example?
ANope, I use Photoshop only. However, I sometimes collaborate with 3D artists, who do work in those programs.
Thou Shall Not Pass
QYour digital paintings are amazing! Tell us some details about your graphic tablet! We will also be interested to know details about one of your digital painting work! What are the steps involved: inspiration material, the sketch, photos! How much time does an average digital painting take you?
AIt depends on each painting, but generally the process is that I get an idea, go out and take photos to use as textures/refs for a painting, then sit at my computer and draw using my Wacom Intuos 6x8 tablet. An average painting takes 3 weeks. Deeper process description is here in my tutorials:
Unprecedented Salutation
QI see that you are a very good photographer. What camera(s) do you use? Tell us a bit of accessories you use (tripod, flashes, lenses, filters). What photography genre do you prefer ? Do you use any post processing for photos?
ACanon 5d Mark II21 MegaPixels full frame DSLR,
9 focus points, 36 x 24 mm CMOS sensor,
Live View with Manual and Auto-Focus. I have 5 tripods, two 580 EX flashes, 50mm lens and a 15mm fisheye lens.
I prefer photography of nudes in abandoned buildings. I use photoshop to touch up my photos.
Grind Necrosis
Water fairy
QTo be a good artist one needs imagination beside talent and hard work! And you sure have a lot of imagination! Tells us a little bit about your sources of inspiration (books, movies, video games, etc)! What are your favorite themes?
AI get inspired by everything I browse on the net - images, videos, sounds. My favorite PC game would be
STALKERS.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
first-person shooter computer game by the Ukrainian developer GSC Game World, published in 2007., my favorite book
Metro 2033Metro 2033
is a post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi novel written by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky translated into 20 other languages..
However the biggest influence on my art is from my journeys around the world, photography of beautiful models, and search for abandoned places, forgotten by people and time.
Moby Dick
QDo you have a favorite digital artist or a favorite painter? Can you place your art inside a certain artistic genre?
AMy art is in the "classic-digital art" genre- it's when an artist uses classic oil painting training, but with digital art tools.
This is an advertising illustration for my sci-fi novel Chronoscape.
Chronoscape thundersnow
QWas your art published anywhere beside this virtual space?
ALots of book covers, cd covers, posters, in newspapers and magazines all around the world.
Modern Magic
QWhat was your biggest/most important project so far?
ARomantically Apocalyptic - my own comic book. I always wanted to put together a comic book, but didn't know how to go about it, since my art is very detailed. Romantically Apocalyptic uses very specific tools like greenscreen photography to get the comic produced at a good pace - 1 to 2 pages a week.
Romantically Apocalyptic 01
QWhere can we find you on the internet? Do you sell your digital work? Tell us a bit about the destination of your art works (CD covers, ad-prints, book covers, etc.).
Awww.svitart.com or alexiuss.deviantart.com
Either of those sites shows off my art and you can write: [email protected] if you want me to draw something for you. I'd say that 60% of my work goes towards CD covers, because rock musicians love my style of art.
This is a painting for the "Inherited Hell" CD cover of Stonecast music band.
Inherited Hell actual CD
This is another painting for Sylosis music band, Supreme Oppressor CD
Neurotic Indisposition
Note: If this looks familiar to you it's because you have probably seen it on the boxes of GTX series graphic boards from Gainward
QHow do you see your future in digital art? Do you have a lot of art projects coming?
APainting with thoughts! Yes - I always have too many projects and not enough time to execute them all. My mind is always creating awesome art project ideas, which lack of time shoots down. In September for example I plan to get Romantically Apocalyptic into the video genre as youtube life action series.
Amber Citadel
Thank you very much for doing this interview and we wish you good luck with all your future projects!
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1 comment(s) for "Interview with brilliant digital artist Vitaly S. Alexius"
I have wondered how this art was done and glad to gain a little insight on the process and also to have a few links to visit. Great wor reply