I made the call to publish acknowledgements here (not in the start of my books) for two reasons:
Firstly, I keep remembering more people to add here and can’t seem to finish my books merely out of fear I’ll miss someone essential. This list is easy to update and I will keep doing that as I remember more people to be grateful for.
Secondly, to spare trees. Once this chapter got longer than 13 pages and it wasn’t still done, I realized it was getting too long and I would need to split my books to be smaller just to accommodate this list otherwise.
So, without further ado…
I am grateful to my home country – Latvia, for having international relations sorted out well enough that it’s not us currently being torn apart by war. This book wouldn’t be possible without that, so I’m grateful I was born there, in a beautiful and safe place like that, and I’m grateful to all who were involved in establishing this country and keeping it safe to this point and hopefully from here on too.
Making books also wouldn’t be possible without my spouse who feeds me and supports me during tough times.
And it wouldn’t be possible without my parents – one alive other deceased, paternal grandparents, all deceased, great-aunt, and siblings – two wonderful little sisters, who all raised me together. (I believe siblings participate in upbringing as well, not fair to leave them out even if they are younger than you.)
Wouldn’t be possible without husband’s family either – who all supported us in various ways and joined in raising us too – from the oldest to youngest, little nephew is also joining in raising us, children are good teachers, better than most adults are.
Thank you to extended family of my spouse as well – I always find your creativity in gatherings inspiring, you are the cool relatives I always wanted to have growing up, I wish I wasn’t so awkward and interacted with you more properly, not acted dumb at every opportunity to be dumb—whatever – keep being cool!
♡
And this book wouldn’t be possible without encouraging art teachers – the one from primary school - Renāte Sūna, another from High School age - a porcelain artist and educator – Inese Brants, whom I was extremely fortunate to learn from, there are more useful habits I picked up from her than I can count, learning under her shaped the way I approach composition more than anyone, another was a painter and educator – Vēsma Vītola from whom I got a valuable book and learned to paint with oil, and got a more proper introduction to gauche than anyone had given me before, I wouldn’t have learned to love painting with it without her.
Special thanks to three more teachers from Riga Culture Secondary School (or however it is correctly called in English) – Raivo Putjato, who taught English in high school, his way of teaching resonated with me and helped me get a lot better at both speaking and writing. Daina Blūma who encouraged research in topics I wouldn’t have explored otherwise, and a Latvian language and Literature teacher Zigfrīda Absalone, she once said I would be an author and she was right – she taught me a lot about literature and how to analyze it and that helped a lot further down the road.
♡
And it wouldn’t be possible without an artist I never met in person - Andrew Loomis, whose books taught me more about drawing than anything. Especially ‘Figure drawing for all it’s worth.’
And also Sarah Simblet, author of the ‘Drawing book’ and ‘Anatomy for the artist,’ whose books made me feel like making artbooks was just the coolest thing ever.
Or without all the amazing artists who came before me and those who make art now – too many to list, but they all inspired me and shaped my style. Listing them all would also be a whole book, but the most inspiring were…
Till 15, before I got introduced to the internet - Leonardo da Vinci (cliché, I know, but he was my first favorite artist ever, I was trying to copy his style in shading matchboxes at school – I loved that soft shading to no end, especially the type you see in the ‘St.John the Baptist’ painting – that type, where it sinks into black. I was so artistically stimulated by it, it felt like the figure sank into velvety ink, and the hand from the Lady in Ermine painting had me gasp, it felt more hand-like than most real hands, there was something gentle and ‘real’ to it in way I seldom saw then, and then - Paul Lasaine and Nathan Fowkes - I saw Prince of Egypt and I loved everything about the art there, especially the backgrounds and the colors they used, I believe it’s still one of the most beautiful animated feature films in existence. Disney movies too, of course, any child of my generation was inspired by those, probably.
And at 15, after encountering the internet - Rumiko Takahashi (my first introduction to eastern art that inspired me to draw in it and the style of animation there). And my friend who currently goes by stalker – she was and still is one of the most inspiring people and artists I know, Sushi (or mellenes) – a friend from past who inspired me and I wish I had learned from her more while she still walked this earth. Then my first very inspiring encounters with deviantart – shel-yang (whose watercolor artworks are gorgeous beyond words), peggyly (who made art the teenage me wished she could make – everything they draw is beautiful, especially girls and backgrounds), GreeGW (stunning watercolor landscapes and cityscapes, always inspiring), Juby (joodlez) (who makes Cut time comic and always inspired me by the absolute cuteness radiating from her work), Jayd "Chira" Aït-Kaci (who makes Little Foolery comic and made the most inspiring lively and expressive characters), Shilin (who makes Carciphona comic and inspired me with how cool and polished her art looks), and Kaze-hime (who has a bunny character named Hollee and also overwhelmed me with cuteness) – they all inspired me and influenced my art in the period.
More artists worth mentioning from the time are (Deviantart handles) - ProdigyBombay, liyana, kurot, norli, montorpg, Radittz, LanWu, jiuge, Arehandora, tickledpinky, liiga, zeiva, drcloud, BanQ, kidchan, phoenirius, dahlig, patriciabrennan, muhoho-seijin, loveariddle, celesse, kerembeyit, sakimichan, eguana, kitten-chan, luciole, Snowskadi, Ecthelian, Artgerm, Igriel, Genzoman, Omar-Dogan, Mayuiki, emperpep, AlexiusSana, puimun, Hatori-K, phoenix-feng, yangqi, what-i-do-is-secret, DanielaUhlig, Kyoko-Taide, Wen-M, matabi, DensenManiya, sandara, goku-no-baka, xa-xa-xa, cuson, nati, zemotion, hamsterfly, loish, yuumei, ethe, ayasemn, RadoJavor, Fabio-Barboni, DimensionSeven, eychanchan, reiq, sachsen, tracyjb, Marina-B, AyameFataru, siguredo, ChristianNauck, Charlie-Bowater, auroreblackcat, Virus-AC, meago.
In the period between 18 to 20, I felt most inspired by Dark134 (that mix of painterly and anime style is gorgeous!), yooani (their way of posing the characters and aesthetic sense was very inspiring), redjuice999 (their attention to detail and great composition where it was never ‘noisy’ was very inspiring too), KL-chan (overwhelmed me with cuteness in that period), asuka111(loved how they could paint a story with a single picture), Claparo-Sans (their watercolor paintings made me feel inspired to paint traditionally like no one else – beautiful work!), JohnSu (his art always had me smile and was a joy to see!).
More inspirations from the period: draa, rogner5th, Eternal-S, yosinori, buta0309, Endling, TysonTan, ComiPa, LimKis, kalkulation, kissai, mashami, micorl, Leonidafremov.
In my early 20, I felt most inspired by Cushart – their way of painting characters and setting the mood was wonderful, then I was charmed by the elegance and cuteness of the way mtys stylized characters. Kir-tat’s art left an impression, I loved how they drew male characters and their watercolor art was stunning! Inma’s work was very inspiring and I was amazed how productive they were and how much beautiful art they could make over a short span of time – an inspiration, I wanted to be like that too. Elsevilla’s style and the way they approached characters and backgrounds was also very artistically stimulating – I loved the emotion in their work! Nuriko-kun drew the most beautiful and inspiring illustrations with many characters in those – that seemed like so much work, but I felt like trying by seeing how beautiful their work was! EastMonkey’s art, like “the pig and his girl” left and impression too – I loved the storytelling they did with their art there. So much nuance! And the absolute cuteness and warmth in lunaticjoker’s art was also very inspiring. Tsulala’s sketches and the 100 sketch project they did left and impression, especially with how beautiful each of them looked!
Seems like I could go on endlessly, I encountered so many great artists in the period, more are Iris-Zeible, REAL-FIDUCIOSE, frecklefaced29, tknk, WinterImp, Santani, To-fu, JOEIAN, tuyetdinhsinhvat, kaninnvven, supercynic, Sweetly25, hachiyuki, theCHAMBA, muse-kr, cartoongirl7, inObrAS, marika, coumori, Daisuke-Kimura, F-AYN-T, MichaelCrichlow, ihirotang, SaiyaGina, akirakirai, Blizz-Mii, LuluSeason, illbewaiting, shirotsuki, mu-h, kamuikaoru, yaichino, 253421, niaro.
I remember looking at the "how random" comic by shibakaien for hours - it was just three little panels, but there seemed to be so much story packed in, even if there wasn't much going on. I admired that - an ability to tell a story with so little. Another artist that could tell a lot with pictures was phobs and they have such a distinctive and beautiful style!
The way cellar-fcp told stories through illustrations was very inspiring as well - especially their artwork about prostitutes. They paint in a beautiful and expressive way. Another inspiring discovery from the time was chernotrav - especially their ink drawings - expressive while staying clean and decorative! I could stare at them for hours, so beautiful!
(the story continues...)
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