Interview with the winner of Derby 31
Zenne is a relative newcomer and first-time winner. This is her first derby win. Here's a bit more about her.
Shirt.Woot Stats? (first derby / shirts bought / shirts printed)
#27 (Dreams) / 1 / 1. My first derby was the dreams derby. I entered some cats with wings, with little dream clouds and stuff. I still haven't figured out why it was rejected for being off topic, but a little paranoia won't hurt anyone, right? So far just I've just "bought" the three free ones from my own design. I got one for me and my mom, and one of the men's sizes so I could see the full-size print (which
completely by coincidence fits my boyfriend!) This is my only print. I'm really new to this style of drawing, so I'm still working on learning all the tools I need and getting the workflow down. Before finding the derby, I did a lot more realistic type stuff, which is the complete opposite of t-shirt design.
What are you tools of choice?
I use an
Intuos 3 from Wacom and
Photoshop. I tend not to use traditional media out of habit - I'm really bad about setting things up, and putting things away. I use a standard Photoshop brush to draw with, and I've been learning the pen tool, although Lady Out of Water was done entirely with the one Photoshop brush.
What is your typical process for going about a design?
I usually scribble down an idea with a fairly large brush to get the general picture down, then detail over that. I still haven't found a set way of working - each of my derby entries so far has been done in a different way. The hardest part for me is choosing colors, because with a set color palette it ends up being a very deliberate process, when I usually pick colors and change things by intuition.
What design or art experience do you have outside the derby?
I do a lot of private commission work, like drawing someone's significant other, their pet, or drawing a character they made up, etc.
Would you like to do art/design full-time? If so, what is your dream job?
It would be really cool to do art full-time. Haha, my dream job is to be able to do art with minimal required human interaction!
Any plans to sell your designs outside Woot?
Yup. I have a
CafePress shop set up (currently empty of t-shirts, just a few random things like a coaster that has a fake coffee stain and kitty paw prints going through it), and I'm always looking for good t-shirt sites. I'll be putting up a lot of my woot designs after the 60 days have passed. Otherwise, I have some art prints up for sale; nothing very interesting, though.
What advice do you have for new derby artists?
Be paranoid!
