Joining us today is an incredible Freelance Designer & Digital Artist who’s bringing powerful storytelling techniques into his artwork, the amazing Stefan Große Halbuer. Discover his thoughts on the current state NFTs.
Stefan, thank you for taking the time to do this interview with us.
How did you first get into creating digital art?
I always loved to draw, even as a kid it wasn’t just drawing like every kid does, but already a big hobby for me. When I was 14 or 15, someone gave me a pirate copy of Photoshop 6 and I started playing around with it. I never stopped experimenting with digital art since then and after some more years got my first drawing tablet, I think it was a very cheap, used Wacom Bamboo. I still worked a lot with traditional techniques, especially when studying design & illustration at Münster School of Design. Around 5–6 years ago I made a decision to only focus on digital though, and I never looked back.
Your work varies from piece to piece from the cyberpunk Cycle of the Shroom — Command Decision (which has incredible story to go along with it) to your fantastic, highly anticipated shroomheads gNFTs.
What are your inspirations? This could be artists (NFT or non-NFTs), TV shows, music, or any random thing on the internet!
I always find it hard to answer this question, as I feel like I get inspiration from such a lot of things. But there’s definitely major inspiration coming from the comic/manga world: Francobelgian comics, Disney, Mike Mignola, Kentaro Miura, Francois Schuiten & Benoit Peeters, Katsuhiro Otomo…to name a few. Usually I just visit Pinterest though, and scroll through my many collections there, to discover artists and get inspired.
Do NFTs, as a medium, allow you to explore the tech side of your practice further?
I’ll always be an artist focusing on creating my art, but I think NFTs definitely motivate to explore new ways and possibilities that you didn’t pay attention to before. And it’s also bringing people from different worlds and professions together, to experiment and develop these new ways. I’m seeing this with Shroomheads, where I exchange ideas and get input that brings this project further than “just” being a collection of artworks, which is amazing.
What is your work process from idea to finish?
Everything starts with an idea. I have a sketchbook app on my iPad that I use to take notes whenever they pop up in my head. That’s the most unpredictable part of the process, I like to have the rest very clean and structured: scribbling thumbs, decide for the best concept, and then drawing outlines, colors, effects & details. I’m often sharing timelapse/speedpainting videos where you can see this clear process very well.
Cryptocurrencies and NFT have been dominating the world news for the past year thanks to the meteoric rise of Bitcoin, Cryptopunks, and of course, the famous Beeple $69M NFT purchase. What are your honest thoughts on the cryptocurrency and NFT space right now?
I started investing in crypto currencies around 4 years ago, so I’m watching the technology and market for a while now. I also experienced some market crashes and am much much more relaxed now. I believe in the concept of crypto and with being an artist existing in the Metaverse, it’s just super fascinating for me to see what people build every day. I’m not in the first line of tech thinkers, I see myself as someone who cares about art supply, creating beautiful things for the space and willing to adapt and experiment with anything the space comes up with. Also I know it’s been said so often already, but can’t be pointed out enough: 99,9% of the community is about support and positive vibes, and I never experienced that before — it’s just amazing!
What are your other passions besides creating art?
There can be other passions besides art? Ok, here’s some: music concerts (rock, indie, hiphop), videogames (literally everything on PS5, Switch, PC) & watching football (Borussia Dortmund).
This is something we ask new starters in CoinBurp as part of their Q&A interviews that we post on our blog, but the answers are always great so we’ll ask you too; What TV show or movie are you ashamed to admit you love?
Hahaha that has to be “Finding Prince Charming”, I watched that with my wife and had a very hard time admitting that I actually found it entertaining!
Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions for us. The CoinBurp team can’t wait to see you grow as an artist!
Post some links to where people can find your artwork and social media accounts. Also, feel free to shout out anything else you wish.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plastic.pen/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/grossehalbuer
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/grossehalbuer
My personal Discord: https://discord.gg/Q8s5qBYv2y
