CoinBurp was lucky enough to speak with the talented Subtle_bubble_, it was great to learn more about him and his thoughts on NFTs. From amazing, colourful, genre-bending pieces to comical drawings, he can do it all!
Victor, thank you for taking the time to do this interview with CoinBurp.
Your work is amazing, CoinBurp can’t tell you how much I love “confusion”. How did you first get into creating digital art?
I think it’s best if I answer this question by starting from the very beginning, before I ever drew with pixels. Like most every kid out there I was known to scribble around with a pencil and draw from time to time, but I really started to draw everyday when I moved from Brazil to America in the fourth grade. It was a way to entertain myself when I didn’t have friends in this new country and a great way to overcome the language barrier, after all, art is universal and I could sometimes get a laugh from a classmate if I was able to conjure up a silly enough drawing. In middle school, I got a Nintendo DSi and with a wonderful software called “Flipnote Hatena” I started to animate stick figure fight scenes and rube goldberg machines. Classic stuff if I say so myself. Well, I did those rudimentary animations for a while but since I couldn’t take my DSi to school I started to keep more and more sketchbooks. By the time I started high school, I was already committed to becoming an artist, so most of my classes were spent drawing in my sketchbooks… not really something my teachers liked but something they didn’t complain about since I still kept my grades up. Around freshman year of high school, I started to hear of a mythical drawing utensil called “Copic Markers” and became obsessed with the idea of owning a set. Unfortunately, I saw the price tag and never even built the courage to ask my parents for some. I instead started to paint with watercolor. I figured I could just mix the colors I wanted and use very light coats to emulate the look of markers. I did that until junior year of high school where I then picked up a wacom intuos draw tablet. They’re about $60 and I highly recommend them to anyone trying to start digital art. With it, I used “Krita,” a free open source drawing software.
Moving towards digital art felt like the logical next step in my pursuit to become a professional. I was able to access unlimited colors, never run out of paint, and manipulate my work in ways traditional mediums can’t compare. So… the short answer would be junior year of high school on a wacom intuos draw tablet, but what fun is it answering that way?
Your work primarily consists of quirky and cool pieces that are unbelievably unique.
What are your inspirations? This could be artists (NFT or non-NFTs), TV shows, music, or any random thing on the internet!
I’d say that lately I’ve been drawing inspiration from the mundane, like the sound of my laptop whirring or the way my stickers are peeling off my phone case. I like the nuances in daily life objects that make them special and drawing them alongside other objects to create a relationship that wasn’t there before. I’m also definitely inspired by art history. I think it’s important to study it to have something to build on top of. I like Pop art, Futurism, impressionism, Surrealism, I think the Dada movement is amazing and kind of being replicated right now in NFTs… and I’m also really inspired by street art and street artists turned fine artists like Keith Haring, Basquiat, Kaws or Shepard Fairey. Music also has a big influence in my work, as well as music videos. I just think there’s something truly special about a music video that matches a song perfectly.
If you could collaborate with one artist who would it be?
Oooh I would love to collaborate with Jack Stauber. I look up to the way he creates both music and visual art while being playful and exceptional in both. I’m not very musically inclined but I think it would be an awesome time to work with him on an album, thinking up silly choruses then the visuals to match them… just sounds like a great time.
What is your work process from idea to finish?
I think every few months I change the way I work but lately I’ve been starting with small scale sketches on notecards until I come up with something I like and then develop into full-fledged illustrations digitally. I find that starting small helps me not get focused on details and think big picture. Besides this, I also go back to past sketchbooks of mine to look for ideas to develop. Or just pull up ideas I’ve been holding onto to finally work on, for example, the most recent piece of mine that went to auction “Thoughts & Prayers” was actually something I thought of in 2019 but never worked on. I’m glad I waited though because I love how the piece ended up and it 100% would’ve looked different if I worked on it right away.
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 think it’s a really unique experience to be a part of this scene as it continues to develop. NFTs have been around for a while now but in the grand scheme of things this is still just the beginning. I think it’s awesome how this space brings artists of all different concentrations from all over the world together under one umbrella. I think it creates the opportunity to connect, be inspired by, and collaborate with people who wouldn’t normally be in your radar.
The NFT space has given me the confidence that I can produce work I’m genuinely passionate about and find an audience that can support me to continue doing so. There’s definitely a lot of marketing strategies involved in this space but I generally just stick to creating art and sharing random thoughts on twitter… maybe not the best strategy but it’s who I am/ what I’m comfortable with and this is the kind of space that feels like everyone can make it if they’re passionate and persistent.
One thing I’m a bit unenthused by is seeing fellow creatives getting stuck in a mold or feeling pressured to present their work in a specific way. For example, I’ve been seeing so many collectible series. They’re incredibly popular and it feels like there’s one collectible series for every concept out there. They vary from high effort, thoughtful projects made by passionate artists to low effort randomly generated art. I’m not saying there’s a right or wrong, definitely I would like to see more work from passionate artists succeed but at the end of the day the people want what the people want. But I really do hope artists in the space, or new to the space, don’t feel like they have to make a collectible series to be successful. Even if it feels that way right now. I would love to see people explore different ways to release collections, create goal driven projects, and to expand the usage of virtual galleries… we’re too early to get stuck in any one way of creating and presenting our work.
What are your other passions besides creating art?
There’s not a lot I do besides art, I’m usually drawing for work or for pleasure, so what my mind goes to is music. Besides the fact that I have my headphones playing all day, I also like to dabble in making music. I’m not the best at it… but it’s one of those things I don’t care if I’m good or not. I just like how it feels to press some buttons and make some sounds happen. It’s a very visceral experience and serves to break up the drawing routine a bit here and there when I need to reset.
This is something CoinBurp asks new starters in the company as part of their Q&A interviews that get posted on the blog, but the answers are always great! What TV show or movie are you ashamed to admit you love?
I’m not entirely ashamed to admit I love “The Lego Movie” but I might be more hesitant to talk about HOW MUCH I love “The Lego Movie.” It’s easily in my top 10 movies, maybe top 5. But I don’t think I really watch anything that brings me “shame” but um, my guilty pleasure show has got to be “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Everyone is just so happy and energetic, the houses always have some crazy things in them, and when the bus driver moves the bus? I love when he does that.
Honorable mention:”Treehouse Masters”
Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. 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.
I would really like to shout out fellow creatives who have supported me in this journey, people like: @reylarsdam, @showdeerart, @cielmot, @mbrrranson, @cat_russel_, @salvador_just, @imfelixpeterson, @omentejovem, and @smilewithart
I’d also like to give a huge shout out to my collectors, who continuously push me to create and truly make all my successes possible. As well as a special shout out to collector @fafaf0f0 for kick starting my NFT journey by giving me the funds to mint my first pieces.
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