“I’ve been playing games ever since I can remember. My first video game fan art was probably at age 6 or 7. I loved all the Blizzard games and would pour over their manuals, bookmarking all the pages that had concept art. My brother and I drew piles of items and characters from those games and we would cut them all out and categorize them. I’ve always drawn from things that inspire strong emotions in me, and I love good character design and fashion, and video games often fit the bill. My favorites at the moment are Borderlands and Dragon Age.

I always try to add something of myself into my art. It makes me really unhappy when a piece doesn’t feel like it’s mine, even if it’s a nice piece otherwise. I love colors, I love flowers and plants, and I love linework, so those are the things you’ll see in a lot of my art. I do everything digitally (Photoshop, SAI, Wacom tablet) these days, but I started with water color/pen and ink, so that’s also an influence you can see in my drawings. My major inspirations are probably Studio Ghibli, art nouveau, and lots and lots of comics and manga growing up.

I do get art block a lot. I have a kind of frustration meter that I try to keep track of—sometimes it’s good to just sit down and keep trying, but at a certain point, it gets too upsetting, and the best thing is to take some time off and look at other artists’ sketches, walk and listen to music, play games. I also write down every idea I have so that I always have something to work with when my creativity has been exhausted.

My advice for aspiring artists is to never call yourself aspiring! If you’re making art, you’re an artist. Don’t worry about making “legitimate” art—it’s important to try new things (especially if you’re trying to make a career out of it). But if you like drawing cartoon flowers, draw cartoon flowers. Don’t let the specter of legitimacy stop you. That goes for getting notes or retweets or likes, too. It can be crushing to spend time on something and have no one see it (trust me, I know!) but social media is terrible at helping people find original art, so don’t take it personally. Finally, draw a lot! Draw while you’re watching TV, draw in a sketchbook on the bus. It’s like in the Sims: you have to fill up your skill bar before you can level up.

You can find me on Tumblr and on Twitter (@KyoungKeezy).”

-Keezy Young aka @KyoungKeezy

Thank you again for your time, Keezy and thanks for stopping by! If you want to stay updated on more Gamer Compatible reviews, you can follow us on Twitter: @gamercompatible or on Facebook: @gamercompatible.

Game on! And signing out.