Interview with @mews.lab - Reforestation as a theme for our spring illustration

Y: Tell us a bit about yourself and your work, your artistic style and the medium you’ve chosen – anything about your art that you think is important.

M: Hi everyone, my name is Mew! I’m mainly a merch artist, which means that everything I draw is first conceived as potential future merchandise (keychains, pins, stickers, etc.). Illustration as a print, actually, is the last option I consider, as I feel it requires a very high level of skill and a great deal of inspiration, and, being very particular about the kind of things I create, it tends to seem insurmountable to me. I really enjoy creating something that isn’t just cute, but is actually useful and original. Also, as a cosplayer, I find it really interesting to work with my hands and make physical merchandise, drawing inspiration from the crafting I do for cosplay. I started out the traditional way, like most people, then moved on to a graphics tablet and, now, a digital tablet.

I’d describe my style as inconsistent. My creative process is a bit unusual; I draw inspiration from many different contexts and artists, trying to incorporate details I appreciate, but I sometimes end up forgetting them. I have specific guidelines I follow, usually regarding the atmosphere I want to convey and the type of brush I use, but in the end it always seems different to me. I really enjoy using gradient maps and adjustment layers, focusing on relatively desaturated colours that aren’t too vibrant. I draw by following my ‘instinct’; I base my work on what I prefer and rely heavily on my gut feeling.

 

Y: Would you mind sharing your creative process with us?

M: It’s now an automatic process, which depends on the type of illustration I’m drawing. Out of personal preference, I often draw original characters, or OCs in contexts linked to canon characters, and it’s a type of storytelling I really enjoy. Generally speaking, if I’m working on a piece of art linked to a media franchise, I also like to think about how the physical merchandise will reflect the atmosphere and meaning of the media itself. As mentioned earlier, I rely heavily on instinct and ‘feeling’. Obviously, when it comes to commissions, the situation is different.

Let me give you an example to explain the process better. I recently designed some merchandise for Devil May Cry, a franchise inspired by Dante’s Inferno, and drew on the aesthetics of Fortuna (the setting of one of the games). I then looked for a link to bring the two together, and found it in Christian iconography, more specifically in stained glass art. Next, I worked on the mood boards and colour palettes to use, as I like to incorporate colour coding into my work. I then began the artwork, starting with a rough sketch using simple shapes to see if the composition worked for me, before building the poses using Clip Studio Paint’s 3D models. The next steps are always the same: I clean up the sketch to create the line art, add volume, work on the colours, render the image, and finish by adding a white outline around the characters’ silhouettes. To finish the piece, I decide on the background and adjust the colour balance. The icing on the cake? My beloved X-shaped sparkles.

 

Y: What is the art scene like in the area where you live, or where you come from?

M: Based on my own experience, having grown up in Northern Italy around the 2000s, the general perception in the past was that those who chose the arts were young people who were lazy, unwilling to make an effort, and more likely to take questionable paths in life. The truth, however, is and was quite different: those who are passionate and choose the arts do so because they intend to commit themselves and want to enter the world of art, digital or otherwise. Art school does, however, require further specialisation courses, as well as a considerable sum of money for both the school fees and the necessary materials. In the area around Venice, where I live, the main path after secondary school involves studying restoration, as it is the only way to secure a ‘socially respectable’ job in the area, thereby dedicating your life to the preservation of art and museums.

 

Y: What prompted you to enter the world of digital art? How did you begin your artistic journey? Tell us about your educational background. Did you study anything specific related to art, or did your interest stem from something else?

M: I’ve always drawn. I remember that at nursery I had a friend who would draw the heads and necks of little people with a felt-tip pen, and then to colour the shirt she’d go over it again with the pen, ruining the paper; I remember that, even back then, it annoyed me quite a bit. Like many colleagues in this field, I was drawn to the world of drawing partly thanks to Japanese anime and manga: I used to watch magical girl cartoons at four in the afternoon, and I’d buy manga out of order, simply captivated by the artwork. My first volume was issue 4 of Hellgirl; I didn’t understand much of the plot, but the drawing style really struck me. I then fell in love with the works of Zakuri Sato and, above all, with the female protagonists of shojo who were able to stand up for themselves and show their strength.

I also went through a Vocaloid phase, during which I started drawing fan art, which led me to discover the vast world of DeviantArt and, consequently, to meet many artists I admired online. I drew a lot of inspiration from them, trying to imitate their style to learn how to draw. I remember using alcohol-based Promarkers, because Copics, at the time, were impossible to find and too expensive for my budget. Over time, I gravitated towards a style that was half-traditional and half-digital; at first, I didn’t even know how to use a graphics tablet, but that changed thanks to an English friend of mine who taught me the ropes of the digital world. I never studied the theory; I learnt everything on while doing.

Over the years, I’ve also moved from drawing inspiration solely from manga and anime to video games, so my style has become more Western. I certainly owe a lot to Overwatch, especially when it comes to incorporating character culture into the design itself! My original Commedia dell’Arte characters, a project very close to my heart, perfectly reflect this idea.

 

Y: Art is a demanding field, albeit an extremely rewarding one. What impact has it had on your life so far?

M: I must say it has certainly had an extremely positive impact. If I hadn’t been able to process my feelings through art, much of what I’ve experienced in the past would have stayed ‘stuck’ with me.

Over the years, in fact, I’ve learnt to express pain and hardship through drawing, often incorporating gory elements (a detail which, fortunately, has allowed me to refine my knowledge of anatomy!). Like many of my peers, I was bullied during my school years, as I stood out from the crowd and was seen as ‘the odd one out’. What’s more, I found it very hard to sit still and follow lessons without having something to do with my hands, so I started drawing.

Art has also helped me enormously from a social perspective! Having set up dedicated accounts on various social media platforms, especially back then, I had the chance to meet people from all over the world with whom I shared genuine passions and interests. Drawing was a sort of lifeline: when I was facing a difficult time, I would turn to art and express what was troubling me, and often, once I’d finished the drawing, I’d feel satisfied – it also served, in part, to remind me that I was capable of getting through it.

 

Y: Does your art allow you to support yourself financially? What do you think of the current job situation in the art world?

M: At the moment, unfortunately, I don’t consider it a ‘viable’ career. However, it would be a dream if one day I could support myself entirely through art. It has to be said, sadly, that making a living from art in Italy is absolutely impossible at the moment. Furthermore, in terms of social norms, it is still only considered acceptable as long as it is treated as a hobby; if you wish to pursue this path professionally, you tend to be seen as lazy, as a good-for-nothing. It isn’t widely understood or regarded as a proper career path, because it doesn’t bring money into the home. Personally, I consider it a proper job, just like any other, as I don’t believe there are jobs with more or less dignity; however, not everyone sees it that way.

As for the earnings from cons, I currently reinvest whatever I make into producing merchandise to sell at subsequent events; it’s a sort of continuous cycle. It’s invested in tables, items or new materials to use for products that require more labour. If I actually manage to use only the convention earnings, that’s already a step forward; very often I invest the money I earn from my day job, precisely so I can continue on this path. In any case, personally I don’t want to see this activity as my ‘real job’, because I’m sure it would make me unhappy, and I’d end up seeing it as a chore. I think it’s essential to view it as a personal commitment born of my own desire, rather than an external obligation imposed on me.

 

Y: What platforms do you use to promote your work? Have you ever had any issues regarding copyright and its management?

M: Personally, no, I mean ‘maybe’. I had an experience with someone when I didn’t have any social media followers yet; I knew her in real life and she spent her time tracing my drawings, sometimes even right in front of me. I tried several times to stop her, explaining that it wasn’t right. However, over time she began doing the same with other online artists, creatives who openly stated they didn’t support ‘tracing’; the situation, in any case, never escalated into a legal dispute.

As for the online scene, however, I have seen several similar situations, some quite serious. Personally, I have always managed to back out, to take a step in a different direction, before it could happen to me, but this does not detract from how disrespectful it is towards those who dedicate themselves to their art. With the advent of artificial intelligence, moreover, I and many other artists have also had to withdraw from various platforms; Twitter, for example, had announced that content uploaded to the platform would be used to train Grok; to avoid this, I therefore distanced myself from the app. I’m still signed up and still have a profile, but I only use it to post announcements about new products and the opening of my shop; I no longer post my own work.

I haven’t yet tried invitation-only platforms, such as Vgen and BlueSky, because, as these are social networks where most users are artists, the customer base is extremely small and there is very little opportunity for financial exchange. To be honest, I hate social media in general and find it really hard to keep up with it; although I have TikTok, Tumblr and Twitter, at the moment it’s a struggle just to remember to post on Instagram, the only platform where I’m more or less active. The whole environment, given the current situation, stresses me out quite a bit and I don’t want it to affect me, which is why I try to protect myself before any kind of infringement can occur: I save the original files and don’t share anything with anyone. Furthermore, I fully support the manipulation of images to render them unusable by artificial intelligence.

 

Y: What is your opinion on artificial intelligence?

M: I’m not against technological progress, but I can’t stand the exploitation of others to fuel that progress. Rather than draining the planet and humanity of precious resources, whether physical or psychological, I much prefer to see a slower, more considered technological development that allows us to understand how to grow, instead of consuming everything in its path. Furthermore, regarding the relationship between AI and art, I believe that justifying the use of this technology to replace the creative learning process or the work of others is unacceptable. The usual excuse that clings to the idea that AI is a resource for those who cannot learn art through other methods is shameful and serves only to make lazy people who are incapable of making an effort feel better about themselves. All this talk constantly belittles those who genuinely have some form of disability and who, nevertheless, strive every day to learn, without hiding behind artificial intelligence. Art requires sensitivity, manual skill and depth, at every stage from concept to finished work: a child’s drawing has a hundred times more significance and soul than any image generated by ChatGPT.

There are right and wrong ways of doing things, and the fact that the majority of current users do not realise the gravity of the situation seems unreal to me.

 

Y: The theme of this year’s spring illustration is reforestation; how do you view the role of artificial intelligence within the environmental sector?

M: I think the current situation is terrifying, and perhaps that’s an understatement. There are people, entire communities, who can’t afford to go shopping because a data centre has been built nearby and prices have consequently skyrocketed.

I hate that there are people who are aware of the situation, of the consequences of this disproportionate use of artificial intelligence on the environment and on those who live there, and who nevertheless decide to use this technology because ‘I only use it a few times, for such a small amount’. The problem is that, if everyone thinks like this and everyone does it, there will never be a way out. I refuse to accept this attitude and consider it normal; it’s shameful and we’ll never get out of this. There’s always a way to build something without trampling on others, and I’m the first to agree with the idea of ‘do something first and then make it perfect’, but when it comes to AI, I simply can’t fathom how those in charge don’t realise that this thing, this project, is wearing down entire communities.

 

Y: What would you change about the current art scene if you could? What do you expect from the future of art?

M: Currently, there are two main factors: an advantage and a disadvantage. The first is that social media can allow even emerging artists and small accounts to make a name for themselves and, above all, make friends. The second is that these very same social media platforms are based on algorithms that require you to post 400 times a minute to remain relevant, making it impossible to rely on the system in question to grow. If I could, I would obviously change this relentless use of artificial intelligence, since, obviously, the algorithm craves it, this being a rather controversial development. Removing this technology, in my view, would solve several problems: first and foremost, it would eliminate the entire ‘brainrot’ content sector and, naturally, we would be able to return to viewing much higher-quality content.

 

Y: What do you think of how artist alleys are managed at conventions these days? Are there any experiences you’d like to share with us?

M: My thoughts on the matter are rather complex. I find it shameful that to gain entry to most current artist alleys, one must have a certain following or know someone on the organising committee; this highly subjective selection of artists confirms that the entire sector is not yet ready for this kind of event and highlights a fundamental misunderstanding of the artist’s role. Very few events, in fact, require you to show a portfolio, which means that participants in the area have no opportunity to be assessed on the basis of their work. Personally, I have taken part in few conventions as an exhibitor, but I have attended several as a visitor and have several friends who are often found in the aforementioned area, so one could say that the rumours are circulating. Furthermore, I think the eternal division between artist alley and the self-exhibitor area is nonsensical, as if there were first-class and second-class artists. As if the former, being ‘likeable’, were entitled to a free table and, therefore, to actual revenue, whilst the latter are not – poor souls who instead have to pay for their own table. I think it’s an extremely discouraging approach, especially for those who are new to this world and perhaps trying to make art their livelihood.

From what I’ve observed over my years in the industry, many artists don’t speak about their experiences in artist alleys for fear of losing their position and, consequently, their job. As I have no such ambition, and am not a professional artist, I want to be their voice and speak for them; I don’t care if I end up on the blacklist of some event. Without speaking out, unfortunately, nothing can change; the situation won’t improve and will remain an open secret – something everyone knows but no one talks about.

 

We’d like to thank Mew once again for taking part in this interview with us! She created the spring illustration you can currently see on our homepage. If you’re interested, you can find her at @mews.lab on Instagram.

Please remember that the Rights Chain team is always here to help with any questions or requests for support regarding copyright and privacy.

Have a lovely day!

Yako.